How To Design Sites Targeted To An Audience In Three Easy Steps

Much is said about how advertising and all forms of marketing need to target content, messages, ads and more to each key audience. However, one important element that should not be forgotten is the role of website design in targeting. By building your site in a way that pleases and attracts your key target audience, you will achieve greater success because your audience will be better suited to navigate the site.

The process of creating a targeted website design is similar to the process of any messaging or ad targeting.

Get to Know the Audience

Identify your target audience and research them thoroughly. Learn their habits, their preferences, their likes and dislikes. Find out what motivates them and what turns them off as well as what devices they are most likely to use to access your site.

While learning these facts, the website design you will create will have to accommodate the audience’s preferences—not what you like. You might have to design something you personally dislike, and would not like to use because that is what your target audience needs. It’s all about designing something to fit the needs of your audience. This is why researching your target audience is crucial to creating a targeted website design.

Define Your Goal

Sometimes, a web designer’s client will feel the need to make a multipurpose site. While it is sometimes a good idea, it might not work as well as you think. Make sure you prioritize a single purpose that the site will accomplish. Defining a clear goal or purpose for the website will be crucial as you begin to design it. Think of what that key audience will want to do at your site based on what you learned in the research, and make that the site’s purpose.

Apply Good Design Principles to Fit Audience’s Needs

Finally, merge that purpose with good design principles as you lay out the website design. Use visual hierarchy to highlight the purpose of the site, but also remember to use what you know about the audience to better highlight that purpose, whether it is sales or something else. Think of what the audience wants and see what design principles could help you serve those preferences and needs.

As you do this, decisions regarding the site will become clearer. Finally, remember to test the site before launching it. During the test, you will be able to learn things you couldn’t have otherwise, and further optimize your site to best fit the needs of your target audience