(Shelly Cashman Series) Gary B. Shelly, H. Albert Napier, Ollie N. Rivers-Web design_ introductory concepts and techniques -Cengage Learning (2008)

Step 2: Identify the Site’s Target Audience 73
A well-written purpose statement synthesizes into a few words the reason or reasons
you are publishing your site.
Formulating a well-written purpose statement requires a clear understanding of a
site’s goals and objectives.
DESIGN
TIP
Step 2: Identify the Site’s Target Audience
The second step in your Web site design plan is to identify the site’s target audience.
Although anyone around the world who has Internet and Web access potentially can
visit your Web site, you must identify the specific group of visitors to which your site is
targeted, called the site’s target audience, to provide the most value for that audience.
Target Audience Profile
You can begin the process of creating a profile of your site’s target audience by
imagining the types of people who might visit your site. However, developing a formal
target audience profile generally requires research to determine both demographic and
psychographic characteristics of potential site visitors. Demographic characteristics
include gender, age group, educational level, income, location, and other characteristics
that define who your site visitors are. Psychographic characteristics include social
group affiliations, lifestyle choices, purchasing preferences, political affiliations, and other
characteristics that explain why visitors might want to access your site.
Using research developed from sources such as the U.S. Department of Labor, the
U.S. Census Bureau, the Small Business Administration, and reports prepared by and sold
by companies who specialize in demographic and psychographic research, you can ask and
answer the questions similar to the following to develop a formal target audience profile
for your site:
• What is the age range for your likely audience members?
• What are audience members’ gender, educational background, and marital status?
• What careers and income levels do audience members enjoy?
• Where do audience members live?
• What are audience members’ social group affiliations, lifestyle choices, and
purchasing preferences?
In our scenario, your client has developed the target audience profile for the new site,
as shown in Figure 3-3.
Q&A
Can a Web site have
more than one target
audience?
Yes, many Web sites
have multiple target
audiences. For example,
the Office Depot
e-commerce Web site
promotes its brickand-mortar
stores for
walk-in customers, sells
office equipment and
supplies online to individual
consumers, and
offers services directed
to business customers.