The first step in producing an effective website is to define your purpose.
What do you want your site to accomplish? For instance, assume your company
sells exotic fruit. Your initial purpose may be to attract new customers and
enable them to purchase fruit online. Although you may redefine your purpose
after you have received input from representative users, your statement of
purpose will guide you throughout the process of defining your audience,
developing your strategy, and creating the content of your site.
Define
your target audience
As much as you may wish it could, your site will not appeal to everyone. Your
best bet is to choose a particular segment of the population and focus your
efforts on attracting and engaging these users. Explore the following issues to
develop your list of potential users:
Determine who is likely to be interested in the content you will provide.
For example, if you want to sell exotic fruits through your site, you may list
restaurant chefs, immigrants from the fruits' native regions, managers of
upscale produce departments, adventurous home cooks, and vegetarians as
potential customers. At this initial brainstorming stage, don't try to narrow
this list; you want to look at the full range of possible users.
Determine which of these user groups you are equipped to serve. In the
example above, if you have a small farm with limited production capacity, you
may choose to exclude buyers for large produce departments or large
restaurants.
Of the remaining list, determine which users in your list have access to
the web. Also, which are most likely to use the web for your intended purpose?
Gain
input from potential users on the content of your site
Input from users on your content will help you create a site that is relevant
and engaging. Ask users for feedback on the quality of your ideas, and ask them
to contribute ideas. The Web provides a unique opportunity to quickly gather
specific information from users from distant locations. We have developed a set
of Web survey templates and a tool for automating the creation of Web surveys.
Here are some methods and suggestions for eliciting input from potential users:
Survey Questionnaire
Post an email survey questionnaire to online discussion groups
Post a survey on the Web and invite readers of discussion groups to
respond (A well-done Web survey is more professional in appearance and is
easier to use than an email survey.)
Ask participants what activities they would like to perform or what
information they would like to find at your site
Present a list of information items or potential tasks; ask participants
to rate each from 1 to 5 according to how interesting or important each one is
Ask participants how they initially find websites such as yours or the one
you plan to create (this information will help you plan how and where to
advertise your site)
Offer people incentives, such as a drawing for a prize, to complete the
survey
Interviews
Present a site outline or early proposal to prospective users and solicit
comments on coverage and suggestions for additional content
Ask participants to describe in detail the situation in which they might
use the proposed website
Ask participants what they like and dislike about the websites of
potential competitors and record their responses
Ask participants how they would expect to be able to accomplish particular
tasks
Task Analysis:
Ask participants to use a competitor's site, or ask them to perform the
tasks that your website will facilitate using whatever means they currently
use
Ask users to voice what they are thinking as they accomplish the tasks
Observe users accomplishing the tasks and note the order and techniques
they use
Discover which tasks are done most frequently and which are most essential
Borrow from users' current expectations for how to perform the tasks, but
remember that you want to improve upon the tools and methods they currently
use
Focus Group:
Schedule a facilitator with previous experience coordinating focus groups
Obtain a facility with several computers and a projection screen
Recruit representative users, perhaps from a user group or email
discussion group
Ask participants to provide anonymous feedback via a computer station,
website or email
Display a list of topics and/or sample pages
Ask participants to rate their interest in the proposed contents of the
site
When you elicit input on the content of your site, you may find that a group
in your target audience is not interested in your primary purpose. For instance,
you may find that adventurous home cooks are not interested in purchasing fruit
online, that they would rather buy fruit at an actual store. You may need to
redefine your goal and your target audience based on the results of user
feedback.
Define
your audience/user profile
A clear user/audience profile will help you develop a design strategy that
communicates effectively to the people you want your site to reach. Using the
input from potential users, follow these steps in order to complete your
profile:
Determine whether your audience is inside the company, in which case you
would probably use an intranet, or outside the company, in which case
you would use the internet
Identify the category your target group is in (such as people in
the food industry)
Identify the level of subject expertise within that group (such
as food professionals, home connoisseurs, etc.)
Determine the order of their information preferences, or which
pieces of information users want first, second, third, and so on (for example,
they may want to first see what fruits are in season, followed by the cost of
these fruits)
Define audience characteristics such as profession, location,
gender, age, or lifestyle preferences when they are relevant
Describe scenarios of use, or those situations or circumstances
under which the site may be used (such as a health-food restaurant chef trying
to use unusual food items to make the menu more exotic and interesting)
Describe your users' range of abilities, and account for vision,
hearing, mobility, or cognitive impairments
Describe your users' environments, and note any environmental
challenges such as poor lighting or noise, and any technical challenges such
as screen size and number of colors
Identify users' level of technical expertise in using a website
(their expertise will affect decisions regarding the technical sophistication
of the design)
Determine what hardware and browser software your audience uses
Identify what monitors and screen resolutions your audience uses
