It’s important that you remember your target audience when thinking about the design, features and content of your website.  What a social networking site for teenagers would want is vastly difference from a pensions advice site, or a gardening site.

By thinking like your target audience, and seeing the site as they would, you can ensure that your design, functionality and content will appeal to them.

You wouldn’t use slang in content relating to choosing a mortgage, whilst you wouldn’t want to take a formal tone on a ring tone site.

As well as the content, you need to remember that the layout, colours and typeface are important too.

You’ll also want to ensure that your calls to action are appropriate and prominent, so that visitors know what to do next.

Why not see what else can help your site appeal to your target audience:

• Logoand images, and videos
• Features – will your visitors expect to be able to rate your products, share your videos, or add their own content?
• Will having a forum, or chat facility mean that your visitors are likely to spend more time on your website?
• Will your visitors want to be able to easily download your brochure, forms or reports
• If your website is aimed at pre-school children, then having a text-rich site will be pointless, as they can’t read.
• Is your website as simple to use as it could be? if it’s hard to use then it might be off putting to those with little internet experience
• Is your information easy to find
• Are you using the same terms and expressions as your intended visitors?

By ensuring that you are on the same wavelength as your audience, and by thinking about which other sites they are likely to be using, your website is much more likely to be successful.

The style of your website is very important and should be given plenty of consideration.  Again, like colours, your website needs to appeal to your target audience, and so the style and navigation, as well as content is fundamental.

What impression does the style of your website give? Is it welcoming? Formal? Full of slang? Appropriate for your visitors and target audience? Is it similar to your competitors and right for your industry?

Whilst I’m not a designer, or a style guru of any sort, I understand the importantance of using the right sort of colours on websites.

• Depending on the type of website, who it’s aimed at, and what it’s promoting, the colours will need to be different.
• A social networking site for teenagers will need to use different colours than an ecommerce site with a target audience aimed at the over 60s.
• Some colours are calming, whilst some encourage anger, some colours are cold and others are warming.

What do the colours on your website say about your company, your products, or your target audience?

How can you use different colours, or different shades of colours to help your visitors navigate your site and find what they are looking for?

What other usability benefits can using the right colours have on your traffic or conversion rate?