Who are your people?
Think about your audience.
We all know that there’s no one more knowledgeable with regards to your business. You know all about everything you have to offer. You’ve been to 10 industry specific conferences just this last year. Heck, you were the keynote speaker at a few of them.
But how are you going to convey your knowledge? Well, that really should depend on who you’re speaking to. You wouldn’t speak to your puppy, child, grandmother, son, father, boss and employees all the same way, so think about who’s going to be listening at the other end of the web.
Are you selling to distributors, individuals, or both? This should have an obvious impact on the amount of technical jargon you’re using. I really have no idea what an “elastomeric insert” or a “split-flange adapter” is, but some one must since you can find them on the internet. Technical jargon might make you sound smart, as some MIT students have proven, but will it sell your product or convey your message? The answer is: maybe, it’s all dependent on your audience.
What is the age range of your target audience? Have they been using the internet since Reagan’s first term, the introduction of built-in modems, or just last week? If you offer services for the elderly, you may want to consider a larger font size, high contrast and bigger click targets for buttons.
What type of connection are they most likely to use? If most of your target demographic is still using dial-up, you should reconsider that graphic-rich design or you might lose them before the page finishes loading.
Okay, so planning is starting to seem like a lot of work, but really, this stuff’s just going to make your website more successful in the end.