When potential clients come to see us about web design, they usually have a lot of ideas about what they want their new site to look like, and what sort of role it will fill in the business. They will invariably begin by explaining that they want more incoming leads, or to generate additional revenue.
One thing they aren’t always sure about, however, is who will actually be visiting and interacting with the website in the first place.
Certainly, they know they are out to attract customers, and typically have some idea of where their customers live and work. But, when it comes down to identifying them as individuals, a lot of business owners feel stumped.
Believe it or not, this is something that matters a great deal to a good web design team. Because we set up pages, calls to action, and even individual elements like fonts to appeal to a specific kind of buyer, we like to narrow in on personas as tightly as possible.
Let’s take a look at how this works, and why it’s so important…
Introducing Visitor and Customer Personas
Personas are a way to think about big groups of searchers, customers, and other interested parties and individual terms. In other words, you aggregate them into representative people who are easier to understand.
As an example, if you were a business web design team near Chicago like we are, you could have a persona you called “Dave.” Dave might be a business owner, and his 50s, with around 20 employees. He has a website, but doesn’t rank well in Google or the other search engines and feels like his internet strategy is not as sharp as it could be.
This is just an example, but one that points to the need to have strong personas for each group of buyers or influencers involved in the decision-making process. The better you know them, the easier it is to set up your website and content for their needs.
How to Build Strong Website Personas
Creating strong personas for your customers really comes down to research and attention to detail. You might have to pull existing buyers, conduct some interviews, or engage your current web analytics to see who is coming to your website, which concerns are bringing them there, and what they are hoping to find.
Note that not everyone who comes to your site is a buyer. Some people will arrive on your pages by accident, and others might be conducting research on behalf of someone they work for or with (think of a spouse, a department head, or an administrative assistant). Each of these people has their own ideas, knowledge level, and concerns that may or may not line up with what the decision-maker will have on their mind.
Building Content for Every Audience
Knowing that you have these different audiences coming to your website, it’s important to structure your content in a way that appeals to each of them. For example, you could have technical specifications for one type of persona, and a PDF buying guide for another. Some personas might prefer offers that revolve around phone calls and in-person visits, while others might prefer to complete interactions online.
The better you know your personas, the easier it is to tilt your content and conversion strategy towards their wants and needs. That’s where the real value of all this research actually comes into play.
Putting Solid Internet Marketing Strategy to Good Use
When you have strong customer and visitor personas, you have a good sense of what your target market is like – and, an idea of what they want from your website in addition to the conversions you’re hoping for. Put all that information together and you have the recipe for online marketing success!
If you’re ready to work with the team that understands how the various pieces of web design, search engine marketing, and social media can come together into a profitable strategy, contact Weblinx at 630-551-0334 x1 today!