What does your target audience want to see?

Having a website is not enough anymore. Competition is all over the Internet and you only have a few precious seconds to capture and hold your target audience’s attention before they click and leave forever. This means we better know our audience’s wants and needs and have a well thought out content strategy.

So often when I work with retail clients they express the things they like versus what is important to their audience. Instead of asking yourself “What do I want on my website?” ask “What does my target audience want on my website?”

Creating an ongoing content strategy should begin with defining what is it your audience will want to see. Too often websites are created and left stagnant. Updates to the websites are non-existent and visitors abandon the websites quickly. For 2011, the smartest thing a business could do on the Internet is to create a website content strategy based on the question: “What does my target audience want to see?” and make a commitment to regularly update their website. Start by scratching the question and possible answers down on paper. Maybe ask customers what they want on a website. Follow industry trends and who is getting your audience’s attention. Last, be sure to use website analytics to determine what web pages are working and not working.

After all, it is not about you, it’s about them. By satisfying their online needs you definitely will have a much greater chance of capturing more online customers.