When creating a web site or other interactive experience, it is important to know whom you are targeting your message to reach. Using a generic description like “project engineers and marketing managers in the electronics industry” will allow you to write copy and design a site, but will it end up bringing in the type of person who will act on your message and promotions?

With the proper SEO/SEM strategy, you will get some site traffic, but will they move past the first page on your site before moving on to the site they really are interested in, or worse, to your competitor’s web site? To attract the right people, create “personas” to ensure that your site will meet your business objectives.

Personas are descriptions of the types of person that you want to visit and interact on your web site. Persons are not ‘real people,’ but rather they are realistic figures that are used to ensure your design, copy, graphics and illustration are appropriate to meeting their needs and your business goals. Creating a person is an exercise in imagination, using factual data, habits and observations of real people who fit your target audiences.

When creating personas, you want to include the following details:

• A real name
• Location
• Gender
• Age
• Personal information, including family relationships
• Work environment and conditions
• Computer proficiency
• Attitudes
• Information-seeking habits
• Media influences
• Personal and professional goals
• A quote

Having a half-dozen, believeable personas will assist your development team in creating an online experience that will be compelling to site visitors, improve your site performance and will lead to improved conversions – like more sales and qualified leads.

Tags: design, development