Effective websites are designed around user needs, not organizational structures. Before writing content, identify who your primary audience is and what they need to accomplish.
Common Audiences
Examples include:
- Future students
- Current students
- Faculty
- Staff
- Researchers
- Alumni
- Parents and families
- Community partners
- Media representatives
Many websites serve multiple audiences, but it's helpful to focus and select your primary audience. If you have multiple audiences, estimate the percentage splits in traffic to help you prioritize content according to the biggest needs.
Example: BuckeyeThon.osu.edu might be 90% current students, 5% donors, and 5% staff.
Create Audience Profiles
For each audience, consider:
Who are they?
Describe the user group.
Example:
Prospective undergraduate students considering majors.
What are they trying to accomplish?
Example:
Learn about academic programs and admission requirements.
What questions do they have?
Example:
- What can I study?
- How do I apply?
- Who can I contact?
What content do they need?
Example:
- Program information
- Admission requirements
- Contact details
- Student stories
Focus on User Needs
Avoid organizing content based solely on internal departments, committees, or organizational charts. Instead, organize content around what visitors are trying to accomplish.
A visitor rarely thinks:
Which office owns this information?
They usually think:
How do I find what I need?
Activity
List your top audience (or top three if you have more than one) and combine each with your website purpose statement. Ask AI to generate five questions each audience might ask when visiting your website. Compare notes with your team and discuss the most important.
As a follow-up exercise, ask your team the following questions:
- What data do we already have about these audiences?
- Have we reviewed feedback surveys?
- Have we done a site satisfaction study?
- Have we looked at our previous site’s google analytics?
Use data, not opinions, when possible.