Understanding who your users are is a integral step to building your Website.   Profiles describe the individual characteristics of your visitors.  We create profiles as a way to more deeply understand your users.  With this knowledge, you can then tailor your Website to exactly match their needs, and therefore create a good user experience for them.

Traditional profiles for user groups answer these kinds of questions:

1.   Who are my users?  What are their demographics?  (Demographics are an audience breakdown based on various characteristics such as age, sex, income, education, etc.)  

2.   How comfortable are they with using the Web? 3.   Do the users have any disabilities or challenges in seeing for example?  (Remember there is a large base of senior customers in Sarasota. I’m not in my golden years, but I appreciate type that I can read.  Your copy should be  large enough and black enough without having to squint.)

4.   How often do they use the Web?  For example,  daily, a couple times per week, once a month, once a year?

5.   Hardware. Are they using smart phones to access your Website, laptops, or desktop computers?

6.   Browsers, Operating Systems.   What browsers are they using?  Check with BrowserWatch.com to see which are the most popular browsers being used today.  This will give you a good indication of the various browsers the Website will need to be designed for.  What operating systems do they use?

7.   Overall computer experience. 

8.  Task knowledge.  How familiar are they with the task at hand? 

So ok.  Go ahead and give it a try! Just take out a few sheets of paper, your favorite pencil and a cup of ‘joe. Think about the points we mentioned above and write down who your website users are. (If you are thinking, “But this is silly, Diane and hard, and boring, blah, blah, blah, whine, whine.” Toughen up bucko. You may be tempted to be very naughty and skip it. But before you don’t do it, ask yourself why do the big boys spend thousands of dollars on usability studies? (hint, hint!)

If you do a little ground work now, you will be ensuring your Website is really designed for your users and not just serve as a brochure for your company.  This bit of effort will pay off quite well for you in the long run. Remember, be very, very quiet. We are huntin’ customers. So be patient, and give it a whirl.

Hi there!  So you have decided you would like to make or redesign your Sarasota Website.  Congratulations!  Here are some great tips to help you get started.

Want a Website that attracts customers?  Then you must think like your customers.   Shhhhh, we’re hunting customers.   Don’t start spending your time and resources before you have a final audience in mind.

( Top secret insider tip:  Your Website isn’t really for you, or your designer’s ego, or programmer’s elegant coding ability.  It’s for your customers to be able to find stuff they are looking for.  They are only going to give you about 10 seconds so you better make it clear and snappy.)

User-friendly, user-centered. 

This should be your mantra as you begin.   What does this mean, and how do you make your Website user-centered?  Ok, we’ll learn all about that but first let’s have a little fun shall we?  You’ve been sitting at that computer all day, me too, so we  deserve a little break.   Here’s a nice lesson from our friends,  the  Talking Heads.  While watching it I’d like you to concentrate on the lyrics…”and you may ask how did I get here?”

Did you get my secret message for you?  After the Website is finished, you don’t want to be faced with pesky thoughts like…. ”This isn’t my Website,  These aren’t my beautiful customers… My God, What have I done?  Or worse yet, My Website is the same as it ever was!   “How did I get here?”   Gasp!  Heaven forbid!

Never fear, grab my hand.   I am here as your friendly Website producer guiding you through the jungle of decisions.  Together we can make  a friendly, user-centered Website that is will be just right for your business.

Tip 1
Ok, remember our mantra, “user-friendly, user-centered”?  Focusing on your potential customers and what they really want will help you to create the most effective:

• Interface design
• Writing style
• Message
• Information design
• Functionality 
• Branding  



In order to get your friendly customer to buy, you need to help them efficiently get what they are looking for.  Also don’t forget  your Website should be interesting enough that they tell their friends, and they come back for more!

Ultimately what you are looking for is to increase your overall conversion rate or sales.   Your customer finds what they are looking for, and as a result converts to a sale by contacting you or purchasing your products. 

Ever notice everyone’s Website looks the same these days, or darn near it? 
Why is that? 

Do a search on Google and take a look at Web Designers portfolios.  See what I mean?  Now do a search on Website templates.   Shhhhh…I just exposed something top secret.  If you hear of a missing Web designer in Sarasota,  you know the boys have kidnapped me and sent me back to New York. Not that I blame them Website design isn’t easy if you are good. We must keep constantly on the go as technology and applications change like the wind.

But, the simple fact is the Internet is being quickly populated using Website templates.  They are churned out by numerous companies selling to Website designers that resell to you.    Sure they are pretty, slick got all kinds of flash.  But if you are serious about building your brand, do you want to look exactly like everyone else, including your competition?  Didn’t think so.  

Your brand is everything.   After custom designing Websites since 1998 we have learned a few things about that.   We specialize in branding, usability, information design, and creating a unique site for your exact target audience.   A template spun out of a factory and sold to a thousand other people for $40.00  is never, ever going to set you apart or be memorable in any way.

• Your Website is your brand.  Not a carbon copy of everyone else.  Remember  that movie “Multiplicity”?  A copy of a copy of a copy is always a bad idea.  Repeat after me, genuine, unique, authentic.
  
• Your people are not smiling stock photos.  They are unique, breathing individuals that are actually real.   Be proud you are carbon based!
•  Your message can’t be spun out of a mumbo-jumbo marketing menu.  Use real words, written by you not boring canned spiel.
• Be relevant, dare to be different.  Be yourself.
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Oh and out of interest of self-disclosure our blog yes indeed does use a WordPress template. Out and out  blasphemy,  I know.  Geez…(red faced indeed) But I promise if I ever get a day off to custom design it as soon as I can.  But  I’m too busy making custom Websites for customers,   Here’s the portfolio to prove it.