One of the first things a business owner might do when starting their business is determine their target audience. Even after narrowing down your target audience, however, you’ll still find a lot of diversity in your customer base. Whether they’re of various ages, genders, careers, cultures or needs, there are many different types of people who may be interested in and find value in your product or service. In order to appeal to them all, then, you’ll need to design your website thoughtfully.
Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the strategies you can use to make your website more appealing to a diverse audience. Try out one of their methods to ensure everyone has a positive experience with your business.
Young Entrepreneur Council members share advice on website building for a wide audience.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Leverage Storytelling
Use storytelling to widen the appeal of your product or service. As humans, our brains are wired to remember and relate to stories that we hear. You can leverage this trait on your website by crafting a story (both visually and contextually) that speaks to your most common customers and personas. Your core target audience will naturally see themselves in these stories and relate to how your business can help solve their problems. Additionally, potential users who may be outside of your narrow target persona will also be able to relate to the story you’re portraying and see themselves in your narrative. In this way, you can capture people in your core audience but still appeal to a broader audience in a compelling way. – Arian Radmand, IgnitePost
2. Change Up Your Site Navigation
Rather than creating a website structure that forces visitors to choose the type of product or service they want, let them choose who they are or what their needs are first, and then, create paths that lead them to the most relevant information. For so long, websites have been built with the assumption that consumers already know what they’re looking for, but that’s not the case. Most people are in the research phase when they land on your website. They don’t know exactly what type of product or service they need to meet their needs. With that in mind, create site navigation that allows them to find information based on who they are or what they want, and then lead them to the right solutions. A list of products is unlikely to be helpful, but a list of needs or problems will be. – Jonathan Prichard, MattressInsider.com
3. Rework Your Photos
There are many ways to create diversity on websites, but the first, easiest and most important thing you can do to make your website more appealing to a wider audience is to rework your photos. A photo is worth a thousand words, and people remember them better too. Many website owners pick photos based on their interests and appeal, and yet, they aren’t the ones buying the product or service. Your photos should include a mix of people, places, products and cultural differences that appeal to your wider audience. For instance, stock photos should include people of different ages and ethnicities. That means also including children and older adults as well as those in your target age groups. Even products can be diversified in photos with some targeting families and others aimed at younger single people. – Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
4. Focus On Use Cases
Rather than be so generic as to appeal to no one, I prefer to give several specific use cases that speak closely to some. For example, my game was for all ages. I chose to describe our product as being “great for when you are bored with no Wi-Fi at the doctor’s office,” or “for when you are stressed out and want a couple minutes to relax.” These were phrases we saw echoed back to us in five-star user reviews, and that helped us stand out in an otherwise crowded market. – Pokin Yeung, Big Box Labs
5. Ensure Accessibility Across Devices
You can narrow down your target audience and create a more appealing website by making your online store accessible across a wide range of devices. I’ve found that accessibility is one of the biggest barriers between businesses and their customer base. A website that isn’t mobile-responsive will miss out on a ton of potential traffic and sales if 70% of people try to access the site from a smartphone. – John Turner, SeedProd LLC
6. Incorporate Internal Links
Google’s current algorithm encourages companies to publish “long” text pages that allow users to read long text without having to leave a page. At the same time, internal links allow the user to quickly and efficiently skip ahead or navigate to the sections of your site that specifically pertain to them. For example, offering the user a link that says “If you’re an HR professional, click here” can keep a user on your page longer and ultimately lead them to the “Contact Us” section. In addition to making the site more efficient for the user, Google’s SEO algorithm favors internal links. It’s a win-win for all! – Bill Mulholland, ARC Relocation
7. Make Your Content Easy To Read
While other factors like typography, graphics and a website’s responsiveness determine whether your website is appealing or not, content scannability is important for visitors of all types. In most cases, users will only read about 20% of the text on an average page, which results in a lot of scanning. Most people tend to focus on the introduction, scan through headers and stop at interesting photos and callouts. For this reason, webpages should be designed with a good balance between visual and written elements. In that way, readers can easily get through and understand the content. – Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day
8. Highlight Universally Appealing Product Features
Getting too focused on hyper-targeting can overcomplicate things for your marketing and messaging. Sometimes, it even dilutes your overall brand message. So, instead of attempting to provide personalized UI experiences or messaging for every type of buyer, offer them product value that appeals to them regardless of their demographics. Perhaps one way to lightly personalize the experience without diluting your brand messaging is by highlighting more diverse customer reviews so that buyers feel they are better represented among your target audience. But don’t go so far as to overhaul your whole landing page each time. – Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep Mattress
9. Keep It Simple
Everyone appreciates simplicity when it comes to completing a task. When customers hit your website, they don’t want to be inundated with complex offers and pop-up ads and whatever other trendy marketing tactic is currently the newest, hottest thing. They are going to your website for a reason. You offer a solution to their problem in some way, shape or form. No matter how diverse your audience is, they will all appreciate a streamlined way to get what they want from you as soon as possible. Fully optimize your user experience and you’ll please everybody, which is good news for you because that means repeat customers. Sometimes, simplicity is all it takes! – Nick Venditti, StitchGolf
