Importance of Audience Profile in Constructing a Website - Research Paper Example

Importance of audience profile in constructing a web site abstract The target of having a website means to have proper accessibility with the target audience. This is possible only if the site has got enough support in the making and maintenance of it. There are few simple things that needs to be followed for proper accessibility of the site This paper is making an enquiry about all these factors and is preparing a report for better enhancement of a site. Introduction As someone plans to make a website, the foremost criterion is to make it user friendly. For this purpose it is very important to have a closer inspection over the issue of audience profile. The target should be distinctively for the purpose of being able to communicate well with the audience. This is the core processing unit before proceeding further in the task. It is very important to understand the psychology of the audience in making any further deal with the making of the website. The comprehensive persuasion is very important and so is the understanding of the needs that can satisfy the audience. There are many websites that have got excellent ways to create accessibility for the visitors. These are all done after making all kinds of proceedings related to the understanding of the particular Audience Profiles. The matter of audience profile is exclusively related to the target audience who are the probable buyer of your product or the services that you provide. In most cases the website designing companies lays more emphasis over the traffic that comes in from the US, than over the needs of the visitors all over the world. Audience Profile The basic need to have an 'Audience Profile' is to make the website more user-friendly, and in this process, it becomes very important to make a vivid survey over the market. The purpose of the audience profile lays emphasis over the demonstration of showing standard demographics of a particular area, state or country. These separations can be related to the demarcations on the basis of gender, area of residence, educational facilities, age, clothing & accessory use, TV sites etc. these are all investigated over the means of preferences that these people chose to have. The application of 'Audience Keywords’ is also very vital in this process. These are the identification of the keywords applied in a site that are mostly typed by the audience as they make a search of the relative topic. The selection of the keywords is the actual key that makes the website come under the specific notification of the user through the search engine. The keywords thus need to be more appropriately closer to the content of the website. All kinds of relevant words that can bring in the notice of the user must get included in the making of the site. The accessibility through the application of proper keywords can well structure the traffic towards the website. The objective is to make your site active in the Search Engine Optimization unit. Apart from the keywords, the application of links too plays a major role in making the website closer to the user. This is possible when you add your site along with other connected sites. This is the inter-relationship that a site can share with a related site. The purpose is to direct the user to your site through some other sites. As the user ends up in one site and is still in search of the matter, the link can very easily bring the user to your site. Accessibility analysis The process for the website accessibility depends a lot in the analytical means of all the services that are related to it. These are the means for the ensuring of products and services that a client mostly hunts for in the internet. It is particularised system that works for the accessibility with enough cost-effective actors. As per Teaching Information Technology to a non-Technical, the website gets designed with the aim to meet the branching requirements of a sound business practice under legal supervision. The accessibility analysis is dome in order to make the website accessible for all users. This is very much irrespective of ability or any kind of disability of the user. In case of commercial businesses and all kinds of government agencies the accessibility needs to be equal and without any hindrances. The provision must be for accessibility evaluations on regular basis. This is an integral part of the website maintenance sector. The chief motive is to ensure that the website is getting accessible all the targeted users. Common Problems There are many website designers who exclude the common accessibility features in the process of designing a website. The inclusion of these features is actually mandatory to improve the user experience. In case of customers who are using screen readers or assistive technologies like that of mobile phone browser or some kinds of personal digital assistant or in some cases low-bandwidth connections the accessibility of the website needs to be more determining. There is in general some lack that persists in the designing of the websites. These are - a. Proper Tab order, along with "Skip navigation" links that can bring in better navigation to the site b. Addition of well-organized tables along with proper summarised portions can get the website indexed by search engines c. It is important to check the text-based menus. These menus need to be with huge "sweet spots" so that it can well generate low-mobility users d. Application of larger font sizes can add to the relative values. This will serve the purpose for low vision along with the provision of older users (Bernard, M., Liao, C., and Mills, M. 2001) e. For Jakob Nielsen, (1999) application of fluid layouts can very comfortably adapt to all kinds of varied and well distributed form factors. f. Application of flash images lowers down the download process and that makes the user switch to some other site. Keeping a track of all these things while investing for a website; is very important. If somebody ignores all these things then he might end up with time-consuming affects and all kinds of costly lawsuits. The Solution As for a proper and user friendly website, it is very important to have the accessibility analysis. The website needs to be well scrutinised by some website specialists and needs to be maintained well for Search Engine Optimization. As per Berkman, N. D et al (2004), it needs to be so designed that more accessibility can be added to the audience profile. It must meet all the needs of the audience as per the current standards of accessibility. A website will never get popularity till it is capable enough of satisfying its users. There are many benefits that can be added to the website if it constructed well and maintained with all professionalism. a. As per the analysis forwarded by Nia and Nlm (2002), prevention and the reduction of potential lawsuits along with the associated costs will be well analysed b. The maintenance services improve the download process c. With proper application of accessibility the website will definitely improve consistency in the proceedings related to the navigation flows d. It will increase the amount of flexibility that gets associated with the means of device independent code. e. Proper speculation over the services increase the possibilities in the search engine rankings f. Absolute creation of content is the spine for any website and that is very vital in getting more users. The content needs to be precise and comprehensive. g. According to Information Literacy: Competency Standards for Higher Education (2001), the accessibility needs to suit the audience profile on the basis of international market criteria. This works towards the increase in the global reach of the company h. Proper speculation also decreases the site maintenance costs of the website i. It is also very important to demonstrate all the commitments and social responsibilities of the company in a nutshell Conclusion It is therefore very important to follow all the features that can keep the website easily available through the search engine. Applications of the audience profile needs to be as per the international standards. Above all proper evaluations and upgradation of the site is very important. It is also very necessary to select the right keywords to make the accessibility grow better in the SEO. References Berkman, N. D., Dewalt, D. A., Pignone, M. P., Sheridan, S. L., Lohr, K. N, Lux, L. Sutton, S. F., Swinson, T., and Bonito, A. J. 2004. Literacy and health outcomes, summary, evidence report. Technology Assessment 87. North Carolina Evidence-based Practice Center, Publication No. 04-E007-1. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Rockville, MD) Bernard, M., Liao, C., and Mills, M. 2001. Determining the best online font for older adults. Usability News 3, 1 http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/3W/fontSR.htm (Retrieved Nov. 06. 2008) Information Literacy: Competency Standards for Higher Education (2001). Teacher Librarian, 28.3, 16-22. Persistent link: http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=EJ628275&db=eric&tg=AN (Retrieved Nov. 06. 2008) Jakob Nielsen, 1999. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity, New Riders Publishing, Thousand Oaks, CA Nia and Nlm. 2002. Making your Web site senior-friendly: A checklist. National Institute on Aging and National Library of Medicine. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/checklist.pdf. (Retrieved Nov. 06. 2008) Nielsen, J. 1996. Top ten mistakes in Web design. http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html (Retrieved Nov. 06. 2008) Teaching Information Technology to a non-Technical, Audience: Graduate Course on IT for the Historical Profession, Shawn A. Ross, William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey, USA Read More