A major part of creating web content is appealing to the audience. To appeal to the audience, you first have to know who your audience is. Here, I’m going to examine web audience scenarios for a fashion blog that I follow, Caphillstyle.
The blog was created by Belle, who describes her blog as “a fashion blog for women who don’t want to sacrifice their sense of style for professional success.” She focuses on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. From reading Belle’s blog, it is clear that the intended demographic of her audience is professional women around 30 (20 at the youngest, 40 at the oldest) either in Washington or on the East Coast (the intense discussion of appropriate Derby attire would never occur anywhere else). However, as Redish explains in “Writing Web Content that Works”, demographics alone cannot be used to define an audience. Scenarios are an effective alternative that give a more well-rounded idea of a target audience.
Here is a scenario I created for Caphillstyle:
This is Amy. She is 28 years old and works as a staffer on Capitol Hill. Amy lives in an apartment in the pricey DC area, and is required to dress professionally for her job. However, her clothing is frequently limited to suits and button-downs because she lacks the knowledge and budget to change it to anything more fashion-forward. Amy is trying to get ahead in her job field as well as save money for retirement.
Amy uses the web constantly throughout the day. She is on-call 24/7 from her smartphone and gets updates from work-related sites as well as blogs that she follows for pleasure. Because Amy is budget-conscious and busy, she needs information beyond fashion that tells her not just what to wear, but how to wear it.
Admittedly, my scenario is from the wrong end- I began with the website and extrapolated an audience. However, if the website is effective (and Belle’s popularity shows it is), the scenario should be virtually the same either way.
Additionally, by tailoring the website to suit the scenario, the website is better able to brand itself for the target audience. This branding is one of the most important aspects of creating a website and allows it to be useful and memorable.
Byting Insights 