Communication
Regardless of whether you're designing a brochure or a large corporate website, effective communication is the key element.

Who are you planning to communicate with?
Consider who you are talking to and what his or her purposes, perceptions, biases and hesitations might be. Most websites that purely preach to the visitor are very ineffective.

Don't chase your targeted customers away
Websites provide a great opportunity to reach people from all walks of life and as a whole your potential visitors have unlimited interests. So be sure to take care to prepare your copy and layout in a way that reaches your 'targeted' visitors quickly. Each visitor has arrived at your website for a reason. If he or she feels within the first five seconds that your pages may have what they are looking for, they may subconsciously allow themselves around ten to twenty seconds more - to dig a little deeper before committing themselves to more time. In some instances people who are seeking a long read will sit down and read a book, but not always, so think about this when you are writing your content.

Look and feel
The first impression on your visitors is of the utmost importance and your website's general look and feel must be tailored to reach your targeted audience. A simple, fast loading, easy to navigate, no-fuss site is often more useful to the average visitor than a website that locks up until a flash animation is loaded; but other people are looking for visual stimulation. It's no use building a site with both design and copy elements that are impressing the wrong audience! Although there is an unlimited number of design ideas and the back-up technology to provide visitors with a wealth of visual or audio effects, they are extremely annoying to someone who is researching or looking to order a bunch of flowers online before rushing out of the office for a quick lunch. The look and feel is of the utmost importance to portray the correct image to your audience.

Targeting everyone
People sometimes think, because they can reach "millions of people" with their website, that they will target "everybody". Well, "everybody" may not be at all interested in your product. How often have you been 'surfing' the Internet to find a local store and during this time, just happen to purchase a car, a printer, and a pair of socks? This kind of broad shooting is normally not effective and if not done properly, can be astronomically costly.

Finding your target audience
A good idea is to communicate with your visitors through feedback forms on your pages and get some feedback from the people who are looking for your product or service. But you must do this in a manner that doesn't intimidate them. People are always reluctant to provide their email address to strangers and your visitors will represent a wide variety of people. The majority of white and blue collar workers under forty-five years of age use the internet for everything they can but many of them will steer away from websites that don't do the job that is expected. Websites need to be tailored to effectively relate to the audience(s) you have targeted. As you will be aware, there should be a big difference between an online stock brokerage company and a children's game website.

Reviewing other websites
Reviewing other business websites developed by people who are already established in your field is an excellent way of obtaining content ideas. Although the creators of the 'original' works may have exclusive rights through 'copyright', there are often some great general ideas that can get you started. Design ideas such as navigation, colour and style can also be obtained this way. Websites of businesses and organisations that are similar to yours will also provide you with ideas for sections and suitable headings - take their good ideas and improve upon them.

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