Praxis Communications, Inc.

CREATING A SINGLE SITE FOR MULTIPLE AUDIENCES
Challenge:
Companies usually build a corporate web site to promote their products and services. Given the fact that they offer many different products in multiple marketplaces, how can they develop a cohesive site that speaks to each audience, particularly when these markets have little or no common ground? Companies often have multiple lines and multiple businesses (perhaps by acquisition) that have little or no common ground. Customers and prospects want information on topics specific to their needs and will leave quickly if those needs are not being addressed. A web site's first responsibility is to distribute information relevant to the viewer.

Solution:
The first step is to make a list of the target audiences, starting with the primary and secondary markets. You can break down these audiences by: general education, subject matter knowledge, income, age, and values. However, if you end up with wildly dissimilar audiences, you may opt for a login - to take the user to one of several defined main headings, and leave cookies to “remember them” each time they return.

The concept of several sub-sites may also be an effective approach. A sub-site is a collection of web pages within a larger site that has been given a common style and a shared navigation mechanism. Sub-sites are used to organize large chunks of information in a complex website, often for different audiences. There are several advantages to this method which offer similar functionality to using a login screen. However, sub-sites allow you to design a series of sites for individual audiences and keep the information in a single large website. All users can access all information. No information is hidden from any user. Sub-sites simply provide an organization scheme while focusing the information on the needs of each audience individually.

Getting it done:
  1. Conduct internal and external analysis of the different target markets. This will take time, but it will become fairly clear who the audience is, and how they rank.
  2. Create a navigational structure that allows for sub navigation and pages that link to those navigational points.
  3. Target content and tools that fit with the largest defined market (a no-brainer) and work down to more concentrated markets as you go.
  4. Create URLS that are unique but still part of the domain to monitor traffic and page rank.
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