Webmaster Resources

» Barb Mosher - website scenarios

Hi Angela,

The first thing you need to do is define some personas for your products/services. You probably have a good idea from your own research who uses these types of products. Your left navigation shows some general audience categories that you can use to get started. So for example, a persona could be the following:
- Beth, 32 years old
- pregnant - first baby
- wants to have a natural childbirth
- looking for information related to ways to ease pain and/or discomfort during birth

So you have your persona (this is an example - you know your audience better and may modify this one as required). Think about what Beth is going to do - she wants information related to ways to ease pain, she wants a natural childbirth. Her first step? Maybe to do a search on Google. What keywords/phrases might she use (ensure you are using these on the pages in your site that she would be interested in).

So maybe a link to your site comes up and she clicks it. What are you going to have on the page (pages) that gives her the information she wants and in a way that encourages her to purchase one of your products? Think about how you name navigation, what key pieces of information/selling you place in the top part of your page (think important information always in the first or top of the page because people do not always scroll).

Defining personas and then walking through scenarios they might do to find your products forces you to think about how to present information to those audiences better. It forces you to think about how you name things, where you place content on your site, how you set up your catalog and shopping cart experience to ensure a sale. Scenarios should put you in the mind of the consumer. They should also help you understand how your website relates to other ways consumers can get your products (in person, via phone).

I hope this information provides you with some good ideas to get started.