Design Decisions vs. Audience Considerations

I loved the author's definition of audience!

"What distinguishes your audience from visitors and users? Visitors include everyone who happens upon your site. Users are intentional visitors who are looking for something specific.

Your Audience are the visitors you are trying to reach, to whom you are trying to deliver your message, and with whom you are most likely trying to establish an ongoing relationship. They are made up of groups of individuals with certain characteristics, needs, and desires in common."

For some reason I never felt like I had received such an appropriate definition of what an audience really is, until I read this paragraph. I never realized the true importance of knowing this.

The author provides so many valuable ideas for creating your website to tailor to user's needs. I particularly liked the ideas for 'Customizing the Experience.' The idea of a mailing list (while annoying for the user to sign up for...) is actually a good idea. Learning your customer's preferences and tailoring to them as much as possible is basic customer service.