Targeting Your Audience

January 21, 2009
 

A user- and search-friendly site is a great thing to have, but no matter how high-quality your site is, it doesn’t mean much if the right audience doesn’t see it. The topic of today’s show is collecting users’ demographic information and targeting your intended audience. Bruce, Susan and Virginia kick off the show by discussing how you can get your site noticed by potential customers. Create a memorable brand and be present in the locations where your audience hangs out. That way, when they’re looking for something you provide, they’ll be more likely to find you.

Scott Skurnick, director of SEO and user insight at Edmunds.com, talks to Virginia about how his company gains understanding about user behavior and desires. Different buyer segments, such as families, new drivers and green car enthusiasts, are offered unique car buying guides. Twitter is an engaging channel for communication and service. Leverage the appropriate social networks, user surveys and offline channels for effective holistic audience targeting.

Then Susan, Michael and Virginia look into ways to collect user demographic info. Microsoft adCenter has insightful keyword demographic data that you can use to focus your marketing efforts. Market research, focus groups and customer surveys are also ways to find out more about your customers. And of course, analytics data and Web server logs tell you a lot about where visitors are coming from, what they’re looking at on your site, and where they’re going from there.