WordPress Theme development process – Beginner, Part 3 (Identify User)

Identify your user

This is not an easy step. The user of your website is not likely going to be the “Ideal” user you are thinking about, and most of all YOU are not the example of the user that will likely use or find your site. While it is easy to design based upon what you would like your site to provide, you will find out that the users of the site will help direct your design and information you provide. Before you start to plan your site, I found a great video from a WordCamp held in NYC in 2015 that further describes the concept of user.

General Steps

Here are the steps to follow along in the series.

1. Overview – describe  the purpose
2. Local development – Set up development server with DesktopServer Limited (free version)
3. Identify user – and problem I am attempting to solve for them
4. Topic list – Categorize list of needs of users and topics of discussion
5. Research similar sites – and analyze how they answer the user’s needs
6. Create storyboards – or sitemaps for different posts and pages.
7. Sketch on paper various page layouts, first in mobile view and then on up to desktop
8. Determine extra functionalities needed and possible plugins that could be utilized
9. Create page/post templates
10. Test, Test, and Test some more
11. Upload to a live site

Points to consider

You will want to consider who your planned target audience is, and their current motivation while on your site. Make sure you fully understand the context in which they are visiting the site. Try to understand the “problem” you are helping them with.

Target Audience

Until you actually get visitors and watch their usage patterns with analytics, you have to make an assumption on who your intended target audience is. What are the age ranges, socio/economic backgrounds, general education vs. post graduate/masters program, purchasing goods or looking for information and any other descriptor you can imagine. Write them all down and try to create a general profile for at least three different users.

Motivation

Why did the user find your site? Have they been their before and found it useful? Are they trying to quickly find a short answer or looking for an in depth article on a specific topic? Are they in need of purchasing your product quickly or are they just doing research? Are they driving in their car and looking for your hours or contact information? You need to step back and imagine their situation and the Context in which they are looking for assistance.

The Problem

For most sites, you are trying to answer some question or provide a solution to their current problem. Define the problems you plan to solve. What are the questions they could be asking, and how can you best answer their need?

Remejy.Com planning

So, who are the users of my own site? Since this site is very new, I do not have any good analytics yet to really get an idea of what my users are looking for. I would imagine that my users are looking for in-depth articles to help them better understand various aspects of WordPress. They know there are many other sites out there that discuss the same issues, but may not like how little information is out there without all the extra fluff from ads or articles without substance. Based upon my experiences with WordPress Meetups and the WordCamp, I know the users will be of varying ages and backgrounds. There are some highly experienced users out there, but my current concentration is to assist the newer users of WordPress, as I plan to answer the common questions that come up in a Meetup.

User01: younger male, with little college or only high school education. Works full time at low rate of pay and looking for a way to increase his opportunity to make money online. He is new to WordPress and has very little knowledge of PHP, but a small bit of familiarity with HTML and simple CSS

User02: young to middle age female. Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. Working full time, but not in the career education is for. Employer has a few websites that either need to be converted to WordPress or are already setup on WordPress with a custom pre-built theme. Understands HTML and CSS and a small bit of javascript and PHP.

User03: middle age female not necessarily working a full time job or works at home as a stay at home Mom (a full time job mind you). No familiarity with websites, or HTML. Heard about WordPress to create a blog and would like to learn more. Has a great eye for visual design and considers self to be an artist. She has enough technical knowledge to use a web browser and create Office documents.

I will keep each of these users in mind as I continue the process. None of these may fit who you are, but the goal of this exercise is to create at least three potential users. You can create as many as you see fit, but I think three at a minimum should get you a good start.

Recap

In the beginning, it is difficult to imagine your intended user. Only time will give you a better understanding, but know that they typically will not be like you. Take the time to write out who the users are, understand the context in which you are trying to solve their problem and decide how best you might be able to provide an answer.

Next Step > Topic list