Using Who, What, Where, When and Why - Website design planning

What are the 5 w’s? Well, Wikipedia puts it like this ...

"The Five Ws, Five Ws and *one H, or the Six Ws are questions whose answers are considered basic in information gathering".

*Some authors add a sixth question, “how”, to the list, though "how" can also be covered by "what", "when", or "where".

So in the context of website design planning it's a good idea to ask these questions.

1. Who is your target audience? Is it a well defined single group or is it a number of smaller prioritised groups?

2. What happens when someone from your target audience visits your site? What do they want to do? What do you want them to do?

3. Where is the site visitor? At work on a large desktop computer? On a train using a laptop? At home with a tablet or perhaps in a coffee shop on a mobile phone?

4. When do they visit? During the working day? In the evening at home or in the pub?

5. Why did they come to your site? What are they hoping to achieve and can they achieve it?

So next time you are writing a new website brief or updating your existing website content, think of the 5 w's - they might come in handy.

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