the insidedesign blog

Any directory owner that is serious about their business venture needs to create a custom design and look for their web directory. In today’s web environment where 20 directories spring up every day, a custom designed template for your web directory is key to be taken seriously. But not just any design will work, it has to match the needs, preferences and wants of your target audience. This post is aimed at providing directory owners and managers tips and ideas to better improve the design of their web directory.

The first step is to define your target audience. A complicated process that can be made simple just by creating a profile of your ideal user. For AllBuziness.com, the ideal user’s profile would look like this:

• Business professional
• Small to mid size business
• Not very web savvy, but has experience in web navigation
• Busy, needs results quickly
• Looking for either a service or product

Not a very sophisticated profile, but with just a few notes it becomes clear who’s needs we should to be thinking about and who we need to appeal to. Keep in mind, this is a very simplified example of what could be a research intensive ordeal. Also, this example only looks at the ideal user of the directory and does not profile the ideal user who would purchase advertising. In another post, I will go over these distinctions and examples on how to properly profile each.

After you have profiled your ideal user, you need to begin thinking about all the major points, or parts, of what makes a directory design. There are many parts to a design, but lets look at the most common and discuss how each can be designed to appeal to your ideal user (note: we use AllBuziness.com as an example):

• Colors: The colors chosen for your directory can have serious impact on the user of your website. You want to use colors that appeal to your target user, while detracting from colors that may negatively impact a user’s opinion about your directory. At AllBuziness.com, we have chosen to go with a blue palette because this is a common color scheme of business oriented resources and reflects important values of our directory. Want to learn more about the meaning behind colors? Read this article at About.com.
• Layout: How you position content, navigation and tools on your directory can have a positive or negative impact on your ideal user’s experience. When designing the layout of your directory, you need to reflect on your ideal user profile. If your user needs results quickly, such as the ideal user for AllBuziness.com, you may stress the search function on the homepage rather than the directory category structure. The idea here is to look at what content/service you want to provide and how much importance they will have on the screen to meet the needs of your ideal user.
• Content: What type of content does your ideal user want to see when they visit your directory? If you are a niche directory, offer supplemental content that is unique to your niche. At AllBuziness.com, we offer live news feeds throughout the entire directory to match the subject of the page they are viewing. A newly launched business blog will also be used to discuss and develop business ideas and news.
• Listing Detail: What type of details do you offer with each listing? Should you display a mailing address, phone numbers, Alexa information, video or audio downloads, or a detailed description? Think like your ideal visitor and determine what type of information they would like to have without having to hunt for it.
• Navigation: Is it easy to navigate through your directory? If a user lands on an inner-page from a search engine or off-site link, will they know where they are in your website? Does the design and layout of your navigation meet the needs of your ideal user profile? These are questions you need to think about when determining what links should be in the main and secondary navigations.
• Accessibility: Is your directory accessible for users with screen readers or other web accessible devices? If you feel that a portion of your target audience may have handicaps, are you meeting their needs for ease of use? I see a real need for accessible design for general directories, as they cater to a much broader/more general audience. Want to learn more about accessible web design? Check out this accessible web design resource list from Washington.edu.

These are just 6 areas of what makeup a directory, and there are many more you should be thinking about when designing a directory. The point of this post is to get directory owners thinking about their target audience. We have all seen way too many directories that have been poorly designed, are hard to use, and stress more about selling AD space than trying to be a useful resource. To become successful, you must meet the needs of the users using your directory – not the other way around.

Open questions to directory owners and managers:

• How have you designed your directory to meet the needs of your users?
• What can you do to better improve your directory’s appeal to your targeted user profile?
• Have you seen improved results by designing for your ideal user profile?
• Please share your thoughts and comments!

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