Hey all I'm in the process of building my first web site, and I'm desperate for opinions from like-minded people. Basically my "problem" is that I don't know what to present on my homepage. Let me explain, the site is about fashion, not in general, but rather of a specific set of items. The audience is, naturally, 80%+ female and here lies my dilemma, do I cater for the remaining 20%, consisting of men, teens and kids? Since the topic is narrowed, it needs that 20%, but then what do I show on the homepage? Mixed female-male topics and products? It seems weird and dangerous to try, I might end up losing both groups. The main menu will obviously have a female/male/kids/blahblah setup (unless some1 has a better setup, i'm open to any suggestion) but I've no clue what to do with the homepage, maybe I should just stick with the female side of things. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Is it possible to go for gender-neutral content? Not sure what you're offering, but for example - instead of showing sundresses and capri's, maybe just display pants and different styles of shirts.
I guess you should focus on the 80% audience. and for other 20%, make different section for it. It's like making two/more homepage populated with the audience content. for example : your main homepage show the content(products/articles/etc.) for the 80% audience. While there in the same page has some Links/content 'snapshot' linked to your other main homepage for the 20% audience. vice versa. you could use a subdomain address, so your audience could just point(or bookmark) to the mainpage they like. example : for Female audience, the address like : female.yoursite.com for Male audience, the address like : male.yoursite.com kids : kids.yoursite.com etc. or just simple different page : yoursite.com/female.html - yoursite.com/male.html - yoursite.com/kids.html success for your website.
You should also refer to fashion e-commerce site and see how they are set up. Your could add a little preview of each link on your homepage, maybe state the purpose of your site, audience, and so on.
I like the idea. It sounds all rounded and more effective to use subdomains other than confining yourself to one idea.
Hey all. Sorry for not answering earlier, I was away from technology for a few days Anyway, ardianet I really like your idea and it's actually what I've been thinking of the past few days, so it came as a confirmation to go on with it, thank you! I'm thinking of using subdomains only for men's/kid's sections though. I'll use different top main menu for each section and i'll point to each other through some nice graphic/photo link somewhere above the fold. Back to work now, my self imposed deadline is closing in and the work is endless.
Why not work in a feature that would let the women rate the information being presented to the rest of your market? Article for men: Always match your belt with your shoes. Poll for women: Do you agree?
excellent idea. That way the different sections will become better intertwined and kinda integrated into each other, I like... a lot, thanx.