It’s an unfortunate truth. The more knowledgeable we get about site design, coding and content, the less educated those visiting our creations seem to be. Our vocabulary is peppered with words such as scripts, flash and PHP, but terms that should be commonplace are suddenly confusing readers. Just who is in charge of your website – you, or the dummies that visit it?

If you find yourself receiving countless emails, questions, or are losing sales at a rapid rate, you might have either insulted or intimidated your visitors. It is hard to tell who populates the internet more – those who are overwhelmingly internet savvy, or those who surprise us all by getting the mouse working correctly.

If you design your site to be easy to understand and almost elementary, it will appeal to those with a low internet IQ. But, if you “speak� normally on a website and take no consideration for those who might not have a clue what you are talking about, you will alienate those struggling with internet terms or functions and be greatly appreciated by the honors internet students.

Who’s the Target?

Thus the question – just who do you target? In some cases, this is an easy question to answer. If you are selling or providing highly technical services such as scripts, it is unlikely an amateur will be looking to buy. Other areas, however, are a bit stickier. Website templates, search engine optimization and other such areas have plenty of gray.

Do you make your site very explanatory and almost like a tutorial to help new internet users figure out which of your templates or services would be best? Or do you delve into deeper design elements and assume those seeking templates know what they are doing? If you take the first tack and explain gently to visitors exactly what a template or SEO is, you are likely to win a great deal of affection from the beginners, but the advanced and intermediate users will be irritated and might leave. The opposite is true of taking the higher road.

The clear answer is that there is not a clear answer. Like many things, some potential clients will be new to the game while others are old pros. You as the webmaster must walk a fine line and do what you can to appeal to both unless you choose one or the other. Sometimes it might simply be better to divide your resources between two totally difference websites with two approaches rather than risk upsetting both parties with a single website trying to keep the peace.

Whatever you decide, remember that there will always be more beginners as new individuals get online and begin to venture outside of their simple email inboxes. And just like there are always beginners, those starting out will soon grow in knowledge and move into the class of internet users. Bottom line? There will always be plenty of both groups to target.