Why you need to know your target audience.

It's 1:06 on the Friday afternoon before Independence Day weekend. I'm really trying to be a good business owner: I'm diligently finishing some work before I shut down my computer. But, I need a break.

So what do I do?

I decide to rock-out to Aerosmith. Out loud. I turn on my iTunes and start playing "Amazing."

Shoot. It's really embarrassing to sing out loud and mess up the lyrics. So what do I do? Type in "Aerosmith Amazing Lyrics" into Google. I click on the first link:

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/aerosmith/amazing.html

I bust out! Yes. Vocal heaven (or hell if you're my neighbors).

But, as I'm singing I notice an annoying undercurrent of noise. What's this? A video advertisement in the corner of my lyrics page! (See those owls in upper left hand corner of the picture?)

Seriously.

Don't the owners of this site know that people only look up lyrics when they want to sing along with the song? A loud advertisement only ruins my experience and motivates me to never visit this site again.

Know your audience. When you do, you'll know why they're purchasing your service or product. You'll know why they visit your website. When you know when and why they use you, you can figure out how to make them happy, not annoyed.