It's almost Christmas (well, perhaps it isn't, but imagine that it is). You're heading into town on a bitter evening, it's already dark and the richly-decorated streets disappear beneath a mass of exhausted shoppers and last night's trodden down snow. What's the plan? Are you going to head straight for the first shop you see and grab a basketful of random yet reasonably priced items? Well... probably not. No doubt there are those for whom Christmas shopping lasts the time it takes them to pass from one end of a supermarket aisle to the other, and perhaps that giftwrapped box of cereal you received last year might make you wonder about your own friends and family, but it's not really the best strategy, is it? Well, certainly not if you value the affection and respect of those around you.

So, you spend time and effort making sure that you have the right presents to suit everyone, the gift that'll bring a smile of grateful surprise and the comforting knowledge that you made an effort, that you care. And every one of us is happier knowing that we're thought about individually, not just as any old Mr or Mrs Average. After all, we're all different, and all have our own likes and dislikes, needs and wants, opinions and uncertainties; just as we need to recognise that when doing the Christmas shopping, so we also need to keep it in mind in business. It's essential to understand that your customers and clients aren't all the same, and shouldn't be treated as such.

When it comes to your company's online presence, it's particularly easy to not focus on individual characteristics, because in most cases you'll never meet anyone that you're doing the work for. However, contrastingly, it's even more important for an online business, because the competition is so much greater: a high street shopper may be restricted by the range of stores available on the street, but the internet consumer has a whole world of businesses to choose from. If you don't focus your website on the characteristics of your target market, and also allow an element of individual personalisation, your company will inevitably suffer - because others will be doing just that.

Identify your audience

You need your site to be appealing and attractive - and for that to be a success, you need to understand just who it is that you're appealing to, and what would attract them. Age is an important consideration, of course, and ensuring that the look of your site is up-to-date will be essential if you're aiming at a youth audience (while the most fashionable appearance may discourage older visitors). But it's not just a question of age; it's also essential to consider what you're selling.

If it's a positive, enjoyable product or service, then positive colours ought to be coupled with desirable images. This approach will work fine for, say, a holiday company or a family car manufacturer - but less so for selling life assurance. It's all about creating an atmosphere to match that which you'd expect your audience to come to the site with, whether they're looking for excitement or calm, ambition or comfort, cheap and cheerful or luxurious and restrained.

Of course, whatever style you give your site, whatever images, colour scheme and font use, it's important to keep the site usable. Don't lose sight of the constants of retail web design: use colours that contrast and are clear; don't mix fonts too much, keep it simple and readable; and always provide text descriptions for images. Whatever audience you're aiming at, the site must first be accessible if it's going to be attractive.

Focusing on individuals

Once you're settled on the overall look for your website, you can tweak it further to give visitors a unique, personalised experience. There are two techniques you can use to create individually focused content. Simple scripts can be used to detect where in the world the visitor is accessing the site from - so you can have local details added, such as a clock or local currency, or automatically transfer the customer to a country-specific site. You can also use scripts in the site to detect which browser the visitor is using, so that they'll always see the site at its best (as different browsers can interpret a site differently).

The other technique works with information you already have on an individual customer. As long as they're logged in, you can use their details to automatically add a personal touch. It can be something as simple as a personal greeting on logging in, or a birthday offer emailed automatically at the appropriate time. Alternatively, you can use their purchase history to build a system of automatic recommendations, of the 'if you liked a why not try b?' variety that many retail sites have today. Once again, it's important to bear in mind that if you don't apply such personalisations to your site, your rivals will, and it'll be your business that suffers.

Simple solutions

If all this sounds rather complicated, you'll be glad to know that it doesn't have to be, and you won't need to understand a lot of (or any) complicated code. Microsoft Expression Web makes it easy to construct the ideal website, with just the right style for your audience: whether it's picking colours from a chart, dragging and dropping images into place, or entering text in a manner familiar from any word processor, Expression allows you to put everything you need into the site graphically without ever requiring any code or complicated techniques. It can even sort out the scripting you need, for that location or browser recognition, without placing any extra demands on your experience (or lack of experience).

Having a website for your company that's just right can make the difference between success and failure, and Expression Web can help you be sure of the former rather than the latter. To get the most out of everything the software has to offer, you may want to consider a short training course for yourself or your staff, to ensure that your site has everything it needs. And with a better and more appealing face for your business, you can be confident that customers will always find you more attractive than your rivals.