No matter how you approach the task of identifying and improving non-homepage visits, it is important to understand that not all of your visitors will enter your site via the home page. Those making decisions related to information architecture, copywriting, content, and branding not only need to keep this in mind when designing new sites, or redesigning existing ones, but also need to understand how the visitors arrived on the site and ensure them of a positive overall experience.
A user-centered approach to Web site design generally includes research into the types of visitors, their needs and motivations, and their technical requirements and abilities. Scenarios usually detail what happens when the user gets to the home page. Personas are assumed to somehow know that the site exists and find it. Rarely does the design team take into account, for example, that Ann the Accountant searched on Google while Dave the Delivery Man saw the URL on a TV commercial.
