What do they want?

What do your users want? Why are they on your site? And what do non-users need to know you have to get them there?

Those seem to be million-dollar questions, but it doesn't take 300K consultants, expensive research or fancy web design to figure it all out.

• Talk to those who KNOW the customers.
  It's unlikely your content manager, programmers or other web staff ever actually talks to a customer--and since customer = user, they really should. So, who in your company is in the trenches hearing what the customers really need?
  
  
• Track searches
  If you are trying to figure out what they are doing and why they are on your site, the best resource you have comes from your search data. Many people hit the search FIRST before trying to navigate. You can use this to your advantage--turn high-ranking search terms into use cases and make sure your website is optimized to get those users where they want to be. Don't have the resource? Start with www.google.com/analytics for free tools to help you get started.
  
  
• Look at highly trafficked pages
  This can be helpful, but is not as targeted as search terms. Remember, when people are navigating, they don't necessarily end up where they intended to and may have given up before actually reaching their destination.
  

If your company invests in solid analytics software, you should have no problem figuring out where your customer is and where he or she wants to go. For the rest of us small-timers, we have to work a little harder, but it can still be done!