What is Site Architecture?
Website architecture is the approach to the design and planning of websites that require particular attention to the business plan, usability, web content, interaction design, information architecture and web design. While you may not know what all of those terms mean, you can get the grand picture. Site architecture structures your website and functionality from the start.
· What are the goals for your website?
· What pages need to be included on your site?
· Do those pages need to be individual content or can they be combined or connected in some way?
· Will the site continue to be added to after final creation?
· How many types of visitors will you have? (industry leaders, customers, managers, partners, etc.)
· What is the primary objective for each type of visitor?
· How can the navigation allow for each type of visitor?
Planning Your Content
Go with the Flow
Don’t let your visitors come to a dead end. One of the most important aspects of web development and design is to continue to engage the user even at what could be the end of their journey through your site. Even your “thank you” page could have links to a newsletter signup, your social channels, or a recommended blog post.
Create a Simple but Effective Homepage
Soothe Potential Buyers
One thing to consider when designing your website is the potential for customers to encounter obstacles when thinking of purchasing. For example, if you’re a flower shop and your buyer comes to the site searching for flower deliveries on Valentine’s Day, knowing it’s one of the busiest times of the year, they may be worried about your delivery capabilities rather than a bigger chain. A way of overcoming an obstacle like this would be to add your delivery promise to the shopping cart, letting customers know as they encounter the obstacles that there are solutions for them.
Take a Step Back
Being familiar with your website may cause you to overlook obstacles
that a new user will notice immediately. Getting an outside perspective can show holes in your architecture that need to be filled with content or a different link.
Planning your website is crucial for scaling your business and the success of your website. Sales & Marketing Technologies has created over a thousand websites for national and international clients. We’d love to turn your vision for your business online into a reality. Contact us today to set up a free consultation.