Site Structure and Design

The first step is to decide which areas of the site are essential. For instance, Contact Us, About Us and a home page are the bare minimum. You should already have an idea of which other areas you wish to add from thinking about the purpose of your site. This may be a shop or store, free content, tools, links, and so on.

One way to decide on the structure is to write all the different areas of the site and categories of content onto pieces of paper and group them together in logical ways. However, what may seem logical to you may not be so for your target audience so it is wise to try this experiment with others to get an understanding of how users may wish to navigate the finished site. This is called 'card grouping'.

Once you have these groups of content, you need to decide on names for each area. It is a good idea to study other websites to see how they have resolved this problem. The purpose is to make it easy for your users to find exactly what they are looking for, and to make it easy to add new content into clearly defined areas. The basic principle is Keep It Simple Stupid.

It is quite common to use metaphors on your website, particularly for themed sites. This can often lead you to more than just the layout and navigation – it can also help you to come up with a design and colour schemes.

Using a metaphor may help your users to grasp how the site is structured and easily find the information they are looking for, so a metaphor should be familiar. For instance, if you are running an online shop, then you may structure the site just like a bricks and mortar store. As an example, you could have a Bargain Basement for end of line items or discounted products. If your site is less run of the mill, there may be an obvious metaphor which becomes clear to you as you look at your site areas, but you should use a metaphor only if it helps navigation and structure.

The design of your site is important because it creates an impression for your users. It should be clean and simple, and the colours and template you choose will reflect the image your users have of you and your business. You should look at other websites and find a design you like.

Website design is a huge subject and too complex for us to cover here.

There are many free website templates that you can use, or you can get a website designer to help you build the site. However, try to avoid getting too clever, or using all Flash. There are many articles about common design errors and it is worth reading these to ensure you avoid making the same mistakes others have.

Once your website is designed and built, it is time to start adding content.

Hope this blog post was helpful to you, - - Site Structure and Design - -

Spunky Jones.

1. What kind of impression is your web site design projecting to your visitors?
2. Assess the Visitors to Your Site
3. Three Essential Building Blocks – Plan, Design, Promote
4. Clarifying the purpose and information architecture process
5. Does your website work?
6. Making your site trustworthy, by earning online trust
7. Are you driving web traffic away from your website?
8. Utilizing Content Syndication and Article Marketing
9. Making Cash by Writing Product Reviews
10. Are You Using, Website Marketing Strategy Effectively?

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