You’ve got the logo and your site has been designed, but now your PM is asking you for the pages you would like to add to the site and how you would like them organized. Oh no…you haven’t even thought about that yet! Don’t worry, here is a relatively easy process to follow that will leave you with a sitemap in no time!
Organizing any website requires the knowledge of regulating large bodies of information and the awareness of what structures perform specific functions. Information architecture is the organization of a website’s content that best communicates what the website offers visitors. Below you will find the steps to not only acquire the knowledge needed to organize your site map, but you will also learn the skills needed to do it.
Routine
Most people have a specific routine of how they get ready in the morning. Each person has their own process, whether it be eating breakfast before showering, or working out before getting dressed for the work day. Knowing the average person’s routine is very beneficial to when you’re “mapping out” your website.
- If there are certain places people would visit first on your website, make those available from the home screen.
- If there is less critical content people might not want to see until they’ve acquired more important information, make those secondary links.
Think about the way you click through a website when you visit it. You don’t go straight to the purchase button without knowing anything about what product you want to buy. You probably don’t want to contact them first thing after arriving at their website; you want to learn about them first. You want to know about the company, what information they have to offer before deciding whether or not you are going to make a purchase or contact them about their services. With this in mind, you wouldn’t want to make a navigation system like this:
Contact Us | Purchase | Products | Home | Services | About
It just wouldn’t make sense. You would want to make one like this:
About | Services | Products | Purchase | Contact Us | Home
Why is the “Home” button at the end you might ask? Because when someone arrives at your site most likely they are going to land on the home page. This means that they will read over the home page first and will probably not need to return to it immediately after visiting another page. Also, it has now become standard in the web industry to make your logo a link back to your home page, so really, the home page is at the beginning of your navigation system.
Write down the pages you want to include
This is where the process begins. Think about if you want just one “About” page with all your company information on it or if you want to include an “Our Values” page and/or an “Our Staff” as well. Once you know what pages you want to include on your site, you will be able to move on to the next step.
Research
A great way to understand what works and doesn’t work, is by going to many websites that are completely new to you. Taking notice of what works and what doesn’t, and then applying that knowledge to your own website can be a huge advantage.
Categorize
Now it is time to categorize your pages into groups based upon your research. Here are two ways that this can be done:
- Group your content into sections that make sense. If you have several pages that talk about your company, your staff, etc. then put them under an “About” tab.
- Use meta data, that is data about your content. This could be author, date written, comments, number of views, etc. It’s an easy way for a person to search for what they’re looking for based on other facts than just the title or grouping of content.
Sit Down and Do It
Organizing your website may seem like a daunting task, but once you sit down after deciding what pages you want to include and doing some research on how other websites are organized, you will be able to put together your sitemap. If you need help or want someone to check over what you have done, your project manager at Webspec Design will be happy to help.
Organizing your website is a big task, but you will most likely find that it is an easier task than you thought and most of all – that it was worth it in the end.
