You've decided to build a website. Great! Your first step
is to determine its structure—the pages you want to include
and the information you want provide to visitors. But how
to begin?
Your first instinct may be to make your site different from
everyone else's. After all, trying to differentiate your
business is what you've been doing throughout your branding
process.
Building a website is like building a custom home
When you create a custom house, you can arrange your floor
plan however you want, paint the walls as you please and
fill the house with furniture you love. Your goal is to
create a unique space that stands out from everyone else's.
In the same vein, there are elements of your website where
standing out makes sense. For example, the overall look of
your site and your copy should be different from other
sites—especially those of your competitors.
Differentiating your website is good for your small
business—to a point. What you don't want to do is
reengineer its basic structure.
Standing out isn't always the stable way to build
Underneath it all, even the most unique custom home has the
same foundation and spacing between studs in the wall as
every other house on the block.
By following underlying principles of construction,
builders help ensure that the house is structurally sound.
Why not use the same approach when it comes to your
website? That way, your site is far more likely to work
well for you.
To use site building rules, of course, you need to know
what they are.
Rule 1: Do competitive research
Before someone sets out to build a custom house, they'll
probably do quite a lot of research—looking at other
houses, determining the architectural styles that appeal to
them, and perhaps even checking out homes in the
neighborhood where they want to build.
The same goes for your website. You need find out what
you're up against. Once you're familiar with competitors'
sites, you can make sure that your site will not only be
different in the right places, such as look and feel and
content, but that it will also be comparable in the right
places.
Most likely, your competitors have been building their
sites for some time—and probably updating them to answer
customer questions and market their businesses more
strongly. You don't want prospects to pass you by because
your site doesn't answer an important question that a
competitor has addressed.
Visiting other sites and making notes of basic structure,
business information presented, customer questions answered
and even relevant tools and articles gives you a jump start
on creating a site that facilitates apples-to-apples
comparisons.
Rule 2: Plan your site architecture
As you may suspect, planning your site architecture is like
drawing up architectural plans for a custom house, where
you plan just what you'll include and what will go in each
space. For example, do you want a library? A formal dining
room? And where will you put the piano?
Similarly, for your website, you must decide the pages
you'll include and the information on each page.
When planning your site architecture, think about what
you'd like your website to do for your business. Do you
want it to bring in clients and close sales? If so, pricing
information and even a shopping cart can help do that. Do
you need your site to get media attention? Then a Media
Room might be the key. Make sure to include the pages and
content required to get the job done.
In addition, think about how you plan to expand your
website in the future. At the beginning, designing a
website of more than 10 pages can overwhelm a small
business—both in terms of budget and time required to write
the content.
But, if you create an expanded site map at the beginning—a
website wish list if you will—then you and your website
strategist can determine which pages will be most important
in helping you reach your goals. You'll also have a clear
roadmap you can use to add on to your website as your
budget and schedule allow.
For more about the pages to include on your website, see
this article: Pages To Include On Your Website.
Rule 3: Name your pages in a way that makes sense
Have you ever walked into an unfamiliar house and been
unable to find your way around? You probably asked the
hostess where the kitchen was so you could drop off your
pot luck dish or the way to the bathroom.
On a website, though, visitors don't have the luxury of
asking where things are. So you want to make it as easy as
possible for them to find the information that they need.
Some small businesses want navigation button names to be
clever or interesting. But, it's important to think about
the website visit from your customers' or prospects' point
of view. They often come to your site looking for specific
information. Even if they're just browsing, they want an
organized way to look around—where clicking a link takes
them to the page they expect. Remember that visitors don't
have a lot of time or the patience to bumble around your
site.
You see the same navigation buttons on every site you visit
for a good reason. Established usage conventions have
trained visitors to look for names like "Services," "About"
and "Contact" when they're out browsing around. Capitalize
on this and your visitors will be able to find what they're
looking for quickly—keeping your site and your business in
their good graces.
Following these three simple rules makes it much more
likely that your website is structurally sound and that
your visitors will have a great experience there instead of
a frustrating one.
----------------------------------------------------
Erin Ferree is a brand identity designer who creates big
visibility for small businesses. Her ebook, "All The News
About Email Newsletters" will tell you everything you need
to know about desiging, writing, and sending out an email
newsletter to stay in touch with your clients and
prospects.
http://www.elf-design.com/products-mini-newsletter.html
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