Website planning: a blueprint for
success
by Veronica Yuill
Once you've established the purpose
of your website, and who will be using it, you can start to plan
the basic structure of the site, which will determine the
all-important site navigation system.
Too many sites reflect the internal
politics of the committee that created them -- don't let yours
fall into this trap! The structure of the site should reflect the
perspective of your target audience, not your own internal
organization. If you have identified several audiences (e.g.
investors, customers, employees) you may need to offer different
paths through the site to help them find what they need.
SSo your next job is to create a
structure which will support the site's objectives. Always keep
in mind that visitors to your site are looking for information.
Its purpose should be immediately obvious, and it should be easy
to navigate. Great content is no use if people can't find it!
TThe first thing you need to do is to
establish a "content inventory" by asking yourself two
questions:
- What sort of information are my visitors looking for?
Remember different audiences may have different
requirements.
- What will visitors want to do? This could include buying
goods, searching for information, personalising content, signing
up for a newsletter ...
Make a list of all the ideas you come
up with, if necessary categorized by audience. Then check that
these ideas are consistent with the goals of the site -- throw
out any that aren't. The next step is to take all these elements
and organize them into a logical structure. Use whatever means
you are comfortable with for this -- it might be a flowchart, a
mind map diagram, or even a collection of index cards which you
can shuffle about on a table and divide into piles representing
different sections of the site. It can also be helpful to
visualize your site using a metaphor -- for example, if you are
selling groceries, a supermarket is an obvious organizational
model. It's a good idea to involve people from different parts of
your organization in this process -- they will bring valuable
perspectives which you may have overlooked.
Once you are happy with your
structure, draw up a formal site plan and get everyone involved
to agree on it. This document will ultimately determine the basic
navigational structure which will be used for every page on the
site. You (or your designer) will also be able to use it to
create a list of all the pages which need to be created, and the
elements they must include. This list will later be used to
allocate tasks and manage the development process.
TThe major navigation elements of the
site should now be obvious. For example, you have probably
identified major sections of the site which should be accessible
from every page. If the site is quite small, this may be all the
navigation you need. If you have a deep, many-layered structure,
you will probably want to add a sub-menu of items specific to
each section, to avoid cluttering every page with a confusing
mass of options.
A well-defined site structure means
you know from the outset what the scope of the project is, and it
makes designing consistent page layouts and templates a much
easier task. In the long run, it will simplify maintenance and
updating of the site, so you can keep content fresh and add new
features in response to customer demand without busting your
budget. Result -- more happy customers and a boost to your bottom
line!
© Archetype IT Ltd, 2001
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