| The Company Website Crash Course |
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For a small to medium sized business, initiating a Website can be one of the toughest jobs you'll face. This collection of how-tos is designed to provide basic knowledge in site structure, content organization, the selection of keywords, and writing page descriptions. Used as a basis for further learning, it'll help you establish a strong foundation for your company's Website. How To Structure Your WebsiteUnsure of how to structure your information and visualize what their Websites should contain? For most small to medium-sized businesses, there are two types of content sections you'll need to think about.
Common SectionsThese will contain general information about your company. It will be up to you to decide which sub-elements should be included, of course, but consider: About usYou'll see this on almost every commercial Website, both large and small. People like to know who they're doing business with, and this is your opportunity to tell them. Your information might fit on a single page, or stretch to several. Elements you might include are:
Contact UsIt may seem obvious, but many sites either don't provide adequate contact information, or they forget it entirely! You should include as many different ways for customers to contact you as possible. Common elements for a 'Contact Us' page are:
Products and ServicesMost companies will want to include information about their products or services on the index page (the front or home page), but it's important to also dedicate a separate section of your site to your products. This will help your customers find your products and services easily, and allow them to research and assess your offering quickly. Company-Specific SectionsThe best way to go about creating company specific sections for your site is to follow the same general structure as above, creating logical subsections for each section. The first page of a subsection should contain general information on the subject, as well as links to more detailed information if your visitor requires it. For example, a second hand car site may have an accident and repair section that contains the following sub-sections:
Take a logical approach to the organization of your site, group related material, and always offer general information first, followed by optional, more detailed information for your users. How To Design Intuitive NavigationBad navigational systems kill Websites. This information will help you avoid some of the more common navigational mistakes made by many small to medium sized businesses. What causes bad navigation?Many small business Websites actually do more harm than good. When a user comes away from your Website feeling frustrated, it reflects directly on your business. Bad navigational style is the number one cause of such online aggravation, and it typically has two key effects upon your site's visitors:
The first problem has a whole variety of common causes including Flash [1] intros, Splash pages and misleading information. This is most definitely a topic worthy of discussion, but if I start down that path, I may never come back! The second problem is an all-too-common occurrence on small to medium-sized company Websites, particularly those of the 'home grown' variety. There's usually not a single cause, but rather a combination of common mistakes and pitfalls, to which user frustration can be attributed. The result, inevitably, is a well-intentioned Website that unfortunately turns out to be a miserable experience for all concerned. Bad navigation can be caused by:
Notice that inconsistency is a common theme here. So what makes good navigation?Ever heard the phrase "dare to be different"? Well, as far as designing Website navigation is concerned: forget it. Daring to be different with your navigation can cause the death of your Website just as quickly as can sub-standard content or 5 minute Flash introductions. The key to intuitive navigation is consistency. Take a look at any large commercial Website and you'll find very similar elements in very similar places. Why? Because that's what users expect. Here are a few guidelines to bear in mind when considering your site's navigation:
1. Place major section/category links horizontally, near the top of every page.
2. Put section-specific links in a clearly marked column along the left-hand edge.
An example of section-specific links for the obligatory About Us section might look like this:
3. Use contextual links in your body text. If your information is of interest to your visitor he'll come back, and if he doesn't, then you never had him anyway.
4. Provide a search box for your visitors. A search box is an essential feature of any Website, and it's extremely easy to set up. You can find an excellent third party solution here [2].
5. Use text links wherever possible.
6. Provide a site map. A small disclaimer If you've questioned any of the above statements, then good: if we don't constantly question what we do and why we do it, we'll never change anything. The fact is that this article is not aimed at those developing artistic, non-commercial Websites. It's aimed at small to medium sized businesses designing sites that need to be accessible [3] to a wide variety of users -- and this is most certainly not an in-depth discussion of this topic. Common sense dictates that we should base our navigation on what users expect, making it as simple for your dear old granny, or your key customers, as it is for you or I. If your artistic flair has been a little blunted by my rather strictly worded guidelines, then don't be to disheartened, style is most definitely not dead! With a little thought and planning you can have both a great looking, and superbly functional Website. Web design has always been about compromise, and those that learn to blend artistic considerations with practical restrictions will find that the restrictions themselves will breed creativity. How To Write Page Titles
Good page titles can increase traffic and qualify your visitors. A Web page's title has two main functions:
A page's title is the most important part of what makes a user click a link in a list of search results. To demonstrate, imagine you're in search of a second hand car. Which of these links are you more likely to click?
It's clear that your first choice would be number two, but let's take a look at why. Number 1 says absolutely nothing of any value to anyone, and for that reason alone it's less likely that you'll even come across this link in your search for a second hand car, let alone click on it. If you're searching through a directory like Yahoo! [4] or Jubii [5] then it will probably be there, but it'll be much easier to miss, as it's unmemorable and uninspiring. Number 3 might as well say 'Don't buy anything from us, we're a bunch of clowns!'. This poor effort just spells incompetence and I personally think that it should be a punishable crime to publish such monstrosities. Similar crimes include 'page 1', 'Min nye hjemmeside' and 'Welcome to some shabby html [6] editor!'. Number 4 is clearly the work of someone who should be kept away from the rest of society. So what's so good about number two? Ideally page titles should either contain, or better still, be the phrase that your visitors search for. Many search engines award higher rankings to short, concise titles that contain the searcher's keywords. Ideally you should keep your page titles less than 40-50 characters long and be as honestly descriptive of the page's contents as possible. You might get more hits by titling your pages 'Steamy sex, free porn!' but if you sell second hand cars, wouldn't you rather have visitors that, er... want to buy second hand cars? Remember that not everyone that visits your site will enter via the front door. It's no good having the same title for every page, as all you'll end up doing is limiting the number of visitors you attract. If one of the pages in your 'second hand car' site deals with accident and repairs a good title might be 'Accident and Repair Service in Aarhus'. The reason I included the reference to Aahus (a large town in Denmark) is that people will travel to buy a car, but usually won't go too far to get repair work done. Thus this title further qualifies the visitors the link will generate. In conclusionKeep your titles short, honestly descriptive, and above all, relevant to your page's contents. Try to use the terms or phrases you expect your visitors to search for, and avoid the multiple exclamation mark and capital letter madness: overly promotional titles are a turn-off to most users. How To Choose KeywordsTargeting keywords increases traffic and qualifies visitors. Keywords and search terms are those words or phrases that your customers may enter on a search engine in order to find a Website that offers products or services like yours. Choosing keywords is not difficult if you follow a few guidelines. Basic rules for choosing keywords
1. Think Like Your User
2. Be Specific
3. Use Words From the Page
And make sure you use these keywords in your page titles. How to Write Page DescriptionsGood page descriptions can make a big difference to your site's traffic. Some search engines such as msn [7] use a page's description as the text that appears beneath the title in a list of search results. This provides Websites with an excellent opportunity to create the right impression pre-click. Combined with a good page title, you can use your description to further qualify your visitors. Here are a few rules of thumb:
A practicle example: Let's say you sell second hand cars and that you've already chosen a title. Here are some examples of what to do and what not to do: Bad example: CARS CARS CARS!!!!! LOWEST PRICES GUARANTEED!!!!!!!! CHEAP CARS AT LAUGHING LARRY'S BARGAIN BONANZA!!!!!! CARS CARS CARS!!!!Good example: We sell affordable second hand cars and will deliver anywhere in Denmark for free. Check out our online showroom here.I won't bother explaining why the first example is so dreadful -- if you can't see why yourself, then there's probably no hope for you! What makes the second example so good is this: The first sentence tells the reader exactly what you do, while at the same time making sure that the site doesn't lose potential customers due to the business's location: they can deliver for free. The second sentence tells the reader what kind of site to expect when they click the link. The whole description is accurate, informative and appealing, without being overly promotional. ConclusionWhen you're writing page descriptions, try to think like a user that's looking through a list of search results. What would make you choose one link rather than another? Try to keep your descriptions short, to the point and honest: a user who's tricked into visiting your site will not buy from you. Further InformationFor more information on the topics outlined in this article, try:
Source: SitePoint.com [1] /glossary.php?q=F#term_16
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