Mapping Your Web Site.

Are you “up a creek without a paddle” when it comes to creating your web site? Make a map!

In previous MB Journal issues, we’ve talked about the importance of your e-brand, which is defined in large part by your customers’ experience on your web site. Your e-brand is also shaped by the content and structure of your web site. Visually mapping the content allows you to focus the purpose of the site as well as organize the information into logical categories for a successful user experience.

A simple format for this visual map takes the form of a hierarchical outline or “tree.” Trees can be wide and shallow (allowing a lot of information to show at the entrance of the site) or narrow and deep (providing detailed information about a few subjects). Your goal and content will determine which works best for your web site.

Seeing the content organized into categories will also ensure that you have included the information that is important to the defined goal. Information that is high on the list of priorities should be the easiest to access with the fewest clicks, so this would be near the top of the hierarchy of the tree. For example, if you want visitors to be interested in your product, you will want them to have quick access to all the product features and benefits without making them read about the history of the manufacturing process first. If the history is important to convey, include it as a side item or secondary link.

The benefits of mapping your site are great.

• Assures that all the information necessary for the defined purpose of the site has been included.
• Helps categorize and plan a logical flow of your information.
• Helps make efficient use of hyperlinks within your site to avoid duplication of information.
• Exposes problems or omissions before production begins.
• Shows different types of pages needed in the site (general, detailed, interactive forms, static or dynamically generated pages, etc.).
• Helps plan production of the site; determines what must be done for the launch of the site and what can be added at a later date.
• Makes it easy to add new information in a logical place, accommodating for growth and change over time.