Again I will make use of analogy with the real life experience. Imagine that you visit a store where all items are all mixed up and spread all over the store. Obviously takes you hours to find (if you do!) whatever you looking for and at checkout you find out that they don’t take but cash. Would you go back to the same location? I wouldn’t!
The same apply to a website. I have seen sites with thousands of links on each page and with the first click I end up with tens of pop-ups, overlays and so. Some other sites have nothing less than a novel written about one and every item or service and pages are a mile long. I don’t want to see those sites anymore, do you?
Plan and structure your site in a friendly way, the way that will make sense to an average visitor. When I design (or redesign) a site I start with pencil and paper (actually I use Microsoft Word
’s outline feature): I build an outline based on the main menu (main navigation) and under each menu item I write down what should go on that page. I do this for all pages and subpages and then I look it over and make sure it has a nice flow to it. What I like best is to have the main navigation bar at the top of the page and a side navigation bar specific to each page. It makes finding whatever one is looking for a lot easier. It’s also very important from the search engine point of view to have a site map. A site map will also help computer savvy visitors to navigate faster on your site. A very small detail that most site owners forget is to ad a bookmark button on the header. Why is so important? Let’s just say I like your site and I plan to return at a later date. I have to right click, choose bookmark and then OK. Having that magic bookmark button will make it very convenient. Next time I don't have to performing another search and if I use different search terms I might not find your site again so you lost a potential customer.
Another point I want to make is to avoid lengthy pages. I did not land on your site by mistake, I know what I am looking for and you will not convince me to buy your product or service if you tell me that your grand-grandmother was born in Russia. What I mean is being descriptive but brief and to the point about your products. You can offer more details on a different page and it is my option to take the time to read the history of the world or not but do not force me to do it. Hope you get my point.
Using java and other type of scripts are necessary. A word of caution: not always search engines can follow all scripts and if they do will considerably slow down the process of indexing your site. The best way is to minimize to use of scripts and if that is not possible use robot.txt file to instruct spiders and crawlers what and what not to follow.
So yes, a good planning and a good structure of your site have to do a lot with Internet Marketing. In a couple of days I will talk about the “front of the store” in real life and how that is interpreted in digital world.
