A site map is best described as ‘a structured list of pages’. The map should help you and your designer figure out how to organize your website.
If you have no idea where to begin – you’ve come to the right place. We’ll go through the process of making a site map from scratch that your web designer will be thankful for.
In a nutshell, your site map should contain:
- The main pages that will appear on your website
- Some sense of how these pages relate to each other
- An idea of what should appear on the pages
1. An online business card
The first thing that a website should do is act as an online business card. What do people need to know to reach you? The best strategy is to give as many ways as you can (without going over the top). This usually includes:
- Name and address
- Telephone numbers (keep this to a land line and mobile number)
- Map and directions
- Email address & contact form
This is your Contact page – the first page on your site map. Note: bigger companies might want to add additional offices, phone numbers etc. If you do have a range of details to offer, you should always give a ‘preferred number’ to keep things simple.
2. Saying ‘hello’
Summarise your business in a punchy 1-2 sentence tagline. This information, as well as a brief introduction, should form the first parts of your Home page.
The most important page of your site, the Home page needs to inform and impress in equal measure. Try and profile a ‘typical’ site visitor – what do they want to achieve? Do they know who you are already? Is there a specific task they’ll want to follow? The home page should make their lives easy – give them what they want.
In short: the Home page should offer both a summary of your services and a signpost to lead customers on to the information they need.
3. The main event
What comes next is the ‘core content’ of the site. Depending on what you offer this might be a single page or a series of different sections.
The important thing is not to get carried away. What’s the minimum you’ll need to get the message across? Very often the temptation is to visit your competitors’ sites, find features you like and then list them. Unfortunately this can lead to complicated and messy sites. Focus on what you need, rather than what others are doing.
If you offer a range of services, consider grouping them into common themes. For example;
For a financial services website your core content might looking like:
- Services
- Financial planning
- Wealth management
- Risk management
For a photographer’s website, the core content will probably look more like:
- Galleries
- Weddings
- Portraits
- Sports
- Prices
- Weddings
- Portraits
… and so on.
Try to avoid having too many levels of hierarchy in the menu. In the above examples, we’ve shown two levels: top tier (Services, Galleries, Prices) and a second tier (everything else). Once you reach three levels the map starts to get convoluted. For small sites, try to keep to two or fewer. Medium-big sites may have to use a third (or even fourth) tier – it’s then up to your designer to make it work.
The next step is to briefly mention what needs to appear on these pages. In the photographer’s site example:
Weddings
A slideshow gallery of wedding photos, along with a block of text explaining our wedding service
4. The usual suspects
You might be tempted to add a few more pages to the map – About Us and Links are common choices. Think first about whether you really need these pages, or whether you could add the content elsewhere:
- About Us text can often be placed on the Home or Contact pages
- Links pages are a relic from the web’s early days, and offer little to your customers. If a link is useful it might be better placed within the text of another page
Think carefully about each page before adding it to the map. Is it useful for the visitors? Does this content belong on a page I already have?
5. Inevitable extras
Make an ‘extras’ column to the side of your map. Here’s where you list the features that you feel are necessary or useful on the site. These extras may not need a page to themselves, so it’s best to let your designer figure out how to use them. For example:
- A link to my business’ Facebook and Twitter pages
- ‘Subscribe to my mailing list’
- Download my brochure (PDF file)
- Seasonal special offers
- Logos and links to my sponsors
Again, try not to get carried away. You might have heard that Twitter is the new big thing, or that blogging is the key to success – but do you know what’s involved? Do you have the time to learn? If in doubt, ask your designer.
Do remember that lots of extra features will add to the cost of the website. Split them into two groups: ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’.
6. Consider the future
Planning to expand in six months’ time? If changes are on the horizon make sure your designer is aware that the site may also need to change.
Luckily with a content managed website you’ll often be able to add, remove, reorder and rename your pages yourself – so small changes will usually be possible with a minimum of fuss.
7. Designing your site map
You should have a simple list of pages and descriptions by now: the final step is to arrange them into a sensible structure. The key here is to keep things fairly simple and to try and leave the design decisions to your designer (they’ll thank you for it!)
Spider diagrams and grids are fine; indented lists are even better. Don’t forget to include a brief description next to each item.
An overview
To summarise, you just need to follow these steps to writing a simple, clear and fairly complete site map:
- Start with a simple business card
- Consider how your home page will draw in customers
- Add in the ‘core content’ – services, galleries, information
- Consider each page carefully – does it really add anything to the site?
- List those add-ons and extras that you think would be useful
- Remember to account for any major updates or changes to your business
- Keep it simple, give the pages a rough hierarchy and add brief descriptions