Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
formation, and most will have a brief description of what the company provides and some
even have employee biographies to give the business a “human” feel.
Next, let's draw a branch and another square coming off the Home Page that says “Ser-
vices.” From there draw a branch that says “Desktop Computers” and a separate branch
that says “Laptop Computers.”You can continue growing your tree with whatever pertinent
information you think will be a part of your site.
What you're doing is creating a plan to build a website. This website tree that you're mak-
ing will help you move forward, whether you ultimately create and publish your own web-
site or use a consultant to do it for you.
As you make progress on your website tree, you'll find that the tree branches stop. This
means that there are no links leaving that page, only a link to the page. This is OK, but for
search engines to properly scan your website to rank your relevancy on the Internet, you
may consider branching (linking) pages together so there are no “dead ends.” You want to
optimize your site with a nice, consistent flow so that it's organized with one page linking
to another to give your site depth.
Site Layout
Strive for consistency. You want your website to have an identity, preferably with your
newly designed business logo at the top, which should remain at the top of every page to
give a uniform feel. This also indicates that you're still on your website when clicking links
from one page to the next. It's frustrating to me if I feel “lost” on a website or if I am di-
verted to another site. I'll end up gravitating to a different site that appeals to me.
To help your customers with navigation, you are going to provide a rich set of links within
your site. Ideally there will be multiple ways for your customers to navigate your pages.
Consider including a link near the top that says “HOME,” so the customer can always got
back to the beginning of your site and get to your home page—from any page. Additionally,
a navigation section that is also consistent on every page will allow customers to quickly
move to different sections on your site. In webmaster language, if this navigation section is
across the top of your site, it's called the “navtop.” If the navigation is down the left side
of your page, it's called the “navleft.” Now you're starting to think like a true web profes-
sional!
Your navtop or navleft will contain useful and pertinent links to pages that will quickly help
customers get the information they are looking for. Whether it's your “About Us” page or
your “Services” page, if it takes too long for customers to find what they need, they will
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