Organizing A Website

Organizing a website into different sections will help you set up your basic website structure and navigation.

It is important to have your information website well laid out so that that it is logical to your visitors. Simple website layouts help visitors navigate through the individual sections and pages of a website. A well thought out website structure will also make it easy to add new content without having to totally redesign your website every time you do.

Here is where your keyword research will come in handy. As you researched your topic, you probably discovered keywords phrases which had groups of keywords that were related to them. These groups of related keywords can help in organizing a website into different sections.

The Different Levels of a Website

To help you visualize how to structure your website, imagine that your site is a house. Inside your house there are various rooms, with each having a specific function. Each room logically contains things that relate to that room's specific function in the house. For example, the kitchen will contain a stove, refrigerator, sink, countertops, etc. Similarly, your website will have different sections that contain pages that are related to that specific section.

The easiest way of organizing a website is to get a blank piece of paper to help you visualize how your website will look. Basically, you will have three levels to your website.

Level One: The Home Page

The first level will be your home page. This page gives visitors the first impression of your website, telling people what your site is about and outlining the different sections of your site.

Second Level Sections

The second level will be made up of different sections that relate to your website. These will correspond to your most profitable keywords that you researched earlier. These main sections will also help form the foundation for your website navigation.

If you are building an online store, you will also need a section for orders that will include your shopping cart, customer information, shipping information, etc.

When organizing a website, it also helps to have a section that gives administrative information. This section can contain pages such as your company information, your privacy policy, newsletter sign up, site map, and customer service information.

Related Third Level Pages

The third level will contain pages from your keyword groups that relate to each section, and can focus on your less profitable keywords.

Example of a Three Level Website Structure

To help you visualize how this works, we will use the keywords that we researched previously for our cat supply example for organizing a website about cat supplies.

As you can see in our example, each of the third level pages relates to a specific second level section. When you develop your website structure, you will need to expand all of your sections in a similar fashion.

Why a Simple Website Structure Works Best

Simple website layouts using the three-level structure will fit most websites. Not only does it make it easy for your visitors to navigate your website, but also makes it easy for search engines to index your site. When organizing a website using the three level structure, it shouldn't take more than 3 clicks to get from one page to any other page on the same website.

As you can see, organizing a website logically can also help you design your website navigation. In our next discussion, we will talk about the different types of website navigation and what needs to be considered in the design process.

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