What is the shape of your site? A.K.A. your sitemap.
The first step to site planning is to think about the structure of your site. A sitemap is the organization of all the pages you want on your website. This organization is displayed on your site as the main navigation or main menu that is located next to or by your logo.
Start by thinking about what pages are your must-have pages. A page is a spot on your website for dynamic written and image content. Each page has its own name and therefore its own distinct URL. (ex. About Us, Services, Contact) You may have pages that are not linked from your main menu but are instead linked from a button somewhere on your site or from a link in your footer. Examples of these pages may include your privacy policy, or terms and conditions. Make sure these are accounted for as well.
As you think about your must-have pages, start writing them down. Once you have identified them, you can begin to organize them.
As an example, a typical five-page site could have the following pages:
- Home
- About Us
- Products/Services
- Staff
- Contact Us
A typical 10 - page site could have a similar top-level navigational structure but the additional pages are grouped together into submenus or dropdowns:
- Home
- About Us
- Our Team
- Benefits of ...
- Products/Services
- Classes
- Workshops
- Events
- Staff
- Contact Us
Please Note: If you are working with our Design team to create a custom site, your assigned project manager will work with you if you have questions about how your pages should be organized into your sitemap, or if certain content can be grouped together on one page. In order to be able to address these items, you must take the time to list out your potential pages.