We emphasize the importance of good site organization for search engine optimization and the impact on your customers’ use and discuss how to develop a well organized site.
Then we show how to create the main pages of your website and how to lay out the pages in a rational order. We conclude the lesson by showing how to create and arrange the menu.
The Type of Site We are Creating – Watch the Video
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A website suitable for service professional or independent small business
- architects, engineers, designers,
- coaches, consultants,
- contractors, sub-contractors
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The business purpose for the site is:
- This site architecture is unique
- It’s entirely different than if you are selling products
- different from a blog
- different from a membership site
- Help prospective clients find you when they are searching for your services online
- Present the services that you offer
- Establish your credibility in the field
- Uniquely styled site
- This site architecture is unique
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While the site may ultimately have a blog it is not strictly a blog site
- Phase 1 – completely static site
- Phase 2 – add blog functionality
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With a specific set of tools
- WordPress
- The Genesis Theme
- BYOB Genesis Plugins
- NextGen Gallery Plugin
- SH Slide Show Plugin
- Google Analytics products
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Why these tools?
- Because I’ve tested them together and they work together
- Because they can be used without learning CSS or PHP
The Importance of Good Site Organization – Watch the Video
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Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide
- Under the heading “Improving the Site Structure”
- Improve the structure of your URLs
- Good URLs convey content information
- URLs are displayed in search results
- Make your site easier to navigate
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Why should the site be well organized?
- It helps your prospective customers find what they are looking for
- Your site is easier to navigate
- You listing in search results is more easily read
- Google understands your site better
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How should the site be organized
- Develop a simple hierarchy
- Main Page
- Sub pages
- Sub sub pages
- Sub pages
- Strive for 5 – 8 Main Pages
How our Site is Organized – Watch the Video
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The physical structure of the site
- the main site sections
- home
- services
- case studies
- testimonials
- about
- articles
- The resulting urls
- the main site sections
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The conceptual structure of the site
- promotion
- information
- establish expertise
- call to action
Using WordPress Tools to Organize the Site – Watch the Video
- 2 sets of tools – Static tools & Dynamic tools
- Pages
- Posts
Create the Pages – Watch the Video
- Create an outline of your pages
- With Agency there is no static home page
- Create the dynamic articles page
- Create the rest of the pages
- Use child pages for organizing
- Use page attributes for organizing page views
Create the Menu – Watch the Video
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Create a Menu
- Give it a Name
- Assign it a location
- Add Pages to it
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Arranging the menu
- Drag and Drop
- Nesting
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Add other links
- Categories
- Tags
- Posts
- Custom Links