Lesson 7 – Organizing a Professional Services Website

The Type of Site We are Creating – Watch the Video

• A website suitable for service professional or independent small business

  • architects, engineers, designers,
  • coaches, consultants,
  • contractors, sub-contractors

• 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

• 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

• With a specific set of tools

  • WordPress
  • The Genesis Theme
  • BYOB Genesis Plugins
  • NextGen Gallery Plugin
  • SH Slide Show Plugin
  • Google Analytics products

• 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

• 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

• 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

• How should the site be organized

  • Develop a simple hierarchy
  • Main Page
    • Sub pages
      • Sub sub pages
  • Strive for 5 – 8 Main Pages

How our Site is Organized – Watch the Video

• The physical structure of the site

  • the main site sections
    • home
    • services
    • case studies
    • testimonials
    • about
    • articles
  • The resulting urls

• 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

• Create a Menu

  • Give it a Name
  • Assign it a location
  • Add Pages to it

• Arranging the menu

  • Drag and Drop
  • Nesting

• Add other links

  • Categories
  • Tags
  • Posts
  • Custom Links

Question and Answer Session – Watch the Video