May

...just like the quote "The three most important things about business real estate is location, location, location, so is the importance of the location and quick accessibility of your web site's content paramount to the success of your site

...a critical step that is all too often not given the careful attention and time it warrants, is "Flowcharting Your Site" ...planning out the navigational flow for your web site and developing a logical content deployment methodology are essential steps towards ensuring your site visitors explore all of your web site's content as you have intended ...spending a little extra time initially planning out your web site's content can also save you a lot of time and money later from having to reorganize and/or rebuild

...statistics have been indicating for some time that more and more people have less available time for "casual surfing", making it more important than ever that your web site be easy to navigate and that your detailed content be easy to find and understand ...for example, sites with a great deal of "text content" can utilize a "Read More" link and a "dig down" methodology whereby; on a first layer page you provide an excerpt from the overall content to pique the reader's interest along with a "Read More" link, which links to the full content page ...this allows your first layer page to contain more overall content, yet allows your visitors to scan your available content more quickly and then "dig down" to "read more" about what is of particular interest to them

...the Flowcharting Process typically begins very similarly to that of drawing up an organizational chart for a business and/or organization ...instead of the box at the top being for the "President" and/or "CEO" of the organization, it represents the "Home Page" of your site ...from there, lines are drawn to a row of boxes below it - with an organization this would typically be all of the various "Vice Presidents" that report to the "President" - with your site, these boxes would represent the "Main Pages" of your site, typically all directly accessed from the "Main Menu" of your web site's interface

...from there, lines are drawn down from each "Main Page" box, to boxes below them representing the more detailed pages accessed from each of them - an example of this would be a "Products" page; below it would be the boxes representing all of the various individual product description pages ...however, in a scenario like that of a "Products" page, whereby you may have tens, if not hundreds of products, there may only be one line drawn down to one box, the bottom box then shows/defines the "layout" to be utilized by "all" of the individual product description pages

...the Flowcharting Process can also be performed by utilizing standard text outlines - the best method for you to use is truly a personal preference, whatever makes it easiest for "you" to "see" the interconnected navigation of your site content ...however, by building a text outline of all of the pages of your web site, you also provide yourself a layout you can multi-purpose by utilizing it as a "Site Map" page for your site - from which, providing direct links to "every page" of your site from one location ;-)

...as you work your way through your site layout, the Flowcharting Process helps visually show you how many "clicks" your site visitors will have to make in order to "dig their way down" through your site's content ...building the navigation of your web site's content is a balance between content grouping and organization, and providing quick logical access to critical site content ...the easier your site is to navigate and the quicker your visitors can access the content of interest to them, the greater your odds are of your site being a success and keeping your visitors coming back

...if anyone would like to know more about the types of services I can provide, you can learn more by visiting my web site at: http://www.evadware.com ...I would also be happy to set up a phone call with anyone interested in exploring how I might be of assistance - appointments can be requested through the "Request Info" page at the site, or by dropping me an email here at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

best to all!

:-)

evad