I enjoy hiking and spending time outdoors. And one of the key essentials when you are hiking back country is a physical map.
The map keeps you on course. When you come to a fork in the trail, the map shows you where to go. Miss a turn, the map can guide you back safely.
Believe it or not, a map is critical to your website too!
The map (or sitemap as we call it in the web world) lays out all the pages. It creates the path that visitors will follow as they browse your site. And ideally the map will lay out key pages to increase conversions, such as service or product pages.
Now let’s say you built your website a few years ago. And since then, you add a page here and a page there. Slowly but surely, you have created a bunch of dead-ends, loops, and places where your visitor is going to get lost. You forgot to update your map or even refer to it while building.
Don’t worry, all is not lost. Today is the day to sit down and recreate your map.
Start at the beginning and answer these questions. Then recreate your page structure (and links) to match the new map. Redirect any outdated pages to somewhere relevant.
- How do visitors come to the site?
- What page do they arrive on? Where did they come from? What are they looking for specifically?
- What is their goal when they arrive?
- Are they after purchasing, research or…
- What steps do they need to help them get there?
- Visitors need stepping stones to get from A to D.
- What is missing to help them get to the goal that I need to create?
- What other things do they need to understand what you offer, and to build trust in your brand?
- What is leading them away from the goal that needs to go?
- Hint: That Facebook link in the header might not be a good idea to keep them on the right path.
Now that you have a new map, keep an eye on your visitor traffic. Correct any new pitfalls and help them reach the goal. Because believe me, even your visitors don’t want to get lost.