We’ve all seen it before. The website that just doesn’t seem to know what it’s about. The important items seem difficult to find and the less important things are splattered all over the site, intruding on your ease of use and ability to find important information and ruining your website’s user flow. In short, they have a terrible sitemap, and it’s ruining their website and possibly their bottom line.
A sitemap can be defined loosely as the hierarchical structure that each website implements for its users at a very early stage. It’s practically the first thing you do when you start building a website. Although it’s an early step, it’s a crucial one. A good site map can make it easy for your viewers to find the things they need, and that can translate to more traffic and greater income for your website. A bad sitemap will leave your viewers confused about where to go, what to do and how to find the information they came to your site to find. Even worse, you could lose them as a customer if they feel your website is poorly designed and opt for something that’s more simple, aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. If you feel your sitemap could use some improvement, you’re not alone. Even major businesses have difficulty finding the right approach to creating a better sitemap.
One of the most difficult parts of building a good sitemap is that your company is constantly changing. Sure, certain items will always be the same and the main sections of your site will not likely change all that much. However, as you continue to hire new employees, sell new products and create new content, you will need to be able to make changes to your sitemap. This can be a headache, as you try to figure out exactly where things need to go, and make the necessary changes. But there have been improvements on this front. Websites like Slickplan.com will give you the tools that you need to quickly and easily make changes to your sitemap as your business grows and changes, saving you time and money.
In conclusion, if you’re starting a website for your business, give serious consideration to tools that will make adjustments to your sitemap simpler, as this can be the key to your customers getting to where they want to go, and you getting conversions as a result.