Web Presence Building Blocks (Step 2): Site Map Building (Site Blueprints)
by: zach.hoffman
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Blueprints are the key to building a sound structure in both
the physical and virtual world. For the
virtual world of the Internet we call our website blueprints “site maps.” The creation of a site map makes navigation
of your site more efficient for both consumers and search engine robots
(computers building search results). A
site map should organize all information you plan on having on your website
into a logical format.
Benefits to a site-map:
- Guide to building out your site,
- Increased browsing efficiency for potential consumers and search engines,
- Organization to information,
- Search
Engine Optimization Benefits.
The site map should start at your home page (index page), build
down into categories, and sub categories.
Below is an example of the initial break down of the home page (index
page) for a basic dental website:
The beginning of your site map focuses on the initial index
page and builds out into sub-categories.
The sub-categories will build out into various solutions for cosmetic
dentistry, sedation dentistry and about you.
It is important to give prominent information first on your
website and then to build out into details about what you do. Your sites main page should rarely have
individual service offerings mentioned.
The higher up you mention certain topics on your website it is given
increased relevance to the people reading and search engines weighting of
importance. The reasons it may be
negative to list some detail items with prominence on the site is that it may
draw away some readers and give the search engines suggested prominence of
topics people are less concerned about searching for on the web.
For example, in dentistry an item would be porcelain veneers
or teeth whitening, both of these would fall under the broad category of
cosmetic dentistry. Therefore, your primary
category “Cosmetic Dentistry” should be given priority over individual
items. For example, the page focusing on
“Cosmetic Dentistry” can include the following break-ups:
Cosmetic Dentistry will include three major divisions:
- Bonding
- Teeth Whitening
- Porcelain Veneers
- Before and After Photos
- Testimonials
There are many ways you could choose to break down your site. You could breakdown dentistry concerns into a few different ways. You can make it symptom based vs. want based. You could also use various breakdowns to discuss solutions for various symptoms:
- Sensitive teeth,
- Chipped teeth,
- Aching Jaw,
- Migraines,
- And
many more symptoms/self-diagnosis your patients may bring to you on a
daily basis.
Sites like WebMD didn’t get famous because they are selling services; they are giving people answers and solutions to their problems. Web speak on most sites are at a level that is too technical for your target audience. People are looking for information about what you are going to be doing to them and for them. They know what you offer because that’s what your profession provides the solution for. As an example when somebody is looking up teeth whitening they probably want to know:
- How long it will take?
- How long the results will last for?
- Are there any health effects they need to consider?
The average searching consumer won’t see the use of Discus
Dental vs. Bright Smiles as a primary concern to solving their issue. More on this will be discussed when we talk
about web copy development in our next newsletter. Back to site map
development.
When constructing your site map be sure to remember you want
all roads you are developing leading to a destination. We have increased
our client’s web conversion rates for
new patients exponentially by making one small tweak 98% of dental sites lack.
Be sure your content on your site links back and forth to
relevant information someone would logically want to virtually step to. An example would be if you come to us with a
broken tooth there are many options to how we could help you solve your
problem. This can include porcelains
veneers, bonding, and other solutions depending on the concern.
If a patient is looking to have these concerns fixed they
may also be a candidate for gum contouring which is where you integrate
information about your laser procedures into the content. This will allow you to educate potential
patients of pertinent information to concerns they would like addressed before
they even come in. It will allow for
more educated consultations, and a potential patient with an educated mind as to
what they want from you.
Here is an example of a start to the dental site map we
worked on today (it is not completely built out because this is a client
service we provide):
First, we created the Homepage that includes “Location” and
“Dentist” information. The homepage is further segregated into the following
pages “Cosmetic Dentistry”, “Sedation” and “About Us”. The about us page is
further divided into two sections “Our Team” and “Contact Us”. The cosmetic dentistry
page is further divided into the following pages: “Bonding”, “Teeth Whitening”
and “Porcelain Veneers”. Lastly, we have divided the bonding page into two
pages, which are “before and after photos” and “testimonials”.
Once you have created your dental site map, the next step is
to develop your copy for each section of the website.
Web Presence Development Recap:
Step 1: Choosing the Right Domain Name
Step 2:
About the Author
Zach Hoffman is interested in helping people.TO learn more about Custom dental website design,Websites for dentists visit http://www.dentistrywebsites.com
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