How to Design Website Architecture

I know when I put my first website together, I really didn’t think about the website architecture. Honestly, I had no idea that existed or was even a thing! I just put-up pages that I thought I needed and tried to make the website look like others. I had no comprehension of linking pages together, organization of the pages on the sites, even organization of the content on a webpage. Eventually it came together through trial and error and lots of edits. In time I noticed that there were a minimum number of pages I needed on a website and certain pages every website needed. Depending on the industry or purpose of the website, different pages were necessary. Over the years I have learnt a few things.

What is Website Architecture

The architecture of a website is how the webpages relate to one another, the hierarchy of the webpages. That’s the other thing I learnt, best practice when designing the structure of a website is a “flat structure” or “flat architecture”. What does this mean? A website that has the following type of structure is said to have a “flat architecture” or “flat structure”.

To ensure a good user experience you don’t want your visitor to have to click and click and click….to get to the information they are looking for. Ideally you want your website visitor to get what they are looking for within 3 to 4 clicks. This helps determine the “depth” or number of levels in your hierarchy.

Now that we’ve determined the “architecture” of the site that is optimal, what pages do we need?

How to determine the webpages for a website

I have noticed some entrepreneurs who are making a website for the first time, try to put too much on one webpage. It’s kind of like that person at a networking event or party who is quiet but once a conversation is initiated, they tell you their entire life story and don’t stop talking! It’s an overwhelming, firehose of information that leaves you speechless! In some ways it the same when there are too many different ideas and topics on a single webpage. Try to keep a single topic or idea per webpage. Not only will it provide a better user experience, but it will also be better for your online visibility. The search engine will be able to better understand what the webpage is about. With SEO best practices applied to the webpage, it will have a higher probability of ranking better I the search engine results for that particular topic. What does this mean for the webpages on your website?

Service Pages

Let’s assume you have a service business, say a landscaping business. But “landscaping” can be so many different services. For example, a landscaper can offer a variety of services to cater to the different needs of residential and commercial properties. Here are some common landscaping services. Below is a possible list of services a landscape can offer, courtesy of ChatGPT! Ideally, we would create a separate webpage for each services offered. Landscape design is a service offered under the Design section. There would be 4 sections, with a page for each service under it. And all these 4 sections would be under the Services section of the website. Service may or may not be a distinct page. That is up to you.

Design
- Landscape Design: Deciding for the layout and features of the landscape, including plants, structures, and pathways.
- Garden Planning: Designing specific areas for gardens, including flower beds, vegetable, and herb gardens.
Installation Services
- Planting: Installing trees, shrubs, flowers, and other plants.
- Lawn Installation: Sodding, seeding, and installing artificial turf.
- Irrigation Systems: Installing sprinkler systems, drip irrigation, and other watering solutions.
- Hardscaping: Building patios, walkways, retaining walls, and other non-plant elements.
- Water Features: Installing ponds, fountains, and waterfalls.
- Lighting: Installing outdoor lighting for pathways, gardens, and accent areas.
Maintenance Services
- Lawn Care: Mowing, edging, fertilizing, aerating, and overseeding.
- Tree and Shrub Care: Pruning, trimming, fertilizing, and pest control.
- Garden Maintenance: Weeding, mulching, and seasonal planting.
- Irrigation Maintenance: Checking and repairing sprinkler systems.
- Leaf Removal: Collecting and disposing of fallen leaves.
Specialty Services
- Seasonal Clean-Up: Preparing the landscape for spring and fall seasons.
- Snow Removal: Clearing snow from driveways, walkways, and other areas.
- Pest and Weed Control: Applying treatments to manage pests and weeds.

Core Webpages

Besides the services pages, what other pages does a website usually have? There is a home page, about page, contact page. Depending on the business a policies and/or privacy page. Some websites will have a portfolio page or section or perhaps case studies depending on the industry. For the landscaping business and portfolio may be a good way to showcase previous work so potential customers can see what the business has done in the past. Sometimes there is a testimonials page, FAQ page, and a Blog. A blog is a good idea as it gives the business a chance to showcase themselves, over time, as a knowledgeable, an industry leader and a source of information. There may be other pages that come to mind as you explore the business operations.

Full list of webpages and website architecture

Let’s summarize all the pages for this landscaping website now.

Home (page)
- About (page)
- Contact (page)
- Testimonial (page)
- FAQ (page)
- Blog (page)
- Portfolio (page)
- Privacy & Policies (page)
- Services (page / navigation)
  - Design (page / navigation)
    - Landscape Design (page)
    - Garden Planning (page)
  - Installation (page/navigation)
    - Planting (page)
    - Lawn Installation (page)
    - Irrigation Systems (page)
    - Hardscaping (page)
    - Water Features (page)
    - Outdoor/Patio Lighting (page)
  - Maintenance (page/navigation)
    - Lawn Care (page)
    - Tree and Shrub Care (page)
    - Garden Maintenance (page)
    - Irrigation Maintenance (page)
    - Leaf Removal (page)
  - Specialty Services (page/navigation)
    - Seasonal Clean-Up (page)
    - Snow Removal (page)
    - Pest and Weed Control (page)

Note that some pages are labeled simply “page” while other are labeled as “page/navigation” The latter implies that this page has links to the individual service pages under that section or category. For example, on the services page there would be links to the Design, Installation Maintenance and Speciality Services pages. On the Design page there would be individual links to the Landscape and Garden planning pages. The indentation represents the hierarchy of the pages. So the home page is at the top, which then links to the about, contact, testimonials, FAQ, Blog, Privacy & Policies, and Services pages, and so forth. If you notice, there are only a total of three indentations which means visitors should only have to click not more than 3 clicks to get to what they are looking for unless they start wandering around.

Once we have the structure of the pages for the website, we can now start deciding what will be include in the navigation menus on the website.

What is a navigation menu?

A navigation menu on a website is the menu at the top or “main menu” on a website. There are also footer menus that appear at the bottom of a website. These are usually constant and remain the same from page to page on the site. In some cases there will be left and/or right hand menus. On some online magazines there will these types of menus as well. But one the website architecture and pages have been created; the menus are usually easily determined. For example, the main header menu for this landscaping website could consist of the following,

– Home, about, contact, portfolio, Services, Blog.

The footer menu could consist of,

– contact, testimonials, FAQ, Privacy & polices.

Author
Recent Posts

Lani Haque

I enjoy learning and sharing that knowledge.Sharing has been in many forms over the years, as a teaching assistant, university lecturer, Pilates instructor, math tutor and just sharing with friends and family.Throughout, summarizing what I have learnt in words has always been there and continues to through blog posts, articles, video and the ever growing forms of content out there!