I am writing this with a bend towards enterprise-level websites that contain lots of information. More specifically, my writing is based on my experience working on websites at a large university. These strategies work well for small websites too, but may be overkill for some.

Content Inventory: Information Layout

There are two documents that can be very helpful for evaluating or building from scratch a website’s information architecture:

INFORMATION OUTLINE

An easy way to create an information outline is to extract a summary of the headings throughout your website into a bullet list. Not only should the headings be an accurate skeleton of the subject, but when you develop meaningful headings you are simultaneously improving your site’s SEO. To think about it another way, a user should be able to skim your information outline and know where they would look to find a specific piece of information. So, when they are skimming your website, as discussed in the first half of this blog article, they are quickly guided to the information that is most important to them.

SITE MAP

A site map serves as a visual representation of a website’s navigability. Each plot on the map represents a unique page and I usually label my plots with the top-level heading on that page (for me, seeing the heading adds value when I’m reviewing the site map). The tendency for a lot of people is to put every page of their site in a global navigation which results in a site map that is completely flat. This indicates that everything is only a click away (good), but that the user is inundated with choices (bad). My organization’s goal for an upcoming redesign is to reshape our site maps so they look more like family tree and less like a distant horizon. Ideally, a site should establish a balance of efficiency (fewer clicks) that leverages the natural flow of information (fewer options), resulting in a streamlined user experience.

Another of my “best practice” quirks: A top-level bullet point on my information outline corresponds to a plot on my site map. So these headings identify unique pages but do not take into account the relationship of one page to another.

Recommendations For Beginners

If I were preparing to write/rewrite content for my website, I would start by creating an information outline. This will give you the big picture and help you identify the most important bits of information. Once your headings sufficiently guide users to the content they need, you will be able to drill down into those partitions, keep your thoughts organized, and deliver a killer user experience.

Just pretend you’re back in high school, drafting an outline for a research paper. Because that was fun, right?

I am writing this with a bend towards enterprise-level websites that contain lots of information. More specifically, my writing is based on my experience working on websites at a large university but these strategies work well for small websites too.

Identifying Your Web Audience

The nature of web users in the information sector (higher education, for example) is to find information and get on with life. They read with intention and for a specific purpose. They are seeking, scheduling, comparing, and evaluating. They skim web pages for words that seem important or relevant to their need. If they cannot find what they seek quickly and easily, they will either forfeit looking or get frustrated after a short period of time. For this reason, leveraging the power of bullet points and headings is crucial to process of condensing information into partitioned, digestible bites.

Optimizing Website Content

Headings

With short, accurate headings (“accurate” means that the heading is appropriate for the content that follows), a user is able to skim a page and find sections of content relevant to their needs. If there is no apparent relevance, they proceed to another page to repeat their skimming until something stands out. Headings should assist the user by putting clear labels on partitions of information. Explicitly defined partitions also give users a clear starting and stopping point for subject matter so they don’t waste time reading content that might help.

Paragraphs and Lists

Inside the aforementioned partitions, content is most usable when paragraphs get straight to the point and bullet lists are prevalent. I have conducted numerous usability studies among my organization’s target audience groups and consistently observed user preference for bullet lists over paragraphs. How often do you write paragraphs on your resume? Never. Interviewers are only interested in the bullet point summary of your qualifications because it requires less effort to scan for keywords.

So don’t try to win a Pulitzer with your content, and don’t try to sell your brand – the user is on your website, so you have already won their attention. You can maybe summarize the high points on the homepage, but wasting space with fluffy marketing verbiage only diminishes the user experience and ultimately diminishes your brand.

Read part two: Information Architecture for Higher Ed Websites