The basic layout of a web site should follow a pattern of organisation that makes it easy for search engines to index your site and users to navigate it. Also, a web site that is well organised will be much easier to maintain. Unless your web site is constructed with an arrangement that is both logical and clean your efforts can be wasted and maintenance will be difficult.

You have decided on your homepage design and have included links from it to the main sections of your web site. This should be considered the first tier of content and lead into the interior of your site. Here is where your visitor is first introduced to your web site. If you are going to be serious about this web site of yours then put a large part of your efforts into perfecting this homepage/index page. First impressions are important on the Web just as in life.

The main sections of your site have been identified and placed in order of importance in your navigation scheme. When your user visit your homepage the first thing they should see is a listing or layout of all the main topics/main sections covered in your web site. This listing is not to be confused with a site map. Your site index should provide links only to the main sections of your web site. Links to the content of these sections can be included in the pages following the main topics.

Subsections are placed in their proper categories when the content has been decided upon. This is where the main body of your web site content resides. They contain the bulk of the information that you are presenting to your visitors. Many online marketers call these the money pages. Chances are that if your visitor has clicked their way down to this level, they are interested enough to buy your product, click on your ads or like your message. This is the area in which most ad clicks occur.

Homepage/Index Page

Main Sections

Subsections