In charge of securing a new website for a service-based brand, but unsure where to begin?
Whether you’re looking to overhaul an existing website due to a branding refresh or an operational change, the first to-do is to assess your site’s structure and evaluate what is and what isn’t working. Ideally, there is past data to assess, providing insight into where the majority of your users stem from and what actions they take once landing on your site.
One of the typical segmentation options is to compare return and new user behavior. Ultimately, there are three categories of users: the new, the referred, and the return. Your website is the place to communicate the full extent of your positioning to your audience vs. piecemeal via email blasts or social posts. In order to be a marketing tool that drives sales and encourages audience engagement, your site structure needs to accommodate each type of user.
Site Structure for Professional Services
For the professional service industry (financial, legal, or consulting), new users are likely to spend more time on Home, About, or Team pages, getting a feel for the who and why. Understandably, services with higher costs associated typically see longer lead times and prospects that conduct more research by way of in-depth blog articles or detailed FAQs before reaching out. Whereas first-time users who have been referred from a trusted source or were previously introduced to the business via social media are more likely to navigate to a page dedicated to the what and how, often found on Service pages where process-oriented content lives.
The returning user should be catered to with an easy-to-navigate menu that prioritizes common calls to action, whether it be conveniently placed contact information or a frequently referenced resource. For example, existing Armada clients visiting our website are most likely looking to request website support via our ticketing page. Beyond contact-related CTAs, users should be encouraged to engage in ways that bring the informational content directly to them, by subscribing to a newsletter or following on social media. After all, it’s really only popular e-commerce sites with users who frequent the homepage on a regular basis to see what’s new.
Site Structure for Trades
For businesses that are designed to meet an immediate need and don’t often have an ongoing relationship with customers, like HVAC or plumbing, it’s key to establish credibility upfront for new users. People often opt to contact the service provider that is a respected expert in their industry. This can be communicated visually through recognizable partner or client logos, as well as Google-verified testimonials.
The referred user is likely looking to verify what they’ve heard about your business from other sources or conduct deep topical research—hence why educational content meant to solve a real pain point is always encouraged. The returning user could be looking to schedule their next appointment, or searching for follow-up information in the form of FAQs, warranty details, or to leave a review.
General Best Practices
It never hurts to pause and view things from both your prospective and your current customers’ point of view. While the above considerations and recommendations are all likely true for most businesses, it’s good to remember that if everything is a priority—nothing is.
When building a sitemap for a client, we start with what we know while communicating that the process is iterative. We recommend thinking about the needs of the business as it stands now and roughly 6-months into the future. The goal is to launch a website we are all proud of, and then continue to build upon the foundation as the business scales.
While the general user flow is not meant to be flipped on its head every month, it should be re-evaluated as data is collected. This is why one of the deliverables from our Platform-SEO Program is a dashboard that allows insight into user behavior. If we see jumps in impressions around a particular search term or that a particular landing page is driving the majority of conversions, we’re able to extract takeaways and apply them to future content decisions.
If you’d like to learn about a website and marketing partner that will help set your business up for success, let’s talk!
