The simpler your website structure is, the easier it will be for your readers to find all of those lovely affiliate links and products you have scattered on your website. A well-built and trustworthy site means people will always come back.
A well-structured website is easier to maintain, which is useful when you have so many affiliate links that need checking up on, and will allow you to make any changes that are necessary along the way.
You may find your website is a bit cumbersome at the beginning when you're just finding your feet, but with a simple website structure things won't be that hard to find, especially links, when you need them. All of this can be done when you put some thought into your website architecture.
Why Your Website Layout is Important
Often referred to as your website's architecture, your website layout is an important part of how you're going to sell your products, books or brand. It's all about how you present your content and essentially is your website's framework.
A well thought out website layout can make all the difference in the world because it will make your readers want to come back for more. Which is why you need a constant supply of content every week which should be grouped neatly into a directory or archive page which should be found on your landing or front page.
Here are some important points you need to consider when you start designing your website:
- You have strong internal links
- Your website include categories
- You've included a navigation menu
Why It's Essential to Have Your Website Architecture Planned and Refined in the Beginning
It doesn't matter what size site you have, a part of how successful you'll be online rests with how you have laid out your website. Even the smallest things can impact your user, which means you need it to be accessible, friendly for both search and engines to allow crawlability, and for visitors to navigate. Without these elements your affiliate sales will fall flat.
Creating Your Site Hierarchy
You can create a new hierarchy or you can make improvements by creating a visual of how your blog is laid out. Using the visual layout you can:
- See where your main landing page or homepage will be.
- Where you want to place smaller subpages.
- How many separate pages you need to sell your books or products from, plus any other useful pages such as a resource page.
- Information that will be required on all of your main pages and home page/landing page.
You can do this on your computer or you can sit down with a pencil and start planning out how you want your site to look when people click on your link.
This plan is helpful and will help you to understand the kind of content you need on each page, whether it's selling your products or someone else's.
A Simple Recommendation
Your readers should be able to go from page to page with ease and quickly find what they're looking for without too much trouble. Which is why a lot of websites, my own included, add a simple search bar somewhere on the home/landing page. This means your visitors can enter keywords and look for specific content on your site.
Design an Attractive Landing or Front Page
Landing pages can do wonders for a website and should include:
- A simple eye-catching design that is used throughout the website.
- Links to products/services on offer.
- Links to most up-to-date content.
- Links to social media accounts.
- Links to an about page.
- A subscription box.
- Video and podcast links.
If you're unsure of how you want your website landing page to look, checkout the competition and what they have to offer. Tailor the page to your website's needs.
Create a Sitemap and Add it to Google Console
Sitemaps can be created simply by a sitemap creator or creating your own. The sitemap will make your site visible to all search engines, and will start your website on the road to being indexed on Google. This is really important if anyone is going to find your business.
Check for Broken Links
It's best to choose a time when you can sit down and utilise a link checker to see if there are any broken links on your website. You can do your own link checking whenever you have some free time set aside. Link checking can be a fiddly business which is why it's best to do it when things are quiet and you can go through and amend the links you need to.
Platforms like Blogger allow you to create a custom message for pages that no longer exist. A message will let your visitors know that the page has gone for good, and will stop any further confusion.
Make Your Affiliate Disclosure Clear Throughout Your WebsiteThis is really important, especially if you're using links from Amazon Associates because you could get your Associate's account shut down if you're not honest with your audience about what they're clicking on. I have mine on my main blog page and at the bottom of pages and posts that include affiliate links.
Trust is really important and you quickly realise that without this your ship is sunk before it has even sailed. People will buy from you when they trust you, that's just a simple fact. They'll keep coming back if they have faith in what you have on offer, and when they know it's real.
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