digitalmarketing - LinkGraph High authority link building services, white hat organic outreach. Tue, 01 Nov 2022 18:00:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://linkgraph.io/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-LinkGraph-Favicon-32x32.png digitalmarketing - LinkGraph 32 32 Meet the LinkGraph team | Sr. Public Relations Manager: Marissa Le https://linkgraph.io/blog/public-relations-manager-marissa/ https://linkgraph.io/blog/public-relations-manager-marissa/#respond Tue, 01 Feb 2022 19:35:40 +0000 https://linkgraph.io/?p=11398 We’re the people behind LinkGraph . . . literally. Welcome to our ‘Meet the LinkGraph team’ blog series! With each post, we’ll feature one-on-one interviews with the […]

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We’re the people behind LinkGraph . . . literally. Welcome to our ‘Meet the LinkGraph team’ blog series! With each post, we’ll feature one-on-one interviews with the bright individuals that make up LinkGraph. Get to know the people inside our company, what it’s really like working at LinkGraph, and what they enjoy most about their impact on our company and clients.

 

Meet Marissa Le, Sr. Public Relations Manager at LinkGraph. Marissa relocated from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Las Vegas in search of a new adventure. She is an avid fan of The Bachelor franchise, a foodie, and an overall positive human being. 

LinkGraph PR Manager Marissa

 

Marissa joined our team in January 2021 as a PR expert to secure speaking opportunities and contributor partnerships for our CTO. In her short time at LinkGraph, she’s also helped us take home prestigious awards including U.S. Search Awards’ Best Startup Agency, Nevada Top Workplaces’ #1 Small Business, The Drum Awards for Search’s Best B2B SEO Campaign, and many others. Here’s a look at Marissa’s career journey. 

1. What does your daily routine look like?

My day-to-day is so different, but it usually involves lots of collaboration with our Social Media Manager and Sr. Content Strategist! As you can imagine with any startup, things change frequently at LinkGraph so my workload is very dynamic and can include cold pitching, handling inbound media requests, writing awards entries, etc. 

2. How is working at LinkGraph different than your previous work experiences?

I come from a PR agency background where I managed clients’ integrated marketing campaigns so working at LinkGraph is different because our brand is my client. Plus working at a startup is very fast-paced and energetic. 

 3. What is your favorite part about working at LinkGraph?

We have a spirit of innovation here that’s very exciting to be a part of! Lots of momentum and excitement.

4. What is an important career lesson you’ve learned?

I’ve learned to trust my gut and to be confident in my work! 

5. Share a fun fact about yourself!

I am an identical twin. We are weirded out by the type of twins that do everything together and are exactly alike!

6. What is your favorite tv show?

My favorite show of all time is Shark Tank 🦈 followed closely by The Bachelor 🌹 franchise! 

We are always on the lookout for top talent, if you are interested in joining the team, please visit the LinkGraph careers page for current opportunities. If you don’t see anything that fits your skillset, send us an email at hello@linkgraph.io

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Meet the LinkGraph Team | Director of SEO: Arman Advani https://linkgraph.io/blog/director-of-seo-arman/ https://linkgraph.io/blog/director-of-seo-arman/#respond Thu, 06 Jan 2022 19:05:23 +0000 https://linkgraph.io/?p=11410 We’re the people behind LinkGraph . . . literally. Welcome to our ‘Meet the LinkGraph team’ blog series! With each post, we’ll feature one-on-one interviews with the […]

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We’re the people behind LinkGraph . . . literally. Welcome to our ‘Meet the LinkGraph team’ blog series! With each post, we’ll feature one-on-one interviews with the bright individuals that make up LinkGraph. Get to know the people inside our company, what it’s really like working at LinkGraph, and what they enjoy most about their impact on our company and clients.

 

We’ve spoken to Sr Customer Sucess Manager, Kenadee Bias, today we’re shining the spotlight on our Director of SEO, Arman Advani. Arman was one of the first hires at LinkGraph and has witnessed how our company has grown from a makeshift workspace in a New York City basement, to a distributed team of almost 100 people. Here’s a look at his career journey.

LinkGraph Director of SEO Arman Advani

1. What does your daily routine look like?

Several client-facing strategy consultations, internal team syncs to delegate tasks and assist with technical issues, respond to client emails/questions.

2. How is working at LinkGraph different than your previous work experiences?

LinkGraph is more fast-paced because of start-up culture, that being said, we can get a lot more done than larger companies that have internal red tape to get through.

3. What is your favorite part about working at LinkGraph?

Since we are a close team everyone has a voice. There’s nothing better than pitching an idea on how to improve our products and watching it take effect immediately. I regularly have discussions with our CTO, Manick Bhan, on new features we should add to SearchAtlas that are helpful in solving our clients’ needs, and how we can improve our software to further set ourselves apart from the competition.  

4. What is an important career lesson you’ve learned?

Teamwork makes the dream work.

5. Share a fun fact about yourself

I’m an online poker player and lifelong skateboarder. I actually moved from New York to Las Vegas to be closer to the poker scene. 

6. What is your favorite book//movie//tv show?

📚 GoT and Harry Potter are my favorite book series

🎥 The Departed

📺 The Office

 

We are always on the lookout for top talent, if you are interested in joining the team, please visit the LinkGraph careers page for current opportunities. If you don’t see anything that fits your skillset, send us an email at hello@linkgraph.io

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Meet the LinkGraph Team | Sr. Customer Success Manager: Kenadee Bias https://linkgraph.io/blog/customer-success-manager-kenadee-bias/ https://linkgraph.io/blog/customer-success-manager-kenadee-bias/#respond Fri, 03 Dec 2021 19:18:52 +0000 https://linkgraph.io/?p=11068 As a full-service digital marketing and SEO agency, Customer Success Managers play an integral role at LinkGraph; they manage and foster client relationships, and ensure client expectations […]

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As a full-service digital marketing and SEO agency, Customer Success Managers play an integral role at LinkGraph; they manage and foster client relationships, and ensure client expectations are set and met.

LinkGraph’s workforce is made up of a diverse range of individuals who bring a unique set of skills and talents to the table. The ‘Meet the Team’ series aims to highlight the bright individuals who work here. Each month we’ll be sharing an interview on our blog and our social media channels.

For this edition of our employee highlight series, we want to introduce Kenadee Bias. Kenadee recently celebrated her 1 year work anniversary at LinkGraph! She previously lived in New York City and worked in the fashion industry and even dabbled in event planning. 

A graphic with Kenadee in the center and a black, white, and pink background with the words Kenadee Bias and Meet the Team

1.What is your job title?

Senior Customer Success Manager

2.What does your daily routine look like?

Everyday I’m hustlin’ 

  1. Checking emails
  2. Syncing with the team
  3. Maybe hit up SBUX for a caffeine fix
  4. Project management
  5. Submitting deliverables
  6. Calls and meetings

3. How is working at LinkGraph different than your previous work experiences?

The difference is night and day. My previous job was in event planning. This role definitely forces me outside of my comfort zone and now I feel like I’m a developer, customer success manager, and a SEO strategist all in one. Everyday is a new day which I LOVE!!!!

4. What is your favorite part about working at LinkGraph?

The dream team and all of the office pups. 

5. What is an important career lesson you’ve learned?

If someone told me I’d be working for a startup tech company 3 years ago, I would not have believed them. I worked in fashion in NYC for three years, so the tech industry was out of the question. However, I think sometimes life FORCES you to change direction, which forces you to grow a bit, and sometimes, if you’re lucky, you end up evolving into a role that challenges you everyday. I think I’ve learned to embrace that rather than question it.

6. Share a fun fact about yourself

I’ve rewatched the whole series of Friends I think 30 times. I’m not exaggerating. I would stay home sick from school and watch Friends all day. I’m 26 now and still laugh at the same scenes.

7. What is your favorite book//movie//tv show//vegan food//type of workout

  1. Book: The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah
  2. Movie: Armageddon if I need a good cry. The Wedding Singer.
  3. Vegan Food – a vegan grilled cheese
  4. Favorite workout – walking my dog, Zoey

We are always on the lookout for top talent, if you are interested in joining the team, please visit the LinkGraph careers page for current opportunities. If you don’t see anything that fits your skill set, send us an email at hello@linkgraph.io

 

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How to Increase Online Sales During the Holidays with SEO https://linkgraph.io/blog/holidays-with-seo/ https://linkgraph.io/blog/holidays-with-seo/#respond Thu, 02 Dec 2021 21:46:03 +0000 https://linkgraph.io/?p=11060 Wondering how to increase your online sales during the holidays? You’re not alone. More people opt for online shopping this time of year, especially in light of […]

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Wondering how to increase your online sales during the holidays? You’re not alone. More people opt for online shopping this time of year, especially in light of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, November isn’t the only month with massive potential to draw people into your online store.

If you want your business to be a top contender as a top source for holiday gifts this December, your online store must climb Google’s search engine results through curated content, relevant landing pages, and exciting social media campaigns. With more traffic, you can anticipate increased conversions.

This may sound easier said than done, but with a few simple tips, you can capture more holiday sales and increase conversion rates using search engine optimization techniques. Which work best for the holiday season?

Here are our favorite ways to increase sales through SEO when you can hear sleigh bells ring and your customers are thinking about the holiday season:

Increase holiday sales infographic with a holiday theme, 5 tips listed (repeat in the article) and holiday graphics

1. Answer the most searched questions related to your products

screenshot of questions related to soccer balls

Want to provide customers with valuable content? Provide them with in-depth, accurate, and authoritative information related to their most common questions and search queries! Not only will including these questions in your content help to boost your ranking, but this is a great way to increase your engagement rates. Your customers are inherently invested in learning the answers to what they want to know as proven by query counts. This lengthens their ability to focus on your content.

Plus, answering your customer’s questions promotes confidence in their purchases. And creating high-quality content surrounding keywords and search term clusters ensures Google’s algorithms can find and promote your website to potential customers.

When your content points to your ability to predict your target audience’s needs, you create the opportunity to improve brand reputation. Add a discount for your new customer and a way for them to subscribe for future email marketing and campaigns and you’ve tripled your marketing efforts through relevant keywords alone. And customer loyalty through repeat customers is built on a foundation of trust and exclusivity after all. 

Where can you find questions your customers are asking?

Related Questions screenshot in SearchAtlas on the topic of marathons

The SearchAtlas keyword research tool makes discovering questions and queries surrounding your primary keywords easy! With keyword clusters and related questions tabs, it’s easy to pinpoint what your target audience wants to learn.

2. Choose Blog Topics That Draw Customers Into Your Website

A healthy blog can be the best way to promote holiday season online sales and prevent you from being left with excess stock for post-holiday shopping season clearance. By researching keywords and using SEO best practices, Google and other search engines have a higher likelihood of connecting your website with people shopping during the holiday season.

How can you find topics your customers care about?

Screenshot of the blog ideas tool in searchatlas with a query for soccer for kids

Using keyword research and targeting higher search volume numbers can take your website from page 5 of Google SERPs to page 1. In doing so, you can anticipate a tidal wave of potential customer impressions and a healthy click-through rate for higher online sales and greater market share.

Unsure where to start when it comes to your content topic? Use the SearchAtlas’s Content Ideas tool.

3. Offer Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your Customer’s Shopping List

A image of red flowers and ribbon with a off-white background and the text 15 Christmas presents for mom

Gift guides provide customers with insight and gift inspiration. They’re also a fantastic way to expose people to a greater range of your product offerings and draw attention to your online sales.

Keep in mind when creating your gift guides, that more and more online shoppers prefer to purchase multiple items from one seller. Give your buyers an incentive to increase the number of products in the shopping carts by mentioning which items pair well together. Highlight minimum purchase requirements, too, for those people hoping to receive free shipping or shipping discounts and bundle deals. This tactic is a great way to increase your average per purchase and boost overall online sales.

4. Don’t Miss the Opportunity to Promote Your Online Store Through Social Media

Social media logos on a black back ground from top left to bottom right: facebook, instagram, twitter, linkedin

Through fun and festive social posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram you can express your excitement for the season and funnel customers to your website. Where can you find inspiration? Everyone loves a Black Friday deal and getting sneak peeks of sales and new products through their social media accounts. Shoppers also flock to giveaways.

People also prefer business social media pages and businesses that feel authentic. They also want to support a company that actively posts and engages with customers. So, post regularly and revisit your branding guide. And keep in mind there is no right or wrong way to add personality to your posts, but staying true to your buyer persona and target audience can make creating content easier.

You can also get inspiration for posts by exploring keywords and your competitor’s websites and social pages. And don’t forget to highlight your sales and that consumers want to feel like they’re buying from a company they can trust.

5. Add a bit of holiday joy to your customers’ digital shopping experience.

A gray background with present and a christmas tree and hanging ornament graphics

Why do customers choose to shop online? They want to avoid crowded aisles, long checkout lines, and pushy salespeople. But just because your customers are shopping from the comfort of their computers or mobile devices, doesn’t mean you can’t spruce up their holiday shopping experience.

Adding holiday-themed graphics and sales to your web design will set you apart from your competitors. This tactic is also a great way to get people’s attention for a memorable and fun campaign this holiday shopping season.

Additionally, potential consumers are more likely to become a part of conversion success stories if the user experience is well-designed. Most people jump ship during the checkout process. So, focus on your checkout page before adding Christmas flair to your homepage.

What can you do to deck your digital halls?

Creating a streamlined and enjoyable user experience is all about reflecting what people want and need through your website’s layout, menus, and graphics. What do customers want when shopping for holiday sales? Here are a few examples:

  • Highlighted holiday sales and best sellers
  • High-resolution images of your products
  • Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales and products featured on your homepage
  • Holiday graphics on your product pages to boost your business’s branding
  • Customer service and a return policy in an easy-to-find location

Have a Happy Holiday Selling Season!

Christmas graphic border with the owrds happy holiday from LinkGraph in pink int he center

The LinkGraph family wishes you and your team records sales and endless happy customers. Keep in mind that holiday sales extend far beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Search engine optimization helps your website wind up on more customers’ gift lists and provides your business a boost that will last all year long.

Are you looking to beat last year’s sales or need assistance with your SEO? Give yourself the gift of expert assistance by contacting LinkGraph now for a free consultation on how SEO can boost your conversion rate to make last year’s number feel like a thing of the past.

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7 Tips for Better Information Architecture on Your Website https://linkgraph.io/blog/information-architecture-seo/ https://linkgraph.io/blog/information-architecture-seo/#respond Tue, 23 Nov 2021 11:45:02 +0000 https://linkgraph.io/?p=10894 Just as traditional architecture determines how people will use a building or another structure, information architecture (IA) guides users in how they use information systems. And while […]

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Just as traditional architecture determines how people will use a building or another structure, information architecture (IA) guides users in how they use information systems. And while there are many information systems out there, the most commonly used are websites. 

Unlike the architecture of bridges and buildings, though, information architecture has more moving parts, a more abstract form of ‘building materials,’ and has only been around for a few decades. Additionally, information systems like websites are more malleable and can be adjusted and improved over time.

If you can master the principles of information architecture, you can build a website that will stand the test of time. Whether you’re in the process of creating your website or want to revamp your user experience and content, this article will provide you insight into how you can transform your website into a shining example of well-designed information architecture.

What Is Information Architecture in Relation to a Website?

An index finger pressing a digital button for UX user Experience with other information architecture terms surrounding it.

Information architecture refers to the process your users go through to gather information about your products or services through a website or other digital platform like an app. Information architecture provides people with a systematic way to navigate from point A to point B in order to achieve an action or gain knowledge. In other words, better information architecture promotes easier accessibility of information through intuitive navigation design.

The best information architecture not only streamlines the user’s journey and goals, but it fulfills specific user needs by organizing a vast amount of information into little, easily digestible categories.

From Where Does Information Architecture Originate?

Much of the methodologies, techniques, and principles used to understand and improve information architecture design come from Peter Morville. Morville is the founding architect of this branch of user experience (UX) and content inventory systems. While he was the first, there is a large number of experts in this discipline who develop IA best practices through the Information Architecture Institute and user research.

What Elements Does Information Architecture Include?

Caucasian male hand pressing a digital information map. POV is from the monitor looking out.

Before we dive into how to improve your information architecture, it’s important to have a good sense of what is included in this field of study in relation to your website. While information architecture can apply to library science, spreadsheet science, and even physical structures, we will be focusing on IA in relation to websites.

So where can you find examples of information architecture on a website?

All it takes is for a website to load in order to be flooded with examples of information architecture. Information architecture is the strategic organization and presentation of your website’s content. In fact, nearly every aspect of a website and web design is part of IA. Of course, there is good information architecture and subpar IA, but all of the following are important parts of an IA system that go into your site:

  • UX design/UI design
  • Written content or web cop
  • Graphic design and design patterns
  • Images
  • Buttons
  • Links
  • Layout features
  • Website nomenclature
  • Metadata tags
  • Accessibility features

Good IA comes into play in all of the above. And these elements are often categorized into UX design, content creation strategy, and homepage layout (UI design).

How Do Information Architecture and SEO Work Together?

Search engine optimization (SEO) and information architecture both benefit website owners and web users by improving the internet experience. SEO and IA make quality content easier to find, understand, and navigate. SEO and IA differ in where they fit into the website creation process.

Good IA Supports SEO

SEO has the goal of increasing a website’s visibility through the science of configuring content, front-end web development, and back-end web development in response to search engine algorithms. The result is a website that search engines can find and display as search results to web users’ inquiries. This is an ongoing process. SEO requires a proactive and reactive approach since algorithms often change. Additionally, search engines see value to websites that regularly update their content.

SEO specialists regularly improve a website’s

  • Written content
  • Loading speed & responsiveness
  • Organization
  • Visual design
  • Graphics and photos

Information architecture often works best when established before active web design begins. IA establishes a framework that supports the efforts of SEO specialists for the lifetime of a website. With a well-strategized IA, a website will have a strong foundation of logical organization. This makes a website more enjoyable from the user’s perspective since they can find what they need easily. In turn, this improves the website’s reputation. A better reputation increases the website’s authority and pushes it higher on search engine results pages, so more people can find it.

Graphic of how IA and SEO work together with black background and pink and blue graphics

Good information architecture only as to be designed once.

Like most systems, the best IA only has to be designed once. If an IA system is effective, it will allow a website to scale and respond to changes needed for the most current SEO strategies. As more blogs, products, or landing pages are added to a website for SEO, good IA already has a designated location and system to handle them.

Why is Information Architecture Important in UX?

Blond white woman in lab coat putting fingers to head in a ‘mind blown’ gesture

As your local librarians will tell you, providing easy access to information is priceless. Information is both empowering and vital for the best individual experience and a better society. However, when it comes to your UX, IA has a more specific importance. It increases your brand’s value to potential clients while bolstering your sales.

Good IA structure based on set principles has the power to help people find what they are looking for within seconds. One of the simplest examples of this is concise and accurate folder labels in your Google Drive. This naming or navigation system allows you to access the files and information you’re looking for quickly and effortlessly–leading to less frustration and wasted time.

While more complicated, Google Maps also uses IA to help people find what they’re looking for in the physical world. For instance, if you type “food near me,” your search results will be full of nearby restaurants. This demonstration of IA is a perfect example of what it means to help a user understand what they are looking for since the user is likely looking for businesses that provide food. 

How to Improve Your Information Architecture

Improving your information architecture can turn your website from an ordinary e-commerce page into a resource visitors enjoy using. These tips can guide you through how to improve your IA and help you prioritize which tasks to begin with.

1. Utilize wireframes in the prototype stages of your sitemap and IA design development.

Male hands moving elements of a website around on a hand-drawn IA or wireframe website layout

Wireframes serve a multitude of purposes when it comes to developing strong IA and a sitemap. They work superbly as information architecture diagrams that can be moved around and changed before your design is finalized. 

At their very core, wireframes connect your IA to its UX design. In striking similarity to an architectural blueprint, a wireframe functions as a skeletal outline of a site or mobile app. However, this method of UX development is not limited to visual design, unlike a mockup. To accurately determine the logic of your site’s flow and the intended customer journey, this is a necessary step in your IA project timeline. Your site’s intended functions can best be evaluated through wireframing.

Through wireframing, you will have a solid idea of your visual hierarchy when you are ready to move your site to the content strategy phase. Common elements of a wireframe include 

  • Search fields
  • Breadcrumbs
  • navigation systems
  • Headers and footers. 

Ideally, you would use wireframes during your initial UX/UI design process. However, you can still utilize them on an existing website.

Identify Paths with Wireframes

Aside from assessing functionality, wireframing is a particularly useful method of identifying paths between web pages. This critical phase of the IA process will allow you to visualize how much space should be allocated for specific content.

When Prototyping Your Visual Hierarchy, Start with a Sketch

Low-fidelity wireframe versions of a website are quick to develop and more abstract because their main focus is on the visual hierarchy of your site. These bare-bones prototypes often implement mock content (like Latin text) as filler for spatial visualization. However, they provide you with a guideline for content volume when the time comes.

Linking concepts to tangible images and links can be a complicated process, even for the seasoned designer. If you have trouble getting your ideas to match your result, consider implementing a mind mapping software like XMind. XMind is a productivity tool used professionally to solidify brainstorming.

Move from Broad to Detailed Wireframes

Laptop sitting on a wood surface, open to high fidelity wireframe with images, text, and a search function

Conversely, high-fidelity wireframes are more detailed versions are excellent blueprints for interaction design. They include metadata about a particular page element, like its behavior or dimensions. These more detailed versions are excellent blueprints for previewing your interaction design.

2. Keep your brand personas in mind throughout the UX design and content strategy process.

A 5 by 5 grid showing various women with different styles to demonstrate a variety of brand personas

Unity and consistency across your brand are integral parts of a solid information architectural system. 

Your site is a reflection of your brand, from the elements of your visual design down to each blog post and product page. Accordingly, you should be keeping your brand personas in mind each time you implement a UX feature or post a new content piece. This ensures fidelity between your company and your target audience. Use your personas as a guide to help you, your design team, and your content strategist collaborate on your ideal user perception. 

Define and Implement Your Goal User Perception

Your goal user perception is the way you would like customers or potential customers to view your brand. Before making one of the many decisions IA requires, run your ideas through this line of questioning:

  • Does this align with the image I want to create for my brand?
  • Will this decision affect consistency across my site or organization?
  • Am I appropriately conveying the good qualities of my business?
  • Does this get us closer to our main goal?
  • How does this project fit into the future of our company?

Any content or design elements that do not hold up to this line of questioning can be eliminated. Not only can this process help you avoid inconsistencies, but it reduces the possibility of having too much content on your site. This benefits your web admins, especially those who keep up with content creation for SEO purposes.

3. Your visual hierarchy determines readability, so prioritize your content accordingly.

A laptop with monitor behind on a desk with mouse beside showing website with visual hierarchy

Visual hierarchy is a principle of laying out and sizing visual elements to denote their importance to the viewer. For example, alignment, texture, whitespace, and contrast are a few of the visual design concepts that can help draw users’ attention to the right content. An effective user interface design does more than simply provide information. A quality hierarchy can persuade and impress users.

There are a few aspects of visual hierarchy that are highly beneficial to apply when creating UX design based on cognitive psychology. 

Visual Hierarchy Principles to Keep in Mind:

1: Larger images are perceived as more important

2: Bright colors garner more attention

3: Elements that are aligned are more pleasing to the eye

4: Higher contrast demands more attention

5: Repetition tells the viewer that elements are related

6: Proximity (or closeness) denotes interconnectedness in topic

7: More white space around an element draws more attention to it

Visual unity isn’t just essential to your brand image, it is also a critical part of your UX design. Familiar colors, menu hierarchies, and diagrams promote consistency and fluid usability. Even small distractions like slow-loading graphics or unaligned text columns can interrupt the user experience.

There are several useful IA software that can assist you in your UI development process, like OmniGraffle. OmniGraffle is used to create visuals and graphics for use in prototypes and mockups. As mentioned above, high-fidelity site frameworks utilize these types of visuals and graphics to help designers strategize where to put information and why it belongs there.

Visual Tidiness Affects More Than Just Usability

If you have ever been to a site that was unattractive, cluttered, or disorganized, you likely formulated a negative opinion of that business or organization. Perhaps you even deemed the information to be less reputable due to the nature or design of the site. This is why it’s important to stick to simplistic and user-friendly design. Together, a pleasant UX and UI can boost user confidence and solidify your site’s credibility. 

In addition to building trust among your users, a quality UX also lets Google and other search engines know that your site is worthy of ranking.

4. Structure and categorization are fundamental.

A screenshot of LinkGraph’s menu to demonstrate how content is structured and categorized

One mistake many people make is putting their content all in one place. In fact, overstuffing information into a single URL causes your UI to suffer, since there is no hierarchy or sense of organization. Too much information on a single page takes users much longer to sort through content to find a specific piece of information.

Users should be able to locate all desired information on your website quickly and easily. This requires a well-planned site map.

family Feud gif

Category is… A Better User Experience

To create a better structure, you must first go through the process of categorization. Categorization is the process of organizing your content into a taxonomy system. Categorization is an integral part of navigation design because it has the ability to guide the user to the right content. 

Start by Finding Commonalities

Begin by grouping your content by similarities in content type. For example, in the image above, you will notice, at LinkGraph, we group our resources by format type (eBooks, blog posts, case studies, and videos).

The most common similarities should be land higher on your sitemap since they’re usually the starting place for narrowing down the user flow for optimal navigation.

gif of black cat filing claws

For example, if your website centers on pet care, you likely will want to first group your products or articles by pet species. From there, you may want to divide the information or products into what aspect of care they provide. As you can see, this would make navigation easier for cat owners looking for a technique or clippers to trim their cat’s nails.

Using tools like SearchAtlas can make long-term organization easier by allowing you to group pages into categories. This allows you to see the category performance, so you can target where you can eliminate or improve content.

A screenshot of SearchAtlas’ page group performance view

Eliminate Unnecessary Content and Categories

While generating new content is extremely important, making sure you have room for this content on your site is also essential. It can be tempting to hold onto content that you have created, but it is best to let it go to make room for site updates.

Omitting unnecessary or irrelevant data can also enhance the user experience. So, don’t be shy to perform a content audit and delete pages that receive little-to-no traffic. A potential customer looking for a specific piece of information may become frustrated or lose interest in your digital product if it is too difficult to find.

 

5. Your homepage shouldn’t be the only local navigation point.

A photo of a laptop with a homepage to an interior designer

While the ideal destination page is the homepage, users find nearly endless different ways to land on a website. For this reason, the digital design of each page on your website should share the same functions as your homepage.

Your website will likely be backlinked on other websites to enhance reputability and SERP ranking when your business begins implementing a content strategy. Since backlinking incorporates relevant keywords that may bring visitors directly to content, such as blogs or guides, you should ensure that every entry point of your website is equally user-friendly and visually appealing as the homepage in order to make a good first impression and move visitors beyond the landing page.

 A landing page for HGTV on tips for adopting a dog. A pink box around the navigation menu.

Alt: A landing page for HGTV on tips for adopting a dog. A pink box around the navigation menu.

For example, if a user enters your site through the contact page URL, it should be easy for them to find navigation elements that will take them to the homepage or digital product browsing section.

Provide tools to make finding resources easier

An efficient search system is the backbone of a great user interaction design. This allows an of your webpage participants to find what they’re seeking in seconds rather than minutes.

Provide FAQs with links to more specific information. This gives users the choice of how much information they need and an easy way to access it.

Keep a navigation menu at the top of all your subpages. Subpages need to provide access points for other activities you offer–Otherwise, your users may never travel from a subpage to your sales funnel (or another offering on your main page).

6. Go through the customer journey then map out a blueprint for improvements

Two caucasian women sitting side by side with a laptop between, going through the customer journey

Alt: Two caucasian women sitting side by side with a laptop between, going through the customer journey

The best usability testing you can perform is going through the actions of a potential customer. You can do this yourself by going through your website manually. Mind maps can also make the task of mapping the customer journey easy.

For best results, anticipate how a user will engage with your interaction design. Once you have a clear blueprint of your users’ needs, you can create an information hierarchy and a sitemap. Your sitemap allows Google’s bots to crawl your URLs to identify information used for SERPs.

Keep Speed In Mind

In general, the online community values convenience and speed above all. A recent UX study demonstrated that 53% of visits are abandoned if a mobile app or site takes longer than three seconds to load. This means from decision points, your web design has about 3 seconds to sort and present the piece of information digital product the user is looking for.

This is to say that load time, page speed, and click response are essential parts of your information architecture and it is important to keep up with their performance. Thankfully, tools like the

Artificial Intelligence and the Customer Journey

The behavior of an internet user is relatively predictable, and artificial intelligence technology can now mimic user activity for rapid results from AI user testing and other usability testing efforts. In conjunction with heatmaps, you can pinpoint where users tend to get hung up and turn decision points into exit points.

Perform Regular Performance Audits and Fixes

A screenshot of SearchAtlas’s issues reporting tool for site performance

SearchAtlas can make tracking and monitoring performance simple once your site is live. This can help you improve the customer journey by identifying navigation issues such as broken links.

Identify What Pages Visitors Use Most with GSC Insights

Screenshot of SAs to pages tool

Finding which pages on your site that visitors utilize most can help you prioritize their functionality when auditing your site’s performance. This also gives you insight into which categories of content your target audience is most interested in.

7. Make sure the information part of your information architecture is high quality.

Male arm and hand holding a pink highlighter as he prioritizes an idea on a planning web.

Findability, usability, and graphic design are all essential elements to good IA. However, the content you are managing needs to be as relevant as it is organized. The same way an information architect is well-versed in the science of organization, content strategists and content creators are experts in SEO and how to improve the content structures.

Reader engagement is a must when it comes to engagement time and scroll distance. The easiest way to improve your content to encourage deeper navigation is with clear headings as a road map to your content. The first thing many visitors will do is preview your headings and images for relevance to their search terms.

The quality of your metadata and headings will also drive more visitors to your site and reduce your bounce rate.

Structure Your Content for Usability and SEO

The Core Web Vital update made the structure of content an even higher priority. This change takes into account how long it takes for users to access the most important aspects of your website. The difference is now most IA design locates data-heavy elements below the page fold. And if these elements are vital assets to your brand, you need to give visitors a reason to scroll through pieces of content far enough to move beyond the fold. This is where the quality of your content comes in.

Information Architecture: The Science of Organizing the Customer Journey

The impact of well-strategized information architecture continues to become more and more profound. With information architects, UX experts, and content auditors, websites are better able to provide every user with easier access to their desired outcomes. Through the science of user behavior, cognitive psychology-based UI design, and strict hierarchy patterns, IA is improving the internet for all users.

Better IA can set your business apart from the competition. With LinkGraph’s team of visual designers, content curators and creators, and UX web developers you can turn your site into a top-performing contender on search engines, the worldwide web, and among your loyal base of customers. If you’re ready to watch your business grow, we’re ready to take on your next project.

The post 7 Tips for Better Information Architecture on Your Website appeared first on LinkGraph.

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