So far, we have talked about the following in our previous three articles:

1) Using WordPress as the foundation for your Artificially Intelligent Website

2) Using a qualified and competent Hosting provider to make your life easier with less headaches, and support when they happen (it is, after all, technology).

3) Using cPanel, and Fantastico, to quickly and easily install WordPress on your website.

For this segment, I am going to ask you to step away from your computer and do a little thinking about the structure of your website.

Two areas which slow website implementations

There are two pieces which slow down most web implementations.  The first has to do with how the website will look, the second has to do with the content of the website and how to organize the content (the menu).

In this segment, we are discussing the website menu structure.  Effectively, thinking how your clients, customers or prospects will interact with your website.

Your website has a purpose, generally for profit generating companies this has to do with supporting sales and support services.  I.E., show me the money!

For others, it might be to help reduce support calls by giving the clients a place to help themselves quickly and easily get the information they need without calling your offices.

Whether for these, or other reasons, your website needs to have it’s content easy to find and easy to consume.  There needs to be an simple call to action placed on the front page when you are ready to push your marketing and sales effort and compelling and fresh content to encourage prospects to come back and sample your website again.  After all, research shows that it takes an average of 7-8 contacts to move a prospect to a client.

When you are thinking about creating a menu, think about how you want a particular type of client to get to your information internally.  If you are targeting an information seeker, then make sure that your information is clearly organized and easy to find – don’t make them search through months of content (posts) to find the gems they might rave about to their friends or co-workers.

For example, look up YARPP (Yet Another Relevant Post Plugin) to automatically find similar posts and encourage your readers to see other content on your website.

When you have an Artificially Intelligent Website, you are creating a system to automate your efforts.  For example, if someone was browsing your products, you would want a service person to show them additionally related products if they are in your store, right?  Well, YARPP (and similar plugins) do the same function for your content, automatically.

Think not only about your main menu (usually underneath or on top of your header), but also about side menu’s and the integrated links within your website.  Always encourage the wonderful curiosity of prospects to get to know your services and prospects … and you … better by pointing them to your website’s information.

When your website creates a compelling draw for prospects, you have a better chance of being ‘top of mind’ when they have a problem or opportunity you can solve. Furthermore, the prospect has become more comfortable with your company by learning valuable information in your field of expertise.  Hopefully, the prospect has learned they can trust your direction and has overcome some of the beginning sales issues when your brand is unknown and untried.

Since the point of your website is to deliver information (whether sales, support, marketing etc.) you need to have a defined path for the viewer through the website.  When their is a logical flow to your website, the prospect is more likely to look around since their frustration has not been triggered causing them to just go back to Google and try again.

If you would like to understand more about how your website is used by viewers, consider installing Google Analytics (free) to get objective information regarding what pages are viewed on your website.

Finally, remember some of the basics that prospects will need when seeing your website.  Always include a ‘Contact Us’ page for example. Make sure a client never has difficulty figuring out how to get in touch with you to purchase or hire your companies services and products.

Your website must have compelling information to be beneficial to a prospect, however; if they cannot easily figure out how to locate the information they will just go to another website.  Protect against this by doing some early planning on your menu structure and links which draw the prospects into and through your website.