Must Have Pages and Naming Conventions
Of Good Website Design!
© 2007 John H. Dow

There are a few elements of website design that are necessary for both the visitors and the search engines. It doesn't matter if your website is about your hobby, club, political view, or for selling a product or service.

There are basic pages that should be a part of any website. These pages are like the standard who, what, where, and how of writing a good news story. Each page provides very specific information about the website.

The four standard web pages are:

• The front page, often referred to as the home page.
  This is normally the landing page for most visitors and highlights the
  subject covered and or sales copy.
• The Frequently Asked Questions page (FAQ).
  The FAQ helps visitors find common questions and answers on the
  purpose and content of the website.
• The About Us page.
  The About Us page gives a background on the website owners or
  creators and often provides a mission statement.
• The contact information page.
  This page gives contact info for visitors that have questions not
  covered in the FAQ, or just want to contact the website owners. 

Each page lends both credibility and substance to any website. Visitors can find out more about the website and the search engines love content that is particular to each website.

The front or home page should have an easy to find and use menu (links) to of all the web pages in the website. Menus should be on all major pages so the visitor can easily navigate through the website and information.

Naming conventions used on the menus should be clear in regard to the subject matter on each page. A good example would be to name the web page after the purpose or content like "How To Make Muffins".

Content should be organized like a filing cabinet, using subject matter that filters down. If you had a cooking website, it could look like this example:

• Breakfast Meals
  -Omelets
  -Waffles
• Lunch Meals
  -Sandwiches
  -Soups
• Dinner Meals
  -Casseroles
  -10  Minute Dishes

You can arrange the subject areas by any method but stick to a common theme and name the web pages so that the visitor can see exactly what type of information is available. Try to stay as meaningful as possible on naming conventions.

Search engines love a clear, easy to follow hierarchy on menus. And they reward you with higher search term rankings which means more visitors come to your website. And these visitors are the most highly targeted that you can find.

One common mistake I see often (and I was guilty early on too) is when use "home" for the link text to their front web page. Home means little in the way of content and doesn't tell the visitor much about what's on the page.

Link text should always be as descriptive as possible. So in our above example with a cooking website, you would want to use the term cooking in the front page link. Maybe with more detail like "Midnight Cooking" or "Cooking Ideas". Both are much more descriptive than "home".

So always try to be as descriptive as possible when naming your four basic pages too. Instead of just "About Us", use "About Cooking.com" or Contact Information for Cooking.com". Always remember to let the visitor see the content before he clicks.

You get better search engine rankings and happy visitors following these basic suggestions. Website Design is much more than an attractive looking website, it's about user experience and search engine rankings too. 

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