Web Site Design Architecture Consulting

Difficult navigation and poorly organized content are some of the main reasons why frustrated users don't return to Web sites.

Web site design architecture consulting is one of our specialties. Our consultants work with your team to identify, organize, and logically organize your content with an intuitive and easy to use navigation system. At Computer eCommerce we follow a user-focused process for ensuring that a Web site meets users' needs. While many organizations are anxious to start off with a great new "look" for their Web site, our research and experience show that developing a user-centered structure must precede visual design decisions.

Our information architecture consulting work follows a structured process. In fact, we've built over 70 architecturally excellent sites. For our process to work, we must take time to understand who your Web site's users are, the context in which they would be visiting your Web site, and what tasks they would expect to do there. We refer to our development process as "site architecture" because it's far more than simply making a graphic design into functional HTML. We collect information in three phases:

Phase 1 - Envision Structure As the first phase in the Information Architecture process, we meet with you to determine your vision for the Web site, the tasks you believe users will complete on the Web site, and how the Web site's content, organization, and navigation system will help people successfully perform these tasks. We collect information using a user-focused planning structure.

Phase 2 - Analyze User Information During the second phase, we talk with actual users to find out if the tasks they expect to perform on your Web site match with what you believe your users want to do. Research shows that user satisfaction can be measured by the gap between what users expect from a Web site and what they actually get. The user's positive experience correlates to increased loyalty and trust in your organization. Our goal during this phase is to listen and gather complex customer data. The goal of the user analysis phase is to get important information out of your users' heads that enables us to structure the Web site. We identify different groups of users; list tasks each group of users would perform on your Web site; record the order in which they'd perform those tasks; and learn to support users they way they want to work.

Phase 3 - Design Architecture - In the third phase of our process, we use the information we gathered in the first two phases to architect a user-focused Web site structure than ensures success. We arrange information into categories, hierarchies and sequences that make sense to users (labeling). Then we assign groupings and present that structure in a site plan.

For actual development Computer eCommerce approaches every project as if it were our own, providing options and suggestions for enhancements that add impact or increase usability to potential site visitors. This process results in a better, more professional presentation. Following our standard development process methodology, we develop an overall strategy for the site project. We use our extensive experience in Web site development to build optimized directory structures for navigation, and search engine optimization to help place your site higher in rank results.

To find out more about how CEC's experience can benefit your organization, e-mail info@computerecommerce.com.