Here is a general overview of how a company website architecture should progress. It involves ten stages to be followed in a chronological order
In the first stage you need to brainstorm with your Client, get a summary of what they have in mind. The next step would require you to ascertain the Target Audience. Try to get a clear idea, whom the website is going to cater. Find out the existing competitors in the same ground. Finally, meet the decision makers of the site and discuss out with them to fix up the budget.
Nothing can take shape without a goal or a target. A website too needs to have a goal, a motif and a target to achieve. Try to know about the targets and work towards meeting them by Specifying, Measuring, and Attaining with a relevant and time-bound approach.
To identify the target audience of any website, define the activity and build up a community. Track down where the website is going to be advertised, who are going to visit it and are showing interest in joining the community.
Competitors are the ones who can make or break your business. You can find them out with the help of conducting competitor analysis research through market participation poll and get useful information from the Internet and print media.
Each website would have its goal which could be identified with the user. The goal is basically the subject matter of the website which would gather the people who share the same interest.
Each website architect needs to map the user experience from the angle of an end user through all the activities that are taking place on that website.
The mind mapping stage comes when a solid system needs to be structured based on those ideas that are logically connected.
The working on the website can only start with a well-built information structure consisting of the website’s prototype. In this way, the IA of the website can get created with the help of some flowcharting software.
The website architect would start wireframing the website on the gathered information converting them into diagrams while developing a prototype. The first step to this is creating a primary navigation menu with the major items listed down along with their branches to create a well-structured drop-down menu.
The final stage would be creating a project specification document containing a detailed description of each particle with all the information gathered so far.
Finally, the website architect must have an in-depth knowledge of web development tools, of its usability with a know-how about the latest online marketing technologies and a proper understanding of what he is going to create.