Information Architecture

This concept is based on a few Kantian concepts:

• What one knows
• What one ought to do and
• What one can hope for

The architecture for your site is so very important for SEO, usability and flow. Clunky, noisy information leads to poor navigation, bad SEO, and discourages your user. The whole point behind a good information architecture is to group items in appropriate areas and create a logical, clean path to them.

If you are running an e-commerce site, you need to have account/cart specific information grouped together correctly. You have to have all the wholesale (if applicable) information together, get all your products divided and subdivided properly, and have your copy and extended information read like a book.

Grocery stores do this, libraries do this, music stores do this, IBM does this, Apple does this, etc.

Remember, architecture is the “the art or science of building; specifically: the art or practice of designing and building structures and especially habitable ones”. This is key for your users. Since most of them can’t walk through your store, you have to create a virtual informational hierarchy.