Site Architecture Worksheet

Phase 1: Competitor Analysis

Identify 2-3 competitors. Browse each of their websites. How many links do their main navigation menus have? List them in the table below.

| Competitor 1: •   •   •   •   • | Competitor 2: •   •   •   •   • | Competitor 3: •   •   •   •   • | | --- | --- | --- |

Then scroll to the bottom of your competitors’ websites. Oftentimes, footer menus contain more links. What additional links do you see in your competitors’ footers?

| Competitor 1: •   •   •   •   • | Competitor 2: •   •   •   •   • | Competitor 3: •   •   •   •   • | | --- | --- | --- |

Looking at your competitors’ links, list the pages that are relevant to your company—the ones you would include in your site.

Phase 2: Product Analysis

Answer the following questions.

• How many products/services do you offer?
• If you have one product, what unique features does it offer?
• If you have many products, can they be grouped together in broad categories?
• Do you offer product demos?
• Do you offer multiple pricing plans?
• How many different audiences do you serve? E.g., different industries or types of people
• Do you provide product support?
• What kinds of other content do you plan on creating? E.g., blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, white papers, tutorials

Phase 3: Build Your Site Architecture

Use the information from above to create a bullet-point outline of your site architecture, with sub-bullets to represent separate categories and subcategories.

See below for a few examples. Copy the example more relevant to your product—update it according to your website’s needs.