With your audience in mind and goals in hand, you are now ready to create the structure of your website. A well-structured website improves user experience, enhances SEO and helps meet your goals.

A structure can be created directly in TerminalFour or can just be written out in a word document. Choose whichever way works best for your workflow. Before making any major changes to your website please contact the web team, so that they can make sure that everything runs smoothly. 

Break down the information you want to communicate into clear categories. For example if you are building a office page, your site might have "About", "Services", "Contact", and any other high level topics. 

Think of pages not piles. Focus on creating distinct pages for each category, keeping related content together.  Try to avoid overcrowded pages, but ensure there is enough on the page to keep users engaged. For example, the office page might have "marketing", "web" and "design" under services. This makes sure that the person isn't overwhelmed by the amount of information on the page. 

Keep the pages organized. Make sure that in the pages you have topics that make sense. To highlight an important topic use headings and subheadings. This is important to help structure your ideas within a topic. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps make your content easier to find on search engines like Google or Yahoo. Optimizing your content means being intentional about several factors, such as word count and keywords. These are important to keep in mind as you move forward with writing and organizing your website content.

Word Count

The general recommendation for web content is to keep key pages between 300 and 500 words. This provides enough detail for search engines while keeping things concise for your readers.
For more in-depth content—such as articles, blog posts, or guides—content can go up to 1,500 words or more if the topic warrants it.

Keywords: 

A keyword is a word or phrase that someone might use when searching for content online. Keywords help connect your website to your audience through search engines.

Start by identifying the words or phrases people are likely to use when looking for your content. You’ll also want to include terms that reflect your office’s programs, services, or focus areas.

For example, a university sustainability program might use keywords like:

• university sustainability program

• campus sustainability

• sustainability at [Your University]

• green campus initiatives

• student sustainability programs

• sustainability office

• sustainability department

• college sustainability efforts

Including Keywords in Your Content

Incorporate keywords naturally throughout your website. They may appear in:

• Navigation menus

• Page titles and headings

• Body text

• Link text

Avoid forcing keywords into content, readability and clarity should always come first. When used thoughtfully, keywords help improve visibility and ensure your audience finds the information they’re looking for.