Well Barry is on a plane bound for Sweden, lucky guy, I wanted to highlight an excellent post here started on SEW forums relating to designing search engine friendly e-commerce websites. Its an excellent must read for those that are considering opening an e-commerce site, or deciding to redesign there current site. Many of the tips and points mentioned apply to a wide range of websites, and Barry presents a case study from one of his clients with the things he thinks are "critical in the development of a search engine friendly, but at the same time, easy to use e-commerce site". He goes on to say that: "Arguably many e-commerce sites often overlook the most important and fundamental area to any Web site, the navigation." This is very true, and if you are struggling to discern a coherent navigation, then reading up on information architecture would be a good place to start. Check out: Card sorting a defintive guide for building categories and taxonomies for websites. (I recently did this myself, and found it an excellent exercise.) You might also check out Information Architecture for Everyone in order to familiarize yourself with the concept first. Without overloading the subject too much more, here is one diagram I had to post to give you an idea of the steps required to design a site from start to finish, where information architecture comes in, content inventory for building navigation, discovery & user research, interaction design, and finally visual design.
Now, the other option if you decide to skip some of these steps might result in what a member at Cre8asite forums today joked about, If Architects Had to Work Like Web Designers. Funny post, befitting to the topic.
