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Web planning: links and location

By definition, a website does not exist in isolation: it is linked to the whole wide world. Links are of three types: Internal Links, Incoming Links and Outgoing Links.

Internal links

The manner in which files are stored and  inter-linked within a website has significant consequences:

• Firstly, it is necessary to have a good organisational system so that the content can be managed as the site grows and changes. This becomes an issue when there is more than one content contributor. For a large organisation, say a company intranet, it is a significant management task with defined layers of access permission to categories of data.
• Secondly, it is necessary to plan internal links so that they constitute an easy-to-use navigation system. This requires a well-considered  information architecture.

Incoming links

If a website is planned to attract visitors, as most are, then it is necessary to have incoming links. The Page Rank technology introduced by Google makes link popularity a significant determinant of a website's ranking in search engine returns. For commercial websites this is a major consideration. It is also important for other types of website: clubs wishing to attract members, universities wishing to attract students, politicians wishing to attract voters. The importance of linking has led to the inclusion of Link Administrators on web planning and design teams. Their job is to oversee the link position of the website.

Outgoing links

The provision of outgoing links may seem anomalous. When much has been done to create and publicise good content, why help visitors to leave your website? There are several reasons:

• Outgoing links are a convenience to information-hungry visitors and demonstrate that the site is well-connected with other professional and commercial organisations in the field.
• Incoming links are offered only in exchange for outgoing links. Busy website websites are frequent recipients of link exchange proposals.
• Search engines use outgoing links as one of the factors in determining the relevance of a website to a search (eg by Google). If, for example, a an architecture website has outgoing links to big-traffic sites dealing with architecture then this helps to fix the location of the architect's website in cyberspace.

Web Location

School geography teaches us about the location of historic cities:

• 'Lowest bridging point' [eg London]
• 'Crossroads' [eg Chicago]
• 'Defensive site' [eg Athens]
• 'Nearest port Europe' [eg New York]

Property developers tell us that the first seven principles of property development are location, location, location, location, location, location and location. Small shops want locations where pedestrian flows are at their highest. Supermarkets want to be by busy roads.

Curiously, its the same on the web. A website requires a strategic position to succeed. Dotcoms won't succeed if customer's 'don't-come'. Intranet's need to attract users. Ezines won't attract advertisers if readers don't pass by. B2B marketplaces fail without strategic locations at junctions in the web landscape. The big portals aim to defend their positions at the top of the food chain. Niche portals aim to occupy crannies better than anyone else.

Locational analysis is likely to become as specialised for the web as it is for property developers. Web marketeers need to know:

• how much traffic they are receiving
• where it comes from
• what socio-economic groups visitors fall into
• why they pass through, or by, a particular website

If you are an internal web analyst, sever statistics will be available. The most popular program (because it is free) is Analog. Other programmes take Analog stats and analyse them.

Web worlds: the geography of cyberspace

Just as one can speak of the 'worlds' of TV, golf and medicine, so one can speak of a 'web world', and it is likely that one will develop for most spheres of human interaction. It will then become necessary to review the relationship between the web world and 'real' world.

Retailing is a prime example. Web operations must know:

1. For their own sector (eg CDs or bloodstock), what proportion of total sales are online, and the trends.
2. What proportion of all Business to Consumer (B2C) sales are initiated online and completed online.
3. What proportion of all Business to Business (B2B) sales are initiated online and completed online, and the trends.
4. The changing nature of the relationship between 'bricks and clicks'.
5. The sectors which have led the way into online retailing (low-weight, low-volume, high-value?)
6. The sectors which are least likely to benefit from online retailing.

Similarly, for a public-sector information provider, there needs to be an ongoing appraisal of the relationship between paper, the telephone and the web.

1. Which sectors need to emphasise telephone helplines (flood warning?)
2. Which can go 100% online (advice on which countries are safe for travel?)
3. Which can remain entirely paper-based (none?)

Similarly for Universities. Their location in the web world is becoming more important than their location in the physical world. The University of Stamford has a more central location than the University of Greenwich, despite the latter's position of the Prime Meridian of the World. Entering the following commands into Google (Feb 2004) produced the following results:

link:http://www.stanford.edu/	35,900 links
link:http://www.gre.ac.uk	2,190 links