Storyboard Your Web Site

by Michel Fortin

A good plan is essential to your long-term success online. Strategically planning a web site is not a simple issue. Storyboarding is a great way to layout your site and ensure it stays true to its objective.

Web Storyboarding

Storyboarding is a planning technique used by many filmmakers. The object is to divide the movie into chunks. Producers place multiple sketched sheets on a large wall or corkboard. Each sheet depicts a specific scene in the movie. By looking at the entire storyboard, they can easily decide what exactly a user (or viewer, in this case) should see, know and feel with each scene.

In web storyboarding, designers can create a site chart, or site map, where each sheet represents a specific web page. Instead of sheets, they might layout a series of boxes using a word processing or graphic design program. Each box describes a specific web page and contains a summary of its content, layout, graphics and objectives -- thus giving each page a specific function. Then arrows are drawn between boxes in order to trace specific user paths through the site.

The end result looks similar to a flow chart. One can strategically plan, with each box in the chart, what the user is supposed to see, understand and do, as well as where they should go next.

Some people prefer the larger, more visual approach used by cartoonists with their corkboards. Therefore, they take a series of "post-it" notes, write a brief summary of the page's content and purpose on each one, and place them on a wall. Once notes are created for every web page, the webmaster can then rearrange them, change them around, add some more and remove unneeded ones altogether.

The possibilities here are numerous and the technique can be adapted to fit one's style.

Going Up Or Down?

Generally, there are two ways to accomplish storyboarding -- and the choice relies solely upon a person's individual preference. One is called the "top-down" approach. A box or note is placed at the very top -- usually representing the home page -- and others are subsequently placed below it for the rest of the site. In the end, the storyboard looks something like a pyramid; the deeper a user goes into a site the more content and choices one will be given (within the larger bottom layers of the pyramid, in other words).

The second technique is called the "build-up" approach -- the reverse of the top-down one. If the web designer already has several ideas for content and user outcomes, then he can start with the bottom. Multiple boxes are placed on the storyboard -- each one defining a specific idea or purpose (e.g., an order page, its subsequent confirmation page, an "about us" page, a product showcase page, a special promotions page, a security and privacy policy page, an order form, and so on).

Boxes are then placed above them and act as pages from which some of the others stem -- some can also be placed below them to which others lead. Consequently, other layers in the storyboard either precede or support specific choices users make. Of course, some parts, layers or "legs" of the storyboard can end up being longer than others, such as those areas that lead to even deeper pages within the site offering more content or choices. But in the end, they all lead to the final page, which in reality is the entry page.

Before commencing any site, the designer must clearly determine the core objective of the site itself -- having it clearly defined from the beginning is vital. Afterwards, the key questions one should ask (and ask often), with each and every box (or sticky note) in the storyboard, are:

"What do I want my visitors to know here?"
"What do I want my visitors to do at this point?"
"What do I want my visitors to feel right now?"
And, "Where do I want my visitors to go next?"

One should look at it from an all possible angles and perspectives. If a visitor ever landed on any given page within the site, will that person know where she is? Will that person know (and can easily choose) what she is supposed to do? And more importantly, will that person know where to go from there? Answers to all of the above will help not only in planning but also in developing content, writing web copy and improving site navigability.

Aside from having an objective in mind and working around it as specifically as possible, designers should also plan for contingencies. That is, they must look at all the possible trajectories and outcomes within the site. If a visitor decides to click into a different part of the site, it must be clear as to what they are supposed to learn and do, and where to go next.

Ultimately, webmasters should plan, plan, plan -- because, as it is often stated, an online business's greatest feared is the potential yet confused shopper who cries out:

... "What am I supposed to do?"

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker and consultant. His specialty are long copy sales letters and websites. Watch him rewrite copy on video each month, and get tips and tested conversion strategies proven to boost response in his membership site at http://TheCopyDoctor.com today.

03.05.2007. 00:04

This article hasn't been commented yet.