Site Building
In essence I would suggest that you build your site backwards. In other words, beginning with your site goal (i.e. a conversion) and creating a site structure that effective leads up to it.
For example, instead of creating a very open navigation structure, consider reducing the number of clickable links in order to drive visitors down a specific path. Let me tell you why I think that is important. Imagine you have the opportunity to sit down with a potential client to do a sales presentation, my guess is that you have a ‘story’ that you tell in a specific sequence. In other words, layer-by-layer you build the intellectual and emotional reasons for owning your product/service.
I believe that effective websites use this exact same strategy, pointing visitors down a specific path that builds an understanding of the value of your product/service.
