Good Web site navigation—it should be simple, clear, and with a purpose. Because if it isn’t, your audience will end up wandering through the site like Hansel and Gretel in the forest…lost, and looking for breadcrumbs to find their way out.
Incorporating a few basic navigation rules into your Web site will make it easier for your visitors can get around… and the better their experience, the more likely they’ll come back. A few key pointers will keep them on the trail and heading in the right direction.
Be Sure to Leave Breadcrumbs
Having a visitor get lost in your site is equivalent to lost business. So, leave breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs is a standard Web design and navigation term used to describe the links back to where you started. They typically appear horizontally across the top of a Web page, below the title bar or header. They provide links back to each and every previous page that the user navigated through in order to get to the current page. In other words, breadcrumbs provide a trail for the user to follow back to the starting/entry point of your site.
Keep your links consistent. Every Web site landing page needs a consistent menu—one that lets you drill down the same way every time, and brings you to the same main menu. Whether you use drop-down, tree, tab, or other menu style, be sure the menus and overall layout of each page follow the same format.
Standards. Yes there are navigation standards, and Web users have gotten used to having them. For instance, put your logo in the upper left of the site—and be sure to link it to the homepage. Every page needs a footer that links your key information—your “call to action” and FYI items such as contact, sitemap, index, and so forth. Use established naming conventions such as “Home” (for your main page—and be sure to link back to it from all the interior pages), and “Contact” for your e-mail/phone/address info. Keep your standards consistent with the industry standards, and you’ll be set.
Simplify the Clicks. Please, please—don’t go link crazy. Users tolerate a couple of clicks to get where they want to go, but much more than that and they’re annoyed. Keep your menus organized—even group items in main and subgroups—to further your intuitive navigation. An extra click here and there may not seem like much, but add them up over a large site and they begin to be seen as wasted time to your site visitors.
Provide Search Capability. Searching for information is a necessity—even within your Web site. Adding a search link or a search box to every page of your site is the first step. Adding a search engine like the free plug-in offered through Google completes the process.
Organize your Content. Create a navigational framework that chunks information into fairly broad categories—categories that are succinctly and appropriately named. Web users are happier (and thus stay on a site longer) with less menu options and a more meaningful naming structure. Best practice for naming your categories is using simple, concise language that says what the link is—and what it means to your visitor
