Matt@Xposure
26th September 2006, 14:14
Hello everybody I'm new to the forum just wanted to start contributing, I have produced some brief hints and tips on website navigation to help people with their websites, hope it helps you.:)
Matt
x-vc.co.uk
It is essential that your website has a clear navigation to ensure that your presence on the net is a successful one. However if your prospective clients are having difficulty in finding basic information regarding your product or services the likelihood is that your website navigation is having a damaging effect on your business. It is extremely important to regularly review your website navigation and monitor its performance, because if your website frustrates your visitors they will go to a competitors. The following are 6 quick and easy tips to improve your website navigation.
1. Create relevant categories for your products and service with relevant information:
Unfortunately many websites fall victim for not having relevant categories for their products and services. The reason for this is because they do not see it from the point of view of their customers. Therefore you should approach this with a customer perspective. Remember although you are very familiar with your products and services your customers may not have a clue about them. So by using suitable categories for your products and services, your customers should be able to probe easily with any hassle. You can implement this tip by creating categories; these could be a "Feature & Benefits" category or a "Special Offers" category etc. If you are still unsure what categories will work for you, then ask your customers or get a website critique to discover the most appropriate solution.
2. Breadcrumbs anyone?
Breadcrumbs are trails that visitors can easily follow; these are popular on websites that have several levels of navigation. Breadcrumb trails act on every web page and display every page on that website illustrating the different levels of navigation. The levels displayed in the trail of breadcrumbs act as a link that will allow your visitors to navigate back to a specific section.
3. Your navigation should be clearly seen
I am sure that you have experienced at least one website that you have got lost on when you have scrolled through it. Some websites may have a navigation bar on the side but when you scroll down you can not tell, where you are on the page or on what section you are on. This problem can be obverted by placing the navigation in areas of your website with fixed locations, the most important factor is to remain consistent, by having this navigation on all relevant pages. Hence when your customers visit your website they will be able to move throughout your navigation without getting lost or annoyed.
4. Have you got a sitemap?
If you have not got a sitemap not only are you potentially loosing prospective clients but also you are also not increasing your positioning in the search engines. The reason that your website is potentially loosing customers is because the expectation amongst modern web surfers is that they expect and demand a central source they can go to, to select the relevant page that they require i.e. the sitemap page. If they cannot find this central resource they may become frustrated by the experience and leave the website. The reason that a sitemap increases websites rankings is because it offers visitors a clear overview of the website and what you can offer them.
5. Search boxes
If you have a larger quantity of web pages or a large amount of content, based within your website, you can add value by reducing the time your customers waste searching through irrelevant information. This can be eliminated through offering a times saving solution in the form of search boxes. Your customer will appreciate this ability to quickly and effectively finds the content that they are looking for, this can also help you by offering recommendations like "Similar services and products" etc.
6. Internal links with relevant sections
By aligning internal links with other sections that are similar or in some way relevant. This can be achieved by including "Maybe you will like" sections in your side navigation bar, this will allow you to expose your customer to additional services and products, this is especially useful with e-commerce websites as this greatly increases sales and orders.
Best of luck, any questiosn feel free to ask me.
Matt
:)
Matt
x-vc.co.uk
It is essential that your website has a clear navigation to ensure that your presence on the net is a successful one. However if your prospective clients are having difficulty in finding basic information regarding your product or services the likelihood is that your website navigation is having a damaging effect on your business. It is extremely important to regularly review your website navigation and monitor its performance, because if your website frustrates your visitors they will go to a competitors. The following are 6 quick and easy tips to improve your website navigation.
1. Create relevant categories for your products and service with relevant information:
Unfortunately many websites fall victim for not having relevant categories for their products and services. The reason for this is because they do not see it from the point of view of their customers. Therefore you should approach this with a customer perspective. Remember although you are very familiar with your products and services your customers may not have a clue about them. So by using suitable categories for your products and services, your customers should be able to probe easily with any hassle. You can implement this tip by creating categories; these could be a "Feature & Benefits" category or a "Special Offers" category etc. If you are still unsure what categories will work for you, then ask your customers or get a website critique to discover the most appropriate solution.
2. Breadcrumbs anyone?
Breadcrumbs are trails that visitors can easily follow; these are popular on websites that have several levels of navigation. Breadcrumb trails act on every web page and display every page on that website illustrating the different levels of navigation. The levels displayed in the trail of breadcrumbs act as a link that will allow your visitors to navigate back to a specific section.
3. Your navigation should be clearly seen
I am sure that you have experienced at least one website that you have got lost on when you have scrolled through it. Some websites may have a navigation bar on the side but when you scroll down you can not tell, where you are on the page or on what section you are on. This problem can be obverted by placing the navigation in areas of your website with fixed locations, the most important factor is to remain consistent, by having this navigation on all relevant pages. Hence when your customers visit your website they will be able to move throughout your navigation without getting lost or annoyed.
4. Have you got a sitemap?
If you have not got a sitemap not only are you potentially loosing prospective clients but also you are also not increasing your positioning in the search engines. The reason that your website is potentially loosing customers is because the expectation amongst modern web surfers is that they expect and demand a central source they can go to, to select the relevant page that they require i.e. the sitemap page. If they cannot find this central resource they may become frustrated by the experience and leave the website. The reason that a sitemap increases websites rankings is because it offers visitors a clear overview of the website and what you can offer them.
5. Search boxes
If you have a larger quantity of web pages or a large amount of content, based within your website, you can add value by reducing the time your customers waste searching through irrelevant information. This can be eliminated through offering a times saving solution in the form of search boxes. Your customer will appreciate this ability to quickly and effectively finds the content that they are looking for, this can also help you by offering recommendations like "Similar services and products" etc.
6. Internal links with relevant sections
By aligning internal links with other sections that are similar or in some way relevant. This can be achieved by including "Maybe you will like" sections in your side navigation bar, this will allow you to expose your customer to additional services and products, this is especially useful with e-commerce websites as this greatly increases sales and orders.
Best of luck, any questiosn feel free to ask me.
Matt
:)