Creating a web site is an effective way of driving traffic and potential customers to your business and/or organization and more and more people are now realizing the power that the Internet can have over the success of your business. However to many people creating a website can actually do the opposite. The way in which people react to your business as a direct result of your website depends on how exactly you present your site; this basically means that you need to ensure your site is designed and developed in the right way, one example of this revolves primarily around the navigation of your website.
How many sites have you visited where the navigation has been complex resulting in you having difficulty finding a particular section? I’m guessing that this has sadly happened a lot. If someone can’t navigate your website I think it’s pretty safe to say that they will leave quite quickly, which is why designing effective navigation is crucial. However before you actually start on the designing of your navigation there are a few aspects that you need to keep in mind.
What you need to ensure is that you outline what’s known as your websites information architecture, which basically stands for the structure of your website. So what are some of the basic elements that make up this? Well it basically includes products, which represents the products and/or services that your company sells as well as basic information about your company. At this stage of your basic web design you are deciding which information you are actually going to the placing within your navigation bar, so as well as information about your products and information about your company you may also want to include aspects such as a support page, which is primarily there to help customers and you could also include aspects such as frequently asked questions and articles relating to the products and/or services.
The information that you place within the electronics navigation bar is of high importance to your website as it also improves your Search Engine Optimisation. You basically need to ensure that you include key pages that your visitors will want easy access to, such as the ones that are named above. This is because users are much more likely to stay on your website if all the pages they want access to are found within the same place. Your navigation should be equally easy to use as it is to find. So make sure you keep this in mind when you are designing and developing your navigation.
If a user can’t find what they are looking for within your website chances are they aren’t going to stick around so after you have decided what you want to include in your navigation you need to get onto deciding various aspects associated with it. So lets start with one of the most important factors; the placement of it within your website. This actually shouldn’t even come into question if you really want people to use your website. The reason that I say this is because it should be one of the most dominate parts of your design and there is only one place that it should really feature, which is across the top of the page, generally just below the websites logo. What you also need to keep in mind however is the navigation of your website will often be an element that doesn’t take up much space so it is up to you to ensure that it is noticeable to your visitor.
There are a number of ways that you could ensure the above, for example when a visitor moves their cursor over the bar, drop down menus could appear so even if they didn’t notice the navigation before they will now. Another example is you could place the sections on it in bold so they make more of an impact and stand out from the rest of the sites web design.
One last point that I am going to make is the fact your navigation isn’t something you just place on your home page and forget about; it is an aspect that needs to feature on every page of your site in exactly the same manner and style. This is of high importance as it ensures that no matter where someone is on your site they can easily get back to not only the home page but any page within your website.
By carrying out the above points you are ensuring that your visitors are used to your site and have no difficulty when it comes to browsing it. By doing this people are much more likely to stick around on your website thus bringing you not only more traffic but also more potential customers.