How to Plan Your Web Site Navigation

Yesterday I touched on the need to think strategically about your Web site navigation so it can adapt to your changing business without turning into a monster.

Often, companies view a site design project as a one-time event - let's put up the site and not worry about it again for five years. Two problems.

First, companies change more rapidly than that, much more rapidly. Entrepreneurs change their business models continually, sometimes radically so. Large companies shed divisions and add new ones, introduce sweeping programs, roll out new marketing campaigns and products - on and on.

Second, radical changes to site navigation tend to freak out visitors. Done repeatedly, top level navigation overhauls may drive visitors away permanently, leaving them with the impression your company is disorganized or fickle. We're creatures of habit - we don't want to learn our way around a site any more often than necessary (unless the site was impenetrable in the first place).
  
Obviously, there is no one size fits all navigation scheme. However, a good rule of thumb is to keep your top line navigation elements as simple and as few as possible and handle business changes by adding, deleting, or editing secondary pages.

For example, have a top level "Services" link go to a Services page that offers a brief summary of each service component you wish to highlight, with links to a more detailed page. This structure allows you to add, delete, or modify service descriptions easily and quickly.

Another handy approach is to create a top level "Information Center" link that leads to a summary page  sub-categorized to list links to press releases, case studies, company announcements, bios, testimonials, external links, etc. This expandable structure prevents oddball links from sprouting up all over your site in the form of text links or buttons, and eliminates the problem of placing such information in non-intuitive places. Many Web developers advocate a Press Center or Media Room, which covers much of this type of material. However, not all companies want or need a media room, and some of the above mentioned material doesn't fit naturally into that category. But now you have a couple options to consider.

Put It on Paper
Lay out your Web pages on a spreadsheet starting each column with the top level pages you need for launch, such as Home, About Us, and Products. List secondary pages you need for launch underneath. Then list pages you think you'll need within a year or two.  See how many you can fit in without adding new top level pages. You may end up adding new top level pages anyway, but you'll be fairly certain you need them as opposed to slapping them on because you never had a real plan in the first place.