One of the most important factors in determining the usability of your Web site is its navigation. You have to make it easy for visitors to find what they need, or they will leave - quickly. Confusing navigation nullifies the value of strong content, search engine optimization, and search engine marketing. Here's a quick self-diagnostic.
1.
Do you have a text link to your home page? Many sites make their logo serve double duty as a home page link. I suppose this is fairly intuitive, but why take chances with the most important page of your site? When visitors lose their way home, they feel adrift.
2.
Do you have too many navigation elements? Just as thousands of words of content overwhelm visitors, ten or fifteen options on the navigation bar cause them to give up and click off. High level navigation should be limited to a handful of commonly expected categories, such as About Us, Contact Us, Products, Locations, etc. Nav categories easily spin out of control when initial site design strategy is lacking. (I'll come back to that in a future post.)
3.
Are your links intuitive? Many of my clients favor clever phrases in lieu of standard category descriptions. For instance, they'll want to say "Making Life Simple" instead of "Products". As much as I admire creativity, I don't think site navigation is the place to use it. To draw people into your site, create a familiar environment. People are accustomed to seeing certain navigational phrases on Web sites, so use them. Don't make visitors scratch their heads and wonder what is where - more often than not, they will simply disappear.
4.
Do you use drop-down menus? Some sites attempt to solve problem #2 by using drop-down menus. I am not a big fan. Drop-downs, especially when they are as long as a menu in a Chinese restaurant, are confusing and sometimes disorient visitors after they click on a particular option. I think a better approach is to create summary pages for each top line navigation element - cleaner and more scalable.
What ideas do you have for making site navigation hearty and hale?
