In our previous blogs we’ve discussed what to focus on in terms of website content and search engine optimization techniques that can improve your customer’s online experience. We’ve also reviewed the benefits of web analytics tools that allow us to see user behaviors and actions while surfing your website. We’ve also touched base on what to focus on in an analytics report in terms of what take-aways will help you increase leads, sales, and site flow. The next leg of the stool in improving your customer’s online experience is to actually take a look at the navigation design and menu layout of your site.

Your website navigation and site structure should be one of the first things to focus on when considering your desired customers and sales goals – it’s the backbone of your entire website. Not only should you have clearly delineated pages in a logical layout, but your site menu or navigation needs to make sense. From a top-level viewpoint, what are the top 5 or 6 menu headers you want? Usually this consists of links for your home page, products, services, info about your company, contact info, additional links, etc. Always have a way for the user to get back to where they came from and start anew. Break your menu out in a logical outline. Arrange it in a sensible hierarchy from big to small. Once you establish an easy to use menu, your customer feels comfortable navigating your site.

Not only do you want to have crisp, logical site navigation on every page, you also want to keep the layout and structure clean. Don’t confuse them! The idea is to give a potential customer as many chances to take a desired action as possible. Site navigation should remain consistent from page to page to avoid confusion and alienation. The last thing you want is for a customer to be stumped on where to go next, or unclear about how to buy your product. From a SEO perspective, CSS or text navigation is best because search engines can see them. Flash and image-based navigation can’t be seen by search engines. Also, browser compatibility, plug-in issues, and coding errors can even lead to menus not appearing for some customers! Not only can you include JavaScript or CSS drop-down menus on each page, but also consider adding breadcrumb navigation to show a user where they are in the site and where they’ve come from (i.e., products > socks > wool socks). Many websites also use redundant text navigation links at the bottom of the page to provide another option for navigation. Giving your customer as many options to navigate your site is great as long as you keep it clean and comprehendible.

In addition to clean navigation, giving a customer multiple opportunities to sign up for that newsletter, fill out that contact form, click on that sales banner, download that brochure or whitepaper, view top selling products, will give you a better chance at a sale. If you have a top-selling product, then why not put info about it on your home page, or product page, or every page? These are strategic forms of navigation. It’s a fine balance. Don’t overdo it either. We’ve all seen websites that are so cluttered you don’t know where to go. Keep it simple. Keep it focused. Keep it consistent. Your menu should let the user find what they want in the shortest number of steps possible. The longer they have to search, the more frustrated they become.