When a visitor arrives at your Web site, you need to make sure that they can access exactly what it is they are looking for. Having a clear pathway for your visitors to access links and information is vital to the success of your site. You can have great incentives, attractions, products, content and more, but if the site does not have a clear navigation scheme that is intuitive and easy to use, visitors will browse elsewhere in search of information. The goal of effective navigation follows the 3-click rule. Ideally a visitor should be able to reach any page on your site within two to three clicks. If visitors can't find what they're searching for by then, they're likely to get frustrated and move on.
Here are a few navigational strategies to help your visitors quickly gain access to all areas of your site.
Navigation Menu Provide an easy-to-understand navigational menu. A navigation menu or bar is a set of links to the other pages on your site and can be presented in a number of different formats ranging from horizontal and vertical bars to drop-down menus. A good menu system will give the readers immediate knowledge of the depth of the site's content. When you present a consistent menu system, visitors can move from section to section without ever having to go back to the home page. Placing your site menu in the same place throughout the site makes the structure recognizable to your visitors. Ideally, this menu should be designed to allow for expansion, accommodating other content and needs in the future.
Text Links Text links are the foundation of the Internet. They offer easy access to content, are viewable in all browsers, and are used by search engines to index your site. Distinguish text links by underlining or using a color. If you use images or graphic-based navigation, a text equivalent link should be provided for every non-text element. This is important because search engines don't crawl images.
Site Map Sites also can benefit from a site map – it provides a macro view of your site, a gateway to every page. The benefit of adding a site map is two-fold. It provides users with a better understanding of the site structure, and it also provides a more effective means for search engine spiders to index your site. Search engines love site maps because they reveal all of a site's keywords and contents on a single page.
Breadcrumb Trail Breadcrumbs are another common navigational tool. They are a textual representation of the current page that you are visiting and the route you have taken to get there. Not only do breadcrumbs provide a nice usability function for your site visitors, but they also are an important tool for leveraging your internal linking. This method of navigation makes moving around the site easier without having to use the back button.
Site Search Engine A search tool is helpful for large Web sites that have a substantial amount of content. It allows your visitors more control and flexibility, and jumps directly to the topic they want. Some users prefer to use the search option to thumb through pages rather than following links. Search tools also give you the opportunity to track and learn more about what interests your visitors. If you use a site search engine, you should suggest alternatives if there are no matches to the user's search.
The Web site that is well organized and easy to use will not only attract visitors, but also make a return visit more likely.
