Introduction
Creating a cohesive and understandable brand image is one of the most important and yet challenging tasks placed before businesses. Making sure that the emotions invoked and actions taken by consumers are what companies expect and desire. One of the essential elements in creating this brand identity is a powerful web presence. Having a website that matches company goals and vision will create a trustworthy relationship between businesses and consumers. The obtaining of a website is not where the challenge resides, but in the design of this website. Constructing a web page that has an effective navigation strategy allows the respected company to meet their desired marketing efforts.
There are many different aspects of a website that can add to the overall success of a website. Understanding and then applying these in the correct way will allow you and your business to help increase traffic and sales. Also, having solid navigation will become an asset when businesses introduce search engine optimization. Hosts of webpages see the navigation as a ranking narrative. Not only making sure that the correct tips and ticks are added to assist in positive outcomes but making sure that there are not any simple mistakes made in the design of your website that will hinder user experience. Below are listed a few ways that businesses and individuals can improve overall website navigation, and therefore drive more traffic and increase sales.
1. Be Descriptive.
First be descriptive. Having a menu bar with terms such as “Products”, or “Services” is not highlighting the root of what the website is about. Finding the balance between using words that your target audience can understand and want to interact with and words that are unique and descriptive. Finding a language that can be connected and identifiable to a brand is one way that website navigation can be personalized to a business. Keywords is also one way that descriptive language can be used as a benefit for two ways. One, descriptive labels in your navigation is good for search engines. The navigation bar is a key place that search engines use to determine ranking and how users will find your website. The navigation is found on every subpage of your website and therefore reiterates what the site is truly about. Second, descriptive labels used in navigation are good for users. Because a navigation bar is visually prominent it communicates instantly what the user can expect from the site. By having a user friendly navigation, and language, users will find your webpages comfortable and brand aligned.
2. Avoid Format Based Navigation.
Second, avoid format based navigation when finalizing your website design. Users come to websites seeking answers and looking for information. When items found within your navigation are labeled by format, such as, “Ebooks”, or “Videos”, this does not work to the advantage of the company. These labels do not show what the content is about and are not designed for consumers. Aurora Bedford from the Nielsen Norman Group states this about format based navigation. She says, “Users interested in a specific topic usually don’t care in what format the information will be delivered to them; they are focused solely on finding answers that will address the question they had in mind.” By making sure that all navigation is labeled in a way that is user friendly, consumers will find the information they desire and therefore increase traffic and conversion rates.
3. Number of Menu Items.
Third, limit the number of menu items. Having a concise list on your website menu is less overwhelming for users. The main two reasons as to why having a limited amount of links on the home navigation are the same two reasons why having descriptive language is beneficial. First it is better for search engines to crawl and index web pages that have efficient menu bars. This gives your website more “authority” online and increases trust within customer relationships. Second, having a limited amount of items within your navigation is better for users. Andy Crestodia from Orbit Media Solutions states, “The more items in your navigation, the more difficult the information is to remember and process for your visitors. Visually, eight is a lot more than seven. If you have too many, visitors’ eyes may scan past important items.” With these two positive outcomes in mind, making sure that website navigation is concise and efficient will help increase engagement and conversion rates.
4. Order of Navigation.
Fourth, the order of your website navigation is important. Knowing the order in which visitors will interact with your web page is necessary to create this type of navigation. Within site navigation the rules of common lists are the same. The items at the beginning of the list are most important, and throughout until the bottom of the list. But one unique thing about website navigated lists is that the items in the first and last positions are most engaged with. This is because the human eye will scan, landing on and spending most of the time on the first and the last, making these the most effective positions of subpages. Creating attention and retention surrounding the desired pages is important when seeking higher traffic, conversions, and sales. This is called the serial position effect, it combines two cognitive biases; one, primacy effect, which is items at the beginning of a list are more easily remembered, and two, recency effect, which is items at the end of a list (or things that just happened) are more easily remembered. Using these effects to your advantage will allow you to place the most important things to your visitors in the most prominent space.
5. Mobile Friendliness.
Fifth, and last, making sure that the navigation bar is mobile friendly. The majority of online users will access your website via their mobile devices, therefore designing menus that are clean and organized on this screen will increase overall usability and success. On mobile devices there is a special design element that has been added, it is nicknamed the “hamburger icon.” This icon is the three little lines often found in the corner of web pages that become an expandable menu. Although this icon has become a dominant within the online sphere, by adding the word “menu” it may help the visitors to find the “hidden” navigation with more ease.It is not surprising that hidden navigation menus increase time consumers take to complete calls to actions or tasks. One way that businesses can organize their website primarily and specifically for mobile users is by changing information to icons. For example, instead of having a full phone number listed, as you would on a traditional desktop view, replace this ten digit number with a phone icon. This way all of the needed information is still accessible but the overall look and feel of the website is clean and not overwhelming.
Conclusion.
As a result of implementing these simple five tips within your company’s navigation strategy the likelihood of increased traffic and therefore sales goes up. The decrease in bounce back rates will also be an outcome as websites are created and designed for users. Lastly with the reminder that there needs not to be any cutting or diminishing of businesses goals and visions while creating this type of web presence.
