Navigating Your Way into Your Visitors` Hearts - Give Them What They Expect
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The World Wide Web has been around long enough to evolve certain principles of site navigation. Visitors to your site expect certain things when they move through its structure because they’ve learned that most web sites are put together a certain way. It means more than just being able to click on certain links and going to another page in the site. It dictates where you should put your navigation, how you structure it, and how many options you give your visitors.
You should make your site navigation as usable as possible. Never allow your site navigation to break. Have you ever tried to follow a broken link? Those “404 Not Found” pages are pretty depressing, especially when you know your information is correct (as it should be if you’re coming from a site’s own navigation link). It’s like discovering the road to which your GPS directs you doesn’t exist, and there isn’t an alternate route. Your visitors will abandon your site when they can’t find what they’re looking for.
That includes finding the site navigation in the first place. Navigation bars these days have a “standard” location; they’re either on the left hand side of the site or near the top. Very often you’ll find navigation bars in both places. I’ve been working on a web site with a friend of mine who wanted to put the navigation on the right; when I tried to use it, it seemed awkward. I’m not saying you shouldn’t put navigation on the right or even on the bottom; just don’t use right-side-only or bottom-only navigation.
Here’s another thing users expect: an easy way back to the home page. Usually the home page is the easiest starting point for exploring any portion of a site, so visitors may return there regularly while checking out the other parts of your site. It’s a good idea, therefore, to have your logo on every page – traditionally in the upper left corner – and set it up to take visitors back to the home page whenever they click on it.
It’s also a good idea to have an additional link on every page that goes to the home page. It may sound redundant, but users won’t always think to click on the logo when they’re wondering “How do I get back to the home page?” As with your logo, place this link in a consistent location on every page of your site.
Next: Treat Your Visitors Well >>
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