As you already know, crystal clear navigation is important. However, clarity isn't enough to lead visitors to the right place.
People Think Differently
Categorizing is often used to navigate a large website. When you categorize your site, you need to clearly indicate what each category is about so that visitors can pick the right one. Most websites are doing a good job on this. The problem is you and your visitors don't think a particular product can be found under the same category.
An Example
Let's say you are looking for a memory card at amazon.com. Which category would you pick from the drop down menu for searching -- computers, electronics, camera & photo, cellphone & services, or what else? People will pick different categories. That's not because people are confused (Amazon.com clearly indicated each category); it's because people all think differently. People will pick a different category based on what the memory card is for -- digital camera, mp3 player, cellphone, etc.
See The Difference
If visitors cannot find a product under the category they think the product should be at, they will think you don't carry the product. To avoid this, you need to find all categories a product could fit into, rather than find the best matching category for a product. Then, list the product in all of those categories. You could cross-refer other categories, i.e. adding see-also links. But I prefer listing the same products in multiple categories. At amazon.com, you can find memory cards in multiple categories, so visitors can find the products no matter what category they choose, and amazon.com is not losing any sales.
Showing posts with label Website Navigation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Website Navigation. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Common Mistakes with Navigation Bars
Most of today's navigation bars are very useful. But, some of them still need a little tweaking.
Too Cluttered
Many webmasters are trying to put links to every single page of website onto their navigation bars. But, the more buttons you put on the navigation bar, the more confused visitors can become. Once they are confused, they will just leave your site. Your navigation bar doesn't have to contain links to all of the pages. It only needs to have links to the essential pages, such as the "home," "about us" and "contact us" pages. Use main content (not the navigation bar) to link to all the other pages of your site.
Basically, if you cannot nicely put links to all of your website's pages on a navigation bar, your site is too big to browse in this way. Visitors will give up browsing your site and try to search. So instead, offer a site search feature and let your visitors use it, rather than having a cluttered navigation bar.
"Back" Button Compatibility
Because the browser's "back" button is the most-used feature, your navigation bar should be compatible with it. Some expandable navigation bars aren't fully compatible with the "back" button. Visitors can expand one of the menus and visit one of the pages listed in the expanded menu. Nothing wrong so far. When they click the browser's "back" button, they can go back, but all expanded menus will collapse. So, they have to re-expand the menu to visit another page in the expandable part of the navigation bar. Even though it is only one extra mouse-click, this will irritate visitors enough to leave your site.
Too Cluttered
Many webmasters are trying to put links to every single page of website onto their navigation bars. But, the more buttons you put on the navigation bar, the more confused visitors can become. Once they are confused, they will just leave your site. Your navigation bar doesn't have to contain links to all of the pages. It only needs to have links to the essential pages, such as the "home," "about us" and "contact us" pages. Use main content (not the navigation bar) to link to all the other pages of your site.
Basically, if you cannot nicely put links to all of your website's pages on a navigation bar, your site is too big to browse in this way. Visitors will give up browsing your site and try to search. So instead, offer a site search feature and let your visitors use it, rather than having a cluttered navigation bar.
"Back" Button Compatibility
Because the browser's "back" button is the most-used feature, your navigation bar should be compatible with it. Some expandable navigation bars aren't fully compatible with the "back" button. Visitors can expand one of the menus and visit one of the pages listed in the expanded menu. Nothing wrong so far. When they click the browser's "back" button, they can go back, but all expanded menus will collapse. So, they have to re-expand the menu to visit another page in the expandable part of the navigation bar. Even though it is only one extra mouse-click, this will irritate visitors enough to leave your site.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Website Navigation, Redefined
We all know that confusing website navigation turns visitors away, so we often aim to develop an easy-to-understand navigational structure. But this isn't the solution.
Searchable, Not Navigateable
Every webmaster is working hard to create better navigational structures. Unfortunately, visitors don't care about it. When people come to your site and they become interested in seeing more of your site, they will try searching on your site. (They want information fast, so yes, they do search, not browse.) When they want to search, they expect there to be a search box on the page, and will look for it. A plain and simple search box is way more important than a fancy navigation bar. Add a search box to every page of your site.
Scannable
Also, don't forget to make your content easy to scan. Scannablity doesn't seem to have anything to do with searchablity. But, while people are searching, they scan the content of pages that come up in the search results, to see if that is what they're looking for. So, scanning is part of the search activity. "Easy to scan" means "easy to search."
Links
Additionally, adding a few links pointing to similar pages will help visitors a lot. Search engines provide very good results these days, but they are not perfect. People will find something very close to what they are looking for through the search engines, but maybe not exactly. Links to similar pages might lead them to exactly the one they are after. The anchor text must describe clearly what the linked pages are all about, though.
Searchable, Not Navigateable
Every webmaster is working hard to create better navigational structures. Unfortunately, visitors don't care about it. When people come to your site and they become interested in seeing more of your site, they will try searching on your site. (They want information fast, so yes, they do search, not browse.) When they want to search, they expect there to be a search box on the page, and will look for it. A plain and simple search box is way more important than a fancy navigation bar. Add a search box to every page of your site.
Scannable
Also, don't forget to make your content easy to scan. Scannablity doesn't seem to have anything to do with searchablity. But, while people are searching, they scan the content of pages that come up in the search results, to see if that is what they're looking for. So, scanning is part of the search activity. "Easy to scan" means "easy to search."
Links
Additionally, adding a few links pointing to similar pages will help visitors a lot. Search engines provide very good results these days, but they are not perfect. People will find something very close to what they are looking for through the search engines, but maybe not exactly. Links to similar pages might lead them to exactly the one they are after. The anchor text must describe clearly what the linked pages are all about, though.
Cannot Search? Cannot Be The Web!
What do people do online? They search. If your site doesn't have a search feature, it cannot be called a website.
The Difference
Recently, I was looking for accommodation. I browsed a few websites listing available housing. I also looked at local newspaper ads. But I quickly stopped looking at newspaper ads because I couldn't search. I had to read all the ads to find interesting ones. It was quite a time consuming process. By using websites, I was able to search entire ads based on type of house, price, location, and many other criteria. The search feature saved my day.
Gotta Have Search
This is the power of a website; you can search for whatever you are looking for. So, a search feature is one of the most important features of your site. Many internet marketing gurus suggest you should add a search feature if your site has 100 or more pages. Because internet surfers are getting more and more search dependent, I would say if you have only 10 pages, you should add a search feature.
Google AdSense for Search
Today, you can use a high quality search feature, Google AdSense for Search, just by adding a little code. Some people might think it appears unprofessional because you need to add Google's logo. However, the name "Google" has become synonymous with "search," and people know the quality of Google's results. Also, when visitors see Google's logo, they will instantantly know what the box next to the logo can do for them. On top of that, you can make money by adding Google AdSense for Search to your site. Why don't you take full advantage of it?
The Difference
Recently, I was looking for accommodation. I browsed a few websites listing available housing. I also looked at local newspaper ads. But I quickly stopped looking at newspaper ads because I couldn't search. I had to read all the ads to find interesting ones. It was quite a time consuming process. By using websites, I was able to search entire ads based on type of house, price, location, and many other criteria. The search feature saved my day.
Gotta Have Search
This is the power of a website; you can search for whatever you are looking for. So, a search feature is one of the most important features of your site. Many internet marketing gurus suggest you should add a search feature if your site has 100 or more pages. Because internet surfers are getting more and more search dependent, I would say if you have only 10 pages, you should add a search feature.
Google AdSense for Search
Today, you can use a high quality search feature, Google AdSense for Search, just by adding a little code. Some people might think it appears unprofessional because you need to add Google's logo. However, the name "Google" has become synonymous with "search," and people know the quality of Google's results. Also, when visitors see Google's logo, they will instantantly know what the box next to the logo can do for them. On top of that, you can make money by adding Google AdSense for Search to your site. Why don't you take full advantage of it?
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