The navigation of your website is a commonly overlooked part of your website design and user experience. It’s not as sexy as the photography or the graphics or even the copy, but navigation is an essential part of your website that can make or break the experience for your visitors.
Website visitors are easily distracted, and if your website isn’t working to keep their attention, they easily get bored. This doesn’t mean flashy words and graphics galore, but it does mean if they can’t find what they are looking for within a few clicks, they’re gone. So, if you don’t devote time to making sure your navigation is well-designed, it doesn’t matter how beautiful the rest of your website is. The simple truth is that visitors won’t stay long, and they won’t see the beautiful well-placed images or your carefully crafted copy, and that will have a huge impact on your inquiries, sales, and bounce rates.
My biggest piece of advice is to always try and think like your ideal clients. What’s important to them, and how can you make that information really easy to find? Beyond that, let’s get specific about some website navigation tips that are essential to a good website experience.
Here are a few tips on how to have intentional navigation that will keep your visitors happily engaged:
1. Make sure your navigation is intuitive on all devices
Make sure that your mobile-friendly design works just as well on a big desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone. Adjust the way your website navigates on phones so that it’s as easy as possible in a vertical, small layout. One of the biggest reasons visitors give up on a website is frustration with confusing navigation.
2. Don’t get creative with navigation
There’s a reason most websites have their navigation either at the top or down the side. We don’t want visitors to get frustrated just trying to figure out how to get to the information they are looking for. Simple is good!
Don’t get too creative with placement or clever wording. People don’t want to have to translate what your words mean. If you choose to hide navigation for a minimal look, the hamburger icon (3 horizontal lines) is a universally recognized icon that will help people find it. Rather than some other cutesy icon, go with an icon people recognize or just flat out call it “menu.”
Consider submenus to streamline lots of pages. Include what is necessary but work to keep tabs minimal to reduce crowded menus and overwhelm. To help website visitors easily navigate your website, it’s also helpful to have a header letting people know what page they are on at all times. Anything like this that you can do to take any guesswork out of the equation is appreciated by your visitors and keeps them on your website longer.
3. Think beyond header navigation
Use calls to action with a standardized design throughout your most-visited pages so that you are telling visitors where to go rather than forcing them to choose it themselves in the header navigation. These stand out in body copy and create an intentional journey for your visitors.
Sidebars and secondary navigation are helpful to link to specific parts of a page or subpage. It’s also a way to make pages stand out separate from the main navigation. You can use illustrated icons as a secondary navigation that links to important pages instead of just words. Like calls to action, these stand out from the body copy. Within copy, also make sure any hyperlinks stand out in style by changing the font color or making it bold or italics.
Search bars and clickable categories are simple ways to make your blog easily navigable so that visitors can find exactly what they want instead of having to browse through tons of content.
4. Make navigation easily accessible no matter where you are on the page
On pages with lots of copy, it’s especially helpful to make your navigation “sticky,” meaning it always stays at the top of the screen no matter how far you scroll. If you don’t want a sticky menu, another option is to add a button that pops people back to the top quickly.
Footer menus and sidebar menus are helpful for easy navigating when a visitor is in the middle or at the bottom of a page because it doesn’t require them to find their way back to the top.
Your main logo should always link back to your home page to keep your navigation cleaner without having to add a home button.
5. Don’t make people search for important information
Fewer clicks are always better. If you are a service provider that works locally, don’t make people click on the contact button to discover if you are in their area. Include your service area and contact details either in the footer of each page or in your introductory home page copy. Essential information like this shouldn’t require a search through your site.
Your website is a powerful tool that you should be utilizing to grow your business. By simply applying these tips to your website you should be able to see an increase in your analytics and page viewing times, meaning website visitors are sticking around to read all about you and the services that you offer. Always assume your web visitors are the laziest people on earth because even if they aren’t, they’ll thank you for making it as easy as possible to hire you. Websites don’t need to be overly complicated, but they do need to be easy to navigate so that your website converts.
