We must consider our landing pages as though they are speaking directly to our customers. In other words, imagine you’re getting coffee with them; you must be engaging and insightful, while not boring or long-winded. You must help to answer their questions as quickly and effectively as possible all while understanding why they are meeting with you in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an ideal world, we would know exactly why a customer is visiting with us before we meet with them. That way we can have our conversation points worked out ahead of time. This is why we advocate for single topic landing pages. However today, I’m going to focus on website navigation and how to utilize it the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The goal of website navigation is way-finding. Essentially, it’s a highway sign that offers indicators on where to find information or what to do next. Those indicators come in succession, just like highway signs. When we’re cruising down the highway we don’t get presented with every possible destination all at once, we get presented with a single choice. This should also be the case with website navigation. We must control the journey, not point to a distant far off place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, like most good Basically, use as little navigation as possible. In an ideal design, there is no need for navigation at all, we would simply present each user with exactly what they are looking for. However, determining this is almost impossible. So, we use website navigation to help us (the website owner) understand what the user is looking for and to help them get where they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we’re in the process of deciding what type of navigation to use we ask ourself a couple of questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If a website’s navigation fails any of the above questions, it’s bad navigation. So, lets dive into each question and explore best practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All users want to do something<\/em> on your site. This could be researching (looking for an answer), transactional (looking to make a purchase), or investigational (researching your company with an intent in mind). So, we need to always be directing a user to one of these actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Website owners often like to present the user with an abundance of options in an effort to make sure they get where they are going. But, that is often overwhelming<\/a>, confusing and it just takes time away from the user. Just like driving, we need our directions when we need them, not all at once. Analysis paralysis often leads to users navigating away from our site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondly, each page cannot serve multiple masters. If your website has multiple goals, then you need to have multiple landing pages. Each page should have one topic that leads to one action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Website users understand that some keywords lead to specific content. The word ‘contact’ will almost always lead to a form. The word ‘about’ will almost always lead to information about the company. These navigation items are no-brainers when it comes to the content they present. However, this is not always the case. It’s best to consider the assumptions a user makes before clicking. If your users don’t know what’s behind the door, they probably won’t open it. This is where icons, images, and buttons can be very helpful. Descriptive navigation (more below) can help here as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A user will typically know what they are looking for. So, you should know as well. You should know the actions a user wants to take (or the actions you want them to take) then make those actions abundantly clear. Good online advertising strategy and good SEO<\/a> will lead users directly to their intended action. A user will already know why they are there, all you need to do is present it to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Simple words and icons have emerged as the most used navigation items. Using complex animations and layouts can make navigating your site hard and confusing. Also, navigation should be logical. We don’t want people to go to the cart page before they’ve visited the shop page, just like you don’t want people to see the contact form before they know what you offer. Determine your onboarding steps, and then present them simply and in order. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find Item -> Make Purchase -> See Confirmation Limiting your navigation to as few steps as possible reduces the likelihood a user will give up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mobile navigation is tricky because we must content with a significantly smaller screen. Also, most users use their mobile devices in the vertical orientation. So, we are even more limited when it comes to horizontal elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ve all been conditioned to accept slide-out menus and hamburger (<\/i>) icons out of necessity. However, I would argue this is a failed attempt at mobile navigation. It’s fairly impractical to tap twice to get someplace. Mindshare uses a hamburger icon to display less important or secondary navigation. However, recent studies have shown that simply putting this information in a footer would serve us better. In fact, footer navigation is used more often than header navigation on all of the sites we manage (that have footer navigation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mobile navigation also lacks a mouse (obviously) so we have to instead consider the thumb. No longer is everything on the screen within reach, instead, only things within the ‘thumb zone’ are in reach. The thumb zone is typically the bottom third of the screen and (for most of us) slightly to the right. Placing menu toggles here is best practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like everything else on your website, navigation plays an important role Here are 6 things to ensure your navigation is working for your site, and not against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What we do” doesn’t actually say what you do, besides, one would hope a visitor already knows what you do. “Products”, “Services”, “Solutions”, and “About” don’t actually describe anything, you might as well say “page 1”, “page 2”, “page 3”, etc. Users will already know you have services, products, and solutions… everyone does. Descriptive navigation is better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each page of your site (according to SEO practices) should be responsible for exactly<\/em> one topic. So, your navigation should do the same. Instead of “Services” say “Web Development”, instead of “Products” say “Hoodies”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This will help every page to have a chance at ranking higher in search results. In other words, you’ll be getting a boost to SEO for every page on your site<\/em> because every page has a unique topic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Navigation labels such as “videos,” “photos,” and “products” tell visitors the format of the content, but not the content those formats hold. We don’t go to google and type in “videos” when we’re really looking for how to change our spark plugs. We type in “how to change spark plugs” and trust the content will be presented in an understandable way (video or otherwise). We don’t type in “products” when we’re actually looking for a new cell phone, we type in “cell phones.” Your navigation labels (and the structure of your site) should match this practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Look, visitors want to get their business done quickly. Our eyes move faster than our mouses, so make your navigation visible. When a visitor decides to move their mouse, they’re likely already on their way to click. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More important than the annoyance of drop-downs is the effect they have on page visits. Drop-downs encourage visitors to skip important pages. <\/strong>This means they will be navigating your site without a map or directions ( There are two reasons that limiting the number of links is a good thing. The first is that each page on your site should have exactly one<\/em> topic. This helps Google and other search engines rank it by increasing that pages authority on that subject. Lots of links and many topics dilute the authority of the page and therefore decrease its search ranking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second reason we should limit the number of navigation links is that it will help our user’s brains hold all the navigation information. According to a Harvard professor<\/a>, we can only hold about 7 items in our short term memory. So, if we follow our above advice and use the navigation to help describe our site, it only makes sense that we want our users to remember those descriptions. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAm I helping the user navigate?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Am I directing the user what to do next?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Is it clear what is behind the link?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Is it clear which navigation choice is best?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Is my navigation easy to understand and use? <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
See Offer -> Fill out Form -> See Confirmation
Make Search -> Find Result -> Do Action<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhat about Mobile?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nLets Talk SEO<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
1) Be Descriptive:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
2) Avoid describing format, instead describe content.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
3) Avoid Dropdown Menus… seriously, avoid them like the plague.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
4) Seven menu items seems to be about the max.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
5) Order your navigation appropriately.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n