Almost every other website has some form of navigation. But, not all of them are up to the mark. Typically, the navigation on any website is designed and put together by web designers who understand the tactics and know how to design appealing websites. However, not everyone knows how to market a website or create a website that’s solely designed for the convenience of a customer.

Even though your navigation is built into the site, it does not necessarily mean that it’s serving the purpose and giving your visitors what they want.

The user interface and navigation can either make or break your website. When it’s about retaining the visitors, engaging them and pushing them through the conversion funnel,navigation is highly critical.

Effective and well-designed site navigation makes it easier for visitors to find information they’re searching for without being frustrated with a drilling navigation. In fact, good navigation helps search engines index necessary information from your website efficiently and effectively. On the contrary, poor navigation does no good. It creates more confusion and sends your visitors hurrying for the exit. When they fail to find what they desire, you obviously can’t expect conversions on your site.

So, how do you make sure your website navigation is helping you convert web traffic into customers? Here are a few tips to improve Website Navigation.

Key Guidelines

  • Try understanding what your visitors need. Do not design your website based on your own preferences.
  • Sort everything in a proper manner so that you can evaluate your website’s data architecture.
  • Have a site map that will quickly outline the sections/pages on your website.
  • Keep it simple. Do not try to overwhelm your visitors with loads of information on a single page.
  • Determine a goal for your website and design a specific call-to-action for it on your website. You obviously do not want your visitors to overlook the main objective of your website.

Tips:

  1. Standard Interface – Having a standard interface is important. Most users want to effortlessly run through the site, hence they expect the site to follow a standard format, unfortunately. As much as you web designers would love to experiment with innovative designs, your average user does not. It instantly puts him off. In fact, a complex user interface is also likely to increase the bounce rate on your site instantly.
  2. Consistency– Consistent navigation in terms of the interface and how your site appears can make it easier for the visitors to use your website, and enhance their ability to find the information they’re looking for more quickly. Avoid Clutter – Keep your navigation clean and simple. Reducing the number of items on your navigation is important. Most web designers tend to overcrowd the sidebar navigation menus considering that the visitors are accustomed to scrolling vertically. However, keeping limited items makes it easier for them to memorize the sections and boosts the recall value.
  3. Define Categories – If your website contains multiple pages and sections, they must be clearly and visually defined with proper categories and sub-categories.
  4. Click Ability – With multiple categories and sections, you ought to make sure each of the segments have clickable links. This applies to drop-down menus too where the need to click on a particular sub-category link comes naturally to any visitor.
  5. Search Feature- What disappoints any user the most is when they’re looking for something on the search and see “No Results Found”. It is, therefore, important for any website to ensure that the search feature works. Whenever the visitor tries to use the in-site search feature, the site must produce relevant results. It should also show up similar or related items even when you do not have the exact product available.

To conclude, it is true that the placement, order of sections, and the overall design and architecture of your website have the ability to make or break your website. Stop and take a careful look at your website’s current navigational structure. Look out for glaring issues, and take time to fix these issues. Make sure your navigation bar isn’t putting off your potential customers away from the website. The overall performance of your website is dependent on the kind of experience your customer has with the site.