You know the importance of having a website for your company or the importance of building a well-structured website for a company. However, are you aware of how crucial it is to have easy website navigation? Visitors to your website or the website you’ve created for someone else want to load the page, find what they’re looking for, and move on to the next thing.
Life is busy. Many people don’t have time to sit around and fight with a confusing website. In most cases, if a user can’t navigate your website with ease, they’re going to give up.
Yes, that’s right, you’re going to lose profits if users can’t easily navigate to what they need. As a designer, you could cause a company or business to lose customers or clients by not providing a well-functioning website. Don’t let this happen to you.
Here’s what you need to know.
1. Structure
The structure of the website is going to play a large role in how easy it is to navigate. You need to have a good understanding of who the target audience is. When people visit the website, what are they looking for?
Create a list of all important information that a visitor will look for and place them in order of importance. This will help you determine the structure of the website and understand what content should be seen first.
2. Navigation Menu
The navigation menu should be made visible on every page on the website. It should also stand out from other information on the page. Make it clear that it’s the navigation menu and keep it in the same place on every page.
When adding links within the navigation menu, think about what the business wants the visitor to know and see and what the visitor wants to know and see as well. This creates a win-win.
3. Search Tool
Having a search tool on the website makes navigating that much easier for visitors. When they can’t find what they need in the navigation menu, they can simply search for a term, product, service, or word using the search tool. Be sure to keep the search tool on every page as well and in the same place.
This helps visitors know where they can expect to find it. A search bar allows visitors to search for anything on your website, reducing possible frustration.
4. Hyperlinks
When adding hyperlinks to your website, ensure that these hyperlinks are visible and stand out from other words on the page. You don’t want your hyperlinks to blend in with other writing. You want them to stand out in some way, shape, or form that signals to visitors that they are indeed links.
Underline them, bold them, or turn them into buttons! Your options are endless!
Easy Website Navigation Is the Difference Between Failure and Success!
User-Friendly website navigation could mean the difference between a successful website and an unsuccessful one. Be sure to keep these tips in mind when creating your own website navigation system!