We have taken you through the Basics of SEO, now it’s time we looked at your website. What it is that will attract your customers to it, and how this can help you achieve your SEO objectives.
Have you ever went inside a store to look for a particular item, only to find it in the oddest place where you would never have guessed for it to be placed! Frustrating isn’t it… considering the minutes you spent looking for it in the first place. While this may be a marketing gimmick for stores to place certain items in particular places to boost sales, the same concept is not so popular with online customers.
If they do not find what they are looking for in a split second, then that’s pretty much their exit from your website…
But seeing as you wouldn’t want such to happen on your site, we’ll share with you what Website Navigation is all about and how it can benefit your business online.
What is website navigation all about?
The best way to describe what website navigation is about when designing a small business website is to think of it as ‘a road map’. All the areas, streets and places are connected together, it leads to your desired destination. But that destination has to be easily identifiable or else you’ll get frustrated and lose your way. Your website is no different. Your site has to be structured in such a way that visitors can move easily from one page to another, where everything is set out clearly, systematically and sparingly (and no cluster within the site).
You must be thinking: ‘why is this important for me to know as a business person, it is after all for IT personnel and web developers to know isn’t it?’ Wrong. As a business owner you should know how your website structure and layout will affect your website navigation as it is directly connected to your SEO strategy objectives.
You plan how you sell and market your products and services. Whatever message you publicize to your consumers should be in line with your website’s navigation as it’s the foundation of this .i.e. Slogan: ‘Fast, easy solutions’. You don’t make it difficult for clients to find your stuff in your shop so why do it online?
Let’s share with you the different styles of navigation structures.
• Site Structure navigation: This type of web navigation allows the user to follow the structure of the website when doing their search. The website is structured in a way that allows sections such as homepage, about us, our services… to be attached to the Global Navigation area while the rest of the items are connected to the Local content and navigation areas i.e. Links to your website.
An Example of Site Structure Navigation:
• Functional navigation: Functional navigation takes the user to different functions of the website .i.e. The Site Map of the website or the Private Policy Link. It usually appears on the top or bottom of a page.
• Direct Navigation: Direct navigation leads the user to the direct page that they seek. So for instance if you were to see an add banner or direct link on a website that pretty much is what direct navigation is about.
• Dynamic Navigation: What dynamic navigation does is help users to search results by using metadata attributes. These usually come as search options on the front end. Or another common one could be the formulation of a search form.
An example of a search form:
• Reference Navigation: This navigation structure leads you from one webpage to another usually through anchor text (linked text). Anchor text is normally found in between paragraphs, an article author’s name, figures on the site etc…
• Breadcrumb Navigation: A helpful navigation structure with helps users to go back to wherever they previously were or wish to go. A breadcrumb navigation simply looks something like this;
e.g. HOME > PRODUCTS > CARS > SEATS
• Step Navigation: Step Navigation shows you many pages as well as where you are currently. It allows users to move to the next or previous page, in fact any page they desire to visit that is already opened.
Now that we have discussed with you the different navigation styles, let’s take a look at the structure of websites and how this influences site navigation.
The following are the three types of navigation structures:
• Hierarchical Website Navigation: Websites are built from general to niche. This enables a clear and simple path to flow from anywhere in the website is provided.
• Global Website Navigation: This navigation reveals the top part of your website and the main sections of it .i.e. Home page, About Us, Products, Services etc…
• Local Website Navigation: Local navigation refers to links with text on your web pages (anchor text). These links connect related pages within the website to each other (As per our earlier example on linked text).
That covers the type of website structures that allow navigation to take place. Let’s see how website design assist in effective navigation!
Navigation lay-out designs:
– Horizontal Layout
Horizontal text layout consists of the different sections of the website. They are usually one or two words to describe the section. It usually comes in the form of graphics or HTML text.
– Vertical Layout
Also quite a popular one, it is usually used by websites with a lot of items or lengthy titles. It is usually found on the left-side of the website although it can be found on the right hand side for secondary information.
– Drop-down menus
Drop-down menus are often used in conjunction with horizontal navigation. It allows the user to jump to different sub-sections. This type of layout is usually used by websites with a lot of content.
Yes, navigation has a lot to do with design and layout, but what role does website navigation play in your SEO?
Well, SEO is about driving your customers to your website for a related business objective .i.e. profit of product sales, promotion, publicity etc…. Therefore the only way in which you can guarantee that you get traffic to your website is if the visitor (customer) had a great experience in navigating your website. We will share with you shortly how you can guarantee more traffic to your website through great navigation.
The following are simple guidelines on how to make website navigation much easier for your customers.
• Keep navigation throughout the website consistent with a ‘flow’. The last thing you want is for your visitor to end up leaving your site because they can’t use it.
• Have your logo on your homepage. This is a clear indicator of the user landing on the right page and for branding purposes as well.
• Use common, understandable ‘easy to follow’ structures. We read from left to right so structure your website as you would read or go over it.
• Use internal links as much as possible. This not only will encourage link the visitor to read and stay on your website but interlinking is great for search engine ranking. This help spread link juice (ranking power) across your website.
• Minimize the number of clicks a visitor has to go through before reaching their search.
• Always provide descriptive links. Rather than say ‘click here’ it’s more effective to write ‘our services’.
• Great navigation will allow your customer to find their search much quicker which will make them happy.
• Without any navigation, websites can appear unstructured and disorganised.
• Make sure to use accurate titles on your navigation bars that your customers can understand.
• Lastly, search engines love to crawl and index well-structured websites. Therefore make sure that your website is structured in a way that will enable search engines and your customers to approve of it.
We’ve covered most of website navigation. But navigation on pc’s laptops and pads have limited space and the fact that the screen is also tiny makes navigation difficult as people will not spend time digging for info as ‘they’re on the go’. Therefore it’s important for you to make sure that your website if not only fast, but desktop and mobile friendly. We’ll be sharing with you shortly how you should approach navigation through mobile websites.
Important mobile navigation factors.
– Your mobile site should be simple, uncluttered with great content. Because of the limited space on mobile sites its important four your website to keep away from big images and videos. Rather focus on producing good content as that’s what is needed in mobile navigation.
Pick n’ Pay stores serves as a great example of a simple to navigate website.
– Smart phones and touchscreens. You must take into account that the way someone browsers the net when using the computer is different to when you’re using your phone. In everything you do cater for touchscreen handsets. As the viewing function is different.
These little gadgets play a huge role in your website’s mobile credibility.
– Think of the layout of your mobile site. Mobile users prefer to look at their search from the top to the bottom. What that means it, a vertical layout would be ideal for a mobile phone as going left to right can be a bit of a navigation challenge.
– Look at your site usability. Mobile sites have smaller screens, what that means is a single column would be better to read than a double one. Also you should leave as much white space as possible in order for reading to be easier.
-Keep things small. The smaller, the better. Loading time takes forever on mobile sites at times. So what you should rather do is develop small images and only IF you have to, you can include a video. Multimedia on mobile sites is notorious for slowing website speed.
That’s it for website navigation! Just a few important factors…
Good website navigation can increase the viewing of your web pages. This will in turn lead to increased signups, sales, customers or members. Remember, whether your customer is accessing your site from the desktop or mobile website, they have a question they need answer. Your responsibility is to answer that questions timeously, accurately, simply and informatively. The only way to do that is design both websites according to their objectives or very existence. Applying these principles to your website will not only bring traffic to your website but will leave your customers and search engines happy. Done deal!
