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Why do
you have a website?
Think
about this carefully. If you
do, you will be one step ahead of most other people with websites.
I know it sounds strange but most people put up a website because
they know they need one to move ahead in business (or just keep up with
the rest of the world) without really thinking what they want to achieve
with their website.
Do you
want to sell your super duper widget?
Do you
want to launch a new product?
How about
signing up new visitors to your mailing list?
Is it a
brochure for your bricks and mortar business?
How does
this information relate to navigation? Think of your
visitor
as a car. You can steer them
around corners and
change
gears but if you let go of the steering wheel and take
your foot
off the accelerator, they will drive off the road,
through a
fence and stop in the ditch. Or,
in web speak,
ditch
your website and go somewhere else.
The key
is to first, figure out what your website is for and then
secondly, gently persuade your visitor towards that goal.
Make the visitor feel comfortable about where they are, as
well as where they are going.
Navigation is about
guidance.
Create
a pathway
to guide your visitor through your website
What is a
pathway? I like this definition from the Oxford Dictionary:
"A pathway is a route, formed by a chain of nerve cells,
along which impulses of a particular kind usually travel."
Sounds much like how people surf the internet. I'll use a simple website
to explain. You set up a website to sell
widgets - only one make and model. The
entire purpose of your
website is to sell this widget. When your visitor arrives
at your homepage she should instinctively move to the next
page in your pathway, the pathway that leads her closer to
purchasing your widget. This is, afterall, the purpose of your
website.
If your
website sells many different products or has many objectives,
maintain a pathway for each product/objective.
This will
achieve two things - first, it will maintain the focus
of your visitor instead of tossing them around like the ball
in a game of pinball and second, it will prevent information
overload that has your visitor clicking elsewhere.
HOT TIP:
Make it
as easy as possible for your visitor to get to your final
objective by ensuring there is a link on every page of the
pathway directly to this objective.
A
Practical Exercise - Flowcharts tell a story
(You'll
need pen and paper for this exercise)
Draw a
separate tree diagram for each pathway in your website writing
down the name or function of each page. Look at each page
carefully noting where the visitor can go from that page.This
alone will be revealing. You may not have realized that you
were distracting your visitors so much!
With your
flowcharts, the next step is to use your statistics. Write
down the statistics for where visitors enter your website
(visitors do not always come through the front door!).
Highlight
those numbers with a green highlighter. Next, write down
where your visitors leave your website - highlight these numbers
in yellow.
These
numbers tell a story. If,
halfway to your objective, your
visitors are leaking into a side distraction, it will give
you a better idea how to improve your website - stop that
leakage. Plug it up. Ask
yourself this: How
important is this distraction?
Now
compare the entry (green) numbers with exit (yellow) numbers.
These comparisons will help you analyse how effective your
website is. Other stories these statistics tell you are:
-
at what point you lose your visitors.
- how
many visitors who arrive at the front page, make it to your
objective.
- whether
your marketing strategy is reaching the wrong
people
because a high level of visitors don't go further than
your front page.
Look and
Feel of Navigation.
Keep the
look and feel of your website consistent throughout.
This
gives your visitors the comfortable feeling that they
know
where they are. Even if you
are presenting different
products,
keep the navigation of the website consistent.
If you
call your first page "home" do not start calling it the
"main" page elsewhere in the site. Your navigation should
look the same throughout your
website but try color coding -
it is a
very effective way of seperating products / objectives.
Take the
"real world" example of McDonalds.
McDonalds has many
different products all wrapped up in their unique form of
branding but walk into a McDonalds and you instantly recognize
their look and feel - keep their visit to your website
consistent and aviod confusion. That's
what you want to achieve with your navigation.
People
become easily distracted on the internet and will travel
around following the easiest path. Clear a pathway through
your website pointing to your objective and watch how
a clear pathway can change the surfing behaviour of your visitor.
Quick
Look - Great webpages are those that pay attention
to detail.
It's the
little things that will distract your customers and
reflect badly on you or your company. Regardless of the
design, the best webmasters check for the following items
constantly:
1)
Spelling - such a big issue!
One mis-spelt
word (especially in the english language) can
change the entire meaning of a sentence or even a paragraph.
Think about people who speak english as a second
language when proof-reading your website.Your
english teachers were correct(!) - grammar and spelling
are important. If you do not have confidence in your
own writing skills, either learn or make friends with someone
who does.
2) Fonts
Use
different fonts to create your desired effect but be careful
swappping from one font to another for different pages. It
can just look messy and quickly lose the trust of your
visitors.Check the
following areas before publishing your website: email
addresses, tables, new text boxes including any new pages.
3)
Alignment
If your
navigation bar is jumpy your visitors could also become
jumpy. Your website is a reflection of your product whether
you like it or not. Count the pixels and place all the
consistent components of your website in EXACTLY the same
place. \
e.g.
If your
navigation bar is on the left hand side placed at the x
(horizontal) co-ordinate of 15 and y (vertical) co- -ordinate
of 25 make sure it is the same for every page in your
website.
4) Broken
links
If you
make changes to your website, test them. Everyone has been
guilty of broken links at some time or another but
broken links always look unprofessional. Do not rely on your
visitors to tell you if a link is broken, they will
simply go somewhere else.
5) Colors
Your
visitors WILL notice if the colors you use throughout your
website are slightly different, even if it is sub- consciously.
Choose your colors and stick with them.
*--------------------HOT
TIP---------------------*
Remove
any background images that interfere with your
text. Only simple images allowed! Use soild or near
solid colors for the background - if you couldn't
use it as stationary, don't use it as a
background color.
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