Web Page Navigation 101
We've all experienced the "lost" feeling we get when we visit some websites and also the "wow this is so easy, I can find just what I am looking for" websites. This is the difference between good navigation and poor navigation and will have a great affect on how long your visitors stay and whether or not they find what they are looking for. I hope to get you started by answering a few basic questions about navigation and usability.
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Who Cares About Navigation?
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What is Usability?
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When & how will I see a difference?
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How can I make my site more "user friendly"?
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Why do I need good navigation?
Your visitors care greatly about the usability of your site. They need to know where they are, where they are going and what they will find. It needs to be as simple as 1,2,3. More and more people are becoming familiar with the internet but there are still many that are very intimidated and will not spend time if they feel "lost". Not only that, but the will hesitate to spend money somewhere they are not comfortable.
I think of usability as the ease of use in navigation of a web site. I will almost always immediately leave a site if I feel lost or if it takes too long to load and personally, if it makes noise. There are so many choices that I will go somewhere else.
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Search Engines & Directories
Navigation WILL affect your search engine rankings. If a "spider" can not navigate your site it won't or it won't find everything it should. Good navigation and site maps help the search engines index your pages accurately and completely.
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Site Maps
Site maps are basically text pages created for engines, spiders and visitors to figure where they are and what is on your site. It is also a useful place to take advantage of key word phrases and optimization. It doesn't need to be anything fancy, just a way to see what is on your site.
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Things To Avoid
Flashy navigation has become very popular and sometimes is a good way to organize your information. Java Script and other methods of dynamic menus need to be carefully created and evaluated as to how important it actually is to your website. If it is important, steps can be made to allow your site to be indexed in a positive manner.
There are many pieces
in the internet puzzle. . .Maybe you'll find your missing piece
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