Expert Advice:
Don't let your navigation
be your downfall!
How are users going to navigate throughout your Web site? It is
vital that they understand your products and/or services. Before
you start building out your Web site, invest time in determining
what the top-level pages are going to be, and how the content of
these top-level pages is going to help categorize your products
or services.
Navigation planning has hit critical mass. Today's markets are
more competitive than ever. With that in mind, it is paramount
that you attract visitors to your Web site. When developing a
Web site, you need a strategy Barracuda Spam Firewall Free Eval
Unit - Click Here, as there are crucial elements which need to
be planned in order for you to succeed.
The worst scenario is to have visitors come to your Web site
only to become confused and frustrated at the fact that they
can't find what they are looking for. This ultimately leads to
them exiting and finding a Web site which can deliver what they
need.
Taxonomy Is Key
How are users going to navigate throughout your Web site? It is
vital that they understand your products and/or services. Before
you start building out your Web site, invest time in determining
what the top-level pages are going to be, and how the content of
these top-level pages is going to help categorize your products
or services.
Try to stay away from terminology such as "About Us" or "Our
Services"
as they do not describe what is being offered or give
information on what the user will receive if they click that
particular link. Try using key phrases as much as possible.
This will ensure that the search engines understand what the
link is about and that weight will be given for the key phrase
to the page it links to.
For example, instead of using the terminology "About Us" try
featuring your actual company name, such as "About Tommy's Bait
Shack." This allows the search engines and users to better
understand the link.
Technology: Your Best Friend or Worst Enemy
We now know that the planning of the navigation structure is
crucial to search engines and users navigating through your
site. This, however, can all be in vain as certain technology
can keep the search engines from crawling your Web site, or not
allow users to fully access your navigation.
For example, if your navigation was built in Java Latest News
about Java script and uses drop down menus to showcase
particular sections, the search engines most likely will not be
able to follow those links.
This limitation can also be felt by visitors who currently have
Java script disabled within their Web browsers. Also, if there
are errors within the Java script code it will most likely crash
the Web browser.
Un-crawlable technologies include:
* Java script-based navigation
* Flash-based navigation
* Ajax-based navigation
Technology exists to aid in your navigation becoming fully
crawlable and easy to navigate. One of these technologies uses
cascading style sheets (CSS). You can achieve the same results
with CSS as you could with other technologies; however the
difference is that CSS is completely crawlable by the search
engines and visitors to your Web site will have no problem
viewing the navigation.
Maximizing the Usability of Your Web Site
We previously discussed the importance of planning and building
your primary navigation in the right structure, but there is
more to Web site navigation than the primary navigation. There
are three other types of navigation, which are important to
ensuring the visitor has the best possible experience. These
secondary navigations are listed and described below.
* Bread Crumb Navigation. It can be defined as a horizontal
navigation, which is a pathway the user has taken to arrive at
the current page, relative to the home page of your Web site. We
have found that it is crucial the user be only a maximum of two
clicks away from any other page throughout your Web site.
* Footer Navigation. This style navigation should mimic the
primary navigation's top-level structure. The footer navigation
typically appears at the very bottom of each page. This allows
visitors navigate to other pages when at the bottom of a
particular page.
* Sitemap. The sitemap is an additional page on your Web site
which showcases the structure of the Web site from a top-level
point of view, all the way to deep pages within your site. This
page will act as a directory and will allow the search engines
as well as visitors to access any other page throughout the Web
site.
Each of the areas will help to ensure the successful navigation
of your Web site.
Understanding Navigation Principles
Poor navigation planning and build-out can impact your Web site.
Using the wrong technology such as Java script or flash can have
a negative impact on the crawlability of your Web site and the
user experience as well.
Take the time to plan out the structure of your Web site and
decide on a technology that will not inhibit the search engines
or visitors from viewing your pages.
By
Darrell Long
E-Commerce Times
07/03/07 4:00 AM PT
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