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Optimize Your Web Site Navigation to Increase Sales

Thinking about giving your web site a redesign for the new year? Well, one thing to keep in mind is that studies show that well-planned navigation on a site can help boost sales by more than 50%. Here are some strategies you can use to improve your site’s effectiveness:

1. Streamline Your Web Site Architecture

Your web site should contain as few pages as possible. Web sites that have a lot of pages can quickly become a tangled mess if they’re not well designed. Here's how to streamline the architecture of your site:

• Cut down on the number of pages on your site
For example, if you sell only a few products, make sure they’re featured on your home page. Don’t make your visitors look for them. People are always one click away from leaving a site -- don’t give them an excuse to make that click!
If you can’t fit all your products on your home page, organize them into categories and include the links to each category on your home page or navigation bar menu. The same goes for any newsletters or articles featured on your site.

• Don't let visitors click more than three times!
Make sure that none of your pages are more than three clicks away from any other. Visitors should never have to click more than three times to find what they’re looking for. If you’re not sure how the pages on your site relate to each other, map them out on paper. Your diagram should look something like this:

Any site that has more than two pages should be nonlinear in design. Your visitors shouldn’t have to click back and forth through a whole series of pages to get where they’re going -- especially if they’re looking to buy something. Make sure that your visitors can easily find their way back to your home page, no matter where they are on your site.

If your web site is large and content rich, provide links within your content to other pages on your site. It’s an easy way to persuade visitors to check out those pages as well. Just be sure to include an easy-to-locate “back” button that will return visitors to the page they were on before.

2. Standardize Your Navigation Menu

Your navigation must be consistent. Navigation features exist to help your visitors figure out how to get around on your site. You don’t want to make this difficult for them. Otherwise, you’ll lose far too many potential customers.

• Make sure your menu is located in the same place on every page of your site
Your menu should be instantly recognizable to your visitors, with the same buttons, size, and color on every page. The menu should be placed across the top or along the left side of the page. Those are the first places people look when seeking information. Whether you choose top navigation or a left-side menu depends on what kind of web site you have.

• Keep your navigation menu as simple as possibleDon’t include dozens of links on your navigation menu or it will be too visually confusing for your visitors. If you have a large site, organize the pages into categories. Include only the main category links on the navigation menu. A good rule of thumb is to have no more than eight options on any one menu. Your navigation links or buttons should be easy to understand. Your visitors shouldn’t have to guess where the links are going to take them.

3. Cater to Your Customers

In order for your web site to turn visitors into buying customers, it has to cater to their needs. Focus on what your potential customers want and make sure they can easily locate it on your site.

Help them find what they're looking for

Studies show that more than 50% of online sales are lost because visitors can’t find what they’re looking for on a site. If your site is poorly organized, you could be losing more than half your sales! Visitors always want to know...

• How they got to the page they’re on
• Where that page is in relation to the rest of the site
• Where they can go from there

Be sure to provide them with these three important pieces of information. Your visitors should always know exactly where they are and how they can get back to earlier pages they’ve visited.

• Consider adding a table of contents/site mapIf your site is large, consider adding a table of contents (organized alphabetically or by topic) or a site map that features links to all your site pages. This should be clearly accessible from every page on your site. That way, if visitors want to find out whether your site includes certain information, they have an easy reference tool at their disposal. Remember, navigation isn’t the same thing as design. Your site may look really great, but if it isn’t easy for people to find what they're looking for, you're losing potential sales. A site with a well-structured navigation system can increase the number of page views you get as well as the amount of repeat traffic you receive.

WebsiteDesigner.Com works with companies to strengthen their web presence, to make it an invaluable tool in their overall business. Give us a call, and we can help you identify an Internet program that will support your own set of business goals -- within your budget and technology comfort level.

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