• “Oops, what happened to the left sidebar?”
• “Oh, great, I have no idea how to get back to that page now…”
• “Now, why would anyone have a 3-layer drop-down menu with 20 options each?”

The answer to every question about website navigation is Don’t Make Me Think!

Don’t leave your website visitors wondering what to do next.

Each link on your navigation bar leads the visitor into a new area of your website. This is a great opportunity to help guide the visitor to each area with ease and simplicity. If your navigation is clean and organized, it will make for an enjoyable and informative user experience for all your visitors.

8 Best Practices for Optimal User Experience With Your Navigation

1. Naming

Each button/link should have a short name… preferably one word. If you are directing people to the “The Philosophy Behind our Work” page, the navigation button can simply say “Philosophy”. That pretty much says it all. Clear. Straight to the point. Understood. If you have the whole page name in the navigation button, you will either run out of room or you will lose the attention of the visitor.

2. Organization

If you have many pages (more than 7 or 8), it may be best to organize them by category and have drop down menus. The cleaner the navigation, the easier people will be able to find what they are looking for. If you have 15 navigation buttons AND they each have drop downs, the site will become much more challenging for the visitor. The “less is more” concept is always a good one to follow.

3. Drop Downs (or Multi-Level Drop Downs)

If you have or intend to use sub-menus in your drop downs, try not to use too many sub-levels unless you absolutely can not do so. If someone has to rollover 4 buttons and find themselves 5 levels deep into your navigation, chances are their mouse will slip and everything will disappear. Then they have to navigate all the way back into that maze again to find what they are looking for. It may be better to just create a new category in your navigation bar to keep things simpler.

4. Functionality

Navigation should be somewhat interactive. If you rollover the button, the visitor expects something to happen. Something that will indicate that it is in fact a button and if clicked, something else will happen. If you rollover a link and nothing happens, then it may not get clicked. This means the page may not be seen, read or visited. Always assume that a visitor has no idea what YOU are thinking or wanting. Remember to design with your visitor in mind.

5. Simplicity

Navigation does not have to be super fancy-schmancy. You do not need to have flashing stars, sounds, clicks or dancing bears that appear when a button is hovered or clicked. This does nothing more than create a “wow, that was really annoying” reaction in the visitor’s mind. A simple state change (i.e.: change of color, size, text decoration or background color) is all that is necessary. These effects add a little flair to your design without interfering with the overall experience or the site’s aesthetic.

6. Location

Website navigation is inherently expected to be in 1 of three places on your website: Top, Left Sidebar, or Right Sidebar (as many blogs do). As wild a concept as it may seem, some folks like to hide their navigation somewhere else on the page because they think it makes the site more interesting. Unfortunately, this leads to a frustrated visitor who can’t seem to find the information they need, and ultimately leaves – never to return. This is a HUGE missed opportunity.

7. Size

Your navigation buttons should stand out from the rest of the content on your pages. If your navigation utilizes text that is the same size as the rest of the text on your site, it may get lost (visually) and the visitor may not see it. Of course, if your text is dressed with a background color or shape, that will help, but the navigation should always stand out (or at the very least adhere to item above about Location). Making things easier for the visitor is always a good decision.

8. Structure

My philosophy: You should be able to get to any page in the site from any page in the site. The user should never have to click the “back” button to navigate. If your navigation is clearly posted, it will be obvious to the user that they can (and should) use the buttons to explore. Of course, many people are used to clicking “back” but that is usually because they want to go back to their Google search results or to the last website they were on. Once  you get people in your site, keep them there with a clean architecture.

Your turn…

Do you have any other tips to share regarding website navigation? Please don’t forget to share with your network as well!

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However, sometimes, my ideas for the above 3 items conflict with what clients want.

For instance, people seem to still want flash intros/splash pages, blinking words, and scrolling text on their websites. Can you say MySpace? Ugh!

Not only did these things go out in the 90s with high top fades, stone washed jeans, and curls but they are not very attractive and/or not useful for visitors.

This is my stance against websites developed completely in flash and blinking and scrolling text. Don’t Do It! Who’s with me???

I Like Flash Looking Elements So What’s The Alternative?

Well, when you are talking with your designer, avoid the word flash. Some designers will start to see dollar signs and hear “ching ching!” in their heads.  Instead, say you want some animation or animated elements. Remember, don’t go overboard though. Too many animated elements can confuse visitors and even cause seizures in users with photosensitive epilepsy.

These days, there are far superior methods to create slideshows and animations and flash is not it. In addition, flash is extremely expensive, especially to have a talented developer create a stunning masterpiece. Let’s not mention that blinking and scrolling (marquee) text looks amateurish!

What Else Should I Avoid on my Website?

• Tiny text size – Be sure to know who your target market is which can help you decide if you need a slightly larger font (i.e. for older audiences). You can also include functionality where visitors can increase or decrease the font themselves. Your font size should at least be 12pt size to make sure people can read your content. Bad example of small text and ugly background:

• Background music – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve left a website or felt frustrated because I couldn’t find the stop button for music that started playing automatically upon visiting the website. Don’t do this to your visitors. Give them the option to play music themselves if it’s necessary to have on your site.

• Pop up windows – Okay, now this one is a controversial one but I will give you my input. I hate popups! Most popups are some type of advertisement and we are so immune to them these days that they are ignored. Now, I know what you might be thinking – “[fill in the blank] popup increased my subscriber base or sales so it’s worth it.” I understand but I usually never use a popup to subscribe to a newsletter or buy something, especially if it’s my first time to that website. I need to get to know who you are and what you offer before doing either. I’d rather have another unobtrusive way to ask for subscribers. My 2 cents.
• Too Many Advertisements – enough said!
• Text on busy backgrounds - You should always have readable text meaning you don’t want black text on dark backgrounds or any kind of text on colored/patterned backgrounds. The fastest way to lose visitors is to have unreadable text. Bad example below:

Check out the Big Ugly Website for more examples of what NOT to do!

Your turn…

What other elements have you found should be avoided on websites? Please weigh in and share!

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Check it out (audio hosted on Kim’s website)…

Highlights of our discussion include:

• The biggest myths about building a blog
• How personal should you get when blogging?
• Where to find inspiration for blog posts?
• How often should you blog?
• The best ways to promote your blog
• Brand monitoring tools
• The key to building a  successful business online
• and more!

Your turn…

I’d love for you to check it out and if you have any feedback, leave a comment and let me know!

Also, Kim is looking for more women of color in tech and digital media to interview and would love your suggestions!

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Certainly, your site has to serve the purpose of conveying relevant information to its audience. However, if its cluttered, unusable, slow, or otherwise, you can kiss visitors goodbye.

So here are 10 tips to help make your business website user friendly to keep visitors coming back for more!

1. Avoid T.M.I.-itis  (Too Much Information)

I know first hand how tempting it is to “fill out” your website with a lot of “cool” things. However, filling your website with unnecessary content just makes it look weighty and only gives your readers viewing fatigue. Keep it simple so that users can quickly scan your content and find exactly what they want.

2. Break It Up

We all know that people generally don’t read websites word for word. So make sure your text is divided into short sections complete with titles, subtitles, bullets and lists. Basically, make sure your content is spaced out into brief paragraphs so it’s easier for your users to read. This allows visitors to scan your content and digest it more quickly. Long paragraphs make for a hard read and ultimately a lost visitor!

3. Open External Links in New Windows

It’s great to share content outside of your website. However, in sending your visitors elsewhere, be sure that content is opened in a new window. You don’t want to lose your visitors to another site and leave them clueless how to get back to where they were.  If I’m reading an article and there are several links to other sources, I’d like them open in new windows so I can come back and continue reading the original site I was on. This saves your visitors time and doesn’t let them leave their place on your website.

On the other hand, please don’t have internal links (links that refer to other pages within your own website) open in new windows. It can cause people to become confused and eventually leave and never come back.

4. Be Consistent

If your website has multiple pages, maintain a consistent design theme (unless you have a large content site and each section has a slightly different color scheme; however, the overall feel doesn’t change). Make sure navigation tools, colors, layout, font and other features are the same on each and every page. You don’t want your user to feel they have clicked the wrong link and wonder whether they are still on your website or not.

5. Look Professional

If you want to be taken seriously, it helps to have a professional looking website instead of one that looks outdated or like my 2 year old did it – though 2 year olds seem to be capable of all types of things these days! : – ) It pays to have a website designer help you get your look together instead of trying to do it yourself, especially if you don’t how or where to begin.

6. Graphics and Media

There’s nothing more annoying to a website visitor than drumming his fingers impatiently as he waits for your website to load heavy graphics and multimedia. The world is getting busier and people’s attention span is getting severely shorter. So keep those graphics simple, your videos short in length, and resize your images for fast loading. Your website should not take more than 15 seconds to load. Google looks at page speed as well in determining how far up the search engine you should be listed, so speed it up! For those who use WordPress, there are several plugins, including one called WP Super Cache, that helps to speed up your website.

7. Search

People want info, and they want it fast! This is when a search bar/box comes in handy. If someone visits your site and is looking for something specific, all they have to do is a quick search and they get information faster than just browsing around on your website.

8. Spelling and Grammar

It’s often the basic things we get wrong. The spelling and grammar of your content shouldn’t even be a problem since there are so many tools to help us with these – there’s a spell check in almost every application we use these days!.  You don’t have to be the best speller in the world or an English teacher to get your grammar right.  However, misspelled words and confusing content shows you don’t pay attention to details and turns off users. They will probably wonder why they would want to buy anything from you or hire you as their service provider if you can’t even get your spelling write, oops I mean right : – )

9. Avoid Flash Intro Pages

Thank goodness this trend is coming to a close! I remember people used to ask me all the time to build them a flash site. I understand Flash was in a few years ago but it didn’t serve the user very well. Depending on your industry/niche, flash components may be desired but for most people, it’s not necessary or optimal.  Besides there are other flash-like objects that can be created and are more user friendly.

10. Contact Info

Can your visitors find your contact information easily? People like to know they’re dealing with a real person/company. Trust me, if they have to search for your contact information too long, they will stop looking and move on to your competitor. It’s too easy to have contact info available in an easy-to-find location.

That’s All!

Websites can be powerful tools, but they are surely not “set it and forget it.” Measuring, tuning and tweaking are ongoing tasks of today’s website owners. Using these suggestions I’ve identified here will help keep your website visitors happy and coming back.

Your turn…

I’m sure you know other website owners so please pass along this information and don’t forget to share your comments below. What other tips can you offer for a user friendly website?

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Here’s a recent story of one of my clients with this exact problem!

“Recently, I found that my website was going to a GoDaddy placeholder page so I tried contacting the web designer to make changes to my site but she was unresponsive and I didn’t know what to do. I then contacted GoDaddy and they told me that the domain has expired and I could not access it or get any details about it since it was not in my name. So now I’m stuck and can’t renew my domain!”

This is a complete nightmare for website owners!

Now the hosting portion is not as much of a concern as the domain. Here’s why: Your website can pretty much be replicated and you can get new hosting.

However, your website address or domain name is most likely on all your company publications – business cards, letterhead, brochures, signage, other websites. So for you not to have access to one of your most prized web properties is, well, not benefiting you at all. If you don’t own it, it can be sold or hijacked and all traffic destined for your website will go elsewhere!

FYI – it is common for web designers/developers/agencies, even myself sometimes, to bundle domain and hosting with website packages and order it for you either as an affiliate or reseller of domain registration and hosting services. This is perfectly acceptable and a good way for us to supplement our design services. However, as a client, it will behoove you to ensure you also have access to those properties and that you are listed as owner, ESPECIALLY of the domain name.

So, how do you avoid falling into this trap? Simple! Buy your own domain name and keep a record of your account information and voila! Though, I beg you to get help from someone, anyone, to make sure you buy the best domain name(s) for your needs.

Note: In my case, when I register the domain and hosting on my client’s behalf, I give them all the information they need.

What can you do now?

If you are unsure who actually owns your domain name, go to Network Solutions’ Whois lookup. Just pop in your domain name and take a close look at the information that comes up.

Have you have a similar experience? Leave a comment below and take the poll!

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