Clear Navigation: The Roadmap of Your Website
Author: Jeremy Harrison
A website can have the best content generation and marketing out there, but if visitors can’t find what they’re looking for they can’t find the solution to their problem. This makes your business insignificant to your visitors.
The answer?
Easy navigation throughout your small business’ website!
When you go on a road trip, you use a map. Think of navigation on your website as a roadmap for your visitors. You’re providing clear direction on where to go to meet your visitors’ needs.
Start at the Top
Lead your navigation in the right direction by starting at the top of your page. This is your site map, or navigation bar. It provides clear, precise navigation no matter where your visitor lands on your site. Your navigation bar should answer these questions:
- Quick summary of your small business (Home)
- Your Credibility (Why Us?)
- Background (History/About)
- What you’re selling (Products/Services)
- Where/how to contact? (Contact page with calls-to-action)
These are your top level pages on your site. They provide an outline and allow your visitor to navigate without feeling confused!
A rule of thumb we like to use at Spire: only use seven or less top-level menu items. This makes your website flow more smoothly and results in more leads for your small business!
Subpages
Subpages are gateways to even better navigation for your website. You may have a lot of different components of your business – that’s great! Subpages allow you to break these divisions of your business up into clear, easy to understand sections for your consumer! See our example in the next section to understand the value of subpages on your website even further.
Use SEO in Skeleton of Site
Navigation is a great way to use your content for search engine optimization or SEO. This is your opportunity to use prime keywords that will put you in the top ranks of search engines, like Google. Drop down menus are perfect for this method. We’ve provided an example of a hair salon, Hair USA that implemented keywords into their navigation bar:
Home | About Hair USA | Hairstyling Services | Contact Our Salon
-History -Hair Cuts
-Meet Our -Hair Coloring
See how keywords, such as hairstylists, hairstyling services, etc. were incorporated into the navigation? This is how to boost keyword usage in the skeleton of your website. As a small business owner, you need to work in an efficient manner to save time and money. “Hitting two birds with one stone,” definitely benefits you in the long run. Clear navigation and SEO perks all in one!
Avoid Overwhelming Your Visitors
It can be easy to get carried away as you build out your perfect website. Don’t overwhelm visitors by having long terms in your navigation bar. Keep it short and sweet. Also, don’t have a ton of options to choose from. Believe it or not, this leads to a higher bounce rate (people leaving your page).
Your visitor wants a simple solution to his or her problem. Easy to find and easy to act on. By having page options that are easily recognizable, your visitor won’t feel so much dilemma when choosing a page. Your website is the digital face of your small business. Show your visitors how easy you are to work with by providing a website thats engaging, but still easy to work through. Show who you are, what you do, what you offer, and how your visitor can get ahold of you!