+ The Formula for Website Navigation Bart Caylor, Caylor Solutions

+

The Formula for Website Navigation

Bart Caylor, Caylor Solutions

Caylor-Solutions.com | 317-985-7375

2+Agenda

Introduction

The Stats

The Reasons

The Formulas

The Next Steps

Questions and Answers

Caylor-Solutions.com | 317-985-7375 3

+The Stats



5+Stats Uverse and Chegg

May 2014

6


+The Reason for Your Site


8+Your Audience: Who


9+Enrollment Driven


10+Digital Natives/Gen Z


11+Digital Natives

Live in Technology Daily Weebly.com site Blog QR Codes to Promote Marketing Basics

You Tube is the #1 Teen Website

82% Use YouTube regularly

Experts on Websites and Getting Information


12+Reason for your site?

Audiences? Who are your personas?

Enrollment? Prospects, suspects, stealth, influencers?

What are the goals?Enrollment, advancement, retention?

How are you driving traffic?SEO, social media, lateral content?

Conversion?Call to action, conversion, lead generation, nurturing?


+The Formulas


14+Importance


15+Principles of Thoughtful Navigation

Ease of use

Focused on primary audience

Cannot be all things to all people

Avoid “loops”

Logical and intuitive

Less is more


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The Formula

5a + 2c + X = Primary Navigation


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The Formula


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18

The 5 “A’s”

Admissions

About Us

Academics

Athletics

Advancement


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The Formula


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20

The 2 “C’s”

Community

Contact


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The Formula


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22

The “X” Factor

Blog

Faith

Research

Graduate

Differentiation


23+Best Practices

Keep menus concise – no more than 10 items (sweet spot is 7-9)

Logically arrange the menus

Consider analytics for menu order

Remember every page is the home page

Consider nomenclature

Consider hierarchy


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The NomenclatureRemember your audience


25+Content Titles and Names

Avoid internal speak

Organize for the user (majors vs. departments)

Use common terms (keyword search)

Keep it simple (KIS) – responsive/mobile

Remember your audience: humans and robots


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The HierarchyVisual weight = importance order


27+Hierarchy Best Practices

Secondary and Tertiary

Ancillary

Audience Centric

Footer

Call to Action


28+Hierarchy Best Practices

1. Top bar: contact top and accessible as well as footer.

2. Audience Centric/Ancillary

3. Hero/Distinctions/Rotate

4. Call to Action

5. Facts/Overheard


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Next StepsWhat can you do today?


30+Next Steps

Identify your formula elements

Review your analytics and fix “low hanging fruit” Look for navigation “loops” Look for page bounces Review internal search data

Count up the navigation options on core page Prune liberally Look for ways to adjust CSS and design for hierarchy


31+Next Steps

Where possible, simplify language and options

Consider reorganizing content into appropriate “buckets” Remember 301 redirects when doing so

Consider landing pages and subdomains for non-enrollment audiences giving.school.edu research.school.edu graduate.school.edu


32+Redesigning Next Steps

Audit entire site Organize with cards/post-its on white board Organize in Excel

Move extraneous content into “extranet” where appropriate

Avoid common mistakes Too complex (too many options) Not focused on audience Wrong titles (for both humans and robots) No hierarchy (logically or visually)


33+Dealing with Constant Change


+

Bart [email protected]

317-985-7375

caylor-solutions.com

@bartcaylor

Documents

+ The Formula for Website Navigation Bart Caylor, Caylor Solutions