Is your website's navigation perfect?

5/9/2017 Is Your Website's Navigation Perfect?

https://blog.designveloper.com/2017/05/08/is-your-websites-navigation-perfect/ 1/5

Í

Is Your Website’s Navigation Perfect?

If you want to create a bad-ass website, navigation will be without question one of the most important

aspects you should consider first.

Why do people search something on the internet? Why do they access your website? Simply, they want

to get information. Navigation exists to help people find content. Navigation not only affects your

conversion rate, but also your traffic and search engine rankings.

However, unfortunately, many people just take it for granted. Tons of websites out there have

navigation that are poorly designed.

To step your game up a little bit, here I’ve pulled together some tis for a perfect web navigation.

Give it a shot. Why not?

Related: 7 Key Elements Of A Modern Successful Website

(https://blog.designveloper.com/2016/12/07/elements-of-successful-website/)

Make i t prominent and clear

W E B S I T E D E S I G N ( H T T P S : / / B L O G . D E S I G N V E L O P E R . C O M / C A T E G O R Y / W E B S I T E -D E S I G N / )

B y V a n D o ( h t t p s : // b l o g . d e s i g n v e l o p e r . c o m / a u t h o r / v a n d o / ) o n M a y 8 , 2 0 1 7

Û

Í



I do not know about you, but nothing drives me nuts more than accessing a website that I cannot know

what to expect clicking a link, or how to easily find what I am looking for.

So please do your visitors a favor. Make your website’s navigation prominent and legible for them to

easily understand from the first moment they arrives at your website.

At a glance, visitors should know they are at the right place and how to get to where they want to be.

For instance, the main menu should be designed to contrast against everything else so that your

visitor’s eyes can be easily drawn to it.

Keep i t consistentYour navigation should be consistent throughout the site.

Consistency makes sites easier to use, because visitors don’t have to learn new tricks as they move

around. If your navigation is constantly changing from page to page, visitors will lose their on-site

bearings and it will reduce quality of the user experience.

Keep i t conciseI bet you’ve seen this before: that website with hundreds of links on the home page. Terrible.

Based on a study by George Miller on short term memory (http://www.musanim.com/miller1956/),

designers came up with the rule that a website’s navigation should have between five and seven

items. Even eight may be too many.

Í



Having fewer items to choose from, your visitors’ eyes are less likely may scan past important items.

Every time you remove a menu item, the remaining items become more prominent. Challenge yourself

to limit your navigation to five items. If you are not sure which items are most important to your

customers, take a look at your analytics and see which pages of your website get the most traffic.

Moreover, concise navigation is also crucial for SEO.

Related: Is Your Web Design Lowering Your Conversion Rate?

(https://blog.designveloper.com/2017/04/13/website-conversion-mistakes/)

Be descript iveMaking your website navigation descriptive will save visitors the click and yes, help reduce your

bounce rate for sure.

Changing the text of your menu items can prove helpful. With all the distractions on the web, it’s best

to have visitors think as little as possible. They should know right away where a link will take them.

Remember, people want convenience, not a challenge. The easier it is for people to use and navigate

throughout your site, the longer they are likely to interact with it.

ConclusionImagine what will happen if you walk for hours in the forest without a compass or a map? It feel

daunting, doesn’t it? The same can be said as a website without navigation. The fact is that you

cannot afford to neglect navigation if you are looking for increased traffic. So hopefully this blog post

Í



has inspired you to create more interesting navigation in your future projects.

Your turn! Do you have any tips on designing the perfect site navigation? It would be great to get your

input. Feel free to share in the comments below!

(https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?

u=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.designveloper.com%2F2017%2F05%2F08%2Fis-

your-

websites-

navigation-

perfect%2F)

(http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?

source=Designveloper

Software

agency

-

Meteor

prime

partner&text=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.designveloper.com%2F2017%2F05%2F08%2Fis-

your-

websites-

navigation-

perfect%2F)

¬

(https://plus.google.com/share?

url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.designveloper.com%2F2017%2F05%2F08%2Fis-

your-

websites-

navigation-

perfect%2F)

Ɩ

(http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?

mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.designveloper.com%2F2017%2F05%2F08%2Fis-

your-

websites-

navigation-

perfect%2F&title=Is%20Your%20Website%26%238217%3Bs%20Navigation%20Perfect%3F&summary=If%20you%20want%20to%20create%20a%20bad-

ass%20website%2C%20navigation%20will%20be%20without%20question%20one%20of%20the%20most%20important%20aspects%20you%20should%20consider%20first.%20Why%20do%20people%20search%20something%20on%20the%20internet%3F%20Why%20do%20they%20access%20your%20website%3F%20Simply%2C%20they%20want%20to%20get%20information.%20Navigation%20exists%20to%20help%20people%20find%20content.%20Navigation%20not%20only%20affects%20your%20%5B%26hellip%3B%5D&source=Designveloper

Software

agency

-

Meteor

prime

partner)

ã

(http://www.tumblr.com/share/link?

url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.designveloper.com%2F2017%2F05%2F08%2Fis-

your-

websites-

navigation-

perfect%2F&name=Is%20Your%20Website%26%238217%3Bs%20Navigation%20Perfect%3F&description=If%20you%20want%20to%20create%20a%20bad-

ass%20website%2C%20navigation%20will%20be%20without%20question%20one%20of%20the%20most%20important%20aspects%20you%20should%20consider%20first.%20Why%20do%20people%20search%20something%20on%20the%20internet%3F%20Why%20do%20they%20access%20your%20website%3F%20Simply%2C%20they%20want%20to%20get%20information.%20Navigation%20exists%20to%20help%20people%20find%20content.%20Navigation%20not%20only%20affects%20your%20%5B%26hellip%3B%5D)

Ŭ

navigation designÜ perfect navigationÜ web navigationÜ website designÜwebsite's navigationÜ

Ű Here's Why Your Business Need A Mobile App (https://blog.designveloper.com/2017/04/26/mobile-app-for-

business/)

% (https://blog.designveloper.com)

Y O U M AY A L S O L I K E

Í

Technology

Is your website's navigation perfect?