When a potential customer visits your website they are on the hunt for information. It is important in website design to build a website architecture that allows visitors to easily access the information they are searching for in an efficient and timely manner.
There are numerous questions that need to be asked when developing a website design when it comes to navigation.
- 1. Should the navigation be at the top or on the side?
- 2. What website pages should be featured on the navigation bar?
- 3. Will there be enough room for all of the pages you want featured?
- 4. What items should be included on the main menu/which ones should be in the drop down?
Popular items to put on a website’s navigation bar include the following:
1. A “Home” link – This will link people back to the home page when they are navigating through other pages of your site and want to head back.
2. An “About Us’ page – This provides website visitors information about your company. It’s a great place to talk about staff members, company news, company principles.
3. A “Services/Products” page – This is a great place to include all of the products and services that your company offers. Having a tab dedicated to will help these products/services
4. A “Contact Us” page – Every company should provide information for their website visitors to get in touch with them. Information that should be included are usually location listing, phone number and email address.
Often website owners think that the only navigation their website has is the main navigation bar that is usually featured on the top of their webpage, however, a website can be explored in many ways.
Other forms of navigation are the following:
1. Your company logo – On the top of your website design there is usually room for your company’s logo. A majority of the time this logo is used as an extra source of navigation to head back to the homepage of the website.
2. A footer menu – Just like at the top of a website, there’s also room for a footer menu at the bottom. This navigation can be a duplication of your main menu, or be utilized for your companies legal notice or additional contact information.
3. Search bar – Having a search bar can be a quick source of reference for your website visitors. They type in what they’re looking for and get sent to that result directly.
4. Sitemap – Sitemaps aren’t used as frequently these days, but are still an option. Having a sitemap gives website an understanding of ALL of the pages of your website. This can be a bit overwhelming for a visitor depending upon how many pages your website has, so usage of site maps aren’t as frequent.
5. Hyperlinks – Another great way to help direct visitors to different pages on your website is through internal linking. You can turn numerous words/statements into links that can direct users to different pages on your websites. Keep it minimal and specific, however. Too many links is overkill and a bit overwhelming.
Hope this helps as you start laying out your website architecture! If you need any help please feel free to contact us at 317-219-3111.