Protect your website navigation from these lame ideas

You are in the throes of re-designing your website. You’re a smart, savvy small business owner and you have just come across a totally unique example of navigation that you think will show the one-of-a-kind services, products or ideas that you provide.

You show it to your web designer and your web designer thinks the navigation ideas are not so hot so. What should you do?

Before we talk in more detail about this question, I have other questions I’d like to ask you:

• 1. when you get in your car to drive to a meeting, do you like to think about where the steering wheel is or the headlights are or the windshield wipers are?
• 2. when you’re driving in a new city that you’ve never been to before, do you like coming into an intersection having to look high and low for the street signs?
• 3. when you are at a huge retail store in the midst of an equally huge sales event, do you like having to hunt for the price tag on the one item you’ve longed to buy?

I would venture that most people would answer no to all three of the questions above. In the first question, you’d like to focus on the drive rather than where the steering wheel is located. Secondly, even though you’re in an amazing, culturally rich city (like my hometown, Boston, for instance), you don’t appreciate the quirky, inconsistent signs that may (or may not) appear at intersections. If you’re at a big retail sale, the last thing you want to do is hunt down the one sales person on the floor to find out about the price.

So cars are designed with standards for steering wheel placement. Street signs are placed in more easily visible, consistent places in cities like Los Angeles and Washington DC for instance. And, savvy retailers show the price on sale items.

What the heck does this have to do with web site navigation? The theory is quite the same here. Even if your website has been created to show your extremely creative artwork or your unique business offering, it is essential that your website provide clear, easy to see, simple & descriptive navigation so that your ideal client easily finds his/her way around your site.

What are some examples of difficult to navigate or unfriendly navigation ideas? Check out this list.

• Does your website navigation:
• 1. have trendy menu item names such as “The 411” for “Contact Us” or some other ‘cool’ name that may or may not make your viewer easily find their way around your site?
• 2. have menu item names that use terms or acronyms that are industry specific or so unique to your business that they are unfamiliar to your website’s new visitor (also known as a potential client)?
• 3. have menu item names that are scattered all over your page or in a different place on different pages
• 4. have a menu which does not designate ‘home’ on the home page
• 5. uses images with the name of the navigation menu item included in the image?

Let’s take a look at each of these. Why are there problems with 1? As a general rule of thumb, a first-time visitor to your website is the equivalent of a first time visitor to your home or office. You want your new visitor to feel comfortable and welcome. Using trendy terms can make people feel unsure and uncomfortable from the start which, unfortunately, is not a good start.

The same issue is true with number 2. I can hear some of you saying, “but the only people visiting my site already know the industry lingo. We don’t have to worry about this.” I don’t mean to be a smart alec (wait…yes I do) but it is possible that you’ll have potential new customers who may not be familiar with your business lingo. If that’s the case, consider using generally familiar terms on your main navigation that people see on your home page and get more technical on the internal navigation of the site (also known as sub-menus).

The problem with number 3 above is your viewers may easily get lost and confused on your site. This lowers the viewers trust in your site and your business. As the famous and funny usability expert, Steven Krug, says in his fabulous book, “Don’t Make Me Think,” there is a ‘reservoir of goodwill’ when a viewer enters your website. He continues, “Each problem we encounter on the site lowers the level of that reservoir.” in the worst case, the viewer will leave your site completely. Keep the navigation menu simple and clear so that your viewer always knows where they are in your site which leads me to one of the last points: home.

Some people argue that it is unnecessary to show the ‘home’ menu item on the home page of your site. This web designer thinks it’s just plain old helpful to include the home page link on the home page and to keep the navigation menu item names of the site consistent throughout. Otherwise, you could end up doing the equivalent of giving someone the wrong directions.

Last but not least, in these heady days of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), your site can do lots of work for you by having text (written words) represent the various navigation menu items on your site. Gone are the days when super flashy images on each of the tabs serves you or your viewer. Why? Search Engines don’t recognize images but they do pay attention to text. Many viewers may be looking at your site on a mobile device that would make it difficult or impossible to see an image on your navigation bar without lots of pinching and stretching. Plus, there are now super nifty ways to add special effects to your navigation (drop shadows, rounded corners, etc) right into the code so why not work with a designer who can use the latest techniques to make that happen. And, sure, it’s quite possible to use nifty, small images for various navigation states (on mouse hover, etc) so that you can still show that unique aspect of your business in your navigation menu.

And as with any rules, there are times when they can be broken. But before you think you want to break these rules on website navigation conventions, ask yourself this question (borrowed from mighty Steve Krug’s book noted above): “Does this menu solution create a good experience for most people who are likely to use this site?” If your answer to this question is ‘yes,’ then you’re on your way to having a pleasant, friendly website experience for your ideal viewer. As for the very first question I asked you way back at the beginning of this post, I hope you are able to communicate your ideas and work out a favorable solution with your web designer and are well on your way to completing your new site!

What advice do you have to offer small business owners, artists or non-profits who are evaluating their web site navigation menu?