Navigation

The owner of Web River Group always says the same statement when referring to the importance of good navigation for a website. He says, "In the real world, it's 'Location, Location, Location,' but on the Internet it's 'Navigation, Navigation, Navigation.'" Now as corny as that may sound, it's actually pretty close to being the best advice you can receive when contemplating a web site's navigation.

Just as location is the staple for a successful business outside, navigation is the staple for a successful business on the Internet. If your visitors can't quickly and easily go where they want on your website, they will leave. Often, the only difference between a successful website and a failing website is the ease of it's navigation system.

Unlike many website builders who create navigation based on cool looks, Web River Group creates a site's navigation based on ease of use for both your website's visitors and for search engine spiders. We do this by implementing a navigation technique that best suites your individual product or service.

Some sites need complex dropdown navigation. Others need simple text link navigation. Some sites need their navigation at the top of their website. Others need their navigation on the sidebar. Some sites need rollover navigation, while others use breadcrumb navigation for easier backtracking. Whatever your needs, Web River Group will create or recreate your website's navigation in a way that pleases both visitors and search engines.

If you'd like to take a stab at creating your own website navigation system, please follow some of the free guidelines below and contact us if we can assist you in any way.

Website Navigation Guidelines:

1. Keep It Simple. If you have a big or complex site, the best thing you can do is create a simple navigation. This is best achieved by keeping your documents and web pages in good file directory structure. If you set up the structure of your website correctly, the navigation has no choice but to follow.

2. Create Tiers. Sometimes, multiple navigations is the answer. For larger sites, put the main category navigation at the top, then put the subcategory navigation on the side. This gives visitors the choice of weather to search via the main categories and go from there, or jump directly to the subcategory they're looking for.

3. Provide Breamcrumbs. All of us occasionally end up on a web page by accident. If you provide a breadcrumb navigation at the top or bottom of every page, you will give your visitors a way to get back to where they were, or to jump back to the main category for further information.

4. Three clicks. In a perfect world, no page on a website would be anymore than three clicks away from any other page on the website. Now while this is not always possible, we should all aim for it. Do your best to make all pages on your site travel friendly.

5. Provide a search. A must have for larger sites, especially E-Commerce platforms, a search function can be the best tool your website has ever had. It allows frustrated visitors who can't find what they're looking for on their own to type in a simple search string and find their way.