{"id":11292,"date":"2021-12-11T06:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-11T06:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.htmlgoodies.com\/?p=11292"},"modified":"2022-03-15T16:03:49","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T16:03:49","slug":"improve-website-navigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.htmlgoodies.com\/design\/improve-website-navigation\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Improve Website Navigation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Are you solely focused on your website\u2019s pages and the content that will fill them? While important, your site\u2019s navigation is something that deserves your utmost attention from the start.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We will explain why website navigation is so essential, plus share several tips to ensure that your site is easy to navigate, so visitors stay satisfied and keep coming back for more.<\/span><\/p>\n Website navigation is the process of navigating websites, pages, and apps. Via menus and internal links, a site with proper navigation makes it simple for visitors to find the content they are looking for.<\/span><\/p>\n A recent study found that nearly half of Internet users could not predict where to find the content they desired when browsing a site with a standard menu structure. Why is that a problem? Because if a visitor can not find what they are looking for, it results in a poor user experience. What can that lead to? Less time spent browsing your site, increased bounce rates, and decreased conversion rates.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Whether you run a blog or an eCommerce site, none of the above are good, which is why we will show you ways to improve your site\u2019s navigation right now.<\/span><\/p>\n Read<\/strong>: Common UX Design Mistakes<\/a><\/p>\n No matter if you are a beginner web designer or expert web developer, you can use the following tips to ensure your website\u2019s navigation is optimized, intuitive, and user-friendly so visitors can find exactly what they are looking for.<\/span><\/p>\n Although it may be tempting to create your website\u2019s content before anything else, you are better off planning your page structure and navigation first, so the final product flows seamlessly.<\/span><\/p>\n There are several tools that can make the site planning process a breeze, such as GlooMaps<\/a>, Creately<\/a>, VisualSitemaps<\/a>, and Octopus<\/a>, to name a few. With these sitemap creators, you can easily create mockups that offer an overhead view of what your site would look like and how it would function.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n From there, implementing proper navigation becomes a breeze so you can avoid the headache that comes with tweaking and reorganizing your site after it is complete.<\/span><\/p>\n Read:<\/strong> Best UX Design Tools for Webmasters<\/a><\/p>\n It is no secret that most online traffic is mobile, which is why stressing a mobile-first design that is responsive is a must.<\/span><\/p>\n Avoid horizontal menus that do not mesh with mobile due to tiny text. If you do, your visitors will have a hard time reading the menus and clicking them to get where they want to go. Instead, use expandable mobile menus. They\u2019re the industry standard now, and they\u2019ll offer a much better user experience.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that many of the top WordPress themes implement responsive design and menus out of the box, so if you are using one to build your site, you should have no navigational worries in this department.<\/span><\/p>\n You do not want your navigation to confuse visitors or create a complicated experience. One way to avoid such issues is to separate your navigational menus from any content or sidebars. If not separate, visitors may have a hard time finding the menus or differentiating them from content, which could lead to confusion and them quitting your site altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n How can you keep navigation separate to promote clarity when browsing your site? By using white space, fonts, and colors that make it clear what elements are navigation-based and which are not.<\/span><\/p>\n There is no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to website navigation. Save the creativity for other elements of your site, and stress usability here. There are plenty of established navigation standards that you can follow to get your site built in a sensible fashion quite quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n For example, if you are going to use an expandable menu, there is no need to create a custom icon. Not only will that waste time, but it could also confuse visitors who do not know what that custom menu icon represents. What should you use instead? The standard \u201chamburger\u201d sign, which uses three horizontal stripes to indicate an expandable menu. Using three dots that create a horizontal line could also work.<\/span><\/p>\nWhat Is Website Navigation?<\/b><\/h2>\n
Why Website Navigation Is Important<\/b><\/h2>\n
Tips To Improve Website Navigation<\/b><\/h2>\n
Make A Plan for Your Menus<\/b><\/h3>\n
Make Sure Your Menus Are Responsive<\/b><\/h3>\n
Keep Navigation Separate<\/b><\/h3>\n
Use What Works<\/b><\/h3>\n