When setting up your navigation structure for your menus think about simplicity.
frank deardurff
There are many types of navigation that can be used on a website and many locations on a page that navigation can be placed.
Obviously, too many locations can be a problem because the website visitor can easily get distracted from the primary objective of your website or just frustrated because they can’t easily figure out where to go first.
Simplicity is generally best.
When setting up your navigation structure for your menus think about simplicity. If you can explain what the link is in one or two words that will be best. Nothing is more confusing than a menu button with two lines of text, plus it breaks up uniformity.
Also, decide which location works the best for simplicity. Many times you find navigation either on the left or right sides of the page AND along the top under the header graphic. Ideally you want to stick to one location.
Obviously, a menu across the top is limited to the width of your page where as a menu down one side or the other will give you more options. And, of course, you wouldn’t want two rows of buttons across the top.
Something else you want to consider when creating your navigation links is to make sure you use colors and fonts that are readable. This can be easily achieved without becoming overbearing.
Be sure to create some sort of “action” when the visitor places their mouse over the button or link. This can be accomplished by using either what is called a rollover graphic or an “on mouse over” text action. This gives the visitor confirmation that something is going to happen when they click the link.
Ideally, if you are working on a single page sales letter site you don’t want any navigation, at least in the form of buttons. Obviously you will need some navigation links on your sales page and the best place for those is in the footer section of the page.
Again, simplicity rules. You only need a few key links when creating the single page sales letter. You’ll want items such as your privacy policy; disclaimer, support link and maybe even an order now link.
One other from of navigation links on a single page sales letter page is what are called “jump links” or anchor tags. This strategy allows you to “jump” down the sales page to a predefined anchor point.
For example, if you have order links on your sales page it has been proven that you get better conversions if you link those order links to an order area of your sales page. That way your visitor can see your complete offer and bonuses. This is done using the anchor link technique.
You can also create sales letters where the sales letter starts off with a bulleted list of action items which link to strategic points in the sales letter such as: frequently asked questions and testimonials.
As you can see, there are a lot of things to consider when creating the navigation strategy for your website.
