One of the biggest reasons why companies choose to re-design their websites is because their current website has “usability” issues.

What is “usability?”

Usability is the ease with which your visitors can find the information they are looking for. A well designed site provides clear paths to all site features and allows the visitor to navigate the site easily and intuitively.

What should a good navigation system provide?

• A clear idea of where you are
• A clear path to get to where you want to go
• A quick path back to where you’ve been

When we meet with a new re-design client, we tend to hear the same things, over and over again:

• “We’re not getting nearly as much traffic as we had hoped.”
• “People come to our store, get started in the buying process, and then quit before they buy.”
• “The areas where we expected the most traffic get almost no traffic at all.”
• “People complain that they get lost on our site.”

What follows is a group of principles we follow when designing and re-designing websites:

Navigating a website shouldn’t be a treasure hunt

A user-friendly website is exactly that- friendly. In terms of navigation, it means making the information most important to your users readily at hand.

Think of the front page of a newspaper. The editors decide what the most important news of the day is and they put that news above the fold. A webmaster must think in the same way. What is the story the website is trying to tell?

• For an e-commerce site, the story is selling products.
• For a service provider, the story is the quality of the services provided.
• For a charity, the story is why you should care enough to donate.

Once you know the story you want to tell, all of your navigation should be designed to make it simple for your visitors to get to the key elements of your story. Get the heart of your story on your homepage, and then make it simple for your visitors to navigate to the page where they can take action; whether it’s buying your product, filling out a contact form, or registering for news of your company.

Be Flexible

Many websites fail because they are either poorly monitored or the person making decisions about the content is stubborn. Web analytics give you a great opportunity to find out what your visitors really want. Web analytics (Google Analytics, e.g.) provide detailed data on what pages your visitors like the most and which pages are driving your visitors away. By keeping close tabs, you can quickly make changes on the site to reflect user preferences.

Listen To Your Visitors

When designing a website it is almost impossible to create “perfect” navigation from Day 1. There will always be tweaks and adjustments… some minor, some major. While analytics will give you one way of monitoring the usability of your site, your visitor’s direct feedback is an even more valuable tool.

Sites should feature a form to allow for user feedback. The form should be simple and easily accessible. Companies should provide clear contact information. Most importantly, companies should be responsive to the visitors who have taken the time to comment.

Be Consistent

Nothing is more frustrating to a visitor to your site than inconsistent navigation. Make sure that every page (or virtually every page) shares the same navigation. This gives your visitors a level of confidence. Like Hansel and Gretel dropping breadcrumbs, a consistent navigation lets the visitors know that whatever inside page they stray to, they can always come back to the exact page they want.

All Roads Lead to the Home Page

SmartMoney.com clearly highlights the “Home tag in its navigation, allowing a quick return to the home page from anywhere on the site

Every page on your website must give the visitor a way to head back (instantly) to your homepage. Remember, many visitors who come to your site via search engines are actually landing on internal pages. If that’s not where they want to be, make sure they are just one click away from your home page.

If your site doesn’t have a “Home” tab on its navigation, tell your developers to put one there immediately.

Another way of getting your visitors to the safety of “Home” is to make your logo clickable. In other words, anywhere your logo is on your site, a simple click on the logo should take your visitors back to the home page.

Be Clear With Your Descriptions: Don’t get Cute!

When creating websites, companies sometimes get too “cute” for their own good. Using creative titles for sections of the site may seem clever; the reality is that visitors want clear language telling them exactly where they are heading. Clear terms like “shopping,” “services,” “contact,” and “resources,” gives your visitors an unambiguous message.

In our experience, we’ve seen navigation titles like “a happy place,” “the couch,” “the gang,” “havin’ fun,” and “secrets.”

Where exactly are these tabs taking you?

Search ability is Key

Costco doesn’t just give visitors the opportunity to search their site. You can search within each of their product departments.

As a rule, the visitors to your site have some idea of what they want to find when they get there. If they are looking for something very specific, they will be grateful are you give them the opportunity to find it quickly with a “site search.” For e-commerce sites, this means the ability to look for a specific product without having to go through a product menu.

For an informational site, this gives the visitor the chance to search for a very specific subject area instead of going through a category or title search.

Remember- the site search function is limited to the content on the site. Many sites make the mistake of including“search the web” functionality on their home page. This may seem like a user-friendly feature, but, in reality, it is nothing more than an invitation to leave your site.

Site Maps: Give them the Big Picture

If your site is particularly complex, with many features and offerings, it is a great idea to provide a text site map of your site. The site map lays out every feature of your site and cuts down on the time your visitor needs to get to the exact feature they are looking for. A link to the site map should be included in the overall navigation of the site, making it available on every single page.

Make all Hyperlinks Clear!

Hyperlinks are direct links within web content that re-direct visitors to sites or pages that define the term in question, elaborate on the term, or illustrate the term. For example, if we hyperlink Blue Fountain Media, a simple click takes you to the company’s home page.

When linking, it is critical to make it clear that there is an imbedded hyperlink for the term or phrase. Some people think that underlined terms makes the content unattractive. In that case, just make sure that the hyperlinked term is clearly contrasted from the color of the regular content font color (like this, Blue Fountain Media).

In Conclusion

Your website is your company’s billboard. A website built for the convenience and usability of your visitors and customers is one that will put your company in the best possible light. Just as great customer service can do wonders for a brick and mortar store, a user-friendly site can turn visitors into customers and customers into loyal followers.

If you have any other questions about website usability or if you are unhappy with the usability of your current website, please give Blue Fountain Media a call at 212.260.1978.

Tags: costco, navigation, smartmoney, usability