Navigation and Human Experience
In all our efforts as a UI/ UX designer in minimizing the efforts of search while a website use is exploring your online information or products, navigation has a key role. The reason is the engagement that navigation creates if it is properly implemented. Many IT companies do not bother it extensively, but when users find that there is no relationship among pages and they lose their way in exploring the website, they design a very negative image of you. Therefore, the good website designers and developers never lose their attention in designing and developing a product that will move in front of numerous eyes.
As you have understood what navigation is in the website design and how important it is for user experience and engagement, so it becomes important to know how this strategy is built and how it can be improved with a small effort.
Allow us now to convince you about the relevancy of navigation with the proper flow of the website. Remember that it is only small information. However, in the case of showing more interest, you can find some useful information by visiting some detailed websites regarding navigation.
So, here are the major points!
Categorization of services and products
While talking about the user experience, the best practice is categorization. The user should have all the details about the services and products on the homepage. It will help them identify their requirements and decide accordingly. These categories should be prominent and clear that can be made with the help of UI/ UX designers more intelligently, as it is their task. However, experience matters a lot in this regard. If you can engage the website visitor through categorization by addressing it with intelligent design, they will spend more time on your website. In this case, not only the chances of conversion will increase but your website rankings will also improve on search engines.
Limited Menu Selections
Many first-time visitors come to your website via a search engine, and they have no plan to stay here. However, if you want to engage them, you need to present yourself smartly. Therefore, the experts recommend that the menu selections should be minimum. Some experts also give the maximum number of menu selections, which should not be more than seven. The reason is that the website visitor has not much time to connect with you. Therefore, there is no need to give a detailed menu. It is one of the most important navigation aspects that many IT companies ignore and get negative results.
Clickable Links improve User Experience.
Whatever is related to the navigation, you need to include a clickable link. It will not only leave the visitor in the air but also improve his user experience. If the user is interested in some information, he should have a link next to this information. If you will leave him unattended here, he may have lost his focus and you will lose the potential customer. So, the UI/ UX designers need to keep focusing on these links throughout the designing phase.
Organize the website in a way website visitors want
Yes, uniqueness does not work all the time. Try to develop your business website in a way your users know it. It will help them explore the website easily and routinely find all the information. Giving them the variety in design may spoil their journey, as they may find difficulties in finding the information, which they would be expecting at a particular place but there is nothing likes this. Therefore, keep the website simple and do not implement those changes that the users are not expecting.
Avoid misleading navigation titles
It becomes more relevant if you have a business website and you are expecting sales. More importantly, the navigation links should have a very clear and simple message. If it may confuse the visitor, you need to change it immediately. The navigation titles should be relevant, and against these links, the right information should be available. Do not try to distract potential customers through designing mistakes or misleading navigation links. Keep the information simple and straight.
Alt Text is necessary now!
As the content is king in search engine optimization, and images are also a part of it, so the digital marketing experts recommend Alt Text for each image. It will not only help you get rankings at Google but will also get potential customers, who prefer images more than a text while collecting information about the relevant industry.
The search feature should be at the prominent place
Many businesses do not want to include a search feature on their websites. However, the IT experts consider it relevant and informative. The reason is that it is one of the most important aspects that may improve user experience. It helps the users find the exact and accurate information in a single step. Moreover, this link should be at the most prominent place. In the case of finding the search feature, there will be no purpose for this inclusion. It will also improve the navigation of the website and will improve the user experience as well.
The search feature and other navigation links should be workable
The user experience improves if the information is correct, he can visit the website easily, does not lose focus or interest in it, and quality assurance has been maintained. Therefore, the QA should be perfect for providing excellent navigations to the users. For that, it is necessary to keep an eye on the available links to check whether the links are clickable or not. Moreover, the information, which we are getting after clicking these links, should also be accurate. If the user finds different information or your link is taking him at the wrong location, you are spoiling all the efforts that you are doing for keeping the visitors engaged and improving the user experience.
Breadcrumbs keep the visitors on track.
The inclusion of breadcrumbs was one of the most important efforts to keep the website visitor on the track. Now, it has become essential to include this feature, as it is also a part of the much-improved navigation system. If you want to increase the rate of conversion, develop a well-organized sales funnel, and increase the number of sales, you need to keep the website visitor informed about the location where he is actually, and how he has reached here. Including breadcrumbs is the only solution to it.
Using good colors develops the interest of the user
The use of good colors has always been a part of improving your business look for many centuries. Previously, the business owners used to design their business locations, shops, and offices with such designers that would provide a sense of engagement to the customers. The colors have the same value in the case of showing your presence, online. The UI/ UX experts recommend only those colors that do not pressurize our eyes and colors while using colors. The brightness is also an essential part of it. These colors are very important in navigation as well. Providing prominent colors to all the important links and buttons makes the user attentive, and he can reach a specific point immediately if he already knows what he needs. The colors of navigation bars and main titles should also match or address each other.
The UI/ UX experts consider the logos and industry specifications while using colors for the websites. Along with that, they also try to include only those colors that improve the user experience. We, therefore, recommend giving their concerns, value, as they know the use of colors more than the layman.
Calls to Actions (CTAs) are the most important for the businesses
As your website can have numerous pages, and you expect that the user should go on the specific pages that are more important according to you. The reason may be the conversion or providing more information about your business. The best practice in this regard is taking the visitor at these specific locations through these CTAs. Therefore, UI/ UX designers should use this option intelligently. Do not try to include at those places where the user finds difficulties in searching for them; rather these CTAs must be at the most prominent locations on your website to drag the users at those pages, where you want.
Structurization of the content
When a user is in search of a website that can address all his needs, he does not know the exact words that he should use while exploring the internet. It is our responsibility as an IT team to identify all those keywords that are relevant to the product or service that a user is trying to find. Categorization and aggregation are the key elements in this regard. However, it does not mean that you have found the solution.
While discussing the structure of the content, A to Z indexation is also important. For that, we need to understand the industry and include all the relevant products, services or information in a single section. Moreover, meta tags are very important for a good navigation system, as the meta title, description, and keywords give you rankings according to the search criteria, used by the internet users while us8ing the search engines. The determination of crucial categories is also relevant to this section of improving the navigation system of the website. The business owners and managers can explain the most crucial search categories that thei8r customers may use while coming physically or searching for them, online.
Putting navigation at the right or left side of the page is an excellent approach
Many website development and designing firms utilize the left or right side of the web pages for keeping the users on the track. In this way, the businesses can touch the mindsets of the users consistently by providing clickable links with engaging and informative titles and intimate them about the features of your products or services. This approach also keeps the users informed about the web pages, which they are exploring currently.
Descriptive Navigations
When there is a need, you can go for descriptive navigations as well. What are these navigations? Well, describing your business with more than one word is the descriptive approach. For example, instead of using the word “services”, “medical services” is more relevant and informative, so if you want to tell the user about your business more clearly, you can use this navigation approach as well.
Using Design Elements are better
Descriptive information does not attract the viewers more; rather, using design elements intelligently improves the traffic of a website. These designing elements also create more user engagement, as they look beautiful, brief, and targeted. The design elements become more relevant when you have included many navigation bar and links, and including more links will distract the users. However, an intelligent approach is essential in this regard, as all the customers do not have the same mindset and many internet users are not as informative about the internet as the others, so the UI/ UX designers should try to design a product that is user-friendly and easy to understand.
The Proper Utilization of the Footer
When a website user comes at the bottom of the homepage or any other web page, he will try to find those links that he has not found yet or those additional pages that may be interested in him. Therefore, every website should have a well-researched footer for every page with the links that must be there to keep the user on the website. Including the company pages with all the relevant information along with main services and products is the best approach while filling the footer of the website. However, many websites also provide social media links, company physical address, and contact numbers in the footer. In this section, some additional navigation solutions are also provided. For example, if you have a long page, you can redirect the user at the top by providing a link that will take him to the top. Brochure or financial statements may also be available here in the downloadable form. Overall, the footer should have all the links that can help the user visit those pages that he should visit and find the contact information if he has a plan to leave the website.
The Techniques that need to be followed while implementing Navigation
While designing and developing a website, the UI/ UX designers engulf with all the techniques that can challenge the current world requirements. In recent years, the developers have molded these techniques a lot to improve the user experience. Here, we will discuss some of the latest techniques that will help you implement and make the visitors of the website satisfied.
· The fixed scrolling navigation bars make the lives of the visitors easier, as they commute within the website more frequently. This technique is useful when the smartphone users are scrolling your website, as it creates difficulties in it. In this way, the user goes through your products, services, and catalog that will help him understand what you are offering.
· Mega menus are also popular among the UI/ UX designers. These are better if your current menu is opening vertically. The reason is that the vertical menus become an obstacle while exploring the website. This technique works wonders when your website has articles, news, or you are providing information to your visitors.
· Single-page websites are the most popular websites in the market, as these are user-friendly, easy-to-explore, and give a simple look to the viewers. They can move within a website without finding difficulties in searching for their required products. Incorporating Infuse-dots on the websites is the additional feature that helps you navigate through the website and find all the information with a single click on these dots.
The Bottom Line
To create ease and comfort for the website visitors, the result-oriented navigation techniques are very effective. These techniques not only help the businesses understand what you are offering but also increase the rate of conversion and sales for them.
