One of the more under-appreciated aspects of any website is the navigation bar. The ability for visitors to quickly find what they need on your website plays a large role in being able to convert them into customers. If you offer web design in Madison, WI, whether you’re a full-service digital marketing company or simply offer web development services, here are 4 quick ways you can improve the look and performance of your clients’ navigation bars.
1. Be Descriptive
Use descriptive navigation labels that tell the visitor exactly where to go to find what they’re looking for. Not only is this great for visitors on your site but it also helps with search engine rankings. Given that the navigation bar appears on every page, a descriptive bar helps show search engines that you in fact can satisfy the user’s needs. Try to use as many popular phrases as you can and avoid generic terms like “services.”
2. Order Carefully
The order of the items in your navigation can also help improve your conversion rate. As with any other list, the items at the top and bottom of the list are going to get more attention than those in the middle. Known as the serial position effect, items at the top of the list get remembered because they’re seen as more important while items at the bottom are usually viewed last, thus taking advantage of the recency bias visitors’ minds.
3. Avoid Dropdowns
Try to limit having dropdown menus in your navigation bar as much as possible. While they may appear to be the popular thing to do, they’re more difficult for search engines to crawl and more importantly, they’re actually annoying to visitors. This is because when users click on a link, they’re usually expecting to be taken to a new page with the answers they’re looking for rather than having to sift through dropdown options.
4. Limit Menu Items
It’s best to keep menu options to seven or less as it impacts both search engines and visitors. For search engines, too many menu items on the homepage dilutes the authority passed from it to your interior pages. Meaning, the less links on your homepage, the more authority that can be passed to the corresponding interior pages. For visitors, the more options in the bar, the more difficult it is for visitors to process them all, which may lead to key pages being skipped altogether.
Whether you offer web design in Madison, WI, web development services or you’re a full-service digital marketing company, you want to constantly improve on the product you deliver for your clients. Use these four tips to make the best of the navigation bar when designing their websites.
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