Professional webmasters know that a website that follows a seamless navigation scheme is bound to be successful. This is why they construct a website with the pages following good hierarchy. Navigation pertains to the means by which your visitor gets deep into the pages of your site. It also pertains to the links that you embed into each page to take your visitors to the part that they may want to go.
A website having a good navigation layout is convenient to use simply because one won’t get lost in its pages as he tries to find his way around. Think of it as the map that your visitors can refer to so that they won’t get lost. It is also what they use to go back right to the home page if they want to.
Another reason why you should make your site easy to navigate is to promote each page within the site. If you have a download zone, it pays to have a link to it placed on a more prominent part of your website so that visitors can go to it directly. Otherwise, the things that you are offering your audience would remain ignored and would simply accumulate dust.
Consistency is very important as far as navigation is concerned. If you’re using labels, use the same thing all around. Don’t confuse your visitors by using text on one page to take them to the home page and then an image on the other. Make sure that you achieve uniformity in your pages for ease of use.
There are different types of navigational schemes used by most websites today. If you’re going to create a website from scratch, it would pay to know more about these schemes before you start building it.
If you’re looking to build a big website that is information dense, the hierarchal scheme is applicable. The navigation method employed here is similar to a library where articles of different topics are organized. On the other hand, global and local navigation schemes are good for websites with lesser categories.
Most websites simply use text links in the body or content of each web page. This is also a good navigational method. Newbie webmasters normally use this. If you settle for this one, you must make sure that there are no broken links in any part of your web pages to ensure your visitors a good surfing experience.