Increase Sales with an Easy-To-Navigate Web Site

By Leva Duell
Posted Thursday, October 7, 2004

Can your visitors find what they're looking for on your web site with one or two clicks? Easy navigation is essential to keep visitors at your site and turn them into buyers. Follow these 13 steps to make your web pages easy to navigate and compel prospective buyers to explore your web site.

1. Provide plenty of links on your home page, giving an overview of your web site's content and providing choices for your visitors.

2. Put clear navigation options at the top or left of your pages, so visitors see them right away. Users may not scroll through lengthy pages. In addition, add a "Go Back to Top" button at the end of long pages.

3. Provide links to your home page, main sections, order forms, contact page, and products page on every page. Potential buyers may not read your pages in the sequence you would like them to.

4. Use simple terms for your navigation buttons and links that visitors will recognize such as "home," "order," and "contact."

5. Make navigation simple and consistent throughout your web site. Keep the style and location of your navigation buttons and links the same on every page.

6. Use standard underlined hyperlinks for recognition. The standard color for non-visited links is blue. (After visitors click on the link, the link color changes.)

7. Include a sitemap (table of contents) if your site has more than 20 pages.

8. Put your URL (e.g., (http://www.yourname.com)) and email address on every page.

9. Turn links into benefit-oriented headlines and include action verbs to motivate potential buyers to click on your links. For example, Ten ways to increase your web sales immediately. Sign up now to get this $29 report F*REE.

10. Describe your graphics and navigation buttons in ALT tags (alternative text describing your images for visitors who browse your site with the images turned off). ALT tags can also improve your search engine rankings.

11. Avoid "splash" or "entry" pages (home pages with animation) visitors have to click on to enter the site that don't indicate what your site is about.

12. Avoid frames, drop-down menus, and pop-up windows. They may confuse visitors.

13. Make sure all links work.

Make it easy and logical for potential buyers to get to the information they're looking for. Apply these steps now and watch your sales increase!

About the Author
Looking for typing work at home? Start a secretarial business. The Secretarial-Business-in-a-Box provides instant tools you need to start and run a successful secretarial service. F*ree articles and business start-up newsletter at (http://www.startasecretarialbusiness.com).