Clear, concise and well-organised navigation can only ever be a good thing for a website, but it’s easy to lose sight of just how important it is. Animations, videos and other interactive elements may be more ‘exciting’ and take up more of your web design time, but is that really how it should be?
In our opinion, no – which is why we’ve put together a selection of benefits that a well thought-out menu system can deliver.
It creates a good first impression
First impressions are everything, and one of the first things any visitor to your site is likely to do is head to the navigation bar for a browse. If it’s not immediately obvious to them where they might be able to find what they’re looking for, are they going to want to spend more time on your site? It’s unlikely. This often leads to high bounce rates and a lack of repeat visitors.
It boosts conversions
If your site’s easy to navigate, visitors are much more likely to find the product or service they’re after. And if you’ve given them a positive first impression, you can expect to see a greater number of conversions – who wouldn’t want that?
Form follows function
You might think you have to choose between a good looking site and an easy to use one, but in truth these things should go hand-in-hand. An uncluttered, fuss-free navigation bar is always going to be more aesthetically pleasing than one that’s jumbled and all over the place – less is sometimes more!
Remember, people are in a hurry
Wherever you look, research is indicating that our attention spans are shorter than ever. You might have great products or offer a top-tier service, but without good site navigation, you’ll be turning people away before they get the chance to find out.
Ultimately, a website is only as good as its menu system. Even if it’s ram packed with useful content and great products, what use can it be if it can’t be easily found?
