How Important is Website Navigation for a Website?

One of the most important things to keep in mind while opting for custom web development is navigation. Since a website is all about inter linked pages it won’t be wrong to say that navigation acts like veins and arteries in a good website. Navigation is nothing but letting the user know where he or she is and guiding them to the information he or she is looking for. This can be achieved via a user-friendly navigation panel, hyperlinking within the content and categorizing information in a logical manner.

Easy navigation encourages users to browse through different sections and pages of your website which immediately increases your conversion rate. When you hire a web design company discuss about the navigation apart from discussing the design and search engine optimization factor. Navigation should be user-friendly and avoid trying to be over creative as this might confuse the visitors. Here are a few of reasons which highlight the importance of navigation in a website.

Reduce Bounce Rate – Would you like one page view per visit or multiple page views? We all know how difficult it is to get a visitor to a website in this competitive environment and thus having proper navigation encourages the users to visit multiple pages, thereby bringing down the bounce rate of your website. 

 

Visitors are Impatient – Studies have shown that most Internet users are impatient and merely stay 8 seconds on a webpage. If they find your navigation hard to figure out they would immediately close it and look elsewhere. Thus it is very important that your users can find the exact information he or she is looking for and navigation plays a pivotal role in guiding them to the information.

Increase Conversion Rate – To convince the users about the quality of your products and service you need to provide them information in detail. Thus having a proper navigation helps as users can browse through your website and gather information about your products and services thereby increasing your conversion rate is terms of increased sales and revenue. 

SEO Factor – To be successful you need to cash in on search engine traffic and this is possible when you have high quality coding and navigation in your website. Search engine crawlers are attracted by proper navigation model in your website thus brining your traffic to your website. You will lose out on search engine traffic in case you don’t have a proper navigation model in your website.

There are a few things that you need to keep in mind while developing the navigation module during custom website development. A multi-tier navigation structure is a must for complex websites; you can make use of bread crumbs in the footer to add different sections of your website. The navigation should also be uniform throughout the website as this makes the website user-friendly. Thus you will need to hire the services of a professional web development firm for the job by taking a look at their portfolio.

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Important Points of Website Designing From Users Point of View

Have you ever wondered what the most important aspect behind developing a website is? It is catering to the needs of your users or customers better. So the primary objective behind a good business web design is to develop a website  which is user friendly. What better way to achieve than opt for custom web development where you can incorporate features and functionalities to serve the needs of your end users. When you hire a web design company make sure they prioritize the users above all and know who your target audience is. Here a few important points which you should keep in mind while developing your website from the user point of view.

1. Welcome Them – The layout of your website should be simple and welcoming. Most of your users would come via the search engine and should be impressed with your website in the first look. Don’t be scared to leave huge amount of empty spaces in your website as they complement the content you have. Cluttered websites often act adversely in marketing your business and act as big turnoffs. For example, Google’s immense success can be attributed to its no-nonsense homepage.

2. Don’t Confuse Them – The last thing that you would want is to confuse your users with too much of information. Most users don’t read but scan through a website upon arrival and your website shouldn’t appear as a directory or business listing! Don’t hyperlink every second word or paragraph in your website. Let the users decide if they want to go deep into your website. You also need to make sure your website is uniform as distinctive layout  tend to confuse the users.

3. Don’t Make Them Wait – Does your webpage take longer than usual to render? You are scripting your own failure no matter how much of information you have inside. In today’s world where options are plenty a slow loading website would seldom gain popularity. Avoid long scrolling pages and make use of the Cascading Style Sheet to reduce the load time of your website. You don’t need to present everything to them on the landing page, let them browse through your website.

4. Stress on Usability – When you hire a web design company, ensure that the website is usable to the average Internet user.  The user should know where to go once he lands on your website. Do not incorporate fancy functions which make browsing your website a painful exercise. Avoid asking people to register unless your business model really needs it. This often annoys the users and turns him/her away from your website.

5. Communicate Effectively – You should deliver your message effectively with the use of written text, images and graphics.  This helps in catching the users attention in the place you want it. Avoid long paragraphs and over usage of images and graphics unless you really require them. Don’t beat around the bust and announce your USPs to the users as this catches the attention. For example, if you offer 10% discount on products and services compared to your customers highlight this in your homepage. 

6. Let Them Navigate Easily – Navigation plays a key role in business web design. The users should know where he/she is and how to navigate to a section containing the information he/she wants. Categories the information logically making it easy for the users to go from one section of the website to another. Make sure your website has a good search engine embedded in it which makes search information easily. For large websites using bread-crumbs in the footer would be a good idea.

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10 Must-haves for All Small Business Websites

The world wide web has, over recent years, experienced a vast influx in the number of websites. The remarkable increase in the number of websites can be attributed to the advance in technology and advantages offered by websites to businesses. Not all websites can be termed as standard sites. Some of them quite poorly designed. When it comes to small-business websites, they generally lack a professional touch and quality content. Discussed below are the 10 must-haves for all small business websites.

1.About us page: When a visitor lands on your website, the very first thing he looks out for is what products and services you offer. An about us page is a must which should explain clearly about your services.

2.Simple web address: There is no point in making things complicated unnecessarily. A domain name is nothing less than a brand. It should be simple enough so that a user can easily type it in the web browser.

3.Easy navigation process: This is very important. A website should have an easily navigable design. The important pages and sitemaps should be placed at appropriate places. It is always better to use dropdowns in the navigation menu. This way users can easily see the content under every heading from virtually any page.

4.Contact information: This is also equally important. Some times lack in communication may result in you losing a potential customer. By providing the contact information you make it easier for visitors to contact you. It is important to place the contact information at the right place. Do not make your visitors work hard in finding your contact information. Most of them are in a hurry and may leave your site in frustration. The best place to put your contact information is at the top left or top right corner of the home page. Try to provide contact information in every page.

5.Client testimonials: Always provide your customers' testimonials. This increases the confidence of visitors in your website. It also helps them to know about the kind of products and services you offer.

6.Call to action: It is important to tell the visitors what you want them to do. If you want them to call you for a free sample, provide special buttons with highlighted text which enables them to do so.

7.SEO knowledge: It is extremely important to have the basic knowledge about search engine optimization. It can help you to make your site accessible by search engines. The site should be coded correctly and correct keywords should be used throughout the text.

8.Quality and relevant content: Content counts a lot. Relevant and fresh content helps to boost the traffic volume and increases the SEO as well.

9.Secure hosting platform: You must have a secure web hosting to protect your online information form being hijacked.

10.User friendly design: Most importantly, you site should have a simple and user friendly web design to keep the visitors hooked to it.

PixelCrayons is the professional web design company proving all types of web design solution to its client all over the globe .PixelCrayons expertise’s and offers best ecommerce website development & designing services, PSD to HTML services and opensource CMS solutions at affordable prices.

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