Website navigation should answer three simple questions: Where am I? Where have I been? Where can I go?

Difficulties in getting from the homepage to the correct product page accounted for 27% of the failures to complete a purchase (recent ecommerce usability study).

Be consistent and where possible, use established web conventions (do not try to be cute!)

I would recommend sticking to the following simple conventions:

• Place your main menu horizontally at the top or vertically at the left.

• Place your logo at the top left (or top right) corner and link it to the homepage.

• 80% of shoppers use search. Make it promenent on the site. Frequently spot check results to ensure accuracy.

• Never use "mystery" navigation where users need to mouse over your menu icons to get the description of each link. Users simply hate such navigation as it is extremely inconvenient.

• Speak the customer's language. Avoid jargon and clever names for page navigation. A recent example I saw was "Virtual Interactive" - which in fact was a "Resource" page. Or a shopping cart named "Wheelbarrow". Such names are not immediately associated in the mind and most people would not even bother going there! Titles like "Contact us, About us, and Our services" are easy to understand and immediately ring a bell.

• Minimize "depth" of your navigation hierarchy. If some pages on your site can only be reached through 4-5 clicks, they will not receive much traffic.

• On the other hand, avoid presenting too many choices in navigation hierarchy; rule of a thumb is 5-8 sub-items for navigation.

• Indicate the users current location.

• Do not use frames. Frames never make using your website easier. They can interfere with bookmarking your site, printing your pages and search engine spiders

Make small navigation changes and record sales figures. Tweak your site's navigation until you obtain your maximum conversion rate.

Feel free to email me or post in our forums if you would like to discuss the topic further. I hope you enjoy this series and that it helps you with your site.

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Regards,
Stephanie Leffler
CEO, MonsterCommerce