9 Mistakes to Avoid for Superior Website Navigation Design

8th Oct 2018
9 Mistakes to Avoid for Superior Website Navigation Design

Combination of several elements makes a better website. Good website navigation design is one of them. An unorganized or poorly built navigation can hurt the rankings and increases visitors to leave the site quickly. Some websites with good content also suffer due to some simple navigation mistakes. With some simple and easy changes, you can make a better navigation.

Here are some mistakes you can avoid to enhance your website navigation efficiently.

Having too many options or very fewer options

Yes! It’s true. Your website should appear transparent to the visitors. Try to limit the options to seven as so many options can simply confuse them and decreases their interest. As a result, they leave the page even you have best for them.

On the other hand to be safe so not remove important options from the bar as this will not help visitors in any way. Subheadings are also time-consuming for users so choose wisely and important things first.

Meaningless or common headings and labels

Keeping common headings like ‘products’ or ‘services’ is not providing any specific information to the customers. Instead, you can use ‘used cars’ or ‘weight loss tea’ or ‘web designing services’. Such headings and labels provide an exact idea about what is inside the page helping them to save time and get what they are looking for easily.

Manifold main navigation areas

Having more navigation bars on the sides or below the main navigation area can be more confusing and let users leave the site. It appears less appealing and distracting to users.

If necessary use the additional navigation –

  • Local navigation links in a sidebar
  • Links like contact form or Login can be placed over the main navigation
  • Use footer links making the rest of the navigation visible.

Irregular navigation design

Being creative is good while website designing and unique content writing, but not for navigation design. The complex structure of odd buttons, icons, and shortcuts placed in the weird site areas is an awful idea that can flop on your site’s usability and aesthetics.

Unreadable content

Content is the backbone of any website, a known cliché. Having multiple fonts in the text of your page may appear cluttered and unprofessional. Not every user reads the whole content; instead, they scan and jump to the relevant information. So, the website with overloaded visuals and info do not keep users busy or attracted for long.

No link back the logo to the homepage

Users may want to visit home after browsing the inner pages and letting them directly come to home is through the logo. So, linking your logo with the home page is an important option for better navigation.

Immature or wrong order of navigation

The order of navigation is very important to make the visitors browse your site fruitfully and get what they want. Being predictable is good when it comes to navigation as it makes the users find and get their desired options fruitfully.

Contradictory CTAs

It is essential to have call-to-action buttons on your website. But, too many CTAs not correlated can puzzle the guest. You can use the common ones like –

  • buy now
  • join our email list
  • refer code for a friend
  • sign up today
  • Click here to know offers & discounts

So, use them on them only where necessary not on every page.

No updates

For better user experience you need to update your website design in a timely manner. Remove the banners related to offers or discounts after the end date. It looks unprofessional having outdated banners on the website. Also, keep all the themes, apps development and plugins fully updated.