Common Website Navigation Mistakes | AEM Community Blog Seeding

[#1]

Common Website Navigation Mistakes by topdigital

Abstract

1. Getting Creative with Navigation
You may have decided to create your business website after going through many digital marketing blogs and websites. One frequent piece of advice that you might have come across is being different and creative with your online marketing efforts. But the same does not apply when it comes to your website’s navigation.

While there is no navigation rulebook, a few practices have become so common that people now expect them on every website. For instance, a vertical navigation bar should be on the left, or a horizontal one should be at the top of the web page. Unfortunately, anything different can be annoying for visitors and increase the bounce rate.

2. Hiding Your Navigation Menu
Minimalist design is getting increasingly popular among websites. Such websites only feature a large high-definition image related to the company/brand on the homepage with a few options as possible. But in keeping things to a minimum, many websites hide navigation, mainly under the hamburger icon.

While this practice is acceptable for a mobile website as mobiles have smaller screens, you should avoid it on desktop websites. As per a study by Nielsen Norman Group, the hamburger icon is used less than a visible navigation bar and is preferred chiefly on mobile websites.

Here is another fact you may want to keep in mind. Only 52% of users over the age of 45 even know what the hamburger icon means. So for almost half of that population, those 3 little lines carry absolutely no meaning. They would be highly unlikely to click at all, unless out of pure curiosity.

So, before you decide to incorporate the three little lines on your website be sure to consider the implications. Younger users more likely to use mobile devices will not have a problem. But if you are targeting older consumers or those who primarily use desktops or laptops you will need to anticipate their needs. For instance, including the word “menu” next to the icon will increase engagement.

Read Full Blog

Common Website Navigation Mistakes

Q&A

Please use this thread to ask the related questions.