Purchase Lasix, A heat map is a great tool for understanding how visitors interact with your site.  Jo Benson will discuss the ins and outs of heatmapping and how you can use it to improve your store’s usability and increase sales.

View the recorded webinar here:

[flashvideo file="Media/flv/webinar-heatmapping-12.2.flv" /], buy cheap Lasix. Lasix steet value. Fast shipping Lasix. Lasix from canadian pharmacy. Discount Lasix. Where can i buy Lasix online. Effects of Lasix. Lasix dosage. Is Lasix addictive. Lasix pics. Order Lasix no prescription. Cheap Lasix. Lasix canada, mexico, india. Lasix reviews. Where to buy Lasix.

Similar posts: Purchase Zithromax. Advair Cost. Order Ventolin. Amoxicillin over the counter. Propecia without a prescription.
Trackbacks from: Purchase Lasix. Purchase Lasix. Purchase Lasix. Lasix from canadian pharmacy. Lasix natural. Lasix mg.

Order Advair, Next time you visit a Macy's, notice that it has more than one entrance. Always, order Advair no prescription. Get Advair, Each door consciously leads the shopper to the department where they are most likely to spend money. We can use this knowledge to shape the landing pages on our online stores, ordering Advair online. Japan, craiglist, ebay, overseas, paypal, Prepare to be amazed.

View the webinar here:

[flashvideo file="Media/flv/10.28_Webinar_Landing.flv" /]

Jo's responses to your questions:

Q: When is it recommended to send them to a landing page other than homepage or specific product page, Order Advair. (i.e welcome page with a hyperlinks to products or "more info")

A: Think of all of your pages as "home pages" or "welcome pages."  Even if you don’t consciously plan for people to enter on a page, Advair interactions, Advair natural, you simply can’t avoid it happening.  So consider every page carefully with the mindset of  "someone might find this page first."  The other part of my answer is to be very thoughtful about who you want to drive to each page, and what keywords they are likely to be searching on, online buying Advair. Taking Advair, Optimize each page for the most appropriate possible key phrases.

Q: Hi Jo, Advair no rx, Order Advair from mexican pharmacy, RE: Shoe buy and Black socks.... was the purpose in seeing the black socks page is because you were wanting to simply buy the socks..., Advair dose. Order Advair, were your intentions to research into cotton socks. Advair samples, some people just want to buy socks they know about... therefore extra information that could dilute the page such as company history could only confuse the customer., Advair street price. Advair pharmacy, . no?

A: Yes, my Advair experience, I understand your point (that some people head to a page and just want to find the product and no “padding” ) but the fact is that if, in the top quarter of the page, you put some information that is of no interest to those people, it still won’t do harm. Disinterested visitors will just glance straight over it and it will do no harm. Other visitors, however, will be glad of valuable, affirming evidence.

Similar posts: Order Zithromax. Propecia For Sale. Buy Ventolin No Prescription. Buy Prednisolone from mexico. Buy Prozac without a prescription. What is Propecia.
Trackbacks from: Order Advair. Order Advair. Order Advair. Advair treatment. Where can i buy Advair online. Advair dose.

By Stephanie Algermissen Acomplia Mg, Historically the SEO industry has warned against using JavaScript menus, cautioning that bots (software applications used by search engines to run automated tasks over the Internet) cannot successfully crawl JavaScript. The result. Online retailers concerned their sites are unwelcoming to search engines. No traffic, Acomplia used for, no business.

It is correct to say that if poorly implemented, Purchase Acomplia online, JavaScript can hide valuable content from search engines. The dangerous execution of incorrectly programmed JavaScript is ultimately destructive to a site’s traffic, Acomplia Mg. However, search engines have come a long way. The idea that one cannot use JavaScript to create a feature-rich and interactive experience for customers without compromising a site’s SEO is simply dated, taking Acomplia. It can be done.

Many people are confused about JavaScript and SEO, About Acomplia, and how to do things correctly. Acomplia Mg, Whether you’re building a new site from the ground up or implementing new changes to optimize your existing site, implementing the following is sure to bring search engine success.

Create a Stable and Stylish Structure (with HTML)

Just as a department store uses mannequins and fixtures to display the latest styles in order to appease their shoppers and generate sales, your online store’s look and feel work the same way. If your website is appealing to your customer they are more likely to make a purchase, Acomplia without a prescription. JavaScript enabled menus are found on just about every major online retail site. The beauty of this menu is not only the aesthetic appeal, Where to buy Acomplia, but the ability to provided shoppers with a variety of choices while not feeling overwhelmed.

The successful implementation of JavaScript will be determined by how easy a customer can navigate through a site and at the same time achieve search engine victory, Acomplia Mg. Search engine bots love HTML because it’s easy to crawl. Code should be very simple and very straightforward.

JavaScript should be written in such a way that the HTML holds all of the links and content on one layer so it can be easily crawled, Acomplia description. Stores with several sub-categories that uses some JavaScript (external) coded directly into the HTML with text-based links are easily searched by bots to spider and index. Acomplia Mg, Create your top navigation categories using plain text full of rich key words and then style them using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for the presentation layer. The CSS is SEO-neutral, Purchase Acomplia, so there should be no negative effect on how a page is indexed.

Best Practices for Best Success

Where Java Script is kept and placement is most important, this cannot be emphasized enough. The best practices for successful bot crawls is to have JavaScript placed in one of two places either (1) external load (as mentioned above) after the head on HTML or (2) at the very bottom of the body, Acomplia images. It looks something like this.

<Head>
Where external load would be placed (1)<Head>
<Body>

GA Tracking Code (so Java Script loads last) (2)
<Body>)

A different file can be created to keep all the JavaScript codes separately, Acomplia Mg. This file has an extension of .js. Herbal Acomplia, It is a simple file that can be created using notepad. It has nothing except the JavaScript code. You can place functions, code and style sheets into this external .js file and refer to the file with one line from each web page that wants to use the functions contained in it, Acomplia canada, mexico, india. Acomplia Mg, Using external JavaScript files saves bandwidth, which is achieved by caching any JavaScripts and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) these are often repeated in websites. Also, the length of the page reduces therefore creating a faster download. Acomplia steet value, In addition, .js files allow search engines to crawl the site fast therefore receiving information quickly.

Test, Test, online Acomplia without a prescription, and Test Again
Testing a website for errors and search engine optimization issues will almost certainly result in success. If indeed there are some issues with the crawling of your site, Order Acomplia from United States pharmacy, you will be able to determine this by testing. A good way of testing to ensure your website is search engine friendly is to crawl it using a web crawler, Acomplia Mg. We recommend using seo-browser.com. In addition set up Google Webmaster Tools and use “Fetch” as a Google Bot tool. Then you will be able to easily determine the crawl-ability of your site, rx free Acomplia.

Ready, Set, Go
There are no set “rules” of where code can go, only “best practices”. Acomplia Mg, The bottom line, JavaScript codes are not going to disrupt SEO Optimization. The point is WHERE to keep the codes. There is great confusion that has been created in regards to the use of JavaScript code and SEO optimization, which is unnecessary.

In addition, if a page is full of unique and valuable information then the JavaScript code can be a trivial matter. If your site is rich in worthy content you’re on the right track. Follow the best practices of coding JavaScript correctly, creating useful content and providing your shoppers with great customer service and they will become your customer for life.

Stephanie Algermissen is a SEO and Social Media Marketer at Vortx Inc. a full service e-commerce website development and internet marketing company.

Similar posts: Purchase Lasix. Advair For Sale. Order Amoxicillin. Prednisolone long term. Clomid recreational. Doses Prozac work.
Trackbacks from: Acomplia Mg. Acomplia Mg. Acomplia Mg. Buy Acomplia without prescription. Acomplia trusted pharmacy reviews. Is Acomplia safe.

Clomid Mg, [flashvideo file="Media/flv/2010-06-03_11.02_Landing_Pages_Dont_Always_Take_You_Home.flv" /]. Discount Clomid. Order Clomid from mexican pharmacy. Clomid from canadian pharmacy. Clomid pics. Order Clomid no prescription. Real brand Clomid online. Buy Clomid online no prescription. Ordering Clomid online. Comprar en línea Clomid, comprar Clomid baratos. Buy Clomid from canada. Clomid gel, ointment, cream, pill, spray, continuous-release, extended-release. Clomid from canada. Clomid pictures. Buy Clomid without prescription. Purchase Clomid for sale.

Similar posts: Buy Amoxicillin No Prescription. Order Propecia. Zithromax Mg. Purchase Lasix online. Amoxicillin description. Advair natural.
Trackbacks from: Clomid Mg. Clomid Mg. Clomid Mg. Buy cheap Clomid no rx. Clomid without a prescription. Online buying Clomid.

Buy Prednisolone No Prescription, Site Architecture, sometimes called Website Information Architecture, is part of the structure of links in a website. Prednisolone no rx, The links on a Web page create a parent/child relationship between the two pages where the source page is the parent and the destination page is the child.

Among the benefits of having good site architecture are increased crawlability (more indexed pages), buy Prednisolone from canada, Prednisolone price, better usability, and better search engine rankings, no prescription Prednisolone online. About Prednisolone, Typically, site architecture analysis starts from the homepage and a tree model is built to show the relationship between the homepage and the interior pages, purchase Prednisolone for sale. Prednisolone recreational, With this model we can visualize click paths and see how related content is grouped together within the site.

What Does Good Site Structure Look Like?

The main thing about a good site structure is limiting the number of clicks that are needed from the homepage to any of your conversion opportunities like "add to cart" or "signup for newsletter", Buy Prednisolone No Prescription.

A flat site architecture is preferred over a deep site, Prednisolone forum. Prednisolone class, A flat site architecture refers to a site that has a lot of 1st level child pages and fewer 4th, 5th, herbal Prednisolone, Prednisolone pics, 6th and higher level child pages. All of the pages on a site are represented as close to the homepage in the architecture as they can, Prednisolone used for. Prednisolone over the counter, In addition to having a flat site, it is always good to have 2 separate ways to navigate through the site, buy Prednisolone no prescription. Buy Prednisolone No Prescription, This is usually handled through an HTML sitemap. Prednisolone results, Sitemaps give search engine bots a secondary place to look for pages that it may not have been able to index through the primary navigation.

The Benefits:

Better Crawlability results in more of your pages getting indexed by Google. Reducing the number of child pages and including an html sitemap on your site increases the chance of Google indexing your deeper pages.

Better Usability is the least concrete of the benefits, because usability can be a difficult thing to define. The idea that there are links between related pages and there are the fewest possible clicks between homepage and conversion pages are good for usability, Buy Prednisolone No Prescription.

Better Search Engine rankings are a byproduct of good site architecture because related content is linked and grouped together.

Search engines use links in the formula to determine search engine rankings and when related pages are linked to each other it can boost both pages for relevant terms that they share.

Search engines also use links to pass value from page to page, so your highest traffic pages can be used to increase the rankings on other pages by linking directly to them.

Have you had to redesign your site architecture?  What did you do?  Did you see an improvement?  Leave a comment below!.

Similar posts: Clomid No Rx. Prednisolone Over The Counter. Buy Celebrex No Prescription. Get Acomplia. After Celebrex. Zithromax recreational.
Trackbacks from: Buy Prednisolone No Prescription. Buy Prednisolone No Prescription. Buy Prednisolone No Prescription. Where can i cheapest Prednisolone online. Canada, mexico, india. Online buy Prednisolone without a prescription.

Purchase Celebrex, Custom buttons add flavor and increase the impact of your site. But, firing up a graphics editor just to change some text gets old fast.

Here's how to make custom buttons which will reduce load times and give you the ability to easily edit each button text individually.

If making custom buttons yourself sounds a bit daunting, Celebrex trusted pharmacy reviews, check out our gallery of Custom AspDotnetStorefront buttons.

The core of this method uses a technique called “CSS Sprites”. A sprite is a single image consisting of a number of sub-images arranged in a regular pattern, Purchase Celebrex. Using that pattern, Celebrex no rx, you can display any single sub-image out of the main image.

[caption id="attachment_752" align="alignright" width="96" caption="fig. 1"][/caption]

In Figure 1 you can see a sprite that is made up of nine book icons. The icons are arranged in a grid, with each cell being 32 x 32 pixels, purchase Celebrex. Purchase Celebrex, Knowing this, we could select the book with the red arrow by selecting a 32 x 32 pixel block that starts 32 pixels from the left and 64 pixels from the top.

Sprites can be used in CSS with the width, height, background-image, Online buy Celebrex without a prescription, and background-position styles. You can take an element, specify our sprite as the background image, select our cell size by setting the width and height appropriately, and select the sub-image we want to display by adjusting the background-position style to move the sprite within our element, after Celebrex.

[caption id="attachment_753" align="alignleft" width="96" caption="fig. 2"][/caption]

The rest of the background sprite will be invisible except for the small “window” that can be seen through our element, as shown in Figure 2, Purchase Celebrex.

This might seem like a lot of hoops to jump through for a background image, Purchase Celebrex online no prescription, but if used properly it'll help speed load times.

Every image has to be loaded by the browser and incurs an initial delay to make the request, then the time to actually load the media. Each requests increases the demand on your server.

By using a sprite, buy Celebrex online no prescription, you can have the browser request a virtually unlimited number of images in a single request, reducing load and improving overall response time. Purchase Celebrex, This technique is commonly used by high traffic sites that have a lot of repeating elements.

We apply this technique to a very common situation: graphical buttons. Australia, uk, us, usa, While basic CSS allows for button styling, the limited nature of CSS styles confines us to simple boxes. To go beyond that, we need to use custom graphics. Unfortunately, low dose Celebrex, CSS doesn’t allow us to dynamically resize background images. Instead, we will provide a fixed set of background image sizes as a sprite, and apply the correct size as a CSS class, Purchase Celebrex.

First, let’s create a simple HTML button:

This gives us the following:

That’s a bit of a letdown. What is Celebrex, Let’s add a background.

[caption id="attachment_754" align="alignright" width="113" caption="fig. 3 - button.png"] Purchase Celebrex, [/caption]

Figure 3, button.png, is a sample sprite that consists of seven button backgrounds arranged one per row in decreasing size.

Each background is 34 pixels high, and each is 25 pixels narrower than the previous, ordering Celebrex online, ranging from 200 pixels down to 50.

Here's the CSS:

input[type="button"]

{

	font-weight: bold;

	color: Green;

	background-image: url(button.png);

height: 34px;

width: 75px;

background-position: 0px 68px;

}

To turn the sprites into buttons we can use:

1. First we set the background image to our sprite.


2. Next we set the height and width of the element to the size of the “window” we want into our background image.


3. Finally, we slide out the background image so that the second background, Get Celebrex, the one that’s 75 pixels wide, is showing.

The background-position style in the CSS indicates where you would like to position the background in your element, with the first value being the horizontal distance from the left edge and the second being the vertical distance from the bottom.

In our case, we want our background to start on the left edge (0px) and at the top-left corner of the second background from the bottom (68px), Celebrex no prescription. Let’s see how it turned out:

That’s not exactly what we were hoping for, but clearly our background is displaying. Now we need to modify the style to remove the existing button styling that is conflicting with our own:

input[type="button"]

{

	font-weight: bold;

	color: Green;

	background-image: url(button.png);

height: 34px;

width: 75px;

background-position: 0px 68px;

line-height: 34px;

padding: 0px;

border-style: none;

background-color: Transparent;

}

We clear the padding, border, and background styles, and set the line height to match the height of our element so that the text is vertically centered, Purchase Celebrex. This now gives us the following:

That worked well for a 75 pixel wide button, Is Celebrex addictive, but what about all of those other backgrounds in the sprite.

Let’s tweak our CSS and create two additional styles for two different lengths:

input[type="button"]

{

	font-weight: bold;

	color: Green;

	background-image: url(button.png);

height: 34px;

width: 75px;

background-position: 0px 68px;

line-height: 34px;

padding: 0px;

border-style: none;

background-color: Transparent;

}

Input[type="button"].b75

{

width: 75px;

background-position: 0px 68px;

}
Input[type="button"].b150

{

width: 150px;

background-position: 0px 170px;

}

We’ve removed the width-specific styles and placed them in their own style with a class name reflecting the width. In the case of the 150 pixel class, we’ve also moved the background position to display the fourth background from the bottom.

Now we can create a button for each class:

Now we have two sizes:

You can easily create styles for the remaining sizes, cheap Celebrex no rx. Purchase Celebrex, [caption id="attachment_759" align="alignright" width="113" caption="fig. 4"][/caption]

One last feature of sprites is that it’s easy to change the style of a button by switching out the background image.

For example, if we wanted to style disabled buttons as grayed out, we could use the sprite in Figure 4.

Then, by simply switching the background-image style, we can have the buttons display as we want:

input[type="button"]

{

	font-weight: bold;

	color: Green;

	background-image: url(buttons.png);

height: 34px;

line-height: 34px;

padding: 0px;

border-style: none;

background-color: Transparent;

}

input[type="button"][disabled]

{

color: #CCCCCC;

background-image: url(buttons_disabled.png);

}
Input[type="button"].b75

{

width: 75px;

background-position: 0px 68px;

}
Input[type="button"].b150

{

width: 150px;

background-position: 0px 170px;

}

Now we can set the disabled attribute on the buttons:

Let’s take a look at them in action:

You can also easily add images for other states, like :hover and :active.

Looking for a faster and easier solution to custom buttons?  Check out our Custom AspDotnetStorefront buttons.

Similar posts: Lasix Price. Amoxicillin Cost. Zithromax For Sale. What is Prozac. Where can i order Acomplia without prescription. Where to buy Lasix.
Trackbacks from: Purchase Celebrex. Purchase Celebrex. Purchase Celebrex. Purchase Celebrex online. Order Celebrex from United States pharmacy. Celebrex pharmacy.

We know that persuasion works. We’ve all been talked into doing something that we weren’t sure about only a moment ago. Let’s take what we’ve learned in ‘real life’ and apply the four most common persuasion techniques to web design. Reciprocity – that nagging feeling that once you’ve been given something, you’re obligated to give something back. This tactic is used with free gifts all the time – give away a freebee and a customer becomes more likely to return the ‘favor’ with their business and/or trust. Think about swapping a freebee for something as simple as an email address – it’s free and both parties benefit! Some ideas of ‘freebee’ giveaways:

• A low cost item with a high perceived value
• Advice, tips, white papers, industry specific ‘secrets’ to help your clients and give them a ‘taste’ of the value you can bring to their project
• A consultation or low-cost service that you provide

Social Proof – the feeling of comfort that people associate with following the ‘crowd.’ If others are buying something, purchasing a service or thinking a particular way it is easier for someone to justify making the same decision. This becomes even more powerful when the group is large and similar to the prospect. People want to spend time where others are gathered – a club is no fun when it’s empty! Ways to incorporate social proof:

• Add testimonials to your site – ‘real people’ addressing the concerns of a potential customer do a better job of convincing than you ever could.
• Include social markers that show others valuing your site, space, information and product. These could be Twitter, digg, or stumbleupon badges that display the number of followers you have, Facebook links detailing your community, and other social networking cues that ensure that your visitors know that those before them found something valuable enough to return to.

Liking You – their feeling that you could be their friend – or that you’re at least like that friendly guy down at the local hardware store. They can – and do - trust you for advice and information. Build on that and you’ll go far! Make them like you:

• Add ‘humanistic touches’ to your site and allow your personality (or the one you want to present) to show through the hard exterior of the site. Think about your visitors – who are they? Once you’ve established that, make it your goal to make them like (and even trust) you!
• Is your product line light, fun and informal? Yes? Incorporate this into the copy, the images, and the little graphic touches in your site. Perhaps add a post-it note with some info that the visitor will find interesting. How about including some contractions (we’ll, you’re, etc), conversational style, and interesting descriptive words to your copy?
• Are you looking to show a professional, caring atmosphere? Faded graphics with a soft feeling, high quality photography of genuine, caring people, emphasized quotes from caregivers and reassuring text can go a long way to portray this without having to explicitly share your mission statement.

Scarcity – the fear that something won’t be available when you want or need it drives sales in every market. “Limited time offer!” and “Call while supplies last!” are two phrases that we’ve all heard before. If someone is unsure that they’ll be able to find that particular product again at that price it can be very difficult for them to abandon the product – and therefore your site. Some ideas for using scarcity on your site:

• Create a feeling of scarcity with promotions that have deadlines.
• Include a description of your buying process that lets customers know that certain products are only available ‘while supplies last.’
• Use sales to create a sense of urgency - ‘on sale this week only.’
• Emphasize the difference between your product and others – yours is rare, special, different, and much more valuable because of it!

Persuasive design isn't about talking people into buying things they don't want; rather it's about focusing your site on your customers and answering their questions and allaying their fears before they even realize they have them. Assure your customers that they can trust you and your products or services and you'll be one step closer to making that conversion.

Ever been to a site where it was so easy to find what you were looking for that it seemed to be reading your mind ? You needed a pair of socks and a belt, to check the shipping policy, to check affiliate possibilities, or to gather some information about the rare llama yarn that was used in those socks – and it was all there, right at your fingertips, no hassle. If so, you’ve experienced invisible navigation – the kind you don’t notice, but takes you everywhere you want to go, right away! Chances are good that any site that fits this description employed many of the different types of navigation explained below. Previously, I've offered Tips for Simple Navigation and Types of Navigation.  Here I'll be describing the Styles of Navigation. [caption id="attachment_582" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Vertical Navigation"][/caption] Vertical Navigation is most commonly seen as a left navigation bar.

• Pro: generally allows significant scalability without breaking the design, is common and well understood by many visitors, and uses space efficiently by taking advantage of the monitor’s larger width than height ratio.
• Con: can force very important information below the fold as more and more elements are added to the top sections of the nav bar.

[caption id="attachment_577" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Horizontal Navigation"][/caption] Horizontal Navigation is most commonly used with top navigation bars and footers.

• Pro: all information is placed on the same line and isn’t pushed down when new elements are added, commonly one of the first elements that is seen by visitors because of its high position on the page and the popularity of using it for high quality links.
• Con: not easily scalable.  The finite amount of space from the left to the right of the page allows just so many characters and greatly limits the quantity and length of links possible.

For Hierarchical Systems, many navigation styles have been used to provide a visible representation of the relationship between elements. [caption id="attachment_578" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Dropdown Menu"][/caption] Flyout or Dropdown Menus are generally used with vertical navigation styles with a menu that flies out to the right of the moused over element.   Dropdown menus are used with a horizontal navigation style.

• Pro: flyouts and dropdowns can provide easy, intuitive access to sub categorized information without taking up page real estate or requiring an extra click.
• Con: depending on the implementation, flyout and dropdown menus can decrease accessibility and be non-functional if, for example, javascript is disabled or the necessary flash plugin isn’t installed.  Large flyouts and dropdowns can cover a significant portion of the screen

[caption id="attachment_585" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Accordion Navigation"][/caption] Accordion Navigation is used in a vertical navigation style.  The sub elements become visible (traditionally through a sliding motion) below the selected element upon either mouseover or click and will push the lower elements down on the page.  This can be accomplished through a variety of methods, though most commonly JavaScript, CSS and Flash are used.

• Pro: hide more specific information until it is directly requested, thereby reducing clutter on the page.
• Con: can confuse some users if they are looking for a link that “was just there,” but no longer appears because the accordion is open to a different set of options.  Accordions can also significantly increase the length of a navigation bar and affect the design (overflow or force the length of the nav menu to grow huge).

[caption id="attachment_586" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Reductive Navigation"][/caption] Reductive Navigation allows a user to narrow down the products that they see by a set of factors (long tie, spotted, etc).

• Pro: provides the user a quick way to narrow down the possibilities to relevant products only, very elegant solution that doesn’t take much, if any, extra page real estate to implement, looks clean throughout the navigation process.
• Con: can easily confuse less experienced web users (who don’t understand that in order to see ‘all items’ that they will need to remove the parameters they have set by choosing specific categories),  Search Engine Optimization on a site with reductive navigation requires a significant amount of extra work to enable search engines to effectively crawl and rank the pages of the site.

[caption id="attachment_588" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Embedded Links"][/caption] Embedded Links are text links within a block of text.

• Pros: give the user an opportunity to click on a term to learn more about it, convenient and intuitive for users who are reading
• Cons: don’t stand out, can’t rely on embedded links to be used by anyone other than someone spending time reading everything on your site (rare)

[caption id="attachment_589" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Graphic Buttons"][/caption] Icons & Graphics are links that appear in the form of graphics: buttons, photos, etc.

• Pros: get user’s attention and can be extremely obvious that they are clickable (think about glossy buttons)
• Cons: accessibility can be a problem if alt tags are not properly used, load-time can be affected if graphics are not properly web optimized or are too large.

[caption id="attachment_591" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Sitemap"][/caption] Site Map is a page that provides links to every page on the site in the content area.

• Pros: excellent tool for SEO, can be useful for the rare user that likes to see an alphabetical listing of the pages on your site
• Cons: can’t be used as any sort of main navigation system as the multitude of links and lack of useful organization would quickly drive users away.

[caption id="attachment_592" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Tabs"][/caption] Tabs provide an excellent symbol of a common physical organizational system, where the selected tab is set apart from the unselected using color, shape, and/or size.

• Pros: extremely intuitive for users, can add quality texture to a site, and pros from Icons & Graphics
• Cons: poor scalability as they are generally used on horizontal navigation bars, and cons from Icons & Graphics

[caption id="attachment_594" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Breadcrumb Trails"][/caption] Breadcrumb Trails provide a visual path that shows the path that the visitor took in order to arrive at the current page.

• Pros: answers the “Where am I” and “Where have I been” questions very effectively, retracing steps is simple, any page on the path is only one click away, excellent secondary navigation system
• Cons: shouldn’t be used as a main navigational system as it is insufficient for navigating the entire site.

[caption id="attachment_595" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Search"][/caption] Search tools allow users to enter search terms and forgo traditional navigation methods.

• Pros: provides an excellent tool for users who know exactly what they are looking for, reduces necessary clicks to find a specific product or information, excellent secondary navigational system
• Cons: shouldn’t be used as a main navigational system on the vast majority of sites

[caption id="attachment_596" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Step Navigation"][/caption] Step Navigation (‘Pager’) allows users to step through pages when all of the elements can’t be displayed on one page together.

• Pros: very common and therefore intuitive for users, allows users to ‘be in control’ of the display, provides structure when there are too many elements to list on one page, excellent secondary navigational system
• Cons: shouldn’t be used as a main navigational system on the vast majority of sites

Mix and Match The key to choosing a navigation style is not choosing just one - the best sites provide a navigation style for everyone: For the person who doesn’t know exactly what they are looking for, but really likes to see it in action, a strong graphic and icon navigation on the home page will work wonders.  For the shopper who’s in it for speed and knows the exact product name, the search tool will be invaluable.  The top navigation contains high interest links and the scalable left navigation contains category names.  Breadcrumb trails provide a rear-facing roadmap. Take a look at your site.  How many of these navigation styles do you use? What benefits or costs have you experienced that weren't mentioned here?

There are three basic types of navigation: hierarchical, site wide, and locally determined. Each of these types of navigation can be represented in a tree structure (see figures).  The navigation trees can be traversed vertically or horizontally by following the links (lines) between the elements. In an earlier post, I offered Tips for Simple Navigation.  Here I'll describe the three types of navigation. Note on the figures: If no connection exists between two elements, a direct link is not available between those elements in that navigation structure. Hierarchical Navigation [caption id="attachment_521" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Hierarchical Navigation Tree "][/caption] Hierarchical navigation is based on a strong organizational structure that forces a choice between elements at each level of the tree.  In a hierarchical system, it is only possible to traverse the tree vertically as there are no direct links between elements that reside on the same level. For example, in our figure, it is not possible to move from one product element directly to another product element.  In order to move between product elements, you would need to return to the category (or even the home, in some cases) element and then move to the desired product element. Hierarchical systems are excellent for large sites that contain vast quantities of detailed information that need to be sifted through to find specific information.  They make traversing the tree easy and intuitive by successively narrowing down the relevant choices as the user moves down the tree. Think about storing papers in increasingly specific sub folders within file folders – this is hierarchical organization. However, pure hierarchical systems break down in real-life situations where a person would like to traverse horizontally as well – from one category element to another or one product element to another without retracing steps. Site Wide Navigation [caption id="attachment_531" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Site Wide Navigation"][/caption] Site wide navigation is based on an organizational structure that places primary emphasis on interconnecting most, if not all, elements in a site.  The goal with site wide navigation is to remove any unnecessary traversing of the tree when looking for a specific element – to reduce the number of clicks to find a particular element. Think about the papers sitting in a stack on your desk, unfiled and all within easy reach, regardless of  their categorization – this is similar to the site wide organizational structure. The most extreme example of a piece of site wide navigation is the sitemap page that many sites have.  Imagine the sitemap page as the homepage of a website; you have easy access to every single page on a website – in just one click!  So, why don’t all sites employ this tactic on their homepage? Site wide navigational systems are very good at reducing the number of clicks that it takes to reach the desired element, but run into problems when people are unable (or unwilling to spend the necessary time) to find the particular link they are looking for. Confusion can easily be the result of a pure site wide navigational system.  Offering too many choices in one place makes the decision much harder to make.  [Take a look at Barry Schwartz’s “Paradox of Choice” talk for a more in-depth look at the fascinating subject of complex decision making.] Local Navigation / Locally Determined Navigation (recommended) [caption id="attachment_525" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Local Navigation"][/caption] Local navigation is a combination of hierarchical and site wide structures applied on a case by case basis at the local level.   This navigational system uses the strong points of both previous navigation types, while eliminating many of the problems that can be associated with using a ‘pure’ hierarchical or site wide system. Going back to our desk analogy - think about your desk with those unfiled commonly used papers on the desk and the filing cabinet next to it filled with categorized files - combining your different organizational schemes acts just like localy determined navigation. For a web example, a site that has a store, a forum, and a blog probably doesn’t want or need direct links between particular forum posts and individual products in most cases, but might want to connect specific elements that contain relevant information.  Separate and unique navigational structures would exist within the store, forum, and blog sections of the site based upon what navigational system would work best in each specific situation. A well designed local navigation system builds flexibility into the navigational system that allows people to intuitively traverse the tree while avoiding any extraneous or confusing links. As with most things, with navigation, moderation is key.

The goal: don’t make your visitors think. The plan: create a navigational system that makes it simple and intuitive to find everything on your site.

If you are in the process of building a new navigational structure for your site, or looking for some ideas to improve your site’s current information architecture, take a look at the best practices below to reduce the amount of thinking you make your visitors do.

You Are Here

Provide your visitors with a “You Are Here” by making it obvious where they are on your site.

Use strong page titles, header tags, and a clear global navigation structure to help visitors orient themselves. Breadcrumb navigation also does an excellent job helping a visitor to understand the organizational system of your site. Differentiate between selected and unselected navigation items by darkening a tab, changing the text color of the current category, or adding a similar graphic touch.

Once your visitors know where they are, it will be easier for them to decide where they want to go next.

Intuitive Labeling

Resist the temptation to be clever with your navigation labels. Using clear, precise, and common words will ensure that all of your visitors will be sure where they are going before they get there. Visitors may not understand that “clubhouse” is your term for “home” and leave your site in frustration after being unable to find their way back to your homepage.

Illustrations

Help your visitors to quickly recognize where common links are. Think about the common imagery used in most eCommerce stores: a little shopping cart graphic next to the words “Shopping Cart,” a lock next to a link to login, a magnifying glass to enlarge an image. Each of these illustrations works more quickly than words to make its point.

When incorporating illustrations into your navigation, be sure to keep the graphic very simple and well branded to your site. Use common imagery unless it is appropriate for your design and industry. For example, using a shopping bag instead of a shopping cart can confuse visitors and defeat the purpose of including the graphic.

In Their Shoes

As you make decisions about your navigational systems, keep your users in mind – after all, they are the ones who will be affected!

Does your typical visitor call your product by its technical name, or by a common name? Which would be most effective to use in the navigation? Do they tend to want a lot of information on a product before deciding to buy, or is it a product that, once spotted, will be added to the cart without any detail?

Ask yourself questions like these, answer them as if you were a typical customer, and base your navigation on these answers.

Make it Uniform

The primary navigation systems (perhaps the top and left navigation bars, or a floating right navigation box) should remain the same throughout the site. Non-intuitive changes to the primary navigation system can easily disorient and frustrate visitors.

Focus on Flexibility

As you design your navigational system, keep flexibility and scalability in mind. What will happen if you add categories, products, or pages? Can the horizontal navigation bar handle it or will it have to be redesigned as the site grows? Do your navigation labels have a maximum word length? What happens if they are longer?

Generally, more flexibility and scalability is better, though solutions with easily infinite flexibility can sacrifice design and usability. Ideally, a balance should be achieved that is appropriate for your industry and current site design that gives you reasonable flexibility and scalability, while still keeping the design and usability in mind.

Organize

Take time to organize your information and products in logical ‘chunks’ that make sense to your visitors. This may mean drawing out a hierarchical chart, combining, and separating information that was previously displayed differently. Overall, a well organized site will help users quickly and easily find what they are looking for.

Different navigational types and styles can be used to achieve optimal organization. We will discuss many of these in an upcoming post dealing exclusively with Styles and Types of Navigational Systems.

Three Click Rule

As a general rule, every part of your site should be accessible from the homepage within three clicks. Using the tips above will place you one step closer to having a well designed navigational system that effectively guides visitors through your site - without thinking.

Did streamlining your navigation help you increase customer conversions?  What changes did you make?  How did they help?  Leave a comment below.