Navigation and Site Outline

Navigation is considered one of the most important tools to make your website effective. Navigation is made capable by the links and the buttons that visitors use to quickly and easily access the information on the site. The work of navigation is to ensure that every individual visitor knows what he or she is looking for and how to find it.  This is where less is more and simplicity outweighs complexity.  Making the site as simple as possible will help the customer find what they want quickly.  Moreover, the majority of users will appreciate the convenience of a website that presents information in a straightforward manner.  You can create the most beautiful site in the world with awesome graphics and animation, but if your customer is confused about how to navigate your website they will often leave the site and look elsewhere.   

The best way to set up effective navigation on your site is to first create an outline of your website that corresponds to end goal of your users.  Navigation can also be referred to as a “site map.”  A site map is a sort of blueprint that will display all the different pages on your site and how they link together.  The picture below displays a helpful example of a site map.