EFFECTIVE WEB SITE NAVIGATION STRUCTURE
A ship captain traversing the High Seas without a good navigation system will surely get lost. Maybe he'll strike sharp rocks and his ship will sink. A visitor, who arrives at your site and can't navigate it for the information they seek, will surely get lost also and leave in frustration. Your ship (your web site) will also sink if this continues to happen. Good site design means a good navigation structure for your web site. This means the visitor can find the information with ease. Put yourself in the shoes of your Grandmother. Would she quickly and effortlessly be able to find the information she wants, or know what to click on to make the purchase? Don't think that just because it is easy for you, it will be easy for others. Visitors should not need to click more than three times during their navigation, to find the information they are searching for.

1. Navigation Styles
These can range from navigation buttons, navigation bars, plain text links, fancy animated graphics or drop-down select menus. You can also use illustrations, photographs or graphic images to show your visitor around. For example, an image map contains one graphic with different "hot spots"(invisible buttons) that link to other pages.

2. Primary and Secondary Navigation
Primary navigation consists of the navigation elements that are accessible from most locations within the site. Secondary navigation elements allow the user to navigate within a specific location. For example, many sites have a page that offers information about the company. The primary navigation element may be an About Us link. Once the user arrives on the About Us page, there will be other links (secondary links), which navigate within the About Us page. These could be links to Press Releases, Corporate Locations, Investor Information and so on. These links are secondary navigation elements because they are relevant to the About Us page but not the other pages of the site. Therefore, these links will not be found in other areas of the site.

3. Guided Navigation
 This is a popular technique, in which you guide the visitor through your site. Links are provided for the next step and establishing links that keep the users on track continues the process. These links should supply the necessary information, as well as an alternate course clearly marked to allow the visitor to exit. For example, an online purchase should lead the user through shipping information, then on to payment information, then to receipt information.

4. Creating a Navigation Action Plan
Determine goals and needs of your audience. Decide what the purpose of your site is and who your target audience will be. Learn from navigation that works. Visit several successful sites that show good navigation. Generally, good navigation includes several characteristics:
  • Offers easy to learn elements
  • Remains consistent
  • Provides feedback
  • Appears in context
  • Offers alternatives
  • Provides clear visual messages
  • Offers clear and understandable labels
  • Remains appropriate to the site's purpose
  • Supports visitors goals and behaviors
Providing feedback has the biggest impact on users. Navigation should tell people, where they are and if possible, where they have been. Visitors should also be able to easily determine linked or clickable material. They need to know whether they successfully made a purchase, conducted a search, or completed some other task. Navigation that allows visitors to find information easily and quickly will contribute to your web site's success. Ask your grandmother (or someone who is not familiar with the Web) to navigate your site. If they can find the information they want within 3 clicks, your navigation structure must be a success. Congratulations!

5. Sketching it out.
Take one sheet of paper, draw a circle in the middle - this is the subject of your homepage. From there, draw branches, which have more ideas about your topic. If any topics are related in a more definitive way, create another branch off the current idea branch. Within minutes, you will see your web site develop into a dynamic sketch. You might find that a standard sheet of paper is not enough to contain all your thoughts. Use more paper, create more branches, and keep the ideas flowing. Once you have sketched out your site, use separate sheets of paper for each web page. Make sure you define a heading for each page and decide how it links to the other pages. This exercise will help you to decide how you want visitors to navigate through your web site.  
6. What navigation style to use
Decide on which navigation style you will use. This could be a navigation bar across the top, a navigation bar on the left (the two most common styles), or an image map (an image divided into separate links to other pages). If you use graphical icons or other graphics instead of text, then include the text links elsewhere on your site. This is because some people browse with their graphics turned off and this technique allows them to still see and use the links.

7. What colors should you use
If you have a dark background, with dark graphical icons or text, your links will be invisible. When using rollovers (links that change color when you move the mouse over them), be careful that the color of the changed link will not disappear, in case your visitor wishes to return to that link.

8. Navigation alignment
Some sites have the navigation icons or text links lined up against the side or top of the page. Leave an equal amount of space on either side of your navigational links and make sure they are aligned with each other.

9. Repetition and consistency
If the visitor has to search for the buttons on every page, or if the links have different words, techniques or icons, they get annoyed. Don't you? Navigation elements from page to page should be repeated and consistent throughout your site. If a visitor sees a navigation system on every page, it will add to familiarity and orientation.

10. Check your links
Have you ever followed a navigation link, only to find you can't get back to the home page? You may have clicked on a link, only to get a page error - the page does not exist! Particularly if you have linked to a web site outside of your own. With time that site may have disappeared or changed its address. Make it easy for your visitor to find their way around your site, by testing out where your links go and that each of them work. You should do this periodically to avoid the problem of dead or broken links.

11. Testing your navigation structure
You're overjoyed that your site is finally finished, so you tell all your friends and family about it. They politely say it is great, but ask you what it is about and how can they find their way around. Once completed, you need to step back (go outside of the box you have been in) and get others to navigate your site - preferably your Grandmother or someone that has never been on the Net. This is called a usability test. If they have no problem to discern the purpose of your site and can navigate it with ease, you are ready to publish it for the entire world to see. Design your navigation structure with the visitor in mind. Eliminate any obstacles (minefields) that will annoy and frustrate them, causing them to leave and never wish to return. If you make it easy for them to find the information they seek, you will gain many happy customers.