6 Small Business Website Navigation Guidelines to Improve UX
So, someone just visited your small business’ website. Now what? All small business websites need clear pathways to help clients find what they are looking for. Website navigation is that pathway that ensures visitors to your small business website experience the design you have in mind for them. Navigation supports a good user experience (UX) by ensuring that users have a clear and straightforward interaction with your business’ website as they find what they are ultimately looking for. Ideal user experience—regardless of landing page—utilizes a logical pathway for clients to review all relevant information before they take action, whatever action that may be. Whether selling a product via an e-commerce site, outlining services your small business offers, or providing an additional channel for clients to contact you, small business website navigation is your key to ensuring visitors have the best user experience navigating from Point A to Point B without getting lost along the way. Here are some important things to keep in mind when designing a website layout with a delightful user experience for small businesses.
1. Understand Your Audience
With all things website-related, you have to start with the audience in mind. What are they looking for? What problems are they trying to solve? How much knowledge of your small business, product, or service does a visitor have as they interact with each page of your website? These are important questions to keep in mind as you structure your webpages. If you’re not entirely who your audience is and what they need, conduct user research and utilize surveys to gain insights into what visitors to your small business website are looking for.
2. Plan Your Site’s Hierarchy
A clear and logical site hierarchy is the foundation of good navigation. Not all visitors to your small business website need to start on your homepage, but they should have access to the rest of your website via a logical layout. Outline the main sections of your website in your navigation bar. These pages or sections will typically include:
Home: The starting point for most visitors.
About Us: Information about your company, team, and mission.
Products/Services: Details about what you offer.
Blog/Resources: Educational content, articles, and resources.
Contact: How visitors can get in touch with you.
Within these main sections, you’ll then break down the content via sub-navigation pages where applicable. For example, under “Products,” you would have sub-categories with a logical grouping (by material, by brand, by style, etc.)
3. Keep It Simple and Consistent
Less is more when it comes to a small business website. Creating multiple pages where one page will do can make website navigation unclear and lead to a poor user experience. If website navigation bogs a user down too much, it can result in them abandoning your small business’ website altogether. Cluttered menus can overwhelm visitors and make it difficult to find specific products or information. So, aim for a clean, straightforward navigation bar with no more than 5 or 6 main sections. Use clear, concise labels in sub-navigation dropdowns that are easily understood. Consistency is also vital—ensure the terminology in your navigation remains consistent across all page titles and references across your business’ website.
4. Let Logic Dictate Hierarchy
Some business owners completely abandon the idea of logical layout when designing a website for a small business. So, to help ensure that you don’t abandon logic as well, here are some additional tips.
Allow your homepage to point to all (or at least all of the most important) sections of your small business website. Because modern website templates allow for and encourage scrolling, it’s perfectly acceptable to add a few blocks on your homepage that tease and link to the content on the other sections of your site.
After your homepage, utilize an “About Us” page to outline what your small business is all about. If you have an especially unique mission or purpose that sets you apart from other industry players, then definitely dedicate a page or two under the About section to highlight this. Within your About section, add a few organic links to your product or services.
Products / Services should follow the section that showcases your small business. If your small business offers a specific product, then you’ll use product-specific language (and if services, then vice versa). For products specifically, there’s a lot that can go into ensuring a logical user experience as you utilize multiple sub-categories. In a future post, I’ll talk more about product pages and how to optimize them.
Ensure that a call-to-action is the logical next step. For product pages, a check out option is really the only next logical step for a customer to take. For services, ensure that contacting to learn more is what visitors end up doing.
A blog page and/or a contact page usually conclude the navigation bar. Within blog posts, ensure that they either point to your small business products or services or they direct clients to contact you to learn more.
6. Include a Search Function
A search function is an important part of any website’s navigation, but it is especially vital for small business websites that have many product or services pages. A search function provides users with a direct route to the information they’re looking for, especially if a user has gotten lost somewhere on your small business’ website. Implementing a search function is a great last-resort to clients whose frustration may slowly be increasing. According to MetricHQ, the average duration of a visit to a web page is 52 seconds, and if a user can’t find the logical next step within that time, there’s a high chance that they abandon your business’ website altogether. Providing a search bar and ensuring that the search bar is easily accessible at all times can ensure visitors are consistently making progress toward finding what they’re looking for.
Conclusion: Logical navigation can make or break a user’s experience
Logical website navigation is crucial for providing a positive user experience and achieving the goals of your small business. Keeping website layout simple and clear takes time and effort from business owners. If you find that you don’t have the time or simply want to talk through how to get help in providing a delightful experience for users of your small business website, then let’s chat. I offer personalized website design services for small business owners in and near Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania. Remember, it’s already challenging enough to drive visits to your small business website, so once they’re there, help them find what they’re looking for.
