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If you're like most people, you typically need some sort of guidance or instruction before you can be successful in performing a task. The same is true for visitors looking for information on your web site ' you must provide them with appropriate directions and navigation in order for them to use your web site effectively.

Jakob Nielson, an authority on web site usability, design strategy, and user-centered methodology, has said that "Most sites have miserable information architectures that mirror the way the company internally thinks about the content and not the way users think about the content. Predictably, users ignore such unhelpful structure."

Most of the time, users not only ignore bad navigation, they click off the site and move on to the next one, in hopes of finding whatever it is they are looking for.

Follow the Leader

It's up to you to make sure that your web site leads visitors down the right path. Whether the goal is to make a sale, subscribe to something, fill out an inquiry form, or simply provide information, you need to guide your visitors by giving them intuitive, clear, and consistent navigation.

Good navigation should make it impossible for visitors to get lost. To help orient users, always provide them with a point of reference, and make it clear where they are in the site and how to get back. Avoid putting information more than 2 or 3 levels deep ' you don't want users to get buried 4 or 5 levels down in your site, since they may become frustrated or disoriented and just move on.

Consistency is also key in good navigation; don't confuse your users by changing the navigation links on every page. Instead, consider using an overall menu structure, then adding sub-categories and links on individual web pages as necessary.

Think Like A User

The best way to design an effective navigation system is to think the way your users think, and anticipate the ways that they want to go. Users are typically very goal-driven; they are pretty focused on finding what they're interested in, and tend to ignore the things that don't apply to them. Give them a clear navigation system that lets them find what they're looking for first ' once they know they're in the right place, they can look at the rest of the information on your site in more detail.

Designing a navigation system that looks really cool to you but ultimately sends your visitors clicking away in frustration is not good navigation. Good navigation accommodates the searching patterns and behaviors of your visitors, making it more likely that they will find what they want, and more likely that they will make a purchase.