In this first of a multi part series, we’ll look at how to create the ideal website, that both effectively communicates your message and is easy to navigate. The navigation system should be one of the most well thought out components of your site. It is important, that key elements, such as services and contact information are listed within the navigation menu.

Let’s say we have a company named Bicycle Courier Services (BCS) that specializes in local delivery of small packages. So an ideal simplified website navigation menu for Bicycle Courier Services, that should be common throughout all pages, would be: About BCS, Our Services, Contact Us, Home. About BCS, would list all the information about the company, any mission statements, or associations that the company is part of. The Services section would list all the services in detail that BCS provides. The Contact Us link would list basic contact information, such as telephone numbers, e-mails, faxes, etc. And last but not least, the Home section would link back to the BCS homepage. Sounds pretty simple, but you would be surprised in the amount of sites that don’t follow this format, making themselves more difficult to navigate. If you follow this simplified navigation format, the most important parts of the site are easily seen and recognized by the visitor. You can obviously add additional sections to the menu, such as a Downloads area (to access Bill of Lading’s, Credit Application Forms, etc) in the future if required, but make sure to keep it simple and clear.

It wouldn’t make any sense for example to have the Contact Us link located somewhere at the bottom of the page, or in an obscure location, which believe it or not, some company websites still do. Make sure important links such as these are in a prominent and well seen location, unless that is, you don’t want people to contact you.