Navigation Invitation
Please note this article was first published in 05 Oct 2009. Its content may now be out of date. We recommend taking a look at more recent website building blog posts or check out our comprehensive support pages. If you are looking for information on our 14 day free website builder trial we have a large number of webpages that guide you throug the process.
Navigation Invitation
Once you’ve caught a visitors attention and gained their interest, the next step is to encourage them to come further into your website to have a closer look. Effective Website Navigation is the key to bringing visitors inside. The most obvious navigation is of course the menu bar, which contains the buttons for all your web pages. However, there are several more enticing methods of navigation, one of the simplest being internal links.
Navigation Invite
Internal links can be created using both your text and / or the images on your web pages and are a great way to guide visitors to; specific pages, sections of information or directly to your product / sales pages.
When building a website, many people feel that they have to put as much information onto their home page as possible, but this is not the case. Internal links enable you to provide short, keyword rich teasers, with a direct link to further information on other pages. This also helps you to keep your “Home” and primary introduction pages uncluttered and eye-catchingly clean.
In your main introductory paragraphs, you may well have a section, which says who you are and what you offer. Within this text, you could include links to pages, which offer full details of your products / services or on E-commerce sites, you could even link directly to your shopping basket. Here’s an example: (links are highlighted by being underlined and bold)
“Welcome to Distinct Doors. We have been established since 1993 and have supplied doors as well as windows, frames and fittings to homes and businesses throughout the UK. We are door specialists, and are committed to supplying you with the right product for your needs. Contact us now if you’re looking for high quality yet affordable exterior doors or interior doors.”
Lets assume that Distinct Doors already has specific webpages for each of the product ranges highlighted. To create a link to an existing relevant webpage using your DotGO Website editor, simply highlight your “Link” word using your mouse, then click the “Insert / Edit Link” icon.
Link to an Internal Webpage
You will now be shown a series of options, which we will cover over the next few Blogs but for now choose: WEBPAGE > Internal Webpage > Webpage. Now you will see a drop down menu of all the pages on your website. Simply choose the relevant page, and then click “Add to Website”. Save your page, click the link you have just created and you should be taken to your chosen page.
Link to your Shopping Basket.
Again highlight your “Link” word using your mouse, then click the “Insert / Edit Link” icon. Choose: WEBPAGE > Internal Webpage > Group. Again you will see a drop down menu of all the groups you have crated for your shopping basket. Simply choose the relevant group, and then click “Add to Website”. To link to a specific item rather than the whole group, choose “Item” on the last option.
Link from an Image.
Visual menus are a great way to instantly show visitors what you do and as long as you use good quality images, preferably of your best products, they can work well to encourage visitors to explore the rest of the range. Choose one image for each product range. Using the example above - a door, a window, a frame and a fitting. Include an instructional line above such as “Please click each image below to view the product ranges available: Then set your links as shown above, after left clicking the image once to select it.
Link to Contact Us.
Of course one of the best links you can create is one, which encourages a response from your visitors. On the example above you will see that Contact us is highlighted. To link to contact us, Click the Insert Link icon and choose WEBPAGE > Internal Webpage > Webpage > Contact Us. Alternatively, your website has a built in basic reply form - choose WEBPAGE > Internal Webpage > Webpage > Automated Email Us Form. If you would like a more detailed enquiry form, specifically tailored to your business with checkboxes and drop down menus etc., to collect specific information, please contact support@dotgo.uk.
We'd love these blog pages to become a handy forum for all DotGO Web Builders, so please add your comments or questions and let's get chatting!!
Please remember, this article was first published 05/10/2009. The content may be out of date and you cannot post comments any more. Please check out our new blog.
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