Building useful site navigation

When I built our company's website last year, I knew my most difficult challenge was to create appropriate product 'buckets'. Buckets are the categories used in the product section to help visitors find what they are looking for. Having buckets enabled me to settle on a site-map. A site map led to my most important effort--useful navigation.

I was mentaly walking thru this process again as I read the following articles about navigation that is not only usable, but increases conversions to a lead or sale. These is seriously-good reading for anyone considering site architecture or navigation.

• Fix Navigation to Increase Conversions talks about creating useful categories based on the visitors need. Most importantly, it reminds us that there are two kinds of site visitors: those who know what they want, and those who aren't sure.


• Part two makes the need crystal clear as the writer shops for a 'thingy' to remotely advance PowerPoint slides


• Part three goes into specific discussions about breadcrumbs, site maps, and other details.

A thought to ponder from the end of the article: As Don Norman of the Nielsen Norman Group said, "Usability is not the goal. Honest, it isn't. Usability is always secondary. The goal is to satisfy the needs of the user. Information, functionality... And if you work for a company, one goal is to keep the company profitable.... Would I degrade a product if I knew it would increase sales? Yup."