Having mentioned earlier that the typical blog navigation by archives and/or calendars really isn't the best way of guiding your visitor around your professional blog I thought I'd like to expand on that a bit with a traditional graphic experience of a very successful tried and tested method. Are your archives/calendar necessary or are they taking up valuable real estate?
Main Navigation, The Floor Plan of your Professional Blog.
Consider, if you walked into a local large department store, e.g. Harrods of London, chances are, even if this is not your first visit, as you walk in the door you are immediately looking for a floor plan to help you head to the right location.
Translated to your blog, this is the equivalent of the main navigation say the sections, or main categories. Your main navigation is your floor plan!
Trying to fit too much information into a singular navigation, e.g. every single product, category or tag, just loads up every page with unnecessary content, and could actually lead to readers missing parts of the site, "navigation blindness" if you like.
Popular choices to deal with this problem are "Drop Down" or "Fly Out" Navigation systems. These are useful, and indeed add some user interactivity spice, people just like them. They can be achieved in a nice and Search Engine Friendly way these days using pure CSS too.
However the drawback, for marketing purposes, is that they are usually used on every single page and if they become hefty they can easily add to page load. Then there's that navigation blindness I mentioned, the novelty just plain wears off after a while! If I came in for one item I'm unlikely to wade through a long navigation, so what if you add a new category or product line it's likely not going to be noticed amongst the rest?
If you are going to use them I would say use them along with a KISS, usable Backup. In the first instance that may be simply a plain, old fashioned, traditional site map page.
However Main and Sub Navigation used wisely can achieve this as a backup or on its own too, with the bonus that you can use basic shop marketing techniques to draw your readers into sections they might not have to come to shop in!
What do I mean by "Basic" shop marketing?
Take the Harrods Floor plan, on the fourth floor they have their main "sections"/floors mapped as Children – Toys – Harrods World (I left out "way in" for obvious reasons!). So say I'm a Mom, and I've come in looking specifically for some clothes for my child, I head off to that section.. Main Category 4!
There I find a helpful Secondary Navigation, unique to that Floor (Section) only, so I get the dept I'm looking for nice and quickly and No matter where I go within the fourth floor this floor plan applies:
Very nice, in a short space of time I can find just what I want for my child, but then also I might decide to stop for a coffee in one of the 2 eateries on this floor, even though I hadn’t come in for that I've now got some time to spare. Then on my way out I spot the Ladies Shoes dept. Well I am a Mom ~ and what woman can resist shoe shops!
The Ladies Fashion and Shoe Dept is 3 floors below, on the First Floor, according to the Main Navigation, but I’ve forgotten about that already as I didn't come in for that! it may as well be a different shop (or site) for all I care. It was likely to get missed by me today as that’s not what I’d come looking for, but I now know that I can get shoes here too, I may well come back here next time I want shoes or I may have just made an impulse buy (click!) today!
So How Does that Fit With a Blog?
Translated to your professional blog, well only you know your niche, so only you can refine it I’m just trying to state the obvious really, but here’s some pointers that may help you refine.
- You need to watch and analyse your stats!
- Watch what searches people come in from, what they come in looking for and then see what else they go onto look at within your site
- Take a note of "Hot", most read topics and fit them just about anywhere
- just plain research your topic and know what else they might like then do a "we also recommend" series to appear in a sub category
The we also recommend list along with the Section/Main category specific sub-navigation would be where you can use tagging very cleverly to make sure e.g. that your ladies shoes sub category shows up not only in the Ladies Fashion section, but also In the Children’s Section.
This form of marketing has been tried and tested in the offline world, e.g. it's no accident that batteries appear at the checkout in large superstores, and that there is some cranberry sauce stacked on the shelf next to the chestnut stuffing.
Online; Amazon with their "Customers who bought this book also bought:" section are employing it very successfully too. Your professional blog would do well to use the tools at its disposal to replicate the practice.
To Sum it up!
The design of your navigation is an important factor to consider for your blog, or it could quickly overwhelm you. Design for the future growth of your blog, Sections, Categories, Tags and Stats are your cross-linking and navigation tools! It’s not necessary to place them all at the front door, but if you do then make sure they’re strategically placed throughout your blog too!
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