Long Website Navigation Menus
There’s a really great book on Web usability called “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug. The premise is obvious and well worth keeping in mind. As a user of your site I don’t want to have to think about where you may have hidden something. I want to come to your site and be able to see that you have what I want.
Long lists may seem to be un-appealing to you but they work in e-commerce. What’s the most successful e-commerce site on the internet? A fair case could be made that it is Amazon and you can bet they have a large department that spends tens of thousands of dollars testing their site to figure out what works. Take a look at their left hand column just for Personal Care
From an SEO perspective, the more things you can show up for the better off you’ll be because there will be more chances to get found in the search engines. The words in the left hand column tend to be very strong helpers in this realm because Google assumes that those links are what your sections are about.
Placing Products in Multiple Categories
There’s a good case to be made for having things in multiple categories. Lets say your selling personal care items and one of your itesm is California Baby Shampoo. It belong under both kids and hair care. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for your shoppers to find what they’re looking for.
Obviously, you’ll make the final decision about your own site, but there is no problem with long lists. Research and the most profitable stores online all suggest they are wanted by your visitors.
Man you make me think… and that a good thing. I had been thinking wrong trying to keep things simple. I see now contrary to my comment on the themes post that I seriously need to reconsider 3 columns. And the comparison to Amazon, that was excellent. I have definitely bookmarked you for future learning. Thanks
Please, can you PM me and tell me few more thinks about this, I am really fan of your blog…gets solved properly asap.