The High-Traffic Site: If You Build It,Visitors Will Come - Navigation
(Page 3 of 4 )
When you have a lot of keyword-rich content that’s optimized for the search engines, chances are you’re going to notice an increase in your traffic. But if the visitors who come to your site don’t enjoy your pages, you’re only defeating all your own hard work and effort. Content doesn’t necessarily make your site great; it just makes it a little easier to find. Getting traffic is great. But now you have to keep them there.
Even if your site offers very little else, offer easy site navigation. This is most easily achieved through links, toolbars and frames. By creating frames on your site’s pages, you can keep a list of easily-accessible links on one part of the page while visitors view different content in the main frame. Creating frames on your pages is relatively simple if you know the proper code. Many sites also offer page-building features which allow you to place frames and other navigational devices by very simply clicking a few buttons. If you need to write the actual code, however, it will look something like this:
<FRAMESET>
<FRAMESET COLS="25%, 75%">
<FRAME NAME="B" SRC="Web address 1" resize="yes" scroll="auto">
<FRAME NAME="A" SRC="Web address 2" resize="yes" scroll"auto">
</FRAMESET>
This code will go on the first main page of your site, the entry page your visitors will see before they begin deciding which pages they want to view. You’ll notice that the code calls for two separate addresses (these will refer the code to pages you have created). The first frame address will be the navigation area; this should be, in essence, an entire page of links which will help users find specific areas of your site. The second frame address will point to pages inside the main frame. You’ll put this code on the entry page, so Web address 2 should point to the entry page itself. Web address 1 will refer to the page of navigational links you create; be sure to take size into consideration when you design this page.
You can also play with the size of your frames by changing the percentages, or adding new frames. Assign them the next letter in an alphabetical sequence and make sure to assign a percentage. This is the amount of room the frame will take up on the page. All frames must add up to 100%.
You don’t have to use frames for site navigation, though it does help. If you don’t like the look of frames or don’t want to fool with the code, you can simply place links throughout your pages so it’s easy for users to find what they want.
Next: Web 2.0 >>
More Website Content Articles
More By KC Morgan
