There's no guesswork in figuring out how to use a book. You open it up, turn to a page and start reading. A table of contents or index lets you flip to a specific page to find what you want. They all work the same way.

Not so with your website. Every single site is different. And a viewer only sees one page at a time. When someone shows up at your website, it takes them a moment to get oriented. The easier you make it to guide them to the information they came looking for, the happier they are. Frustrated viewers don't stick around long.

Use these website navigation design tips to direct your viewers deeper into the heart of your website.

1. Place your navigation bar on left side or at the top. Never on the right side. Keep the same position on each page.

2. Place links at the bottom of each page also, along with your full contact information: name, address, phone, website, email address (but don't make it a live link – unless you like spam.)

3. Make it very clear where a person is on your site at all times. Change the color on either the text link or the background box of your links in the navigation bar so the reader knows where they are. Make it obvious how they got to that page. Tiny words at the top of the page in light grey color with > indicating the path are not enough.

4. Make links clear and visible. Blue underlined text has come to mean, "This is a link." Sometimes the underline shows up when the cursor rolls over the words, which is fine also. But when you suddenly make your links different colors, or start underlining other text on the page that is not a link, you confuse your reader.

5. The more click through pages you give your reader, the easier it is to get lost on your site. Try to get them to the information they need in as few steps as possible.

6. Use the Quick Scan – Slow Read technique to keep your viewer engaged. What does this mean? Use a bold font for the main point of your paragraph. Like you did in high school when you picked out the key "topic sentence."

This allows the viewer to scan over the page very quickly, getting the main points in just a couple seconds. Then they can choose to go back and read in depth, or not. You can present two to four pages of text in a way that's quite easy to grasp. It means you're not losing your viewer as they are forced to click into pages and pages just to get some basic information.

7. At the bottom of each page, tell the reader where to go next. Of course they may not follow your suggestion, but by indicating where the next step in the process of moving through your site is, you relieve the reader of having to make another decision in figuring out, "Ok, now where do I go?"

8. Make sure the pages you add over the years link to your existing pages. Often you'll come to a website page and it just dead ends. You can't get out of it and can't figure out where you've come from because there is no clear indication of the path you've taken.

9. Go through your site once in awhile and double-check your links. Are there any broken links? Or the link takes you to the wrong page?

10. Is there a "Home" link, icon, or button in the same position on every page?

11. On large sites, think like a department store. Guide people into the various main subsections with a clear entryway. Be mindful as you get deeper into those sections, of how to let people cross back into the main channel.

12. Be careful with drop down submenus. Make sure the navigation bar shows clearly which section the viewer is in. Since the submenu is not visible, it's easy to be confused about which section you're in. Let's say you have a main link to Fabrics with drop down menus to different types of fabrics. Once you're on one of those inside pages, you don't know what else is available, and it's easy to get lost.

Knowing these tips will help you evaluate your own website. Remember if your visitors can't find their way around your site easily, they will leave. Why let that happen?

Linda Kaun of Linda Kaun Copywriting

If your message is not clear, people can’t find you online, or your website is difficult to navigate, you are losing money, plain and simple.

For online copy that speaks to your buyers, bringing in leads and sales, Linda Kaun of Linda Kaun Copywriting works with B2B companies. Her focus is on the textiles and hand crafted products industries.

B2B marketers and business owners, find monthly ideas to ignite and inspire your business success by subscribing to her: Catalyst B2B Marketing Newsletter at http://www.lindakauncopywriting.com/whitepaper.php.