Consistent
Site Design
People expect
to see things in certain places. The upper left corner usually has a logo and a
link to your home page. (Oftentimes the logo is the link.) Search is either
right beneath it or in the upper right-hand corner. Remember, people like to
feel comfortable.
The most successful
ideas are usually just re-packaged successful ideas from the past. Clear
navigation also makes it easier for the user to develop comfort and go where
you want him to go. Even if you try something risky, at least be consistent
with it from page to page.
Site-Level
Search
There are
hoards of people who love to search for information. It is well worth it to
include a small search box on every page if
you have a larger content website. If you do not know anything about
dynamic coding, you can get a third party search engine from Atomz, FreeFind,
or Google. Many popular content management and blog software providers also
have free built-in site-level search.
On small sites
you should not have a site-level
search, as many of the searches will fail to find the desired information and
frustrate the searcher. It is far easier
to actively guide site visitors than to let them enter random text in a search
box.
On top of
helping visitors navigate your site, a site-level search can also help you find
out what terms and ideas your visitors are interested in that your site may not
yet have content about. You can create content around their needs and use these
terms for refining your pay-per-click keywords.
With large
sites, especially large forums, it may be helpful to highlight the search terms
on the page if site visitors arrived from a search engine.
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