Website navigation is our common communication system between all other web pages. Interlinking through unique identifiers (URLs) has worked for decades. If anything navigation links have been with the basics of web design since the early days. Through advancements in digital arts and design we have seen new practices bubbling up everywhere.

Accessibility has turned into a major concern for Internet browsers. With more users on their mobile phones and tablet devices it’s important to develop a navigation around common themes. Below are some themes repeated in modern designs for good, clear website navigation.

Placement is Everything

How your navigation looks holds well over 50% importance towards how your visitors will conceptualize and interact with your site. The needs between each website are also very different since there are varying degrees of access and focal points.

A personal portfolio website may contain 2-3 simple pages with content and information. This is much different than a social networking application which will present tens if not hundreds of different views. This means fitting a lot of links into the same amount of “room” on a user’s monitor.

Top/right placements have yielded the best results for collective site navigation. Often you’ll see horizontal links sewn across the page a-la bar-style. This works well and can even contain deeper level links in drop-down submenus.

Sidebar Links and Advantages

I haven’t seen too many around these days but for future reference there is always plenty of room in a website’s sidebar for overflow. Instead of trying to cram 30 or 40 links into a horizontal bar, why not split 8-10 of the site’s most important links as a heading?

Using this methodology you keep your visitors focused on the core pages at the top of your layout while offering sub-topics and related pages all down the sidebar. This method can work well with smaller-niche sites such as video game communities. Heading links should contain the site’s core pages while information about the games, characters, bios, forums and other resources can be split into sidebar pieces.

Develop Font Styles Concisely

CSS provides a number of advanced features, even for today’s standards. The ability to add text shadows, glows, embossing (and the list goes on) with just a few lines of code is irreplaceable. Typography will make up mostly all of the content on any website and this is especially true for site navigation.

As a small example the choice between sans-serif and serif font can make a world of difference in a finished product. Simple designers stick with simple mindsets and will sometimes choose options at random – clearly not the best approach. Consider how your final page layout should look, how elements are aligned. Take into account what style of font would best stand out as a frontier menu navigation.

You may also try simple text manipulation techniques to draw attention. Bold lettering, text capitalization, small caps and letter-spacing variants are all fun and unique options to try out. CSS3 offers universal rounded corners which can be applied onto background colors and images for neat effects.

Best Practices for Dynamic Menus

Since many site navigation links will require crawling it’s important to understand how to style a menu. As Google and Bing send their search bots out into the web you’ll notice how quickly a new website will become indexed. Pages which are readily available will be checked and ranked while an order of importance is applied.

It can be useful to structure links with unordered lists in HTML code. This is a malleable system which allows for easy addition/subtraction from a website. Often you’ll want to add links or change text in your site navigation on-the-fly. Holding all of the pieces together in a list will help web bots understand the hierarchy and makes editing super simple.

Unordered lists also allow more creativity when working with CSS selectors. For example you may develop a class “.active” which is applied to the navigation link which matches the current page. This can be applied dynamically in all backend languages and is even possible through JavaScript (though not recommended).

Separate File Includes

Web developers with any experience in backend programming such as Python or PHP should be familiar with includes. When working with multiple files in a project you are able to include code from another set into a page. This provides huge benefits when it comes to web layouts, especially for navigation design.

Instead of keeping multiple files with navigation links in each it is much simpler to hold an external file with HTML code already written. Then using include functions it’s simple to add the file into any web page. This process means you can add/remove links by editing just a single file – and all changes are updated site-wide immediately.

Though the exact code for including files will change based on your backend language of choice (PHP, RoR, etc…) it’s all generally the same idea. Check through Google for a basic guide if you’re lost, since the implementation is a bit out of scope for this article.

Design and Translate

The best way to learn proper navigation styles is to study the greats. Check out popular design galleries and notice key advantages to other navs (especially websites related to your niche). Modern design frequently changes and there are no base rules or stone-set solutions.

The best trends cannot be taught and must be learned through frequent practice. This is why studying comes so heavily into play when discussing unique webpage design. Examine the works of other skilled designers and compare elements. Take the best of all worlds and combine techniques together for your own navigation formula.

If you’d like to get more involved there are many HTML/CSS menu tutorials available for free. They offer an easy step-by-step process to get integrated in the world of web page navigation design. The topic is broad yet refined enough to present accessibility problems. Universal rules tend to limit creativity in this area, however one truth seems to remain: the best way to build is study and practice followed by innovative actions.

You might also like…

Awesome Freebie: Web Accessibility Checklist Desktop Wallpaper →
Accessibility Principles for the Modern Designer →
Tips for Landing your first Freelance Design Job →
4 Concepts for Simplistic Web Design →
5 Mindset Shifts That’ll Get You Paid More by Clients →
Designing a Mobile Stylesheet for your Website →
Professional Structure and Documentation in Web Design →

Nothing’s more frustrating than not getting clients. You know your designs are good. You write really concise and sharp emails. Your people skills are impeccable. Yet no matter what you seem to do, you just can’t get many, if any, clients. Or you get desperate and start accepting what you can get.

Why does this happen? Why do some designers seem to be turning away clients left and right because they already have more than enough ideal clients to work with? Well, there are 3 major reasons why you’re not getting any clients.

The good news is you’re not alone – a lot of designers do these same mistakes. And what’s even better news is it’s simple to avoid these pitfalls and start getting clients that you want. It involves pointing out the 3 problem areas (which this article will help you with) and then taking a conscious effort to start fixing them.

So here are 3 major reasons why you’re not getting any clients (and how to avoid these pitfalls):

1. Thinking About What You Want Rather Than Them

This is the biggest reason for not getting any clients, plain and simple. When you’re not thinking about what your clients want, then you’re not going to offer what they want to them. And when you don’t offer your clients what they want, they have no need for you. Hence, you won’t get any clients.

Before analyzing any marketing techniques or sales copy or the wording of your pitches or anything else, first check to see if you’re thinking of yourself first, your clients second. If that’s the case, correcting this simple mistake will make a world of difference.

This seems like forehead-slapping common sense. Yet when it’s time to get to work, most designers forget to do this right away. They think about what they want out of their work, how much they want to get paid, what kind of work they want to do, what styles they like to create, and so forth. Thinking about what their ideal client actually wants and how to solve their problems doesn’t even cross their mind. And after putting up their website and portfolio and pitching to plenty of prospects, they scratch their heads in confusion as to why they’re not getting any clients.

Think about it: if a designer comes to you talking about what they like to create, what kind of features they can craft, and what they’re strong at, you could care less. You think “maybe” and move on, never to come back to that email or call that designer again.

Yet when a designer accurately points out the weak points or problem you’ve been having and clearly explains how they can fix it for you and deliver results that matter to you,, you’re all ears. You hire the designer.

What’s great is, as a designer, thinking about your clients’ needs isn’t a compromise on what you want. You envision your ideal client first – the kind you’d most want to work with. Then their needs and solutions become aligned with what you’d want to work on anyway.

So think about your client’s needs first. It’s about them, not you.

In fact, thinking about your client’s needs is also one of the mindset shifts that’ll get you paid more by clients.

2. Stuck On An Idea Rather Than Being Adaptable

The second quickest way to not get any clients is to be stuck on a single idea rather than being adaptable.

If you have some great design style you want to offer, or a particular package, and no one is biting, then take a hint – change or tweak your approach. Being married to a single idea is dangerous.

See, your contribution to design isn’t some single idea – it’s your core value. Your inspired creativity and approach to creating web or visual designs. An idea is just one of countless packagings of that value of yours. If one package isn’t working, unwrap and come up with another package. Or tweak that package until something sticks.

Say you really wanted to create these cool logos for clients. But clients couldn’t care less about your custom logos. Most are content to find a good-enough icon, slap text next to it, and call it a day. If they don’t do it themselves, they’ll get one designed for cheap. Sure, you believe that they need what you offer, but the client doesn’t care (again, see #1).

But then you notice that your ideal clients do need great headers and designs for their email newsletters. You notice one of your client’s blogs posting an article showing improved conversion rate on nicely-designed emails.

So you adapt. You change your idea to offering great email newsletter headers and designs and pitch again. Now your clients start biting.

You still get to create what you want and offer your unique visual contribution, but by adapting you were able to offer exactly what clients need – rather than get stuck on an idea you love but no one cares about.

3. Doing Unnecessary Tasks You Think You “Need” To

Also known as the productivity illusion. You fill up your to-do list with countless tasks you think are important. You go through and complete them during the day. You feel good about yourself for getting so much done. You think, I’m productive.

Yet, you still don’t get any clients. Why is that?

It’s because all those tasks don’t get you results that matter. The main one being: paying clients.

Sure, that task increased your Twitter follower count. Or this task resulted in these profile being created or this portfolio being put up. Or that task got these people to give feedback on your sample work. Or whatever. But did any of those tasks result in getting a paid client? No.

Welcome to the productivity illusion.

So how do you escape that? Well, realize first why this happens. It’s because going after prospects seems like a bigger task then setting up this internet profile or tweaking your website design or writing blog posts or whatnot. So you go for the low-hanging fruit of tasks. And by doing a few of them each day, you feel good because you “got stuff done” – even if that stuff ultimately doesn’t matter. Since there are countless tasks like these, you never actually get to that one important task that does matter.

Now that you’ve identified why this happens, use good ol’ fashioned self-discipline to analyze what specific task(s) will actually get you clients. It’s usually really simple. Something along the lines of:

• • Create your offer pitch
• • Decide on and find your ideal clients
• • Pitch those prospects with your offer

Notice how even having your own website or Twitter profile or whatever isn’t necessary. Sure, you’ll probably need a portfolio of some sort. But some designers will just link to work they’ve done for others or send an attachment or whatnot.

Just by doing a simple series of tasks like that—or whatever applies to your specific situation—you’ll actually start getting clients while saving yourself time and energy by not doing those unnecessary tasks.

Avoid These Pitfalls and Start Getting Clients

By avoiding these 3 pitfalls, you’ll be well on your way to getting more clients. What’s great is you’ll also get to choose which clients you’d ideally like to work with, rather than getting desperate and taking what you can get. That’s a slippery slope you as a designer never want to get on.

To recap, here are the 3 major reasons why someone wouldn’t get any clients (and thus what to avoid):

• • Thinking about what you want rather than them
• • Stuck on an idea rather than being adaptable
• • Doing unnecessary tasks you think you “need” to

Have you had any other problems that you were able to fix and start getting clients? How else do you avoid the pitfalls that prevent you from getting the clients you deserve?

You might also like…

The Trend of Minimalist Graphic Design →
How To Control Flow Within Your Web Designs →
Accessibility Principles for the Modern Designer →
Professional Structure and Documentation in Web Design →
Clear Your Mind to Focus on What Matters →
What the Future of Cloud Computing means for Web Designers →
Beginners Guide to Using the Power of Color in Web Design →
Understanding and the Meaning of Color Within Design →