Navigate

Investors arrive knowing what they want. The two click rule applies. You have to sell the second click; you’re not entitled to it. A “scroll down” is a click. If the site doesn’t deliver here, you risk losing investors.

Navigation is critical, particularly on the top of the home page. Provide a link to every page right there. A “hover over” doesn’t count as a click. Don’t be cute about navigation. Investors have been to plenty of other sites, and “know” how to navigate. If you’re too different, investors won’t find things, and you lose traffic.

On internal pages, remind them where they are, provide full navigation, accessibility and more.

Know which pages are most visited - provide additional ways to direct investors there. Use promo boxes or infographics as navigational buttons. Clear messages will sell the next click, and encourage a decision.

Here are IRM’s top three hints for being better at navigating:

Subject	Suggestion
Main Navigation Bar	Provide a comprehensive navigation bar on the home page and the same  on every internal page.  Include navigation to sub pages not just main internal pages. Expand the navigation for sub pages when moused over. Don’t rely on continuous scrolling down to “discover” what’s on the site. Make sure the navigation doesn’t get cluttered even when it’s a large site  with many sections and pages.
Internal Page Navigation	Provide full navigation to every internal page in the section in a left hand  navigation column. Right hand navigation sometimes doesn’t get spotted.
Promo Boxes	Provide alternative navigation to the key matters you want investors to  notice using prominent promotional boxes, on the home page, the investor welcome page, and elsewhere.

A full review from IRM will identify and discuss more than 10 additional aspects of navigation.