In my previous post I mentioned that I was submitting free press releases.  As these are a good source of traffic and links to a website, they are worthwhile, and can see your comapny news picked up by a wide variety of publications, both online and offline.

However, some of the free press release sites (and I won’t mention names, but you know who you are!) are extremely difficult to navigate.  Even as an experienced user of the Internet, and knowing exactly what I wanted to do,  I still found it hard.

It’s not a good idea to have Adsense, or other adverts right under your navigation, so that it’s not clear which is your navigation, and which are adverts.  If you don’t clarify, it’s likely that visitors to your site will click on the advert, rather than on your website.

it’s also extremely bad form to make your visitors hunt for what they are looking for.  As an example, on these press release sites, the premium paid press releases are heavily promoted on the homepage.  The free press release is often hidden in the navigation block containing the “About Us”, or company details.  Although they are right to encourage visitors to pay for their press releases, they shouldn’t make it hard for those that want to submit a free press release.

Also, be wary of what sort of language you use, and the amount of jargon you use on your site, especially in the navigation.  Your visitors might not be as au fait with your products or industry as  you are, and don’t know exactly what they are looking for.  On a well know UK baby site, the navigation for prams contains several different types , such as “2 in 1″s and “travel systems”, as well as push chairs, buggies and prams.  To the expectant parents, who might not have a clue what they need, this isn’t very helpful.  Why not have a buyers guide, or explain the differences on the prams page?

By making your site hard to navigate, and using jargon, or hiding what people are looking for, you won’t encourage visitors to come back, and they’re likely to tell their friends not to visit either!

Rant over for now!