People are in a hurry, when they’re looking for something specific on the Web. They hit your homepage, and all they want to do is get off it — ideally, to the thing they’re looking for.
So, give them clear visual cues to help them along. Make your main navigation clear and simple. Don’t bury it in fancy design or distract from it with other page elements. Use terms that are clear, such as products, links, and contact us, rather than cute metaphors, such as first course, sampler, meet the chef (unless you’re a restaurant and that’s your menu). Beware of using easily confused categories like products and for sale. Finally, use dropdowns or tooltips to help further explain what’s where.
