All too often when we start to work with a new client the topic of navigation for a new site becomes a sticking point. Years of iterative growth have resulted in what we like to refer to as the overgrown garden. Pages and pages of content that are sitting, often idle, rarely visited, failing to convert new leads into sales. And yet clients cling to them, afraid to let go of the smallest most outdated pieces of content. Essentially, they are publicly hoarding virtual bits of their organization’s past on their site under the false pretense that if they get rid of that one singular page, they may lose their next big opportunity.

It’s a hot button issue and one that is as much as about best practices for your businesses site as it is about the psychology of business. We understand this and so we’ve become quite the expert at helping our clients understand where to cut back, using ideation sessions along with in-depth analytics to help them identify which pages are adding value and which ones are making visitors jump ship.

This is where it can be tough for some business owners to understand that the page they feel has significant value may in fact not be helping to convert sales at all. To them it tells a compelling story, it has value — it MUST be there prominently displayed in the nav. Through the use of supporting analytics we can show our clients which pages really do add value, which makes retiring pages and even whole sections easier to embrace and more importantly shows our clients where to focus their content efforts.

All of this ties into a successful SEO strategy. By understanding what words and phrases drive visitors to a specific landing page on a site, and then seeing which of those visitors convert – whether it’s that they request more information or actually complete a transaction, we can place an actual value to a page.

Understanding these details feeds the creation of the navigation. It tells us what users want and allows us to serve it up to them.  By letting go of dated content or less than useful pages, your business can effectively increase conversions and serve up the content your target market is looking for.