Most nonprofit websites have large navigation menus that tend to overwhelm users by showing them too many things at once.
We get it, you have a lot going on in your organization and you want to give people as much information as possible.
Unfortunately, too many things in your nonprofit website navigation are not a great user experience and actually result in the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish – confusing your constituents.
The more options you give to your website users, the longer it will take for them to figure out where to go. As a nonprofit offering critical services to the community, you do not want people to spend too much time figuring out where to find information on your website.
You want your visitors to spend the bulk of their time absorbing the information and resources you have for them. In this post, we are going to look at better ways to simplify your nonprofit website navigation.
Keep your nonprofit website navigation to 7 items or less
Take a look at the top of your homepage….go ahead, I’ll wait.
How many links are up there?
If there are more than seven, it’s time for pruning. Why seven? This is the optimal amount of information that the human short-term memory can contain at one time.
In addition, fewer items on your main navigation will allow your website visitors to quickly find what they are looking for.
Your nonprofit website navigation should have the following:
- Your logo (or nonprofit name, if you don’t have a logo)
- Your primary call to action in a button (E.g. Donate, Become a Member – we will discuss more on call to action later)
- Up to 7 menu links (E.g. Why Education, Initiatives, About Us, Get Involved, Contact Us”
Great nonprofit website navigation examples
Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano
Children’s Home Society of Florida
Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center
Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine
in Lafayette, LA.