Don't assume navigation is one-size-fits-all.  Just because your site has top-level navigation, breadcrumb trails, history lists, tags clouds, a search box, and footer links you can't assume it will be successful.  Of course, content is king, which Google tells you here (Best SEO advice anyone could offer by the way), but this is not about content.  It's about navigation.  Navigation on e-Commerce sites.  Our research has concluded that there is so much room for new, product-driven navigation on the web today.  

A statement like that needs a little backing up to support it.  Let me illustrate.  Diapers.com is growing by leaps and bounds in sales and product depth, just search around for case studies and you'll see what I'm talking about, and the navigation is evolving to support the changes.  Selecting a product category on the top-level navigation returns a page that includes left side filter navigation which has values dependent on the product category level.  This is slowly becoming the standard on e-Commerce sites, but there is so much more.  When I create an account and login, then I'm able plug family members, but the function is limited.  Sure, I can enter gender, age, and return to the home page and be shown targeted products.  

How about being even more obvious about it.  Help me so I can help you attitude.  What if you could enter current weight and height, or allergies, or very unique health preferences that allow the product selections to be targeted in new ways?  Even asking questions as to what toys my daughter plays with to begin developing a persona to better assist product targeting could be done.  Then, when I shop for my daughter, the whole site could change and only display products for a two-year.  Even the filters would adjust.  It's a mode I can toggle. 

On our website, JustBats.com, we offer category drill-down navigation, top-level navigation, search, a bat wizard, and filter-based refinement.  We've come this conclusion about navigation due to the bat wizard to be very popular.  People need help buying products on the web and the old navigation methods are just not going to work anymore.  Understanding your products to a level where you can ask several questions and know what a customer needs reminds me of customer service in a small-town hardware store.  That's a good feeling to some, but being able to find the product quickly and easily is a good feeling to others so investing in this type of navigation can greatly benefit new and existing customers.

These new micro-targeted navigation elements are coming to a website near you very soon.  

Scott Thiel is beginning to develop a following in the Sports Management market.  This new website will start the foundation of success and provide an ability to move his agency to meet his short and long-term goals.  We started with just a basic information page and as the business grows, so will the website.  Please check back for updates.

We are always encouraged and energized when assisting young, start-up organizations.  The passion that Scott Thiel has for succeeding in the business of Sports Management is evident when working with him.

Here's the screen shot of the website.



 

Armed with 12 years of experience working with the Northland Sports Alliance, formally known as, South Platte County Athletic Association,  Jake Johnson and 5 Star Net will migrate www.northlandsportsalliance.com website and integrate the new logo scheme and colors into a new Model View Controller MVC framework website.

The proven testibility and vanilla form design of MVC webpages make moving to MVC a valueable decision for the customer.  The new design will incorporate all the known funtionality elements www.spcaa.com is known for like simple registration, easy-to-find games schedules, rosters, and real-time standings.

Look for new changes coming soon to www.northlandsportsalliance.com.



    

When the Internet started to get popular in the 90s people experimented with all forms of content, including business material that had previously been charged at thousands of dollars per document, debates ensued.  A new decade ushered in free content models, but with one major change. As well as professionally produced material being offered free, the public has been encouraged to make its content available to everyone.  User generated content, as a term, entered mainstream usage during 2005 having arisen in web publishing and new media. 

In 2006, CNN launched CNN iReport, a project designed to bring user generated news content to CNN. Its rival Fox News Channel launched its project to bring in user-generated news, similarly titled "uReport". In 2009, KMBC News Channel 9, in Kansas City, launched uLocal, a similar service to iReport or uReport.  Citizen journalism could now become a significant part of broadcast news and was being endorsed by the networks with the advent of these content sharing services.  However, it did not take long for these sites to be gamed.  In fact, there was a fake report of Steve Jobs death that appeared on CNN iReport, which was quickly taken down after it was verified.  These systems will continue to be challenged as the user base grows.

Twitter and Facebook, the next level of user generated content, provide a pulse about what people are talking about personally and professionally.  One is for people you know (Facebook), and the other (Twitter) is for people you want to know.  Twitter is often down (see fail whale) so fragility is still a challenge for them.  Despite the challenges, watch for many new social applications in the coming years.

In e-Commerce, product reviews have been significant for increasing leads, and potentially sales, but now Google and Bing are informing us that it is more than just reviews that are important.  Take Google for example.  Search for worth liberty gloves in Google and click the + button labeled Show Options, which is below the search box.  A new navigation bar is introduced that has categories labeled – Books, Videos, Reviews, and Forums.  Books are irrelevant to us, but the other three are not.  Pro Athlete currently supports a product review system to capture valuable user generated content.  In order to maximize this effort, more projects are in the works for expanding user generated content mechanisms on all our websites.   We want to have the bat and gloves discussions happening on our sites.  These new initiatives will create challenges in the pure-play space we choose to operate in, however, I am confident our team of most capable of handling anything.