What’s in a name?
Believe it or not, the name you choose to give to each page has a big impact on how users will navigate your site. Furthermore, using an inconsistent naming convention can make you look unorganized and even—dare I say—not very intelligent.
Go back to that outline you made and let’s bring some order to your madness…
Here are some keys to a solid naming convention:
Parallelism – I bet you thought you’d never hear that freshman English class vocabulary word again, but here it is, awaiting your undying affection. Parallelism is super important. If some of your page names use active verbs (you know… go, drive, get, look for, sign in, buy now, calculate, etc.) then all of your names should use active verbs. If some of your names are nouns (you really should know… products, services, advisory council, really cool stuff you wish you had, neat places to go, etc.) then all of your names should be nouns. Hmm… I see a pattern forming.
Length – You guessed it… if some of your names are short, all of your names should be short. If most of your names fit in one line, all of your names should fit in one line. If some of your names are complete sentences, then all of your names should be complete sentences (I don’t actually recommend this practice, but at least be consistent about it).
Ambiguity – Steer clear of obscure product names or industry specific vernacular unless you’re 100% sure that all of your audience will understand it. What is obvious to you may be foreign or vague to your neighbor and most users aren’t going to waste their time clicking something unless they know they want it.
Quantity – Okay, so this isn’t a name trait, but it’s an important point… Don’t make your user sift through too many options. Chances are they’ll get bored and leave. Everything I’ve read on web usability testing suggests that users really only spend a few seconds looking for pertinent information. If they find a little, they’ll look a little more. If they find a lot, they might stay a while. If they find a bunch of muck, they’re out of there; your user’s gone.