One of the most important but often overlooked elements of web design is the Back Button. It is probably one of the most crucial navigation links on a web page but website designers often fail to realize its true potential while creating website pages.
However, to make sure the back button works for your advantage and doesn’t merely serve to take visitors away from your website, you need to know where and how to use them. They need to be built in logic and should know the browsing route of visitors and take them back as claims the name. In fact, the back button on your web pages should just be as, or perhaps more smart, as the browser back button.
Web Page Back Button vs. Browser Back Button
The prime function of the back button may be to enable website visitors to track back their browsing route and get them back to square one. But that’s as far as the back button on your web page is concerned.
The back button of the browser does the same thing. However, it goes a step further and also provides them a route to leave the website altogether. Website visitors come to the website, search for information and ponder if they find something interesting. But if they only reach a website that has nothing to quench their requirements, they just choose to leave. In fact, it is not even a conscious move. Just that if nothing interesting comes out by using the scroll bar, a reflex action is to drag the mouse cursor to the upper left hand corner of the window and hit the back button.
Don’t Counter the Back Button?
In a bid to retain website visitors, some website designers seek desperate measures. One of these scrupulous means is to close down the original window and pop out websites in a chrome-less window that has no back button! This actually works to trap your website visitors and does nothing more than annoying website visitors to the hilt. Rather than making the website usable, it makes the website less usable because the standard navigation buttons are blocked. And your visitors would just close the window altogether and go away. And once they, they would never return to get trapped again.
Don’t attempt to retain visitors by taking away the escape route. Rather, make your website contents such that visitors are compelled to stay.
Make the Back Button work for you
While you can’t take out the back button from the browser, you can certainly make it work for your website. Here are some ways to do the same:
Accentuate your Brand Name – The location of the back button is at one of the most viewed places of the browser window. Therefore place your company logo or brand sign towards the same. This way, even if visitors are leaving the website, they will take note of your brand name.
Make your Logo Clickable – Make sure your company logo and branding design is clickable. In fact, if you have an intricate logo that doesn’t take much of space, make the whole area clickable. This way, if they happen to click the area, they will be directed to your homepage and perhaps stick on.
Trace Visitor Browsing Route – By knowing where they are going back, you will be able to figure out what exactly they are looking for and able to cater to their needs and requirements better. And your web server’s HTTP log can assist you finding this.
