Leading web usability consultant Jakob Nielsen has found that Internet users spend a massive 80% of their time engaging with the information that appears above the page fold. Information ‘above the fold’ is that which is immediately visible on a page before a user has scrolled down.

Nielsen observed that while users do scroll down and glance over the content that occurs lower down, they allocate the majority of their attention to the information they are immediately confronted with.

This confirms what we already know about typical user behaviour. People don’t like having to work for information on the Internet – they expect that what they are looking for will stare them right in the face within the first few seconds of arriving on a page, and will move swiftly along if it doesn’t.

I`ve been working on the redesign of our side site for a few weeks now, and one key question needed to be addressed. What type of menu structure works best? Typically, SEO companies will advise site owners to use a CSS drop down menu structure, as it brings the 3rd tier content closer to the home page and thus gives it more relevancy and link juice. But is this the best route for usability and conversion?

Search engine marketing is not short of acronyms that make perfect sense to us, but not necessarily to our prospective partner agencies and clients. From SEM, SEO and PPC to Online PR and ROI; it`s important not to forget that just because we understand what they all are, doesn`t mean our target audience does.

This brings me to the drop down menu. Are we asking visitors to make decisions before they even know what the options are?