The original post was asking about better ways to have more page navigation with limited top space for buttons or clutter of too many links in the sidebar. I recommend the Angsuman Redirect plugin, and dropdown page buttons at the top, as used in my real estate blog.

Basically, I have extensive dropdown navigation that consists of pages and sub-pages, but they are blank and redirected to WordPress category pages.  Well, as of an hour ago, I have a lot more information courtesy of Page SEO.  The pages that are redirected to categories have some of the highest page ranks!   Not the destination category page, but the blank page that was redirected, so it got the credit for the content on the category page.

So, you shouldn’t be too concerned about redirecting content in relation to SEO.  I never really was, and did all of these redirects to give my visitors a thorough navigation structure without clutter.  I’m glad I did.

Using real estate as an example, I wanted dropdown page navigation across the top of my blog, but there were some issues:

• I want to have pages for visitor access, but I don’t want to design and keep changing them.
• I wanted a lot of them, as I have a lot of sub-topics under which my visitors might want to access information:
  • Negotiation process
  • Transaction process
  • Building and development codes
  • Land use regulations

There are more, but you’re getting the idea.  I want the site visitor who is familiar with button page navigation to locate my information efficiently.  But, I also don’t want a lot of layout and page design to make it happen.

Solution – Using categories in conjunction with the Angsuman Permanent Redirect plugin got the job done.  By categorizing posts for main topics, such as one category for each of the bullet items above, I have all the related posts together when that category page is called for display.  By creating a “Page” and redirecting it to the category page link, I then can send the visitor to all posts about a topic with one Page Navigation Click.

Step-by-Step –

1. You’ll need to choose a theme that offers dropdown navigation along the top of the page.  There are some plugins out there that say they can create this dropdown functionality in most themes that don’t have it.  However, I’ve looked at a couple, and they require messing around in the header code, so I would rather just find a theme that’s already set up for it.
2. Install and activate the Angsuman Permanent Redirect plugin.
3. Post as you normally would to the blog, paying special attention to proper categorization.   Categorize your posts however you want.
4. Once you have identified categories that merit a navigation button in the dropdown at the top, just create a page.  Leave the body of the page blank, and use the redirect plugin in Custom Fields to point the page to the category.  Look at the Real Estate > Negotiations menu options at the top of this real estate site to see it working.

Using dropdown navigation and redirecting to categories allows your visitor a great deal of detail in how to locate what they want, but doesn’t use a lot of screen space.  It also, once set up, allows you to forget about it.  You just keep posting to the appropriate categories, and it all just works!

[important]There’s an instructional video in the Premium Content below the Related Artciles.[/important]

Related Articles:

{+++}