Next, you will need generous amounts of organization and clarity in your site. Next, mix well and separate into different arrangements until you find one that is more successful than others in meeting your objectives. This may take some time and you shouldn't try to skip this step. Leave enough time to experiment with organizations and by all means, stay away from metaphors. Nothing confuses audiences more than trying to navigate a site based around a poorly matched and ridiculously implemented analogy that is fundamentally incapable of applying to interactive media.
Navigation is more than merely telling people where they can go.
It is the artful setting of context that allows people to know what to expect, what to do, what they can do, and even, to some extent, how to do it. This is called a cognitive model and represents everything people understand and remember about your site when it isn't actually in front of them. Think about showing up at an exotic restaurant without knowing anything about the cuisine. If your audience has to ask too many tough questions about what they are to do and where they can go within your site, you can bet they won't stay around for long. I would bet that you won't be available online to help them either, so your site should provide this as well.