Social networking is not a new term, nor has it been widely applied to websites for more than a few years, yet it has clearly become one of the biggest buzz phrases of the Web 2.0 era. Nonetheless a great deal of confusion exists about just what makes a particular site an online social network. Of course, there's more than one answer, but most of us know this type of site when we see one, so clearly there are some common features that must be easy to recognize.

According to Wikipedia (in many ways an online social network in its own right):

Please, no more accidental website tourists. Show your visitors the way down the path and you will increase your website results.

Today most retail stores like Whole Foods Markets, Ikea and Victoria's Secret rely heavily on environmental psychology research studies. How you find your way through well-planned stores, airports and casinos is no accident. Nor should it be for visitors to your website.

Your Web visitors know great design when they see it, instantly in fact. Some studies suggest it takes a fraction of a second for them to make up their mind about a website.

We believe this decisive instant when visitors decide if your website must be explored or evacuated is equivalent to the Gruen Transfer, a controversial term borrowed from the world of environmental psychology and shopping malls. 

One of the best articles I have found, that mirrors the way Achieve Internet incorporates Environmental Psychology into the functionality and design of our website, can be found in the PsychNology Journal. David Benyon, does an excellent job of taking the historic roots of Navigation, Landmarks, Paths, and Urban Design, to reaffirm why these principles need to be applied into today's Web design.

http://www.psychnology.org/File/PNJ4(1)/PSYCHNOLOGY_JOURNAL_4_1_BENYON.pdf

Have you ever been to a website and read through a page or two only to find yourself wondering how to purchase, how to get more information, or how to see what other items might be related to what you're viewing?

If you are a marketing professional with the responsibility for your company's website, make sure you don't let your website visitors try to figure out how to navigate your pages on their own. A better approach is to use stimulus-response cues on the pages to guide them through the website and encourage them to take action.