I’m a big fan of great website footers. No longer just a place for links to the sitemap or copyright information, more and more websites and blogs are putting their – ahem- best footers forward, and providing us with beautifully designed, functional footers. Here, some tips on improving your footer:

Give information. The footer is a great place to give more details about yourself or your company. Add a short descriptive blurb, with a link to the all-important about page– and maybe a small photo or logo.

Give options. This is where having a functional footer can be a powerful tool. You might put a list of your most popular posts here, or links to your other websites. A search form is always useful, just in case your visitor hasn’t yet found what he was looking for. Which brings us to something else you should add to your footer…

More navigation. Can you ever have too many navigation options? What you want, maybe more than anything else, is to make sure your visitors find what they’re looking for on your site. Tag clouds are fun, and they can be made more useful as well. Dropdown menus listing categories or archives by date are good here too.

Interact. People love to interact online- it’s why so many of us prefer browsing the web to watching television. Your footer is a great place to get feedback from your visitors- when they’ve gone through your page, they’re usually ready to say something. Place a visitor poll, include links to important email addresses or telephone numbers, link to a feedback form- or take a tip from Brad Candullo and place a small contact form right on your footer.

Be inspired. Finally, be sure to check out some of my favorite website footers: Matt Brett, CSS Princess, and the simple but succinct Derek Powazek.