When it comes to web pages, footers have usually been afterthoughts at best. You place some links about legal mumbo jumbo or a copyright and then spend your time on other parts of your site that are more important. Maybe you’d throw in a “Return to Top” anchor for good measure. I hate to break the news to you, but those days are gone. Nowadays, you need to provide your users with something a little more interesting.
The bottom of the page is a decision point for visitors to your site. They will either decide to continue browsing your site, or leave. While I can’t speak for everyone, I feel it is a fairly safe assumption that you would like for them to stay. If a user makes it to the bottom of a page, chances are they were at least moderately interested in what your site had to offer. So now is your chance to keep their attention by offering related links.
I know, some of you are saying, that’s not rocket science, but I never claimed it was. Whether you want to offer your users a simplified site map, list of “related links”, or even some fun way to waste time, you need to keep their interest.
This is the same logic that grocery stores have been using for years. You’re waiting in line, and sure enough there’s the soft drink or candy bar that you need to buy. While that’s a little more under-handed than offering your visitors related content that they might actually appreciate, it’s the same concept.
Summary: Imagine you just scrolled to the bottom of a site. It was kind of interesting, but you were not blown away. There are no extra links at the bottom of the page, what do you do? Close your browser? Scroll back to the top and look for a more interesting area of the site? I know what I would do.