There are so many different ways in which you can lay out a website that often the navigation is in a different place from one site to the next. Historically navigations used to always be at the top of the site spanning the whole page but with sites getting larger and larger it is not always possible to fit all of your main pages on to a top navigation. Also with the use of smart devices such as phones and tablets, it is important that your navigation is easy to use across multiple device and displays in the correct way.
You will need to decide if you are going to have drop downs from your main navigation and how this will work. Will the drop downs expand when you hover over them or only on a click? One important point to remember is consistency. Your navigation shouldn’t alter much when you click through to other pages. You may decide to have a second navigation when on other pages but the main way to navigate through the site should remain in the same position with the buttons in the same order. This is a very simple point but one that often is missed by many businesses.