Though I would just touch on another option, I've always thought that top navigation looks quite nice too (yes this may be biased as my site is like that too)

However the reason I chose top nav instead of left or right, is because I think if you have a bright appealing header, the visitor is likely to look around that area and notice your other pages.

But I agree with everyone esle SEO is dying should'nt worry to much and if your going for the common website look left hand navigation is the thing for you.

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