A user is looking for a product, he types in the search box what he needs, and then millions of search results appear.

Your website is within the millions of websites, you tried so hard to rank high, and spent great efforts and a lot of money.

The user visits your website and leaves after less than one minute.

Your bounce rate increases, your conversion rate decreases, your efforts go in vain.

This is the scenario that will happen; in case you have a complicated website menu design.

Importance of navigation on the website

Navigation is so important to your website; it enables your visitors to find what they are looking for easily, and this is a part of Web Development.

Through navigation, they can find your blog posts, product listings, contacts information, and more, with only a few clicks.

If you have a website, you need people to go through it, visit more pages, and get them interested.

Types of the Website Navigation menu

Website navigation bars have many types such as the following:

1- The Horizontal Bar:

The Horizontal bar is one of the most common types. It usually includes:

• About us.
• Products.
• Pricing
• Contacts
• Sign up

But at the same time, you can customize as per your website needs, and the nature of your business.

2- The Dropdown Navigation bar:

This type of navigation menu suits you if you own a rich website, but at the same time, it is not a very good idea.

In the dropdown Navigation Menu, you can list the most important parts horizontally; then the rest will drop down when a user clicks or points on the main item.

3- The Vertical Sidebar navigation bar:

It is a sidebar menu; the items are listed above each other, usually on the left of the screen.

This type of navigation menus enables you to list more items to your website, and also list more links.

It has another benefit; it is eye-catchy, so if you own a restaurant or a business related to art, it is good for you.

4- The Hamburger Navigation Menu:

The Hamburger Navigation Menu is the three-line icon. It is common on the design of the mobile app because it fits most small screens.

Once you point or click on the three-line icon the menu appears, whether a vertical or horizontal menu appears.

5- The Footer Navigation Menu:

In case your visitors can’t find what they are looking for in the header menu; they can find it in the footer one.

How to design the best website menu?

Here is the best advice to design the best website menus:

1- Stay away from dropdown menus:

I know the dropdown menus are very common, but at the same time, they are not the best idea.

Dropdown menus are difficult to be crawled by search engines, and they are annoying to your visitors.

2- Choose the important items:

Describe best what your business is about; choose for your menu the items that your users are really looking for.

3- Limit the items:

The shorter menu is the best menu. Don’t let your items exceed the seven items, and organize the items.

Sum up time:

Website menu design does really matter, learn how to choose the best design, limit the main items, and show your visitors what they need to see.