In my line of work, a lot of the websites we deal with have a cluttered menu across the top. It has so many options, it can be overwhelming and confusing to website visitors. And that’s the last thing you want to do. Because when you confuse, you lose (hat tip to you Donald Miller)!
If visitors don’t find what they’re looking for or don’t see a clear call to action, they will leave and never come back. To avoid this from happening, here are some quick tips to simplify your menu.
1. Consolidate similar options
Identify what the core places are that major stakeholders need to navigate to. These should be the main menu options. For example, you don’t need to have separate menus for “About”, “Our History”, and “Where We Come From.” You can put these under one main menu that you can call “Company” or “About.”
2. Don’t put all products in separate menus
If you really want to highlight the products that you offer, consider grouping them into one or two categories. Think about what each product is and what people are coming to you to purchase. Use that as categories and group your products accordingly. This will help you simplify your menu.
3. Don’t throw everything in the header menu
There needs to be clarity involved when you’re structuring your header menu. Don’t forget that you have a footer menu which sits at the bottom of every webpage.
This is where you can add a menu for the places that your secondary visitors are looking for. These people are already engaging with your website, and you want to make it easy for them to get to the pages they are likely to visit.
A great example of these secondary visitors are your board members. They will visit your website at least once a year. So you don’t have to put a menu link for them in the header. You can create one for them in the footer, and let them know that you’ve created a link for them in the footer.
Bonus Tip: Don’t use crazy fonts to simplify your menu
I know that those little curly letters are super cute and fun, but you need prioritize legibility on every website. People need to be able to read the font on every page. If you can balance form and function, that’s the sweet spot.
Focus on simplicity and usability instead. Don’t make things all crazy fancy because you think it looks cool. Design should serve function and there is function in good design.
Those are some things that you can do to simplify and clean up your menu to focus on the user experience. Make sure it is clearly speaking and helping your audience engage with your website.
If you want to dig deeper on how to simplify your menu, schedule a call with me and let’s talk about your header menu.
