How to set up your website's menu and navigation

Your navigation menu is how visitors move around your website. It is the row of links you usually see across the top of a website, and sometimes at the bottom too. Setting up a clear menu is one of the most important things you can do to help people find what they need.

Creating your first menu

1. Open your WordPress editor by clicking WP Admin in your Web60 dashboard
2. In the left-hand menu, go to Appearance then Menus
3. You will see an option to create a new menu. Give it a name like "Main Menu" and click Create Menu

If you do not see "Menus" under Appearance, your theme may use the newer Site Editor for navigation. In that case, go to Appearance then Editor, and click on your header area to edit the navigation block directly.

Adding pages to your menu

1. On the left side of the Menus screen, you will see a list of your pages
2. Tick the pages you want to include (for example, Home, About, Services, Contact)
3. Click Add to Menu
4. The selected pages will appear in the menu structure on the right

Arranging the order

You can change the order of your menu items by dragging and dropping them. The item at the top of the list will appear first in your menu (usually on the left), and the rest follow in order.

Think about what your visitors will look for first. A common order for a small business site is:

1. Home
2. About
3. Services (or Products)
4. Contact

Setting your menu location

At the bottom of the Menus screen, you will see a section called Menu Settings with checkboxes for menu locations. The options depend on your theme, but you will usually see:

• Primary Menu (or Header Menu) — this is the main navigation at the top of your site
• Footer Menu — a smaller menu in the footer area

Tick the location where you want this menu to appear, then click Save Menu.

Adding dropdown sub-menus

Dropdown menus let you group related pages together. For example, you might have a "Services" item with individual services listed underneath it.

To create a dropdown:

1. Add all the items to your menu as normal
2. Drag the items you want as sub-items slightly to the right, underneath the parent item
3. You will see them indent, showing they are now nested
4. Click Save Menu

On your live site, hovering over the parent item will reveal the dropdown with the sub-items.

Adding custom links

You can add links to pages that are not part of your WordPress site, such as your social media profiles or an external booking system.

1. In the Menus screen, look for the Custom Links section on the left
2. Enter the full web address (for example, https://www.facebook.com/yourbusiness)
3. Enter a label (for example, "Facebook")
4. Click Add to Menu

Using the Customizer (alternative method)

You can also manage menus through the Customizer, which lets you see changes in real time:

1. Go to Appearance then Customize
2. Click Menus
3. Select your menu or create a new one
4. Add items, rearrange them, and see the preview update live
5. Click Publish when you are happy

Checking your menu on the live site

After saving your menu, visit your website to make sure everything looks right. Click through each link to confirm it goes to the correct page. Check on your phone too, as the menu may collapse into a "hamburger" icon (three horizontal lines) on smaller screens.

Need help?

Having trouble getting your menu to look right? Visit our support page and we will help you sort it out.