The navigation menu is one of the most important elements of any website. If done well, it can help the website visitors to browse the website seamlessly however if done incorrectly, it can affect the user experience of your website badly.
In this blog post, we have shared the 5 most common issues that your website menu may also have. And if you find any of these issues on your website too, it would be worth hiring a website developer to fix them.
Let’s start.
#1 Too many items
Does your menu have too many items which make your website look cluttered? If yes, you definitely need to do something about it.
Too many items in the navigation menu can not only confuse the users but can also make it difficult for them to find their desired information.
It may be irrelevant to show your users a dozen of links above the fold when all they want is to view your main services or expertise and contact you to resolve their problem.
Have you ever been to any e-commerce website to buy some jewelry but got overwhelmed when you saw dozens of sub-categories? Don’t let this happen to your website users. Lesser is better.
Solution:
You can consider showing only primary links on your top navigation menu while moving all the secondary links such as FAQs, How it works, and other sub-categories at the footer of your website. Try to show only 5-6 links on the top menu of your website.
As a bonus tip, you can remove the “Home” link from your menu and ask your web developer to link back your logo to the homepage. This way of reaching the homepage of a website is becoming conventional.
#2 Lack of responsiveness
Did you know that more than 50% of internet users browse websites using their smart devices such as mobiles and tablets? Given this scenario, it becomes even more important to have not just a mobile-friendly website, but a responsive navigation menu too.
If your website doesn’t have a responsive menu, your mobile users may find it difficult to browse the website and as a result, they may quit immediately.
Solution:
Do check your website on all kinds of smart devices for its responsiveness and if you find that your menu is not mobile-friendly, it may be worth hiring a web designer to fix this issue.
If you don’t want to spend much on your website fixing, you can consider hiring Indian website builders who can offer you their help at a much more affordable price.
Recommended post: What are the benefits of responsive website design
#3 Unconventional placement
There are many web designers who like to think out-of-the-box and try to place menus at unconventional locations.
For example, these days, you may have seen some websites that show navigation with the click of a hamburger menu located on the right or left side of the website.
This kind of unique idea may look good but it could affect the user experience of your website.
Since the majority of internet users are used to navigating through a website using a traditional open menu system, any unconventional placement of the menu can be overlooked by your website visitors.
Solution:
When it comes to the basic elements of a website like a menu, fonts, etc. don’t try to use unconventional methods, especially if your objective is to get conversions & sales from your website.
#4 Wrong contrast
The contrast between the menu’s background color and its font color plays a vital role because the right contrast will always help to capture the attention of your website users. For example, light blue font color on a dark blue background menu may not appear as good as a white font color.
Additionally, having bold text on the menus can also have a stronger impact on the users.
Solution:
Ask your web designer to play around with different color combinations to get the best contrast for your menus. Hire a professional website designer who knows the right contrast for a better user experience.
#5 Illogical ordering & naming
Going to the basics again, it’s always better to name the menu items what they really are, instead of polishing them.
For example, naming your “shop” as “marketplace” or “contact us” as “say hello” can be confusing for the users. Although this kind of naming pattern may look trendy and so-called “cool”, most of your website visitors may find it strange and sometimes can also get disappointed to find it hard to get their real meanings.
Solution:
Follow the basics so that it’s easier for your website visitors to browse through your webpages hassle-free and easy.
