“The navigation menu is one of the most important elements of your website. Without it, your visitors will not be able to get to the content they need, won’t understand what content you offer, and will generally exist in a state of confusion regarding your site. Unfortunately, the WordPress menu system is not the most intuitive part of the CMS (content management system). We understand that and want to show you how to best navigate the WP navigation system. So that you and your users have the best experience possible.

Before You Create a WordPress Menu

Now, before we even dig into the WP menu structure, let’s take a second to plan this out. While creating a menu is simple (just go to Appearance – Menus and start clicking), creating a useful menu is a little more in-depth. Essentially, ask yourself two questions:

• Who am I making a menu for?
• Where do I want my visitors to go?

Regarding who am I making a menu for?, it might seem silly. Because the answer is undoubtedly “your users.” But it’s not so straightforward. Different users need different things. Will new users need the same pages as returning ones? Do logged in members see the same menus as those who are not signed in?

By thinking of the folks who will use this specific menu, you’re able to keep it simple. You can avoid stuffing it full of pages that will overwhelm people who look at it. The great thing about WordPress menus is that you can create many versions and display them in different places.

Which brings us to question number two: where do I want my visitors to go? Hand in hand with which users need which menus, deciding where you want those users to go will determine what kind of menus you create.”

Read the whole thing here.