Links to external websites: club or affiliate sites, can be included in the WordPress menu.
Adding the links is managed on the WordPress Appearance/Menu page.
Adding a Link to a Menu
The menu is created from the pages of the website together with links and categories configured from within the menu page.
To configure the menu navigate to the admin menu page, found in the appearance section.
On the menu page the components making up a menu: pages; links; and categories are configured to create the menu. These are shown on the left as a list of available pages and the options to add other references: posts, links and categories.
I like to use the named menu configuration, whereby only the selected pages are added and displayed in the menu. Dependant upon the theme more than one menu may be available allowing a primary and secondary menu to be implemented on the page.
Begin by selecting the menu to which the link is to be added.
To add a link expand the Link section and enter the URL of the website and the text which will appear in the menu. Click on Add to menu. The new reference will be added to the bottom of the menu list
It can then be dragged into the appropriate position.
A link may also be a reference to a file on the website. To add this requires knowledge of the reference used for the uploaded file. The info can be found from the media manager.
Modifying an Existing Link
A link which has been added to the menu can be amended by expanding its entry.
Enter the new details in the 3 text boxes: URL, Navigation Label and Title Attribute. Then click on Save Menu at the bottom
Other Considerations
A menu constructed whilst developing a website may include links to the development URL. Whilst pages will adapt to the new URL the links won’t.
If a menu item is failing to show correctly it may be a link rather than a page.
When launching a new site consider reviewing the menu entries, checking those items marked as Custom.
