AnQi CMS navigation menu: easily integrate external links, expand your website ecosystem
In today's rapidly changing digital world, an efficient and user-friendly website navigation system is undoubtedly a guiding light for users visiting the website.It not only guides visitors to deeply explore your content, but is also the key to connecting the brand ecosystem and enhancing the user experience.As an experienced website operations expert, I am well aware of the importance of the flexibility of the navigation menu for content strategy, especially whether it can be used to add external links.
Why does the navigation menu need external links?
Imagine that your main site focuses on showcasing core products or services, but at the same time, you may have multiple sub-brand sites, active social media pages (such as WeChat Official Accounts, Weibo, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), cooperative resource portals, and even e-commerce platforms that require traffic redirection.If these important channels cannot be highlighted in the main site navigation, users may have to search with effort, which will undoubtedly increase the bounce rate and reduce the overall user experience.
Integrating external links in the navigation menu can make your website not just an isolated island of information, but a hub of interconnected content. It can help you:
- Improve user experience:Users can find and access associated external resources at a glance, reducing the cost of searching.
- Strengthen brand collaboration:Effectively connect the main site with sub-brands and social media platforms to form a powerful brand matrix effect.
- Optimize traffic diversion:Lead users interested in specific content or services seamlessly to the most suitable external platform, improving conversion efficiency.
- Enrich the content ecosystem:Even if the content is not within the management scope of AnQiCMS, it can still be integrated through navigation to provide users with more comprehensive information services.
The design philosophy of AnQiCMS is to serve small and medium-sized enterprises and content operation teams, enhancing content marketing and SEO effects through technical means.The integration of external link functionality is a vivid embodiment of this concept.
AnQiCMS navigation settings: the convenient way
In the AnQiCMS backend management interface, all settings related to website navigation are concentrated in“Background Settings”of“Navigation Settings”Module. The design here emphasizes intuitiveness and user-friendliness, even for users who are new to AnQiCMS, they can quickly get started.
Firstly, AnQiCMS allows you to create multiple“Navigation Category”.This is very practical, for example, you can set a category for the main navigation at the top of the website, set another category for the auxiliary navigation at the footer, and even create a dedicated category for quick links in the sidebar.This category management method allows you to flexibly organize navigation content according to the display needs of different regions, without allowing all links to be mixed together.
After you select or create a navigation category, the core operation shifts to“Navigation Link Settings”. Here, you can add new link items for the selected navigation category. Each link item provides rich customization options to meet diverse needs.
How to add an external link in the AnQiCMS navigation menu?
The specific steps to add an external link are very simple:
Select the link type:In the interface for adding or editing navigation links, you will see a key option - 'Link Type'. AnQiCMS provides three main types:
- Built-in links:Used to point to articles, categories, products, or single pages within the system.
- Category page links:Specifically used to point to links to created categories or single pages.
- External links:This is the main character of today! It allows you to flexibly add any in-site or off-site web page links.
Configure external link information:After selecting "External Link", the system will provide a concise input box.You just need to paste the complete URL of the target external website.
http://orhttps://At the beginning.Define display name and auxiliary information:
- Display name:This is the text that users will see and click on in your website navigation, make sure it is clear, concise, and guiding.
- Subtitle name:If your navigation needs to display bilingual titles or other auxiliary information, you can enter it here.
- Navigation Description:Used to provide a brief description of the link, which may be displayed as a prompt in some templates.
- Display order:You can adjust the number as needed to control the order of the link in the navigation, the smaller the number, the earlier it appears.
After completing these settings, click Save, your external link will appear in the corresponding navigation menu.This meticulous design of AnQiCMS not only allows you to easily build traditional main navigation but also create diverse auxiliary navigation such as the company information navigation at the footer, social media entry on the sidebar, and so on.For external links, we usually recommend setting them to open in a new window or tab to avoid users leaving the current website and disrupting their user experience. AnQiCMS often provides a checkbox to open in a new window when adding links, or you can customize this common requirement through templates.
By using the flexible and intuitive navigation settings of AnQiCMS, website administrators can easily integrate external links into the main menu, whether for collaborative promotion of the brand matrix, social media traffic, or pointing to partner resources, all of which can achieve efficient management and seamless jumping.This simplifies the complexity of website operations and also helps enterprises build an interconnected online ecosystem with excellent user experience.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1: Can the external links added in AnQiCMS be set to open in a new tab?
A1:Yes, AnQiCMS usually provides an option like 'Open in a new window' or similar in the navigation link settings.Select this option and when the user clicks on this external link, it will automatically open the target website in a new tab, thus avoiding the user from leaving the current page and enhancing the overall browsing experience.target="_blank"to achieve this.
Q2: How many external links can be added to a navigation menu? Is there a limit? A2:AnQiCMS usually does not set a strict limit on the number of links in a single navigation menu in terms of functional design.You can add any number of internal or external links based on the actual needs of the website and user experience principles.However, from the perspective of user experience, it is recommended to maintain the simplicity of the navigation menu and avoid too many links causing users to have difficulty in choosing.
Q3: Can external links and internal links be mixed and displayed in the same navigation menu? A3:Completely possible.The navigation link settings of AnQiCMS are highly flexible.Under the same navigation category, you can freely mix and match 'built-in links' (pointing to AnQiCMS internal content), 'category page links' (pointing to specific categories or single pages), and 'external links' to meet the complex and diverse navigation needs of your website.This mixed mode is an important embodiment of the powerful content management capabilities provided by AnQiCMS.