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3 ways to showcase your content in your beehiiv navbar to optimize the reader experience
Learn how to use 2 beehiiv features and steal my hack
Dazzle your readers with a rich library of content tags, but help them navigate your blog with links to core topics.
This post includes tutorials for two beehiiv features and my hack for showing my content pillars right in the Navbar - not hidden in the Categories Menu Item.
Table of Contents
Pre-requisite: To take advantage of these Navbar features, your posts need Content Tags.
Content tags categorize your content in multiple ways to guide the reader’s experience.
When I see a blog with a high volume of content tags, I immediately think:
wow, there’s a lot of content here
ooh, I see a lot of tags I’m interested in
yay! I’m so excited the author has organized their content so I can focus my attention.
Content tags on blog.beehiiv.com
Which is better: more or less content tags?
More content tags are great for specificity and connecting with reader interests, but it can be overwhelming.
When a reader comes to my blog, my goal is for them to understand two things without scrolling:
I’ve found a useful resource!
I know where to go next to learn more about what interests me
I want them to know that my content pillars are Tech Tips, Productivity, Leadership and Workplace Wellness, but not everyone is going to read my About page or my Welcome email.
I use the Navbar to get the best of both worlds!
I don’t hold back from adding content tags (check back in another month or two to see how many I have then!). Every content tag is visible under the Search bar for easy filtering. Then I use the Navbar to showcase my core content tags, also known as my content pillars.
If you don’t have a ton of content tags yet, you can simply turn on the Categories Menu Item in your Navbar.
How to add the Categories Menu Item to your Navbar in beehiiv
from your dashboard, click Settings
under Admin, click Website
from the menu across the top, click Navbar
Under Menu Items, click Add Categories Menu Item
a window will pop open that says Add Categories Group, click Add
Level 1 Screenshots
Click Website, then Navbar, under Menu Items click Add Categories Menu Item
Click Add
This is what your Menu Items will look like after you’ve added the Categories Group
The finished product: Your Content Tags are now accessible from your Navbar!
If you only have a few content tags, you can stop here.
But if you’re like me, you might have a lot of content tags. If you’d like to shorten this list to focus your reader on your core content or content pillars, keep reading for Level 2.
Level 2: Limit the content tags shown in your Navbar to focus your reader (beehiiv feature)
If the list of content tags shown under Categories is a bit much, you can pick and choose which ones to show.
How to limit the content tags shown under Categories in your Navbar in beehiiv
from your dashboard, click Settings
under Admin, click Website
from the menu across the top, click Navbar
under Menu Items, in the Categories block, click the toggle on to make the pink visible.
This should also make all your content tags visible.
(if you don’t have the Categories block, jump back to Level 1)
Hover over each of the content tags you DO want to be shown and click the + sign that pops up.
This will turn those content tags pink.
Level 2 Screenshots
Click the toggle to turn it pink. Then click the + on any content tags you WANT VISIBLE
The pink content tags are the ones that WILL be shown under Categories.
The finished product: Only your selected Content Tags are now accessible from your Navbar!
Core Content Pillars shown under Categories, full list of Content Tags under Search
But maybe you’re wondering if readers are going to know what Categories mean, or if they’re going to bother clicking the menu option to see what categories are available.
Want to make it super easy and crystal clear for the reader? Keep reading for Level 3!
I want to make my content so easy to consume for my readers. That’s why you’ll find a table of contents near the top of every post so readers can jump to what interests them.
I figured out how to create direct links to my core content pages right in the Navbar. These are immediately visible to a home page visitor without clicking or scrolling. I’ll admit I was inspired by other website templates, but I keep coming back to beehiiv’s easy-to-use interface and I’m thrilled with this Navbar upgrade.
How to hack your Navbar with direct links to your core content tags in beehiiv
The hack is to use the External Pages function to link what are essentially Internal Pages, so you can have the links exactly where you want in the Navbar.
from your dashboard, click Settings
under Admin, click Website
from the menu across the top, click Navbar
click Add Menu Item
type in a title for one of your content pillars and click Create
this menu item will be temporarily empty, but we’ll fix that in Step 2
add as many as you need
beehiiv recommends no more than 5 or 6 menu items
Step 1 Screenshots
Click Website, then Navbar, under Menu Items click Add Menu Item
Add your content pillar name then click Create
This menu item is temporarily empty, but we’ll fix that in Step 2
Step 2: Create Links to “External Pages”
from your dashboard, click Settings
under Admin, click Website
from the menu across the top, click Pages
scroll down until you get to Pages
click Add External Page
type in the title for one of your content pillars
add the link for the automatically-created beehiiv page
under Add to Menu Item? Assign the menu item you created in Step 1
click Create
add as many as you need to match the Menu Items created in Step 1
beehiiv recommends no more than 5 or 6 menu items
Step 2 Screenshots
Click Settings, then Website, then Pages, scroll down to Pages, click Add External Page
Add a title, the link to the page beehiiv created using the Categories Menu Item, and link it back to the Menu Item you created in Step 1. Then click Create.
Now that you have your core content pillars linked directly on the Navbar, you don’t need the Categories Menu Item from Level 1 or Level 2 anymore.
from your dashboard, click Settings
under Admin, click Website
from the menu across the top, click Navbar
in the Categories block click the trash can to delete this section
click Delete on the popup
Step 3 Screenshots
FAQ
Q: Shoot, I created the External Page before the Menu Item - do I have to start over?
A: Nope! Just leave the Add to Menu Item? as Draft until the Menu Item is created, then go back and edit the External Link.
Q: Why am I seeing the error message: You need to add Content Tags first?
If you see the message “You need to add Content Tags first” and you think - I already added them! Give the system a few minutes to update and connect the dots, then try again.
This error message will also pop up if you don’t have any content using tags yet. You might have to come back and set this up after you’ve published a few posts.
Error message if you have NO content tags, you JUST added them, or if you don’t have any content yet that USES the tags.
Q: Couldn’t you just add “Core” or “Category” to the important Content Tags to make them look more important?
A: I considered that option, as well as adding emojis or making them all caps, but I thought this option required less guesswork from the reader.
Want to see Level 3 in action? Feel free to explore my blog!
Let me know what you think in the comments.
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