A standard way that i do menu includes is this
In menu.php:
<table width="211" border="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr><td><a href="link1.php">Link1</a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="link2.php">Link2</a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="link3.php">Link3</a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="link4.php">Link4</a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="link5.php">Link5</a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="link6.php">Link6</a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="link7.php">Link7</a></td></tr>
</table>
link1.php etc contains a table:
<table align="center" width="955px" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td width="211px" valign="top"><?php include('menu.php');?></td>
<td style="padding-left:16px;" valign="top">Page content</td>
</tr>
</table>