Do you want to add a multilingual search in WordPress?
If you have a multilingual WordPress site, then adding a multilingual search feature can help users find information more quickly by searching in their own language.
In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add multilingual search in WordPress and delight your users with a better user experience.
Why Should You Add Multilingual Search in WordPress?
Often users have trouble finding information on multilingual websites because either there is no search feature that they can use, or the search feature shows them content in the wrong language.
Adding a multilingual search feature helps users easily find the content they are looking for. This improves user experience which means users will stay longer on your website.
Research shows that engaged users are more likely to convert, subscribe, or make a buying decision.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily add a multilingual search in WordPress without breaking your website or writing any code.
Note: Keep in mind that the free version of TranslatePress only allows you to translate your website into one other language. So if you want to add multilingual search in WordPress for more than two languages, then you’d need to buy the TranslatePress Premium version.
Once you have translated some content on your WordPress website. It is time to add the search form.
Add a Search Block to your WordPress Site
WordPress comes with a built-in search block that you can add anywhere on your website.
If you’re using a block-based theme like Ultra, then you’ll be using the full site editor to add the search block.
Simply visit the Appearance » Editor page from the WordPress dashboard.
This will launch the full site editor which looks a lot like the block editor you use for writing posts and pages.
Now, click on the add block button (+) to add the Search block.
You can move the search block up and down to display it anywhere on the page.
Search block also comes with a few style options that you can choose from the block toolbar or settings.
Once you are finished, don’t forget to click on the Save button to save your changes.
You can now visit your website to see the search form in action.
On the other hand, if you’re using a theme that does not support the full-site editor, then you can add a search form as a widget.
Simply go to the Appearance » Widgets page from the WordPress admin dashboard.
Here, click the Add widget block button (+) and add the Search block to your widget area.
Once the ‘Widget Block Menu’ opens up, locate the ‘Search’ block and add it to your WordPress sidebar.
Don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ button at the top to save your changes.
Once you’ve saved the changes, visit your site and see the search box in action.
Method 2: Adding Multilingual Search Using SearchWP (Recommended)
The default WordPress search feature used by TranslatePress is not very good. It is quite basic and only looks for search terms in certain places.
It is the best WordPress search plugin on the market and allows you to easily replace the default WordPress search with a more powerful search feature.
SearchWP automatically builds a search index and matches search keywords in content, title, categories, tags, shortcodes, documents, products, and more.
Plus, it automatically replaces the default search form upon activation so you don’t need to replace it if you were already using it on your site.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily add a better multilingual search to your WordPress site.
After that, go to the SearchWP » Settings page and then click on the ‘License’ menu option to enter your license key.
You can get the license key from your ‘SearchWP Accounts’ page. Simply copy the license key from there.
After that, paste it into the ‘License Key’ field and then click on the Activate button.
Now, you are ready to create your first custom search engine.
Simply go to the SearchWP » Settings page from the dashboard.
From here, you will see SearchWP’s first default search engine for you. It is pre-configured to work for most websites including multilingual websites.
You’ll see all your post types with different attributes. Next to each attribute there will be a slide that you can move to assign weight for that attribute.
You can also click on the Add/Remove Attributes button to include more areas in the search.
For instance, you can add custom fields and taxonomies to the attributes as well.
If you are unsure about a setting, you can leave it as it is. The default options would work for more use cases.
Finally, click on the Save Engines button to store your settings.
SearchWP will now start building your search index in the background.
Now, all you need to do is add the search form to your site.
Add a Search Block to your WordPress Site
SearchWP replaces the built-in search feature, which means you can use the default WordPress search form and it would still use SearchWP to show the results.
If you haven’t already added a search form to your website, then here is how you would add it.
If you’re using a block-based theme, then you’ll be adding a search block using a full-site editor.
Simply go to the Appearance » Editor page from the admin dashboard.
On the edit screen, click on the add block button (+) at the top and add the search block.
You can move the search block to the area where you want to display the search form by moving it up or down.
Finally, don’t forget to click on the Save button to save your changes.
If you’re using a theme that doesn’t support the full-site editor, then you’ll need to add a search widget to your website’s sidebar or widget-ready area.
For that, head over to the Appearance » Widgets page from the dashboard.
Now click on the add block button (+) at the top to open up the ‘Widget Block Menu’.
From here, locate and add the Search widget to your preferred widget area.
Don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ button at the top to save your changes.
Next, simply visit your website and use your improved search box.
Have you ever wanted to white label the WordPress admin dashboard for your clients or users?
WordPress comes with a nice user interface, but sometimes you may need to customize it for your own needs or simplify it for clients.
In this article, we will show you how to white label your WordPress admin dashboard.
What is White Labeled WordPress and When Do You Need it?
WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world as it powers more than 43% of the website on the internet. However, many people still don’t know about it.
When working on a client project, it is possible that they may not be familiar with WordPress. Clients are interested in an easy way to update their website. They don’t want to struggle with themes, plugins, updates, security, and learning how to use WordPress.
White labeling a WordPress admin dashboard allows you to customize the WordPress admin area. You can replace the default WordPress branding with your own and hide unnecessary items to create a more streamlined interface for your clients or users.
Having said that, let’s take a look at how you can white label the WordPress admin dashboard without much effort.
White Labeling WordPress Admin Dashboard
The best way to white label your site’s admin area is by using the White Label CMS plugin. It’s a free WordPress plugin that lets you customize the login page, add your branding, edit the dashboard, control which menus your clients can see, and more.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the White Label CMS plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » White Label CMS from your WordPress dashboard to configure the plugin settings.
The plugin offers a simple setup wizard that you can use to get started. In the wizard, you can add a developer name that will appear in the footer and alt text.
Other than that, there are options for adding a developer URL, footer text, and RSS feed. After adding these details, you can click the ‘Next’ button.
The White Label CMS setup wizard also lets you add your client’s business name and upload a login logo for customization.
There’s also an option to enable a Retina login logo and upload your image.
Once you’re done, simply click the ‘Save’ button to exit the setup wizard.
Besides that, the settings page for the plugin allows you to control and customize every aspect of WordPress administration screens.
It is divided into these 5 sections:
Branding
Login
Dashboard
Menus
Settings
Let’s dive deeper into the different options available under each section and how to properly configure them.
Replace WordPress Branding With Your Own Brand
This is where you will replace the default WordPress site’s branding with your own custom branding.
The first option under the branding is to show or hide the WordPress logo and links in the admin bar. You can also hide the WordPress version from the footer.
Next, you can scroll down and upload your own custom logo to replace the WordPress logo that will appear in the admin bar.
The plugin also lets you replace the Howdy text from the admin bar and the WordPress.org URL with your own custom link.
After that, you can scroll down and change the side menu branding in your WordPress admin panel.
The plugin offers options to add a side menu image, an image that appears when the menu is collapsed, side menu link URLs, and alt text.
Lastly, you can also change the Gutenberg exit button and replace it with an exit icon, admin bar logo, and use a custom logo.
Besides that, there are options to brand the footer of your WordPress admin panel. The plugin lets you add a footer image, text, URL, and your own HTML code.
When you’re done, simply save your changes.
Here’s a preview of what these changes would look like in the WordPress dashboard.
White Label the WordPress Login Page
Next, you can go to the ‘Login’ tab in White Label CMS and change what the login screen will look like.
To start, you can upload a login logo and a retina login logo. There are also options to define the logo’s width, height, bottom margins, and add background color.
If you scroll down, there are more settings to change the background image and its position.
You can also enable the option to make the background image appear as a full screen on the login page for your WordPress website.
After making these changes, you can click the ‘Live Preview’ button at the bottom.
This will show you what your changes will look like in real-time. Once you’re satisfied with the edits, simply save your changes.
The White Label CMS plugin gives you some simple options to customize the login page. However, if you’d like more control over its design, then we recommend using a drag and drop page builder like SeedProd.
The main WordPress admin screen is called the dashboard. This is what users usually see when they login to WordPress.
It contains default panels showing different information about the website.
There is usually quite a lot of information, and many users don’t know what they are supposed to do with it.
White Label CMS allows you to customize this section and make it look cleaner. To start, simply click on the ‘Dashboard’ tab, and you will see options to show and hide each panel.
You can add dashboard icons, change the heading for the dashboard, and select WordPress user roles that can view the dashboard panel.
If you scroll down, there are more options.
For instance, you can enable the ‘Add Your Own Welcome Panel’ option.
When you’re done, don’t forget to save your changes.
Hide Specific Menu Items in the WordPress Admin
Next, you can head over to the ‘Menus’ tab in White Label CMS.
If you are using a bunch of plugins on the site, then those plugins will probably add their own menus as well. This could make your admin menu quite long. Many of your clients or users will probably not need these menus.
Using the plugin, you can hide these menus by enabling the ‘Want to hide menus for your clients’ option.
After that, you can scroll down and see different menus to hide.
For each menu, there are sub-menu items that you can see by clicking the blue downwards arrow icon.
To hide a menu, simply click the toggle, and it will be hidden for different user roles in WordPress.
There are also admin bar menus that you can hide using the plugin.
When you’re done, go ahead and save your changes.
Customize WordPress Admin Settings
Lastly, you can go to the ‘Settings’ tab in the White Label CSS plugin.
In this section, you’ll get options to hide the front-end admin bar, help box, and other screen options.
You can also turn off nag messages that appear at the top of the page in your WordPress dashboard. These are messages like rating the plugin or upgrading to a pro plan.
By removing them, you can keep your admin panel clean and clutter-free for your clients.
Other than that, the plugin lets you add custom CSS for admin and custom editor stylesheet.
Once you’ve made the changes, simply click the ‘Save’ button.
Note: If you’re doing work-for-hire and will not be managing your client’s sites on a regular basis, then we DO NOT recommend hiding admin menus or disabling the admin nags.
Only do that if you’re going to be regularly updating and managing the website.
Do you need a technical search engine optimization (SEO) checklist?
Optimizing your site for search engines can be a challenge if you’re not sure what to look for. Many website owners will ensure basic SEO practices but overlook technical elements.
In this article, we will show a WordPress technical SEO framework and share a checklist you can use for your business.
Why Do You Need a WordPress Technical SEO Framework?
Technical SEO is a key component of your WordPress SEO strategy. You could be creating the world’s best content, but if search engines can’t find and understand your content, then all your efforts are wasted.
That’s why it is important to have a WordPress technical SEO framework.
Our WordPress SEO framework checklist will ensure that search engines can easily crawl and index your content. Plus, you can also evaluate other technical aspects of your WordPress website that might be preventing you from achieving higher rankings.
For example, your website might be taking a long time to load. This would result in poor rankings since the page load time is a ranking factor.
There are many SEO tools that let you conduct SEO audits and find out if your site is technically optimized. However, not all tools will show details inside your WordPress dashboard.
The easiest way to evaluate technical SEO for your WordPress site is by using All in One SEO (AIOSEO). It is the best WordPress SEO plugin that helps you optimize your website for search engines.
It offers a free SEO Analysis tool that you can use to conduct a technical SEO audit. The tool is available in the AIOSEO Lite version, which you can use for free. There are also premium AIOSEO plans that offer more features like schema markups, sitemaps, redirection manager, and more.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the AIOSEO plugin. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you can go to All in One SEO » SEO Analysis from your WordPress admin panel. Under the ‘SEO Audit Checklist’, you’ll see an overall score for your website.
Next, you can scroll down to the Advanced SEO and Performance sections.
Here, the plugin will evaluate the technical SEO aspects of your website based on different parameters and ranking signals. It will then highlight missing elements and critical issues that could stop your site from ranking higher.
You can use AIOSEO to continuously monitor your site’s technical SEO and fix issues. Similarly, you can also perform a competitor analysis and see what they’re doing differently for their technical SEO optimization.
That said, let’s look at our WordPress SEO framework checklist that you can use to ensure higher rankings and organic traffic. You can click the links below to jump ahead to any section:
1. Ensure Your Website is Visible to Search Engines
The first thing you need to check is whether search engines are able to find your WordPress site.
You can simply enter site:example.com in the search engine and see if your website appears in the search results. Just replace ‘example.com’ with your own domain.
If your site isn’t showing up, then you can check the visibility settings in WordPress.
Go ahead and visit the Settings » Reading page from your WordPress admin panel. Next, scroll down to the Search engine visibility setting and be sure the ‘Discourage search engines from indexing this site’ option is unchecked.
This option is usually enabled if your website is under construction or is put in maintenance mode.
2. Uncover Crawling and Indexing Issues
If your website is visible to search engines, then it is important to check that your content is crawled and indexed.
Crawling is the process where Google, Bing, and other search engines discover and understand your website. Indexing is the process where search engines collect and store information about your website.
A simple way of checking crawling and indexing issues is using webmaster tools. For example, Google Search Console is a free tool by Google that shows your site’s performance on search results, helps uncover bugs, and allows you to submit your site to Google.
In Google Search Console, you can head to the ‘Pages’ report. Here, you’ll see pages that are indexed and not indexed.
Next, you can scroll down to the ‘Why pages aren’t indexed’ report.
Google Search Console will show you crawling and indexing errors on your website and which pages are affected by them. You can then resolve these issues, so your web pages can appear in Google search results.
Besides that, you can also check indexing and crawling issues for individual URLs.
Simply enter the page link in the URL inspection tool at the top. Google Search Console will then show you a report on whether the URL is indexed and on Google.
If it is not, then you’ll see a ‘URL is not on Google’ message. To fix this, you can click the ‘Request Indexing’ button so Google can crawl and index your page.
3. Make Sure Your Website is Secure with HTTPS
Another important thing to check from a technical SEO framework standpoint is whether your website is secure or not.
Google and other search engines will give preference to sites that use HTTPS over those that use HTTP. To secure your site, you will need an SSL certificate to encrypt the connection between your website server and the user’s browser.
You can check this by looking for the padlock sign in your browser’s search bar at the top.
Most WordPress hosting companies now offer free SSL with all their plans. You can ask your host to see if they offer that.
Broken links are bad for your website’s SEO framework, and it negatively impacts your user experience. These are links that no longer exist and will return a 404 error.
Since search engine crawlers find different pages on your website by following internal links. A broken link can stop them from discovering new content. As a result, your page might not get indexed in the search results.
Similarly, if a visitor clicks on a link and is unable to find a page they’re looking for, then they might exit your website.
With All in One SEO (AIOSEO), you can easily find and fix broken links on your WordPress website.
It offers a powerful redirection manager that helps track 404 errors on your website and lets you set up permanent 301 redirects to fix broken links.
It is important that Google and other search engines only index one version of your website.
Your website can have different versions, but they should all point to one version. For example, you can have a site that has www and non-www version or HTTP and HTTPS version:
Whether you choose a www or non-www version, all the URLs should redirect to the primary WordPress URL. Otherwise, Google will consider each version as a different website.
This can negatively impact your overall SEO rankings. Search engines won’t know which version to index, and it could cause duplicate content issues.
You can check the primary URL for your site by going to Settings » General from the WordPress dashboard. Next, look at the web address in the ‘WordPress Address (URL)’ and ‘Site Address (URL)’ fields.
With AIOSEO, you can automatically set the proper canonical URL in your site header, so search engines will know your preference.
6. Use SEO-Friendly URL Structures
After setting a primary URL for search engines to index, you can now check the URL structure of your website.
URL structure plays an important role in your SEO. Having an SEO-friendly URL structure will help Google, Bing, and other search engines easily crawl your pages and understand your content.
Here’s an example of a bad URL structure:
https://www.example.com/category.php?id=42012
Instead, you should be using URLs that describe the content, like:
You can create SEO-friendly URLs by making sure that they are short and descriptive. Besides that, don’t forget to include a keyword in the permalinks, use hyphens to separate words, keep all the words in lowercase, and don’t use stop words.
Pro Tip: Don’t include numbers in your URL slugs, either. That way, you can update your content in the future
7. Ensure Your Site is Mobile Friendly
The next item in the technical SEO framework checklist is to ensure your WordPress site is mobile responsive.
With Google now going mobile-first, it will now index your site’s mobile version instead of the desktop version.
8. Check Your Website Speed and Improve Performance
Your website speed is also a critical part of your WordPress technical SEO framework. Google uses page load speed as a ranking factor and will rank fast-loading sites higher compared to slow-performing websites.
You can check website load time by running a site speed test. For instance, you can use MonsterInsights, which is the best Google Analytics plugin that shows a site speed report inside your WordPress dashboard.
After that, you can head to the Insights » Reports page from your WordPress admin panel. Next, you can go to the ‘Site Speed’ tab. Here, you’ll see an overall score for your website speed for desktop and mobile.
The report will also show other metrics that are important for measuring your website speed.
If you scroll down, then MonsterInsights offers recommendations and benchmark goals for each metric you should target.
A quick tip that you can use to improve your website speed is minifying your CSS and JavaScript files.
The term minified means reducing the size of website files by removing white spaces, lines, and unnecessary characters. When a user visits your website, different files are sent to the user’s browser, which includes CSS, HTML, and JavaScript files.
By reducing the file size, you can significantly improve website speed and performance. There are many WordPress plugins and hosting services that allow you to minify CSS and JavaScript files, like WP Rocket and SiteGround.
9. Improve Your Internal Linking Structure and Remove Orphaned Pages
Internal links play an important role in your website’s technical SEO framework. Search engines reward websites that have a proper internal linking structure without too many orphaned pages.
AIOSEO has a powerful SEO Link Assistant feature that makes it easy for you to discover link opportunities and even automate the process for you.
It is the best internal linking plugin for WordPress that crawls the links on your WordPress website and provides a detailed report. You can see the number of internal links, outbound links, and affiliate links for each post and page.
You can see all the link suggestions in one place, and it can even automatically go back and add internal links in your older posts with a single click.
10. Generate XML Sitemaps and Submit Them to Search Engines
Another important part of technical SEO framework is making it easier for search engines to find your content. One of the ways you can do that is by creating an XML sitemap.
It tells search engines about the important pages on your website. This way, search engine bots can crawl your site faster and index your content. While a sitemap won’t boost your rankings, it will improve the overall crawling and indexing process.
You can create and customize the sitemap using AIOSEO. The plugin will automatically generate a sitemap upon activation. Besides, it also lets you create a video sitemap, a news sitemap, an HTML sitemap, and an RSS sitemap.
Once you’ve created a sitemap, you can then submit it to different search engines using their webmaster tools.
For instance, Google Search Console gives the option to enter the sitemap URL and submit it to the search engine. To learn more, you can see our guide on how to submit your site to search engines.
Similarly, you can also add your site to Bing Webmaster Tool and then submit an XML sitemap to improve crawling and indexing.
11. Use Schema Markup for Rich Snippets
The next technical SEO framework item you should check is schema markup. It helps search engines understand your content better and how it will appear on the search results.
Search engines can use this information and display rich results. It also helps capture Google featured snippets, which can increase organic clicks and traffic.
For example, here’s how Google shows recipes, ingredients, ratings, cooking time, and other information for blog posts that use a recipe schema markup.
The plugin lets you choose the schema type depending on your content, and it takes care of the rest.
With AIOSEO, you can also add completely custom schema markups based on your needs using the WordPress custom schema generator feature. This can help you get star ratings, and other rich snippets in Google.
12. Optimize Your Robots.txt File for SEO
Robots.txt is a text file that specifies instructions for search engine bots on how to crawl your website. You can tell which pages to crawl and which pages to skip while crawling.
Here’s what a robots.txt file would look like for a WordPress site:
Adding a robots.txt file helps save the crawl quota. A search engine crawler will crawl a certain number of pages during a session. If they don’t finish crawling all the pages on your site, they will resume crawling in the next session.
This can slow down the indexing of your content, and it will appear in search results after some delay. That’s why optimizing the robots.txt file is an important component of the technical SEO framework.
You can disallow pages unnecessary pages like the WordPress admin area, theme folder, plugin files, and more. This way, you get to save the crawl quota and allow search engine bots to crawl even more pages.
On the other hand, you can add sitemaps and other important pages to robots.txt. This way, search engines will crawl and index them as quickly as possible.
A simple way of optimizing the robots.txt file is by using AIOSEO. You can enable custom robots.txt using the plugin and add rules to allow or disallow search engines to crawl.
13. Make Sure Google Doesn’t Flag Your Site for Malware
Another important technical SEO checklist item is to ensure your site isn’t flagged by Google for malware or unwanted software.
If your website is a security risk for users, then Google will show the following warning message:
This can be really bad for your WordPress SEO. It will keep people away from visiting your website, and impact your rankings, and overall website traffic.
To scan for malicious files on your website, you can use a WordPress security scanner. At WPBeginner, we use Sucuri as it is the best WordPress firewall and security plugin. It checks for vulnerabilities like malware, spam injection, malicious code, and helps clean up the website.
14. Use Server Side Rendering vs Client Side Rendering
Another technical SEO best practice is ensuring that your site’s JavaScript renders on the server side and not on the client side.
Server-side rendering is when the JavaScript files render on the website server. While client-side rendering is when the JavaScript files render in the user’s browser.
Client-side rendering is bad for your site’s user experience and SEO. All the burden of loading your site quickly falls on the visitor. Plus, search engine bots use JavaScript resources for crawling and indexing your content. This could result in JavaScript content being missed by crawlers and not included in the search engine index.
With server-side rendering, your website server ensures everything loads quickly. This way, you get a better user experience, faster page load speed, and reduce any risk of content being missed from indexing.
One way of ensuring that JavaScript is rendering on your site’s server is by running a site speed test. If your website speed is low, then it could be because of this issue. You can also look at crawled pages in Google Search Console and see if Google missed any content while crawling. If it did, then it could be because of JaveScript-related SEO issues.
That’s it. You’ve made it to the end of the list. You don’t need to go through each and every point in the technical SEO framework at once. Simply go one step at a time and work your way through the list.
It’s been a fascinating time here with WPLift team, and now I can finally reveal the major news that has had our whole team buzzing. Your favorite source for WordPress news, reviews, and how-tos is officially a proud member of the UnlimitedWP family. Who is UnlimitedWP? Launched in 2019, UnlimitedWP is an international WordPress development [...]
Do you want to remove the ‘powered by WordPress’ footer links on your site?
By default, most WordPress themes have a disclaimer in the footer, but this can make your site look unprofessional. It also leaves less space for your own links, copyright notice, and other content.
In this article, we will show you how to remove the powered by WordPress footer links.
Why Remove the WordPress Footer Credits?
The default WordPress themes use the footer area to show a ‘Proudly powered by WordPress’ disclaimer, which links to the official WordPress.org website.
Many theme developers take this further and add their own credits to the footer.
In the following image, you can see the disclaimer added by the Astra WordPress Theme.
While great for the software developers, this ‘Powered by….’ footer can make your site seem less professional, especially if you’re running a business website.
It also lets hackers know that you’re using WordPress, which could help them break into your site.
For example, if you’re not using a custom login URL, then hackers can simply add /wp-admin to your site’s address and get to your login page.
This disclaimer also links to an external site, so it encourages people to leave your website. This can have a negative impact on your pageviews and bounce rate.
Is it legal to remove WordPress footer credit links?
It is perfectly legal to remove the footer credits link on your site because WordPress is free, and it is released under the GPL license.
Basically, this license gives you the freedom to use, modify, and even distribute WordPress to other people.
Any WordPress plugin or theme that you download from the official WordPress directory is released under the same GPL license. In fact, even most commercial plugins and themes are released under GPL.
This means you’re free to customize WordPress in any way you want, including removing the footer credits from your business website, online store, or blog.
With that in mind, let’s see how you can remove the powered by WordPress footer links.
Video Tutorial
If you don’t want the video or need more instructions, then simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.
Method 1. Removing the ‘Powered by’ Link Using the Theme Settings
Most good theme authors know that users want to be able to edit the footer and remove the credit links, so many include it in their theme settings.
To see whether your theme has this option, go to Appearance » Customize in your WordPress admin dashboard.
You can now look for any settings that let you customize your site’s footer, and then click on that option.
For example, the Astra theme has a section called ‘Footer Builder.’
If you’re using this theme, then simply click on the ‘Footer’ section and select ‘Copyright.’
Doing so will open a small editor where you can change the footer text, or even delete it completely.
No matter how you remove the footer disclaimer, don’t forget to click on ‘Publish’ to make the change live on your site.
Method 2. Removing the ‘Powered by’ Credit Using Full Site Editing
If you’re using a block theme, then you can remove the footer disclaimer using Full Site Editing (FSE) and the block editor.
This is a quick and easy way to remove the ‘Powered by’ credit across your entire site, although it won’t work with all themes.
To launch the editor, go to Appearance » Editor.
Then, scroll to your website’s footer and click to select the ‘Powered by’ disclaimer.
You can now replace it with your own content, or you can even delete the disclaimer completely.
When you’re happy with how the footer looks, simply click on ‘Save.’ Now if you visit your site, you’ll see the change live.
Method 3. How To Remove the ‘Powered by’ Disclaimer Using a Page Builder
Many WordPress websites use the footer to communicate important information, such as their email address or phone number. In fact, visitors might scroll to the bottom of your site looking specifically for this content.
With that in mind, you may want to go one step further and replace the ‘Powered by’ text with a custom footer. This footer could contain links to your social media profiles, links to your affiliate partners, a list of your products, or other important information and links.
You can see the WPBeginner footer in the following image:
The best way to create a custom footer is by using SeedProd. It is the best page builder plugin and comes with over 180 professionally-designed templates, sections, and blocks that can help you customize every part of your WordPress blog or website.
It also has settings that allow you to create a global footer, sidebar, header, and more.
First, you need to install and activate SeedProd. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Note: There’s also a free version of SeedProd that allows you to create all kinds of pages using the drag-and-drop editor. However, we’ll be using the premium version of SeedProd since it comes with the advanced Theme Builder.
After activating the plugin, SeedProd will ask for your license key.
Once you’ve done that, go to SeedProd » Theme Builder. Here, click on the ‘Add New Theme Template’ button.
In the popup, type in a name for the new theme template.
Once you’ve done that, open the ‘Type’ dropdown and choose ‘Footer.’
SeedProd will show the new footer template across your entire site by default. However, you can limit it to specific pages or posts using the ‘Conditions’ settings.
For example, you may want to exclude the new footer from your landing pages, so it doesn’t distract from your main call to action.
When you’re happy with the information you’ve entered, click on ‘Save.’
This will load the SeedProd page builder interface.
At first, your template will show a blank screen on the right and your settings on the left. To start, click on the ‘Add Columns’ icon.
You can now choose the layout that you want to use for your footer. This allows you to organize your content into different columns.
You can use any layout you want, but for this guide, we’re using a three-column layout.
Next, you can edit the footer’s background so that it matches your WordPress theme, company branding, or logo.
To change the background color, simply click on the section next to ‘Background Color’ and then use the controls to choose a new color.
Another option is to upload a background image.
To do this, either click on ‘Use Your Own Image’ and then choose an image from the WordPress media library, or click on ‘Use a stock image.’
When you’re happy with the background, it’s time to add some content to the footer.
Simply drag any block from the left-hand menu and drop it onto your footer.
After adding a block, click to select that block in the main editor.
The left-hand menu will now show all of the settings for customizing the block.
Simply keep repeating these steps to add more blocks to your footer.
You can also change where each block appears by dragging them around your layout.
When you’re happy with your design, click on the ‘Save’ button.
Then, you can select ‘Publish’ to complete your design.
For your new footer to show up on your website, you’ll need to finish building your WordPress theme with SeedProd.
After building your theme, go to SeedProd » Theme Builder. Then, click on the ‘Enable SeedProd Theme’ switch.
Now, if you visit your website you’ll see the new footer live.
Once you’ve connected to your site, go to /wp-content/themes/ and then open the folder for your current theme or child theme.
Inside this folder, find the footer.php file and open it in a text editor such as Notepad.
In the text editor, look for a section of code that includes the ‘powered by’ text. For example, in the Twenty Twenty-One theme for WordPress, the code looks like this:
You can either delete this code entirely or customize it to suit your needs. For example, you may want to replace the ‘Proudly powered…’ disclaimer with your own copyright notice.
After making your changes, save the file and upload it to your server. If you check your site, then the footer credit will have disappeared.
Warning! Avoid the CSS Method at All Costs!
Some WordPress tutorial sites may show you a CSS method that uses display: none to hide the footer credit links.
While it looks simple, it’s very bad for your WordPress SEO.
Many spammers use this exact technique to hide links from visitors while still showing them to Google, in the hopes of getting higher rankings.
If you do hide the footer credit with CSS, then Google may flag you as a spammer and your site will lose search engine rankings. In the worst-case scenario, Google may even delete you from their index so you never appear in search results.
Instead, we strongly recommend using one of the four methods we showed above. If you can’t use any of these methods, then another option is hiring a WordPress developer to remove the footer credit for you, or you might change your WordPress theme.
WordPress events updates The first WordCamp to be held in Africa in 2023, WordCamp Entebbe, is well underway and set to take place on March 10-11. Don’t miss these other upcoming WordCamps: WordCamp Asia 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand, is only two weeks away! Check out the livestream schedule if you are attending virtually. // Team WPLift WORDPRESS NEWS AND ARTICLES [...]
Are you looking for the best WordPress Crossfit themes?
Considering the number of themes out there, choosing the right one can be quite overwhelming. You’ll have to find a balanced theme that has the right features and the perfect look for a health and fitness-related website.
In this article, we will share some of the best WordPress themes for Crossfit, health, and fitness websites.
Making a Crossfit Website Using WordPress
If you look around the health and fitness industry, you will notice many top brands using WordPress. That’s because WordPress is extremely flexible and easy to use.
WordPress is the most popular website builder in the world. It powers over 43% of all websites.
However, you need to make sure that you are using the right type of WordPress. Often people get confused between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org. You need to use WordPress.org to get all the features and functionality of WordPress.
To get started, you will need a domain name and WordPress hosting. A domain name is your site’s address on the web, like wpbeginner.com or google.com. Web hosting is the storage for all your website files.
We recommend using Bluehost for web hosting. They are one of the largest hosting companies in the world, and an official WordPress recommended hosting partner.
The best part is that WPBeginner users get a free domain name and free SSL certificate.
Next, you need to install a WordPress theme. Select a theme from our expert pick below and follow the instructions on how to install a WordPress theme guide.
Now that we’re ready, let’s check out some of the best WordPress themes for CrossFit and fitness websites.
This list contains both free and paid themes, and all of them are mobile responsive.
Astra is a popular WordPress theme with multiple templates. It has a built-in website demo for gym, CrossFit, and fitness websites. This includes sections for about me, awards, training, schedule, rates, image gallery, and more.
Astra has multiple layout choices allowing you to create a unique homepage layout and custom landing pages. To make it even easier, it works great with drag-and-drop page builders like Beaver Builder and Elementor.
Plus, Astra is designed for good WordPress search engine optimization (SEO). This helps your crossfit site to be found in search engines like Google.
SeedProd is the best WordPress website and theme builder on the market. It lets you make your own CrossFit and gym theme, and then you can use this custom theme for your website.
SeedProd is easy to use for anyone and requires no coding knowledge. It comes with a powerful drag-and-drop builder that you can use to design your theme, make your website, and create landing pages.
To make it more simple, SeedProd provides built-in theme templates for different business niches. These templates are ready-to-use, and you just need to replace the content to launch your site.
Divi is a powerful and stylish WordPress theme designed to create all types of WordPress websites. It has multiple ready-made layouts and Divi Builder support to create your own pages using powerful drag-and-drop tools.
It includes photo galleries, events, schedules, and an about section. This theme has custom widgets for social media integrations, featured posts, and more. Divi fully supports eCommerce and can be used to create an online store for your fitness products.
OceanWP is an all-purpose WordPress theme, including a ready-made website template for gyms, health, and fitness websites. It includes easy-to-manage sections to add instructors, classes, locations, and more. It also allows you to show different classes, training sessions, and pricing tables.
The theme setup is easy, and it also has a 1-click demo content installer. It has many flexible customization options to upload your own logo, choose custom colors, or change fonts. OceanWP is eCommerce-ready and optimized for SEO.
Ultra is a modern WordPress theme designed specifically for gyms, CrossFit, health, and fitness training businesses.
Its Fitness template comes with a built-in section for memberships, training, amenities, and apparel. It allows you to easily manage schedules, classes, and training sessions. It also includes an activity section where you can add different activities.
Ultra is a highly flexible WordPress theme with tons of options, multiple layouts, custom widgets, sidebars, and unlimited colors. Plus, it’s translation ready and can be used to create multilingual websites using a translation plugin such as WPML.
Landing is a modern multi-purpose WordPress theme designed to create one-page websites. It’s super flexible and comes with multiple ready-to-use pages that you can install with 1-click. It has multiple header styles, an events section, a portfolio, and eCommerce support.
Other features include a theme options panel, parallax background, video background, and Themify Builder.
7. Neve
Neve lets you tell your fitness story through your diet plan and photography. It’s a beautifully crafted WordPress theme with a minimalist design and gorgeous image galleries. It includes sections for portfolio, featured content, and eCommerce products.
Wellness also has a pain-free setup process and even includes a theme setup guide, so you can get online within minutes.
Aspire is a modern and stylish WordPress theme for gyms, fitness centers, CrossFit, and sports websites. It features a beautifully crafted homepage with a fullscreen header background and popup-style subscription box. It offers flexible options for different layouts, headers, templates, and more.
Other notable features include WooCommerce support, widget areas, custom page templates, photo galleries, etc.
Hestia Pro is an excellent WordPress multi-purpose theme that can be used for gyms, fitness, and health websites. It ships with a fullscreen image slider, an eCommerce-ready layout, a separate blog page, and call-to-action buttons. This theme has homepage sections for your featured content.
Hestia Pro comes with its own set of companion plugins that you can activate to add new features to your website. It’s fully compatible with drag-and-drop page builders such as Visual Composer. All the theme options can be easily set up using the live theme customizer.
With Hestia Pro, your site will always look great on mobile devices. The theme is fully responsive and retina ready.
VW Fitness is a free WordPress theme designed for gyms, fitness, and weight training websites. It includes a banner section, testimonials section, appointment form section, call to action button, and social media buttons.
All the theme options can be easily set up using the live theme customizer. It has a limited slider for the homepage. More features can be added using third-party WordPress plugins. For instance, you could easily add a contact form to your site.
Stack is a multi-purpose and metro designed theme. It makes a great CrossFit WordPress theme and can be easily used for gym fitness, CrossFit, or sports website.
It features a sidebar-based navigation menu, a custom logo, and social icons. Two key features of this theme are the masonry layout and infinite scrolling. It supports drag-and-drop page builders to design your own layout. Stack is easy to get started with and comes with a theme setup dashboard included.
Extra is a modern WordPress theme for personal trainers, gyms, and sports websites. It features a polished professional look with a beautiful slider and parallax effects. It includes custom page templates, unlimited color choices, multiple header layouts, and menu styles.
Inside, you will also find the Divi drag-and-drop page builder, sidebars, multiple layout choices, Google Fonts, several custom widgets, a custom admin panel, and more.
Consulting is a free WordPress theme perfect for fitness bloggers, CrossFit, and gym consultants. It includes multiple-page templates that allow you to show your classes, training, and schedule. It has a beautiful full-width homepage slider.
Consulting uses blurbs to display recent posts and featured content. All theme options can be set up using the live theme customizer.
Spencer is a stylish WordPress theme that can be used to create websites for CrossFit, gyms, and fitness businesses. It ships with a sticky navigation menu, newsletter sign-up form, fullscreen header background, and call to action button.
The theme setup is quite simple. The homepage uses a widgetized layout, so you just drag and drop content widgets to set it up. Spencer supports all popular page builder plugins out of the box.
Corner is an excellent WordPress multipurpose theme. It comes with a 2-column layout and a sidebar navigation menu where you can easily add your pages, welcome text, and social icons.
There’s a featured slider on the homepage to display photos. You can also add call-to-action buttons on slider images to redirect users to CrossFit and gym landing pages.
Moreover, it supports WooCommerce to sell gym equipment and collect payments online. The theme is easy to set up using page builder plugins and WordPress live customizer.
Listable is a WordPress theme that allows you to build a local directory of businesses and places. For instance, you could create a directory of local gyms, fitness training, and adventure events.
It lets users submit their listings, add listings to favorites, and manage their places from your WordPress site. And you can charge for a listing submission and service request to make money online.
This theme also includes beautiful colors and fonts, social media integration, and tons of customization options.
Pranayama Yoga is a free WordPress theme for yoga and health-related websites. It features a simple, spacious layout with bright colors. It includes a custom menu, a welcome banner, about information, courses, trainers, and testimonial sections.
It has footer widget areas and a right sidebar with custom widgets. All the theme options can be set up using the live theme customizer, and you can see a live preview of your website while making changes.
Inspiro is a multipurpose WordPress theme with a beautiful fullscreen video background, video gallery, and a lightbox popup to view videos. This makes it a great option to use videos to inspire your customers or promote your business.
Inspiro has a powerful portfolio section that you can use to showcase your gym inspiration, fitness videos, or photo galleries. It also includes uniquely designed templates and a drag-and-drop page builder to create your own layouts. It’s easy to customize and comes with a powerful theme options panel.
Flevr is a highly customizable WordPress multipurpose theme for all kinds of business websites. It features a clean white navigation menu on top of a fullscreen background image with a welcome message and a call to action button. The homepage uses a widgetized layout, which allows you to just drag and drop content widgets to create your homepage.
It also uses parallax effects on the homepage to create a visually stunning user experience. It includes multiple color choices, page templates, social media widgets, content discovery widgets, and a beautiful slider.
Poseidon is a free WordPress theme designed for health and fitness websites, sports blogs, and gyms. It has a minimal layout with a custom logo and navigation menu on top. It features a fullscreen image slideshow to grab the user’s attention.
It uses a magazine-style layout to display your blog posts on the homepage with post format support. The theme setup is straightforward, and the theme can be easily customized with the live customizer.
Breakthrough is an iconic and simple WordPress theme for weight training, CrossFit, and bodybuilding websites. It features a neat layout with a welcome message alongside the call to action button. It’s built on the robust Genesis Framework, so it’s a great theme for fast WordPress performance.
Inside you will also find beautiful page templates, custom widgets for social media, and eCommerce support. Breakthrough can be easily edited using the page builder or the live theme customizer.
Eclecticon is a portfolio WordPress theme to share your adventure, sports, and CrossFit portfolio. It has a clean, minimalist layout with a sidebar navigation menu and a fullscreen image slider. The theme homepage also utilizes beautiful parallax effects and CSS animations.
It has a theme options panel to manage the theme settings easily. Eclecticon fully supports eCommerce and uses responsive design to look great on all devices.
Float is another great choice for gyms, CrossFit, and fitness training websites. It’s a highly flexible WordPress theme featuring a modern layout with bold colors. It includes an easy theme setup with drag-and-drop options.
Inside you will find a 1-click demo installer, social media integration, custom logo upload, multilingual support, and more. It also includes beautiful templates for your homepage, blog, and photo galleries.
Indigo is a super flexible WordPress theme to start a blog or any other kind of website. It ships with several ready-made websites which you can install with one click. After that, you can just replace the content with your own, and you are good to go.
If you want to create your own layouts, then Indigo makes that easy too. It has ready-to-use modules that you can drag and drop on any page to create your own layouts. It includes beautiful typography, templates, sliders, and many customization options.
Meridian Fitness is a WordPress theme for health, fitness, and gym websites. It includes built-in sections for classes with schedules and trainers. This allows you to easily add a gym schedule, workout routines, and trainer profiles to your website.
It also includes custom widgets, multiple color schemes, a class schedule template, a parallax effect, and more. It’s easy to set up, and all the theme options can be configured using the live customizer.
Do you want to show Google, Facebook, or Yelp reviews in WordPress?
Customer reviews encourage people to trust your website and buy from your business. There are lots of third-party sites where potential customers can see your reviews, but it’s also a good idea to show this content on your own website.
In this article, we will show you how to display business reviews from Google, Facebook, and Yelp in your WordPress site.
Why You Should Display Business Reviews in WordPress
There are lots of different websites where customers can review your company such as Google, Yelp, and Facebook. However, potential customers will need to visit these third-party websites in order to see the reviews.
With that being said, it’s a good idea to add Google, Yelp, and Facebook reviews to your WordPress website so that everyone can see them. For example, you might show positive reviews on your WooCommerce product pages, or your About Us page.
These reviews can convince customers to trust your company, even if they haven’t bought from you before.
With that said, let’s see how you can easily add Yelp, Google, and Facebook reviews to WordPress. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the platform you want to use.
How to Show Google, Facebook, and Yelp Reviews in WordPress
You could simply copy and paste the best reviews into your site, and then show them using a customer review plugin. However, depending on the plugin you use, you may need to add new reviews manually, which can take a lot of time and effort.
There will also be a delay between customers posting on sites like Yelp and Facebook, and those reviews appearing on your WordPress website.
With that in mind, it’s a good idea to create a review feed that updates automatically using the Reviews Feed Pro plugin.
This single plugin allows you to show reviews from all the biggest review platforms.
It also comes with pre-designed templates, so you can display your reviews in different layouts including showcases, carousels, grids, and more.
The Reviews Feed automatically copies your website’s design so the reviews look like a natural part of your website, rather than content embedded from another platform.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, click on Reviews Feed in the left-hand menu. You can then add your Reviews Feed Pro license key and click on the ‘Activate’ button.
You’ll find the license key under your account on the Smash Balloon website.
After activating the plugin, you’re ready to show reviews from Google, Facebook, or Yelp.
Method 1. How to Show Yelp Reviews in WordPress
Yelp is a popular website where visitors can review restaurants, brands, services, products, and more.
If your business already has some positive Yelp reviews, then adding them to your website can get you more sales, members, appointments, and more.
Since Yelp is a public site, you can show reviews from any business that has a Yelp listing. For example, if you own a business listing blog or membership site, then you could show Yelp reviews for different local businesses on your website.
To add reviews to your website, you’ll need to create a Yelp API key. Simply go to the Yelp Developers page and type in your email address.
Then, click on the ‘Send Login Link’ button.
Note: If you don’t already have an account, then go to the Yelp signup page and follow the onscreen instructions to register.
After a few moments, Yelp will send a one-time login link to your email address. Simply open the email and use the ‘Click to Log in’ button.
This takes you to the Yelp Developer Portal.
In the toolbar, click on Manage API Access.
On this screen, type a name for your Yelp app into the ‘App Name’ field. This is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.
After that, open the ‘Industry’ dropdown and choose the industry that best reflects your website or business.
After that, type in your email address and add a description.
With that done, read the terms and conditions. If you’re happy to go ahead, then check the terms and conditions box, decide whether you want to get email updates from Yelp, and pass the captcha.
Finally, click on the ‘Create New App’ button.
After a few moments, you’ll see the following message ‘Great, your app has been created! Check your App ID and API Key below.’
Simply go to Reviews Feed » Settings in the WordPress dashboard.
Then, scroll to Manage API Keys and click on the small pencil icon next to ‘Yelp.’
In the popup, add your Yelp API key.
Then, click on the ‘Add’ button.
With that setup out of the way, you’re ready to add Yelp reviews to your website.
Simply go to Reviews Feed » All Feeds. Then, click on the ‘Add New’ button.
On the next screen, click on ‘Add New’ again.
In the popup that appears, select ‘Yelp’ and then click on the ‘Next’ button.
You can now add the URL of the Yelp page that you want to use. This can be a page that you own or any public third-party page.
After that, click on ‘Finish’.
Smash Balloon will now show this Yelp page as a possible source.
To go ahead and create the feed, simply check the box next to the Yelp page and then click on ‘Next.’
You can now choose a template to use for the review feed, such as a showcase carousel, grid carousel, or even a single review template.
After choosing a design, click on the ‘Next’ button.
Smash Balloon will now show the Yelp review feed in its editor, ready for you to fine-tune.
For instructions on how to customize the feed and then add it to your site, skip to the end of this guide.
Method 2. How to Show Google Reviews in WordPress
Google Reviews is another place where customers can review your business online. Once again, positive reviews are important for building trust and getting conversions, but these reviews can also affect where your site appears in the search results.
Lots of positive Google reviews and high rankings may improve your business’s search ranking, especially in local search results.
Google also shows your reviews on relevant search engine result pages.
By adding these reviews to your website, you can encourage people to visit your Google listing and leave you a positive review.
This may improve your WordPress SEO and the overall star rating that appears in relevant search engine results.
With that being said, let’s see how you can add Google reviews to your WordPress website.
To start, you’ll need to create a Google API key, so head over to the Google Console and sign in using your Google account.
Once you’re logged into the console, click on ‘Google Home.’
If you’re logging into the Google Console for the first time then you’ll need to accept the terms and conditions.
With that done, click on ‘New Project.’
You can now type in a name for the project. This is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.
Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Create’ button.
After that, click on the lined icon in the upper-left corner to open the menu.
In the menu, select ‘APIs and services’ and ‘Credentials.’
You will now see all your Google projects.
Simply find the project we just created and give it a click.
In the search field, start typing ‘Places API.’
When the right API appears, give it a click.
This takes you to a screen where you can activate the key for making Places API requests.
To do this, simply click on the ‘Enable’ button.
With that done, press the backwards arrow to return to the main Google Cloud Console dashboard. Here, click on ‘Create Credentials.’
Go ahead and select ‘API key’ from the dropdown menu.
After a few moments, you’ll see an ‘API key created’ popup.
You’ll need to add this information to your WordPress blog or website, so make a note of it.
By default, all of Google’s API keys are unrestricted. To stop other people from using the API key, you’ll need to restrict it by clicking the ‘Edit API Key’ link inside the popup.
This opens a screen showing all your Google API keys. Simply find the key you just created, and give it a click.
Note: If you closed the popup by accident, then don’t worry. You can reach the same screen by selecting ‘Credentials’ in the left-hand menu.
Under ‘Application restrictions,’ click on ‘HTTP referrers (websites).’
Under ‘Website Restrictions,’ click on ‘Add.’
You can now type in the address of your WooCommerce store or WordPress website, and then click on ‘Done.’
To make sure Smash Balloon can access the Places API, you’ll also need to type in www.googleapis.com and click on ‘Done.’
Under ‘API restrictions,’ select the button next to ‘Restrict key.’
With that done, click on the ‘Select APIs’ dropdown menu and check the box next to ‘Google Places API.’
Now we’re ready to click on ‘OK.’
The next step is adding the API key to your site. In the WordPress dashboard, go to Reviews Feed » Settings.
Under ‘Manage API Keys,’ click on the pencil icon next to ‘Google.’
In the popup, add your Google API key.
After that, click on the ‘Add’ button.
Now you’ve added an API key, you’re ready to create a feed showing all your Google Reviews.
To do this, go to Reviews Feed » All Feeds, and click on the ‘Add New’ button.
On the next screen, click on ‘Add New.’
In the popup that appears, click on ‘Google’ and then select ‘Next.’
Now you’ll need to enter the Place ID of the cafe, restaurant, or other venue that you want to use in your feed.
To get the ID, go to Google’s Place ID page and scroll to ‘Find the ID of a particular place.’
In the Google Maps search bar, start typing the address or name of the place that you want to feature. When the right place appears, give it a click.
Google will now show the place ID in a small popup.
Go ahead and copy the place ID.
Now, switch back to the WordPress dashboard and paste the ID into the ‘Enter Place ID’ field.
With that done, click on ‘Finish.’
To go ahead and create the feed, you need to check the box next to the Google place you just added, and then click on ‘Next.’
You can now choose the template you want to use for the review feed, and click on ‘Next.’
Smash Balloon will now create a feed showing all your Google reviews.
Do you want to change how the feed looks? Skip to the end of this post for a detailed step-step guide on how to fine-tune the Google Reviews feed, and then add it to your website.
Method 3. How to Show Facebook Reviews in WordPress
Many businesses, websites, and online stores use Facebook to connect with their audience. Facebook also has its own built-in review system, so you may want to add these reviews to your website.
Unlike Yelp and Google, your Facebook page belongs to you, so this is also a way to promote your profile and get more social media followers.
To create a Facebook review feed, go to Reviews Feed » All Feeds.
Then, click on the ‘Add New’ button.
On the next screen, click on ‘Add New’ again.
In the popup that appears, click on ‘Facebook’ and then select ‘Connect with Facebook.’
On the next screen, select the radio button next to ‘Page.’
Once you’re done with that, click on ‘Connect to Facebook.’
This opens a popup where you can log into your Facebook account and choose the pages where you’ll get the reviews from.
After that, we’re ready to click on ‘Next.’
Facebook will now show all the information that Smash Balloon will have access to and the actions it can perform.
To restrict Smash Balloon’s access to your Facebook page, just click any of the switches to turn it from ‘Yes’ to ‘No.’ However, be aware that this can affect the content that appears on your website.
With that in mind, it’s a good idea to leave all the switches enabled.
When you’re happy with how the Facebook permissions are set up, click on ‘Done.’
After a few moments, you should see a message confirming that you’ve connected your WordPress website and your Facebook page.
That done, click on the ‘OK’ button.
Smash Balloon will automatically take you back to the WordPress dashboard, where you’ll see the Facebook page you just connected to your website.
Simply select the checkbox next to the Facebook page and then click on the ‘Next’ button.
You can now choose the template you want to use for the Facebook reviews feed.
After making the decision, click on ‘Next.’
Smash Balloon will now create a feed showing all your Facebook reviews.
Customizing Your Google, Facebook, or Yelp Review Feed
Smash Balloon automatically copies your WordPress theme so any reviews feed you create will fit perfectly with your site’s design. However, Smash Balloon also has an advanced feed editor so you can fine-tune every part of the feed.
No matter whether you create a feed using Google, Facebook, or Yelp, Smash Balloon will open its feed editor automatically.
Note: If you accidentally closed the editor then don’t panic. Simply go to Reviews Feed » All Feeds in the WordPress dashboard, and then click on the ‘Edit’ icon next to the feed.
Smash Balloon shows a live preview of your review feed to the right. On the left is a menu that shows the different settings that you can use to change how the feed looks.
To see what changes you can make, start by clicking on ‘Layout’ in the left-hand menu. Here, you can choose from a Grid, Masonry, or Carousel layout.
As you click on the different layouts, the live preview will automatically update to show the new layout. This makes it easy to try different layouts and find the one you prefer.
You can also change the spacing, how many reviews you include in the feed, and the number of characters WordPress shows from each review.
As you make changes, remember that the feed may look different on smartphones and tablets, compared to desktop computers.
With that being said, it’s a good idea to test the mobile version of your feed using the row of buttons in the right-hand corner. In this way, you can create a review feed that looks just as good on smartphones and tablets, as it does on desktop computers.
Finally, if you select the Carousel layout then you can change how the reviews scroll using the ‘Pagination’ settings.
For example, you can enable autoplay so the reviews scroll automatically or increase the interval so visitors have more time to read each review.
When you’re happy with these changes, click on the small arrow next to ‘Customize.’
This takes you back to the main Smash Balloon review feed editor.
The next setting you can explore is ‘Header,’ which controls the text that appears at the top of your feed.
By default, Smash Balloon shows a ‘Review’ headline, your average star rating, and a ‘Write a review’ button.
This header helps visitors understand the content, while also encouraging them to leave their own review. However, if you prefer then you can remove the header using the ‘Enable’ toggle.
If you do show the header, then you can add or remove content using the Heading, Button, and Average Review Rating checkboxes.
To change the padding and margins, simply use the settings under ‘Element Header Spacing.’
If you want to change any of the text that appears in the header, then simply click on either Heading, Button, or Average Review Rating. This takes you to an area where you can change the text color, size, and more.
You can also replace the standard text with your own custom messaging by typing into the ‘Content’ field.
When you’re ready to return to the main editor screen, just click on the ‘Customize’ link at the top of the left-hand menu.
The next setting you can look at is ‘Reviews,’ so give this option a click. Here, you can choose between ‘Post Style’ and ‘Edit Individual Elements.’
If you select ‘Post Style,’ then you can change how the individual reviews look inside the feed. For example, you can switch to a boxed layout, add a shadow, and change the corner radius to create curved edges.
As you make changes, the preview updates automatically so you can try different settings to see what looks the best on your website.
If you choose ‘Edit Individual Elements,’ then you’ll see all the different content that Reviews Feed Pro includes in each review such as rating, author and date, and the review text.
To remove a piece of content, just click to uncheck its box.
You can also customize how each type of content looks by clicking on it.
For example, in the following image, we’ve changed the color and size of the review content, known as the ‘Review Paragraph.’
When you’re happy with how the review feed looks, click on ‘Customize’ to return to the main Smash Balloon editor.
You can now move to the next settings screen by selecting ‘Load More Button.’
The ‘Load More’ button allows visitors to scroll through more reviews, so the plugin adds it by default. Since it’s such an important button, you may want to help it stand out by changing the background color, hover state, label, margins, and more.
You can also replace the default ‘Load More’ text with your own messaging by typing into the ‘Text’ field.
If you prefer, then you can remove the button completely by clicking the ‘Enable’ toggle.
When you’re happy with how the review feed looks, don’t forget to click on ‘Save.’ With that out of the way, you’re ready to add Google, Facebook, or Yelp reviews to your site.
How to Add Reviews on Your WordPress Website
Now you can add the review feed to your site using a block, widget, or shortcode.
If you’ve created more than one feed using Reviews Feed Pro, then you’ll need to know the feed’s shortcode if you’re going to use a widget or block.
To get this information, go to Reviews Feed » All Feeds and then look at the value under ‘Shortcode.’ You’ll need to add this code to the block or widget, so make a note of it.
In the following image, we’ll need to use [reviews-feed feed=2]
If you want to embed the feed in a page or post, then you can use the Reviews Feed block.
Just open the page or post where you want to show your Yelp, Google, or Facebook reviews. Then, click on the ‘+’ icon to add a new block and start typing ‘Reviews Feed.’
When the right block appears, click to add it to the page or post.
The block will show one of your review feeds by default. If you want to show a different feed, then find ‘Shortcode Settings’ in the right-hand menu.
Here, simply add the shortcode you got earlier, and then click on ‘Apply Changes.’
If you’re happy with how the review feed looks, then you can go ahead and publish or update the page.
Another option is to add the Reviews Feed widget to your website. This is a great way to show positive customer reviews on every page of your site. For example, you might add the widget to the sidebar or WordPress footer.
To add the Reviews Feed widget to your site, head over to Appearance » Widgets. You can then click on the blue ‘+’ icon towards the top of the screen.
In the panel that appears, type in ‘Reviews Feed’ to find the right widget.
Then, simply drag the widget onto the area where you want to show the reviews, such as the sidebar or similar section.
The widget will automatically show one of the feeds you created using the Reviews Feed plugin. If this isn’t the feed you want to display, then type the feed’s shortcode into the ‘Shortcode Settings’ box.
After that, click on ‘Apply Changes.’
You can now make the widget live by clicking on the ‘Update’ button. For more information, please see our step-by-step guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.
Another option is embedding the Google, Facebook, or Yelp reviews on any page, post, or widget-ready area using the shortcode.
Simply go to Reviews Feed » All Feeds and copy the code in the ‘Shortcode’ column. You can now add this code to any Shortcode block.
Are you using a block-enabled theme? Then you can use the full-site editor to add the Reviews Feed block anywhere on your website.
In the WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance » Editor.
By default, the full-site editor will show the theme’s home template. If you want to add the Google, Facebook, or Yelp feed to a different template, then click on the arrow next to ‘Home.’
You can then choose any design from the dropdown, such as the footer template.
After choosing a template, simply hover your mouse over the area where you want to show the reviews.
Then, click on the ‘+’ button.
Once you’ve done that, type in ‘Reviews Feed.’
When the right block appears, click to add it to the template.
As always, Reviews Feed will show a feed by default. You can change this feed by adding a shortcode following the same process described above.
Recently one of our readers asked if there is an easy way to add box shadows in WordPress?
Shadows can make your most important content stand out and grab your visitors’ attention. They can also help flat website designs appear more engaging and interesting.
In this article, we will show you how to easily add box shadows in WordPress, step by step.
Why Add Box Shadows in WordPress?
A box shadow, sometimes also known as a drop shadow, is a visual effect that makes it look like an onscreen object is casting a shadow.
We tend to pay more attention to objects that appear closer to us. That’s why many website owners add box shadows to their most important content to make it look like it’s hovering above the page.
For example, if you add a big shadow to a call to action button, then it will look physically closer to the visitor. This will draw the person’s attention toward this important button.
With that said, let’s see how you can add box shadows to your WordPress blog or website. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.
Method 1. How to Add Box Shadows Using Code (Recommended)
When adding box shadow, the best practice is to only add it on your most important website elements. If you add a unique shadow effect to each WordPress block, then it can make your site look messy and confusing.
It’s also important that you keep your box shadows consistent across the site. The best way to do this is by defining the style in CSS using WPCode.
WPCode is the best code snippets plugin used by over 1 million WordPress websites. It makes it easy to add custom code in WordPress without having to edit the functions.php file.
With WPCode, even beginners can edit their website’s code without risking mistakes and typos that can cause many common WordPress errors.
In the above snippet, you may need to replace the px values depending on the kind of shadow you want to create.
To help you out, here’s what the different px values mean, going from left-to-right:
Horizontal offset. When you set a positive value, the shadow gets pushed to the left. If you type in a negative value like -5px, then the shadow will be pushed to the right. If you don’t want to add a horizontal offset, then you can use 0px instead.
Vertical offset. If you use a positive value, then the shadow will be pushed downwards. If you type in a negative value then the shadow will be pushed upwards. If you don’t want to offset the shadow vertically, then just type in 0px.
Blur radius. This blurs the shadow so that it doesn’t have any harsh edges. The higher the value, the greater the blur effect. If you prefer to use sharp edges, then type in 0px.
Spread radius. The higher the value, the greater the shadow’s spread. This value is optional, so skip this one if you don’t want to show a spread.
Color. Although grey is the most common color for shadows, you can use any color you want by typing in a hex code. If you’re not sure what code to use, then you can explore different colors using a resource like HTML Color Codes.
When you’re happy with the snippet, scroll to the ‘Insertion’ section. WPCode can add your code to different locations, such as after every post, frontend only, or admin only.
We want to use the custom CSS code across our entire WordPress website, so click on ‘Auto Insert’ if it isn’t already selected. Then, open the ‘Location’ dropdown menu and choose ‘Site Wide Header.’
After that, you’re ready to scroll to the top of the screen and click on the ‘Inactive’ toggle, so it changes to ‘Active.’
Finally, click on ‘Save Snippet’ to make the CSS snippet live.
Now, you can add the custom CSS class to any block.
In the WordPress content editor, simply select the block where you want to add a box shadow. Then, in the right-hand menu click to expand the ‘Advanced’ section.
Here, you’ll see fields where you can add different classes.
In ‘Additional CSS Class(es),’ type in shadow-effect.
When you’re ready to publish the box shadow, just click on the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button.
Now if you visit your website, you’ll see the box shadow live.
Method 2. Add a Box Shadow Using a Free Plugin (Quick and Easy)
If you’re not comfortable writing code, then you might prefer to create shadows using Drop Shadow Box. This free plugin allows you to add box shadows to any block using the built-in WordPress page and post editor.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
There are no settings to configure, so you can start using this plugin straight away.
To add a drop shadow, simply click on the ‘+’ icon and start typing in ‘Drop Shadow Box.’ When the right block appears, give it a click to add it to the page or post.
This adds the drop shadow as an empty box, so the next step is adding some content.
To do this, go ahead and click on the ‘+’ inside the Drop Shadow Box block.
Then, simply add the block you want to use and configure it as normal.
For example, in the following image we’ve added an Image block and selected a picture from the WordPress media library.
With that done, click to select the Drop Shadow Box block. In the right-hand menu, you’ll see all the settings you can use to style this block.
WordPress sets the shadow’s width automatically but you can change this by opening the ‘Width’ dropdown and then choosing either ‘Pixels’ or ‘%.’
You can then resize it using the settings that appear.
The Drop Box Shadow plugin comes with a few different effects such as curved edges and an eye-catching ‘Perspective’ effect.
To preview the different effects, simply open the ‘Effect’ dropdown and choose from the list. The preview will update automatically so you can try different styles to see what you prefer.
You can also change whether the plugin shows the shadow inside the box, outside the box, or both using the ‘Inside Shadow’ and ‘Outside Shadow’ toggles.
After that, you can change the color of the box and border using the settings under the ‘Colors’ header.
Just be aware that ‘Background’ refers to the inside of the Drop Shadow Box, while ‘Border’ appears outside of the block.
If you want to create a softer, curved shadow box then you can enable the ‘Rounded corners’ toggle. Finally, you can change the alignment and padding, similar to how you customize other blocks in WordPress.
To create more box shadows, just follow the same process described above.
When you’re happy with how the page looks, simply click on ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ to make all your new box shadows live.
Method 3. Add a Box Shadow Using a Page Builder (Advanced)
If you want to add box shadows to landing pages, custom homepages, or any part of your WordPress theme, then we recommend using a page builder plugin.
It also lets you add box shadows to any block using its advanced drag-and-drop editor.
First, you need to install and activate the SeedProd plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Note: There’s also a premium version of SeedProd that comes with more professionally-designed templates, advanced features, and WooCommerce integration. However, we’ll be using the free version as it has everything you need to add box shadows in WordPress.
After activating the plugin, SeedProd will ask for your license key.
All of SeedProd’s templates are easy to customize, so you can use any design you want.
When you find a template that you like, simply hover your mouse over it and click on the checkmark icon.
You can now type in a name for your landing page into the ‘Page Name’ field. SeedProd will automatically create a ‘Page URL’ using the page name.
It’s smart to include relevant keywords in your URL wherever possible, as this can help search engines understand what the page is about. This will often improve your WordPress SEO.
To change the page’s automatically-generated URL, simply type into the ‘Page URL’ field.
When you’re happy with the information you’ve typed in, click on ‘Save and Start Editing the Page.’ This will load the SeedProd page builder interface.
This simple drag-and-drop builder shows a live preview of your page design to the right. On the left is a menu showing all the different blocks and sections you can add to the page.
When you find a block that you want to add, simply drag and drop it onto your template.
To customize a block, go ahead and click to select that block in the SeedProd editor. The left-hand menu will now update to show all the settings you can use to customize the block.
For example, if you click on a Headline block then you can type in your own text, or change the text color and font size.
As you’re building the page, you can move blocks around your layout by dragging and dropping them. For more detailed instructions, please see our guide on how to create a landing page with WordPress.
To create a box shadow, click to select any block in the SeedProd page editor. The settings in the left-hand menu may vary between blocks, but you’ll typically need to click on an ‘Advanced’ tab.
Here, look for a ‘Shadow’ dropdown menu under the ‘Styles’ section. Simply open this dropdown and choose a shadow style such as Hairline, Medium, or 2X Large.
The preview will update automatically, so you can try different styles to see what looks the best on your page design.
If you don’t want to use any of the ready-made styles, then click on ‘Custom.’
This adds some new settings where you can change the color, blur, spread, and position of the custom shadow.
That done, you can continue working on the page by adding more blocks and box shadows.
When you’re happy with how the page looks, click the ‘Save’ button and then choose ‘Publish’ to make it live.
Method 4. How to Add a Box Shadow Using CSS Hero (Premium Plugin)
If you’re not comfortable working with code but still want to create advanced box shadows, then you can try CSS Hero. This premium plugin allows you to fine-tune every part of your WordPress theme without having to write a single line of code.
CSS Hero allows you to create a unique shadow for each block, so it’s also a great choice if you want to create lots of different shadow effects.
Upon activation, you’ll see a ‘Proceed to Product Activation’ button at the top of the screen. Go ahead and click on this button.
This will take you to the CSS Hero website where you can log into your account and get a license key. Simply follow the onscreen instructions, and you’ll be redirected back to your site in a few clicks.
Next, click the ‘Customize with CSS Hero’ text in the WordPress admin toolbar.
This will open the CSS Hero editor.
By default, clicking on any piece of content will open a panel with all the settings you can use to customize that content.
This is great if you want to add a box shadow to your website’s homepage. However, if you want to customize any other page then you’ll need to switch from ‘Select’ mode to ‘Navigate’ mode, as this allows you to interact with menus, links, and other content as normal.
To do this, click on the ‘Select / Navigate’ toggle in the toolbar so that it shows ‘Navigate.’
You can now navigate to the page or post where you want to add the shadow.
As soon as you reach that page, go ahead and click on the ‘Select / Navigate’ toggle again so that it shows ‘Select.’
With that done, click on the paragraph, image, button, or any other content where you want to add a box shadow.
In the left-hand panel, click on ‘Extra.’
You can now go ahead and click on ‘Make Shadow,’ which shows all the settings you can use to create a box shadow.
To start, you can change whether the shadow appears inside or outside the block using the ‘Shadow Position’ settings.
After making this decision, you can fine-tune the shadow’s orientation using the small dot in the ‘Orientation’ box.
Simply drag and drop the dot into a new position to see it move in the live preview.
When you’re happy with the shadow’s position, you can change its color, blur, and spread.
CSS Hero will show these changes immediately, so you can try different settings to see what looks the best.
To add a box shadow to other blocks, just follow the same process described above.
When you’re happy with how the page looks, click on ‘Save & Publish’ to make it live.
Are you wondering what to add to the footer of your WordPress site?
The footer is the area at the bottom of your website. Although it’s easy to overlook, the footer can improve the user experience on your site in lots of significant ways.
In this checklist, we will share the top things that you should add to the footer of your WordPress website.
What is the Footer in WordPress?
The footer is the area that appears below the content part of your website. It is a common website design feature used by millions of websites.
‘Footer’ can also refer to the footer code area. Third-party services like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and many others may ask you to add code snippets to your website’s footer.
This sort of footer code doesn’t appear to visitors but it allows you to add features, services, and other content to your WordPress website.
With so many options, beginners may struggle to decide what to add to the footer area. As a result, many website owners miss out on opportunities to improve their sites and provide a better visitor experience.
That being said, let’s take a look at some of the things to add to the footer of your WordPress site, and how to make it more useful.
Here are all the things we’ll add, so feel free to jump straight to the items that interest you.
1. Adding Links to The Footer of Your WordPress Site
Many websites add links to the footer area. This helps visitors find your site’s most important content such as the about page, products page, checkout, contact form, and more.
All popular WordPress themes come with a footer widget area where you can add different content and elements.
To add links to the footer area, go to the Appearance » Menus page and click on the ‘create a new menu’ link.
After that, type in a name for the menu. This is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.
With that done, click on the ‘Create Menu’ button.
Now, check the box next to each item that you want to add to the menu.
Then, click on ‘Add to Menu.’
When you’re happy with how the menu is set up, click on the ‘Save Menu’ button to store your changes. For more help, see our guide on how to create navigation menus in WordPress.
Now you’ve created a menu, let’s add it to the footer area of your website by going to Appearance » Widgets. Here, click on the blue ‘+’ button.
In the ‘Search’ field, type in ‘Navigation Menu.’
When the right block appears, drag and drop it onto the ‘Footer’ or similar area.
After that, open the Select Menu’ dropdown and choose the footer menu you created earlier.
You may also want to type in a title, which will appear above the links in your website’s footer.
With that done, click on the ‘Update’ button.
Now, if you visit your website you’ll see all the links in the footer area.
You can also add links to the footer using a drag-and-drop page builder plugin like SeedProd. You can even create different footers for individual WordPress pages.
Adding a Menu to Your Footer with the Full-Site Editor
If you’re using a block-based theme such as ThemeIsle Hestia Pro or Twenty Twenty-Three, then the process of adding a menu to the footer is slightly different.
Simply create a navigation menu following the same process described above. Then, go to Themes »Editor in the WordPress dashboard to open the full-site editor.
Here, click on the downwards-pointing arrow in the toolbar and select the ‘Footer’ template.
In the footer area, go ahead and click on the ‘+’ button to add a new block.
In the ‘Search’ bar, type in ‘Navigation.’
When the right block appears, click to add it to the footer area.
The full-site editor will show one of your navigation menus by default.
If you want to show a different menu instead, then open the ‘Select menu’ dropdown in the right-hand panel and choose the menu you want to use.
When you’re happy with how the menu looks, click on ‘Save’ to make your changes live.
2. Adding Code in WordPress Footer
Sometimes you may need to add snippets to your WordPress blog or website’s footer.
You could edit your theme files directly and paste the new code in the footer.php template. However, this isn’t recommended as the custom code will disappear if you change the WordPress theme, or update that theme.
Editing your theme files directly can also be risky. Even a simple typo or mistake could cause lots of common WordPress errors.
The best way to add code in the WordPress footer is by using a code snippets plugin. WPCode is the best code snippets plugin for WordPress. It makes it easy to insert code into your WordPress site’s headers and footers without needing to edit your theme files.
First, you need to install and activate the WPCode plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to Code Snippets » Header & Footer. From here you can paste your code snippet into the ‘Footer’ box.
To comply with GDPR and other privacy-related laws in different countries, you need to add a privacy policy page in WordPress and then link to it from all the other pages.
Since the footer appears across your entire website, it’s the perfect place to add this URL.
First, you need to go to Settings » Privacy in the admin area. You’ll notice that WordPress has already created a Privacy Policy page draft for you.
To use the default Privacy Policy page, simply click on ‘Use This Page.’ If you want to use a different page instead, then open the dropdown menu and choose a new page from the list.
You can also create a new privacy policy page from this screen. Simply click on the ‘Create’ button and WordPress will generate a new post with some basic privacy policy text.
No matter how you create the privacy policy page, you can edit it just like any other page in WordPress. For example, you can add more information about your requirements, and terms and conditions.
When you’re happy with the information you’ve entered, click on the ‘Publish’ button to make the privacy policy live.
With that done, you’ll need to add a link to your website’s footer. To add a navigation menu to the footer area, simply follow the same process described above.
4. Adding Copyright Date in WordPress Footer
You may also want to add a copyright date in the WordPress footer area to let visitors know that your content is copyrighted. One way to do this is by simply adding the text to your theme settings.
Many top WordPress themes allow you to add text in the footer area, so it’s worth checking whether your theme has this setting.
Simply go to the Appearance » Customize page and look for any footer settings in the left-hand menu. These are usually labeled ‘Footer Options,’ ‘Footer Settings’ or similar.
To add the copyright symbol, simply paste the following into the ‘Footer Credits,’ ‘Copyright Text’ or similar section.
The WordPress Theme Customizer will update automatically so you can see how the copyright text will look on your website.
Depending on your theme, you may also be able to change the font size and text alignment using the theme settings.
If you’re happy with how the copyright notice looks, then click on the ‘Publish’ button to make your changes live.
Pro Tip: With this approach, you’ll still need to update the copyright notice every year. To add the new year automatically, see our guide on how to add a dynamic copyright date in the WordPress footer.
Adding a Copyright Date to Your Footer with the Full-Site Editor
If you’re using a block-enabled theme, then it’s easy to add a copyright date to the footer. Simply go to Themes »Editor to open the full-site editor.
Then, scroll to the footer section and click on the ‘+’ to add a new block. You can now start typing in ‘Shortcode’ and select the right block when it appears.
After that, simply click on the ‘Save’ button to make the copyright notice live.
5. Remove Powered by Links from Footer in WordPress
Some free WordPress themes add links to the footer area. Typically this is a ‘Powered by WordPress’ disclaimer that links to the official WordPress website, but some theme developers also include links to their own websites.
These outgoing links encourage visitors to leave your website and can have a negative effect on your WordPress SEO. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to remove them from the footer area by going to Appearance » Customize.
Some themes make it difficult to remove these links so you may have to spend time looking through the different settings.
To start, we recommend looking for any settings labeled ‘Footer Options,’ ‘Footer & Copyright Options,’ or similar.
Here, you should be able to delete the links or even replace them with your own URLs.
Some themes hard-code the links in the theme files and don’t give you the option to remove them using the WordPress Customizer.
Removing Powered By Links with the Full-Site Editor
To remove the ‘Powered By’ links in a block-enabled theme, simply open the full-site editor by following the same process described above.
In the editor, find the ‘Proudly powered by WordPress’ or similar text. You can replace this with your own text by typing into the ‘Paragraph’ block.
If you want to remove the text completely, then simply click to select the ‘Paragraph’ block. After that, click on the three-dotted ‘options’ button.
Finally, click on ‘Remove Paragraph’ to delete the block.
You can then go ahead and click on ‘Save.’ Now, if you visit your website you’ll see that this text has been removed.
6. How to Add Instagram Feed in WordPress Footer
Do you regularly post beautiful photos and videos to Instagram?
People won’t see your Instagram content if they just visit your website. With that in mind, you may want to show recent Instagram photos in your website’s footer.
This is an easy way to promote your social media page and encourage more people to follow you on Instagram.
After adding the social media feed to your footer, Smash Balloon will fetch new Instagram photos automatically. In this way, your footer will always show your latest Instagram photos to the people who visit your website.
Smash Balloon has all the tools you need to fine-tune how the Instagram feed looks in your footer. For example, you can choose between different layouts, add a ‘Follow’ button, optimize your feed for mobile devices, and more with the user-friendly Smash Balloon editor.
When you’re happy with how the feed looks, it’s time to add it to your website’s footer. Simply go to Appearance » Widgets and click on the blue ‘+’ button.
In the search field, type in ‘Instagram Feed’ to find the right block. Just be aware that WordPress has a built-in Instagram Feed button, so make sure you use the block that has the official Instagram logo.
You can now drag and drop the block onto your site’s footer.
With that done, simply click on ‘Update.’ After that, you can visit your website to see your Instagram feed in the footer.
Adding an Instagram Feed with the Full-Site Editor
It’s easy to add the Smash Balloon Instagram feed to a block-enabled WordPress theme.
Simply open the full-site editor following the exact same process described above, and then click on the ‘+’ button in the footer template.
With that done, type in ‘Instagram Feed’ and select the right block when it appears to add it to the footer.
The full-site editor will automatically show the Instagram feed you created.
With that done, simply click on ‘Save’ to make the Instagram feed live.
7. Add a Sticky Footer Bar in WordPress
Want to show special offers or notifications in the footer area?
You can create a footer bar that stays stuck to the bottom of the screen as the visitor scrolls.
To create this kind of sticky footer bar, you’ll need OptinMonster. It is the best conversion optimization software in the market and allows you to turn website visitors with a high bounce rate into users and customers.
OptinMonster also comes with powerful display rules so you can show personalized custom messages in your website’s footer.
After that, install and activate the OptinMonster plugin on your WordPress website. Upon activation, select Connect Your Existing Account.
You can now type in the email address and password for your OptinMonster account.
Once connected, go to the OptinMonster » Campaigns page and click on the ‘Create your first campaign’ or ‘Add New’ button.
On the next screen, choose ‘Floating Bar’ as your campaign type and then select a template.
To preview an OptinMonster template, simply hover your mouse over it and then click on the ‘Preview’ button.
When you find a template you like, click on its ‘Use Template’ button.
You can then type in a name for the campaign. This is just for your reference so you can use any title you want.
With that done, click on Start Building.
This will take you to OptinMonster’s drag-and-drop campaign builder where you can design the footer bar. Simply click on any element you want to edit, or drag and drop new blocks from the left-hand column.
When you’re happy with how the campaign looks, simply click on the ‘Publish’ button.
Then, select ‘Publish’ to make the campaign live.
You can now select the ‘Save’ button to store your changes and then click on the ‘X’ in the upper-right corner to close the OptinMonster campaign builder.
Back in the WordPress dashboard, open the ‘Status’ dropdown and select ‘Published.’
Finally, click on ‘Save.
Now, visit your WordPress website to see the floating footer bar in action.
You can use OptinMonster to create all kinds of high-converting campaigns including slide-in footer popups, countdown timers, and targeted footer notifications that can help you recover abandoned cart sales.
8. Add Social Buttons in WordPress Footer
Another good way to use the footer space in your WordPress theme is by displaying social media icons. This is an easy way to promote your different profiles and get more followers on Twitter, Facebook, and other popular platforms.
The best way to add these buttons is by using the Social Icons Widget plugin. This plugin supports all the major social networks and comes with multiple icon styles that you can choose from.
After activating Social Icons Widget, go to the Appearance » Widgets page. You can then click on the ‘+’ button and search for ‘Social Icons Block.’
When the right block appears, drag and drop it onto the footer area.
By default, the Social Icons Block already has a few social media icons built-in.
To link any of these icons to your own social profiles, simply give it a click. In the little bar that appears, type in the URL of the page you want to promote.
Want to use a different icon for this social media platform?
Then simply click on the ‘Edit Details’ link. This opens a window where you can choose a new image for the social icon.
Simply repeat this process for each built-in social media icon.
If you want to remove one of these default icons, then click on the ‘Delete icon.’
There are countless social media platforms and other websites that you may want to add to the footer area.
To do this, click on the ‘+’ button.
You can now choose a social media icon and add a link by following the same process described above.
When you’re happy with how the social media icons are set up, click on ‘Update.’ Now, simply visit your website and scroll to the footer area to see the social buttons in action.
Bonus: Want to add more social features to your website? Take a look at our expert pick of the best social media plugins for WordPress to grow your audience.
Adding Social Buttons with the Full-Site Editor
Are you using a block-enabled theme? Then you can add social icons to the footer by going to Themes »Editor.
In the footer, click on the ‘+’ button and then type in ‘Social Icons block.’
When the right block appears, click to add it to the footer.
This adds a block with the default social icons.
You can now customize these icons and add new social buttons, by following the same process described above.
When you’re happy with how the buttons look, simply click on the ‘Save’ button. Now if you visit your website you’ll see the social icons in the block-enabled footer.
9. Add a Phone Number in WordPress Footer
If you offer customer support over the phone, then adding your phone number in the WordPress footer area can help users contact you.
For this, you’ll need a business phone number. We recommend using Nextiva, which is the best business phone service for small businesses.
Nextiva allows you to make cheaper calls and use advanced features like call forwarding, unlimited free domestic calling, voicemail to email and text, and more. You can also use the same number on multiple devices and handsets, and manage calls from any device that has an internet connection.
Once you have a business phone number, you’ll need to add it to your website. The easiest way is by using the WP Call Button plugin, which adds a click-to-call button to your WordPress site.
After activating the plugin, go to Settings » WP Call Button in the WordPress dashboard.
Here, click on the ‘Call Now Button Status’ switch so it shows ‘Active.’
Next, type your business phone number into the ‘Phone Number’ field.
By default, the button shows ‘Call Us’ text but you can replace this with your own custom messaging by typing into the ‘Call Button Text’ field.
After that, scroll to the Call Button Position section and choose where you want to show the button on your website. For example, you can show the button in the bottom-right corner, or create a banner that covers the whole footer area.
When you’re happy with how the button is set up, click on ‘Save Changes.’ After that, simply head over to your website to see the call-to-click button in action.
Your website’s footer doesn’t have to be a dead-end. If you’ve added a navigation menu following the process described above, then you’re off to a great start. However, you can also encourage customers to connect with you by adding a contact form to the footer area.
WPForms is the best WordPress contact form plugin and comes with a ready-made Simple Contact Form template that allows you to create a contact form with just a few clicks.
After activating the plugin, go to WPForms » Add New and type in a name for the contact form. This is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.
Simply find the ‘Simple Contact Form’ template and click on its ‘Use Template’ button.
WPForms will now open the template in its form builder. The template already has all the fields you’ll typically need, but you can add more fields by dragging them from the left-hand menu and dropping them onto your form.
You can also click on any field to edit it, and rearrange them in the form using drag and drop.
To delete a field, simply hover your mouse over it and then click on the small trash can icon when it appears.
When you’re ready, click on the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.
To add the contact form to your footer, head over to the Appearance » Widgets page in the WordPress dashboard.
Here, click on the ‘+’ button and search for ‘WPForms.’ When the right block shows up, drag and drop it onto your theme’s footer area.
After that, open the ‘Form’ dropdown and select your contact form.
You can also add an optional title, which will appear above the contact form.
Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Update’ button.
Now, if you visit your website you’ll see the new contact form in the footer.
Adding a Contact Form with the Full-Site Editor
Want to add a contact form to the footer of a block-enabled theme?
Then you’ll need to head over to Themes »Editor. Here, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on the ‘+’ in the footer area.
With that done, type in ‘WPForms’ to find the right block.
Give this block a click to add it to the footer area.
In the WPForms block, open the ‘Select a Form’ dropdown and choose the contact form we just created.
When you’re ready to make the contact form live, simply click on the ‘Save’ button.
We hope this article helped you decide which things to add to your WordPress footer to make it more useful. Next, you can see our guide on how to improve your WordPress website speed and performance, and our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins to use on your site.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
