One of the main reasons that people continue to trust WordPress for all of their website needs is that it is constantly evolving with new, market leading widgets that ensure your website stays ahead of the crowds.
So what is a widget?
Essentially, a widget is a small application that users can add to their site without having coding expertise as it’s already packaged up for you to install. For example, a calendar widget or a weather outlook could be installed to your website as a standalone application that you don’t have to manage yourself. Let’s take a look at what types of Widgets are available and what they can do for your website:
There are a number of common Widgets in WordPress including Recent Posts, Popular Posts, Comments and Email subscribers. Other widgets include forms that can be filled out e.g. a feedback form or an enquiry form.
How do I install a widget?
Widgets are easily found within the WordPress Plugin Directory. It is important that you are using a Theme that supports the use of widgets, so ensure that your theme does before you start to install widgets. If you would like to get some more information and advice on using WordPress, visit createablognow.com and read some of there how to guides.
Recent Posts
One of the most familiar widgets for everyday website use. It is basically a list of all the posts that you have recently published on your website. Even better, there is a Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnails which displays an image next to your post so that you create eye catching posts that relevant imagery. The image is selected using your featured image or your first image within the page as the thumbnail image.
Simple Social Icons
The use of social media sites like Facebook, Pinterest and Linkedin is integral to boost the traffic visiting your website and therefore you will find the Simple Social Icons to be a great feature. Read more about the power of using Social Media to promote your site in this useful article. You can select whichever ones you have social profiles set up on to help you to reach out to a wider audience. You can even customise the colour of the icons to match your brand colours should you choose to.
Google Maps
A very popular and well used widget that is typically added to allow visitors to get directions to the business place that you are promoting through your website. With this widget, users can easily map how to get to the address, how long the journey will take and also provides public transport link information.
YouTube Channel Gallery
Rich media such as videos are a fantastic way to promote your business or products. With the YouTube Channel Gallery, you can group your videos together in an attractive grid style gallery. Take a look at the YouTube video that will show you how to embed a video in WordPress.
Simple Contact Info
Another widget that is massively used in business websites is Simple Contact Info, which allows users to easily find all of your contact information. All you are required to do is fill in the details in a short form.
Testimonials
Customers build trust in businesses by reading other testimonials from previously satisfied customers and this widget is an ideal way to share all of your great feedback and promote your business to new customers. For added flair, you can select carousel, fade and slide transitions to display your testimonials.