WordPress Widgets: How to Add Widgets to WordPress + 7 Widget Plugins

WordPress widgets are ready-made pieces of code used to add additional features to WordPress. With minimal or no coding knowledge, we can add or remove widgets. The widget area is the place where widgets are displayed on the front end.

The use of WordPress widgets can enhance the functionality of a WordPress website and make it more appealing.

Widgets enhance both the user experience and website quality. Ultimately, it is beneficial for SEO.

This article focuses on using WordPress widgets to enhance website usability and the plugin list that has useful widget features.

What are Widgets in WordPress

The purpose of WordPress widgets is to add more functionality to a WordPress website without impacting its content.
The widget provides additional or related information about the content. Examples of widgets are Resent posts, categories, calendars, galleries, social media links, search boxes, and many more.

The widget area is the place where we place widgets or where they appear. It’s possible to situate widgets in the sidebar, header, footer, or even within the content.
It is possible to customize settings to display them on all pages or a specific page.

There are a lot of widgets in WordPress. By default, all widgets are not included in WordPress. To add some features to a WordPress website, we have to use WordPress widget plugins. The creation of a widget is also possible by adding code to funcion.php
Some examples of WordPress widgets, for which we need to install plugins, are Google Maps, phone call facilities, tables of contents, WPForms, and many more.

How to Add Widgets to WordPress

If you have installed WordPress it is very important to learn how to add WordPress widgets to your WordPress website to add more features. 

It is easy to add the widget to your website, Just follow the steps below.

1 In the left pan of the WordPress dashboard click Appearance.

2 Now click Widgets.

Now you will see the Widgets window.

3. This is a list of all widget areas.

For example Right Sidebar, Left Sidebar, Header, Footer Widget 1, Footer Widget 2, and so on. You can choose any widget area to add widgets.

4 Let’s consider we have to add widgets to the widget area Right Sidebar. 

5 Click + sign to open the widget window. (You can also open the widget window by clicking the + sign in the top bar near the Widgets).

6 You can see a list of widgets. You can click any one and it will be added to the widget area.

7 If you have not found the desired widget in the list you can search in the search box. 

8 You can click the Browse All sign to open a large widget window.

Adding Widget To Widget Area

We have understood all about widgets. Now we will learn how to add WordPress widgets to different widget areas. 

Adding Widget To Sidebar

Adding Latest Posts to the Right Sidebar. 

1 Select the Right Sidebar.

2 Click the + sign to open the widget window.

3 Search for the Latest Post in the search box.

4 Now click Latest Posts.

5 Click Update to save the changes.

1 In the next window you can see the latest posts are added to the right sidebar widget area.

2 You can add more widgets to the right sidebar by clicking the + sign.

3 Click Update to save the changes.

Now you can see the latest posts have appeared on the front end of our WordPress website.

Essential WordPress Widgets Plugins for Your Website

WordPress doesn’t come with all widgets by default. Adding additional features to the WordPress website requires the use of WordPress Widget Plugins. For example, Google Maps, phone call facilities, Table of Contents, Contact Forms, and many more.

We have provided a list of essential plugins that can enhance your website’s usability and user experience.

Social Sharing Plugin

Price: free

Downloads: 100000+

Rating: 5/5 

Social Sharing Plugin – Sassy Social Share Plugin helps your website visitors to share your content over Social media platforms. Your website visitors can share content on Linkedin, Twitter, Google, Facebook, Tumblr, WhatsApp, Reddit, Pinterest,  Parker, getter, Gab, and over 110 more social sharing and bookmarking services.

This is easy to set up and the Social Share plugin uses good-looking vector icons.

Call Now Button

Price: Free and Pro

Downloads: 200000+

Rating: 5/5 

The Call Now Button plugin displays a click-to-call button at the bottom of the screen.

By simply clicking this button, your website visitor can call you from their mobile phone. It is a very useful feature because visitors do not need to find a contact or phone number or dial the number to communicate with you.

In the pro version, you can also add buttons for Email, SMS/Text, Phone, WhatsApp, Messenger, Signal, Telegram, Link, Location, Scroll to Point, Skype, Line, Viber, WeChat, Content Window, and Tally Form Window.

WP Go Maps (formerly WP Google Maps)

Price: Free and Pro

Downloads: 400000+

Rating: 5/5 

WP Go Maps plugin is used to create Google Maps on your WordPress website. It also displays a store locator on WordPress pages, posts, and contact page maps.

It also displays routes and delivery area maps.

WP Go Maps is easy to install on a website by using a short code without using iFrames. WP Go Maps also supports map widgets for classic.

Integration of WP Go Maps with Elementor map blocks simplifies the creation of Elementor maps, map blocks, and map widgets.

WP Go Maps free version creates Google Maps with markers without any number limit. The Pro version offers many more options like custom Google maps with high-quality markers containing descriptions, locations, categories, images,  links, and directions.

Easy Table of Contents

Price: Free and Pro

Downloads: 400000+

Rating: 4.5/5 

The Easy Table of Contents plugin automatically generates tables of content for your WordPress posts and pages. It is a very easy-to-use and user-friendly plugin.

It supports the rank math plugin and the <!– next page –> tag. It can work with Gutenberg, Classic Editor, Elementor, Divi, WPBakery Page Builder, and Visual Composer page editors.

It generates links for all content inside the template tag the_content().

You can choose the position where the Table of Contents appears on the post or page. You can also choose a lower limit of h tag to appear in the table of contents. 

You can also choose a theme in terms of bites and the style of the table of contents. You can choose colors for the border, background, and link color according to your theme and design.

You can also choose options for bullet formats such as none, decimal, numeric, and Roman.

The Google Language Translator plugin

Price: Free and Pro

Downloads: 100000+

Rating: 4.5/5 

The Google Language Translator plugin adds a language switch button widget to the WordPress website. This plugin uses the Google Translate service to translate languages. It shows a witch on the website to switch between languages.

It provides a wide range of language translations, including right-to-left script languages like Urdu, Hebrew, and Arabic.

This plugin has free and pro versions. In the free version, it translates posts and pages, WooCommerce shops, categories, and tags.

It also translates WordPress website themes, plugins, menus, and widgets.

It displays a language bar with flags in the menu. Floating language selector, a button to disable Suggest a better translation pop-up and

It has support for Google Analytics integration, a feature to translate the site on the fly,

Google automatic machine translation and the option to hide the Google top frame after translation.

The premium version has more features such as multilingual SEO, enabled search engine indexing, neural machine translations with human-level translation quality, and search-engine-optimized URLs and slug translation.

Yoast SEO compatibility, WooCommerce compatibility, 

translating metadata, translating JSON objects, and translating AMP pages (Accelerated Mobile Pages translation).

Image localization, translation proxy, centralized translation cache, language hosting, user dashboard, and live chat support.

You also have the option to manually correct the translation.

Widget Importer & Exporter

Price: Free and Pro

Downloads: 300000+

Rating: 4.5/5 

Using Widget Importer & Exporter is advantageous for moving widgets from one WordPress site to another. Backing up widgets can be done using it.

Instead of XML, JSON format is used to export files.

The import process involves uploading an export file created by the plugin. A nicely formatted table displays the results of an import.

The JSON export file extension.wie can be generated by the Widget Importer and Exporter. Using this plugin, this file can be imported into other sites or restored widgets to the same site later.

WPform Plugin For Forms

Price: Free and Pro

Downloads: 5,000000+

Rating: 5/5 

WPform is an easy-to-use WordPress plugin to create a WordPress form. It creates a form widget that you can insert into your WordPress website. It allows you to create different types of forms, such as consent forms, subscription forms, online surveys, donation forms, feedback forms, and payment forms.

Pre-built form templates help you create WordPress forms quickly, and you can customize these templates easily. You don’t need to write any code. You can use the easy drag-and-drop WordPress builder to create forms.

This plugin also comes with built-in security features such as anti-spam protection, captcha, and reCAPTCHA.

Built-in security features captcha and reCAPTCHA help prevent spam.

You can use the free version of WPForm for a contact form. You can buy a paid version for more features.

Here is detail tutorial of WPForm How to Create a WordPress Contact Form: 5 Benefits of Contact Form.

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