How to Edit a WordPress Sidebar to Improve Site Appearance and Increase Conversions

A WordPress sidebar is an area in your site where you can place widgets that add extra structure or content to your website. It may not be necessary for each website, but it can boost the appearance or content value of a site. To know more about what a WordPress sidebar is, let us discuss how to configure it and how it can be useful for your website.

What Are the Benefits of a WordPress Sidebar?

The sidebar complements the primary content in the middle of a blog. As mentioned earlier, it allows you to add extra information to your page. 

One interesting thing about it is it does not have to be always placed at the right side. It can be placed on the left side or near the footer. which improves website appearance. 

The sidebar can also be a good place to display your social media accounts to your website. As a result, site visitors can connect to you on social media, which increases your brand image.

If you display the sidebar in WordPress, you are creating a great tool to increase conversions when you add email subscriptions for your clients. This lets them receive updates or newsletters about your promotions, which boosts the chances for sales.

What Are the Practical Uses for the WordPress Sidebar?

Your sidebar can cater to many uses that help improve the sales impact of your website. Here are some common uses you can apply:

1. Recommendation for Reading

It is always best to encourage site visitors to not just read one article or post. Allow them to explore your website through the help of having the sidebar.

You can add related or popular posts to your sidebar, so site visitors will know you are producing quality content.

2. Email Subscription

As mentioned earlier, the sidebar is a perfect place to enable email subscriptions for your visitors. If they like your content, there is a huge chance they will subscribe for your brand’s promotional updates and newsletters. 

Add an email subscription form to your sidebar.

3. Social Media Connection and Proof

As also mentioned earlier, you can add social media buttons to the sidebar. This allows site visitors to share your content to their social media accounts, increasing brand awareness. 

You can also show social media testimonials or stats through the sidebar to gain trust from visitors.

4. Sticky Sidebar

You can modify your sidebar to stay on top if your visitors read your content, especially if it is long. Regardless if they scroll down the bottom of the page, they will still see the sidebar. 

How to Edit the Sidebar in WordPress

Navigating and customizing the sidebar settings in WordPress is extremely easy. Go to Appearance from your Dashboard menu and select Widgets. 

From the page, you can customize the appearance of your sidebar based on how you want it displayed. 

Click on the dropdown button for the widgets you want to edit. Click Save and then Done once you are finished.

Check your blog to see the changes made.

If you want to remove a widget from your sidebar, go back to the Widgets section and choose the widget you want to delete.

Click the dropdown button and select Delete at the bottom.

You will notice it is gone from the widgets section. Check your blog to see that it is not there anymore.

You can also drag and drop the widget to the Inactive Widgets section if you want to keep its settings even if you remove it from the sidebar.

If you want to add the widget back, you can drag and then drop it from the Inactive Widgets section to your sidebar or choose from the available widgets, drag, and then drop the widget to the sidebar.

Conclusion

Configuring and creating a sidebar in WordPress to match your brand’s image helps create trust from site visitors, which is a great opportunity for conversions. Customizing this section is easy because you do not need to visit a lot of pages in your website.

Before you edit your sidebar, plan your layout for the section first and know which types of widgets you want to place in there. Create a subscription email or social buttons to your sidebar now and increase your chances for conversions!