15 Most Useful WordPress Widgets for Your Site
WordPress allows you to easily customize your site layout through widgets. There are many WordPress plugins andcalendar, and email subscribe, etc. In this WordPress widgets for your site that are extremely useful. If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading. 1. Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnails By default WordPress comes with a recent posts widget, which displays a plain list of your recent posts. Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnails allows you to display recent posts with thumbnails. It uses featured image or the first image in a post as thumbnail. You can also adjust the height and width of image from widget’s settings screen. 2. Category Posts As the name suggests Category Posts Widget shows recent posts from a selected category. You can show post titles as a list, or select to show excerpt and thumbnail as well. Using it with Display Widgets will allow you to show hide widgets on specific pages in WordPress. 3. Simple Social Icons It is a really simple widget to add social icons to your sidebars. All the configuration options are in the widget’s settings. You can choose which social networks to link to and add your profile URLs. You can also modify the icon by choosing background and icon font color. See our tutorial on how to add social media icons in your WordPress sidebar. This is by far the best WordPress widget for adding social icons. 4. Google Maps Widget An easier way to add a map to your site’s sidebar is by using Google Maps Widget. This simple widget allows you to display a Google map in a widget. When a user clicks on the map, a larger map opens in a light box popup. Checkout our guide on how to add Google Maps in WordPress for more information. This is one of the best WordPress widgets for businesses who want to display their address and location on their site. 5. Social Count Plus You may have seen something like this on some popular websites. This widget allows you to easily display your social media follower count in your sidebar. The social proof helps you build trust and a loyal following. See our guide on how to display social media followers count in WordPress. 6. Image Widget If you need to add an image to a sidebar, then you need to write the HTML in a text widget. However, many beginners do not know HTML and cannot properly style an image. The Image Widget solves this problem by allowing users to add an image using the media uploaded in WordPress. It also provides a graphic UI to add caption, alt text, and select the image size. 7. Custom Taxonomies Menu Widget By default WordPress comes with a categories widget. There is no default widget to display custom taxonomies in the sidebar of a WordPress site. Custom Taxonomies Menu widget allows you to easily display custom taxonomies in the sidebar. See our guide on how to display custom taxonomies terms in WordPress sidebar widgets for more information. 8. Compact Archives The default monthly archives widget shows your archives in a long list of months. This takes a lot of space and makes users scroll down. Compact archives solve this problem by grouping your monthly archives into years and displaying them in a compact form. It also comes with a widget which you can add to your sidebar. For more information checkout our tutorial on how to create compact archives in WordPress. 9. Authors Widget Easily display a list of authors on your multi-author WordPress blog. This simple widget allows you to display author names with their avatars and link to their posts. You can also display an article count and display a link to the author’s RSS feed. 10. YouTube Channel Gallery This widget allows you to display latest videos from your YouTube channel on your WordPress site. It displays your videos in a nice grid layout, which takes less space and looks more interesting. For more information checkout our tutorial on how to show latest videos from YouTube channel in WordPress. 11. OptinMonster OptinMonster is a WordPress lead generation plugin. If you’re looking to build an email list for your blog, then OptinMonster is the plugin you need. OptinMonster comes with two widgets: Sidebar and Aftermost. Both of these allow you to add high converting subscribe forms on your site. 12. Tabbed Login Widget Another way to add login form to WordPress sidebar is by using the Tabbed Login Widget. As the name suggests, it adds a tabbed widget with tabs for login, registration and password recovery forms. This allows users to quickly login into your site without even accessing the admin area. 13. Simple Contact Info Simple Contact Info allows you to easily add your contact information, social icons, and location information by simply filling out a form. After that you can simply drag and drop contact info widgets to your sidebar to display this information. 14. Quick Chat Quick chat is a tiny but very powerful and highly configurable chat
WordPress allows you to easily customize your site layout through widgets. There are many WordPress plugins andcalendar, and email subscribe, etc. In this WordPress widgets for your site that are extremely useful. If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading. 1. Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnails By default WordPress comes with a recent posts widget, which displays a plain list of your recent posts. Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnails allows you to display recent posts with thumbnails. It uses featured image or the first image in a post as thumbnail. You can also adjust the height and width of image from widget’s settings screen. 2. Category Posts As the name suggests Category Posts Widget shows recent posts from a selected category. You can show post titles as a list, or select to show excerpt and thumbnail as well. Using it with Display Widgets will allow you to show hide widgets on specific pages in WordPress. 3. Simple Social Icons It is a really simple widget to add social icons to your sidebars. All the configuration options are in the widget’s settings. You can choose which social networks to link to and add your profile URLs. You can also modify the icon by choosing background and icon font color. See our tutorial on how to add social media icons in your WordPress sidebar. This is by far the best WordPress widget for adding social icons. 4. Google Maps Widget An easier way to add a map to your site’s sidebar is by using Google Maps Widget. This simple widget allows you to display a Google map in a widget. When a user clicks on the map, a larger map opens in a light box popup. Checkout our guide on how to add Google Maps in WordPress for more information. This is one of the best WordPress widgets for businesses who want to display their address and location on their site. 5. Social Count Plus You may have seen something like this on some popular websites. This widget allows you to easily display your social media follower count in your sidebar. The social proof helps you build trust and a loyal following. See our guide on how to display social media followers count in WordPress. 6. Image Widget If you need to add an image to a sidebar, then you need to write the HTML in a text widget. However, many beginners do not know HTML and cannot properly style an image. The Image Widget solves this problem by allowing users to add an image using the media uploaded in WordPress. It also provides a graphic UI to add caption, alt text, and select the image size. 7. Custom Taxonomies Menu Widget By default WordPress comes with a categories widget. There is no default widget to display custom taxonomies in the sidebar of a WordPress site. Custom Taxonomies Menu widget allows you to easily display custom taxonomies in the sidebar. See our guide on how to display custom taxonomies terms in WordPress sidebar widgets for more information. 8. Compact Archives The default monthly archives widget shows your archives in a long list of months. This takes a lot of space and makes users scroll down. Compact archives solve this problem by grouping your monthly archives into years and displaying them in a compact form. It also comes with a widget which you can add to your sidebar. For more information checkout our tutorial on how to create compact archives in WordPress. 9. Authors Widget Easily display a list of authors on your multi-author WordPress blog. This simple widget allows you to display author names with their avatars and link to their posts. You can also display an article count and display a link to the author’s RSS feed. 10. YouTube Channel Gallery This widget allows you to display latest videos from your YouTube channel on your WordPress site. It displays your videos in a nice grid layout, which takes less space and looks more interesting. For more information checkout our tutorial on how to show latest videos from YouTube channel in WordPress. 11. OptinMonster OptinMonster is a WordPress lead generation plugin. If you’re looking to build an email list for your blog, then OptinMonster is the plugin you need. OptinMonster comes with two widgets: Sidebar and Aftermost. Both of these allow you to add high converting subscribe forms on your site. 12. Tabbed Login Widget Another way to add login form to WordPress sidebar is by using the Tabbed Login Widget. As the name suggests, it adds a tabbed widget with tabs for login, registration and password recovery forms. This allows users to quickly login into your site without even accessing the admin area. 13. Simple Contact Info Simple Contact Info allows you to easily add your contact information, social icons, and location information by simply filling out a form. After that you can simply drag and drop contact info widgets to your sidebar to display this information. 14. Quick Chat Quick chat is a tiny but very powerful and highly configurable chat