The sidebar is an essential part of any website, especially a blog. Many website owners don’t take advantage of their sidebar in full potential. If you don’t realize why and how to use your sidebar, I recommend starting taking care of this part of your website. A sidebar is a place where you can put some add-ons to get more subscribers, sales and page views.
One of the best add-ons you can insert into your sidebar is a sticky or floating bar. I’m pretty sure you have noticed some website have elements which scroll down with a page as you go.
Sticky, or fixed, or floating bar is basically an information widget that is locked into place so that it does not disappear when the user scrolls down the page. In simple words, it is accessible from anywhere on the website without having to scroll.
Sticky bars can also reappear panel by panel, collapse and expand at the click of a mouse, interact with users as they browse, or skulk discreetly in the corners of the screen.
In this post, we’re going to talk about sticky bars and how to add a sticky widget to your website using WordPress plugins.
Why Do I Need a Sticky Widget?
Floating widget will be extremely useful when you need to attract visitor’s attention to some information. The sticky widget can be used for the following add-ons:
- menu or navigation bar;
- email opt-in forms;
- subscription forms;
- online chat (any kind of support);
- contact information;
- recent posts;
- notifications;
- advertising;
- social media buttons.
So, using the floating widget you allow visitors to navigate a website from any part of a page, subscribe to your email newsletter, give them an opportunity to chat with the support representative, share your post and show contact information. With floating widget, you have more chances people will notice your ad and click on it.
The studies made by Smashing Magazine show that sticky menus are 22% quicker to navigate and 100% of people preferred sticky menus without even knowing why.
Below we are going to share and describe WordPress plugins to implement sticky widget on your site. These plugins can be used for displaying email opt-in forms to help you grow your newsletter subscriber list, plugins that display social sharing buttons, and those which can display any custom content of your choice.
GC Message Bar
GC Message Bar is an easy to use WordPress plugin which allows you to add a sticky message bar to the top or bottom of your website. It may be the notification of some saves and discounts, the message about an upcoming website, or some other exciting news you would like to share with your audience. Install this plugin in a few mites to add powerful CTA message to your site and increase conversions.
Q2W3 Fixed Widget (Sticky Widget)
Q2W3 Fixed Widget or Sticky Widget has endless possibilities. With this simple plugins, you can make any widget or custom content in your sidebar scrolls within a page. The plugin has also some customization options, for example, you can select margin top or bottom for your new sticky widget.
I found a good video, showing how to install and use this WordPress sticky widget. I guess all of them has a similar essence, so even if you choose another plugin, you can watch this video and understand what to do to make a floating sidebar.
WordPress Notification Bar
WordPress Notification Bar allows you to add a simple stripe with call-to-action on the top of your website, and it will float along with a page while scrolling down. You can customize bar color, message and CTA button to fit in the style of your website.
Quick Notice Bar
Quick Notice Bar plugin lets you add any sticky message bar on your site. You can place a CTA or any notification you want on the top of your site. The plugin allows you to customize the design and CSS of the notification bar. It includes social media like and share buttons to add in a few clicks.
Floating Social Bar
Floating Social Bar is an awesome plugin to add horizontal social share buttons bar to your site (or any page) and allow them to float as you go. It encourages more social media share and likes for your content. This plugin will be extremely useful for bloggers, besides, it does not affect site speed. The plugin is lightweight, easy-to-use and fast.
Sticky Menu (or Anything!) on Scroll
Sticky Menu (or Anything!) on Scroll allows you to make any piece of content sticky as long as it hits website top when you scroll down. The plugin helps you to make any content sticky. It can be used to add the sticky navigation menu, social media buttons, or message bars floating with you as you scroll. You can choose a custom amount of space between a sticky element and a top of the page.
And here is another video tutorial about floating elements creation, where an author uses Sticky Menu on Scroll WordPress sticky widget. It may be more understandable to watch how people do it, then read in an article or plugin documentation, so here you are:
Awesome Sticky Header by DevCanyon
With Awesome Sticky Header by DevCanyon you’ll get maximum control of your top sticky bar. You can add menu, submenus, change color scheme, add buttons and search box, logo and much more. The plugin also has live preview, so you can change the sticky bar and see the changes immediately.
myStickymenu
myStickymenu allows you to add a sticky menu or sticky bar to the top of your website. You can add custom CSS code, which makes this plugin really user-friendly and customizable. It has multiple languages support.
Sticky Popup
Sticky Popup is a simple plugin which lets you add popups on the fixed position, for example, on the bottom, left or right with CSS effects. Using this plugin you can display any kind of content: contact form, feedback form, subscription box, social buttons, advertising, and so on. Just edit the content with shortcodes the way you edit your WordPress posts and pages.
WP-Sticky
With over 20,000 active installs, WP-Sticky is one of the most popular choices. Using this plugin you can add a sticky post feature to your site or blog in a few minutes. Although, this plugin is quite outdated.
WP Sticky Sidebar
This WordPress sticky widget uses a “#secondary” CSS id and to make it work for your theme you will have to set it for your theme. The plugin is as responsive as your current theme is. It is also localized and translated to a number of languages. Defining the additional top margin you will be able to tune your sticky sidebar position.
Advanced Floating Content Lite
This plugin is a little more wide solution for your website. It can not only stick a sidebar but also create a floating video, social media sharing options or other elements you can code into it. Customization and usage of the plugin are easy and doesn’t require coding skills.
Over to You
What are your thoughts on these sticky WordPress plugins? What features are the most important for a sticky plugin? Are there any good plugins we have missed out? Please, use the comment field below to answer. And don’t hesitate to share this post via social media channels using the buttons below.