The footer is an often-overlooked part of a WordPress website, but it can play a crucial role in improving the visitor experience and achieving your business goals. By strategically adding key elements to your footer, you can enhance navigation, promote your content, drive conversions, and more.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll share a checklist of the top things to add to your WordPress footer in 2024. Whether you‘re launching a new website or optimizing an existing one, these footer best practices will help you get the most value from this important real estate.
One of the most important things to include in your footer is a navigation menu. While your main menu guides visitors to top-level pages, your footer menu can help them dive deeper into your content.
Consider adding links to key pages like:
- About Us
- Contact
- Blog
- Product/Service Categories
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Customer Case Studies or Portfolios
- Terms of Service
With a footer navigation menu, visitors can easily browse your site and find the information they need without having to scroll back to the top. This is especially helpful on mobile devices.
To add a footer navigation menu in WordPress, head to Appearance > Menus and create a new menu. Then add it to your footer using the Navigation Menu widget or by editing your footer.php theme file.
2. Embed Important Code Snippets
Many third-party tools, like Google Analytics, Facebook pixel, and others, require you to paste snippets of code into your site‘s header or footer.
While you can add these directly to your WordPress theme files, a plugin like WPCode makes it easy to embed code snippets without editing any files. This way, your snippets won‘t get overwritten when you update your theme.
Simply install the free plugin, then head to Code Snippets > Header & Footer to embed your code in the footer field. Be sure to insert it before the closing tag.
3. Include Your Privacy Policy
To comply with data protection laws like the GDPR, most websites need to have a privacy policy outlining what personal data they collect and how they use it.
Your footer is the perfect place to link to this important legal document. To add it, create a new page containing your privacy policy content. You can generate this using a free online privacy policy generator tool.
Then, head to Appearance > Menus to add the privacy policy page to your footer navigation menu. If you want the link to stand out more, consider adding a separate text link labeled "Privacy Policy."
4. Add a Copyright Notice
If you want to deter others from copying your content, you can add a copyright notice to your footer. Most copyright notices include the copyright symbol (©), the year the content was published, and the name of the copyright owner.
To add this in WordPress, you can type the copyright text directly into your footer using the theme customizer. If your theme doesn‘t have a footer content field, you can install a plugin like Remove Footer Credit to add and customize the copyright notice.
For bonus points, make sure your copyright year always stays up to date by using a shortcode that automatically updates it to the current year.
5. Remove "Powered by WordPress" Links
By default, many WordPress themes display "Powered by WordPress" or other credits in the footer. While there‘s nothing wrong with crediting WordPress, these footer links can be distracting and look unprofessional.
If you want to remove them, start by checking your theme settings for a footer credits field. If there is one, you can simply delete the text or replace it with your own.
If your theme doesn‘t have this option, you can install the free Remove Footer Credit plugin. Or, if you‘re comfortable editing code, you can modify your theme‘s footer.php file to delete the credit links.
6. Showcase Your Instagram Feed
Want to highlight your brand‘s Instagram content and get more followers? Consider adding an Instagram feed to your footer.
With a plugin like Smash Balloon, you can easily display your latest Instagram posts in a beautiful grid or carousel. The plugin lets you customize your feed‘s layout, color scheme, number of posts, and more to seamlessly match your site.
To set it up, just install the plugin, connect your Instagram account, and customize your feed. Then, use the Instagram Feed widget to display the feed in your footer.
This is a great way to drive traffic to your Instagram profile and engage visitors with your brand‘s visual content.
Want to display an important notification or promotion across your entire site? A sticky footer bar is a great way to do this without being too intrusive.
Unlike a popup, a footer bar stays visible at the bottom of the screen as visitors scroll through your content. This makes it ideal for highlighting things like:
- Limited-time sales or discounts
- Free shipping offers
- New product launches
- Email newsletter signup forms
To add a sticky footer bar in WordPress, you can use a plugin like OptinMonster. Its drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to design a beautiful footer bar, add your copy, and set display rules to control where and when it appears.
8. Add Social Media Buttons
Your website footer is a great place to encourage visitors to connect with you on social media. By adding social icons linking to your profiles, you can grow your following and give people another way to engage with your brand.
To add social icons in WordPress, you can use a plugin like Social Icons Widget by WPZOOM. Just install the plugin and use the widget to add buttons for your active social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more.
The plugin includes 100+ icon styles to choose from, so you can match your site‘s branding. You can also adjust the button size and add tooltips to display your profile info on hover.
9. Display Your Contact Information
Make it easy for customers and prospects to reach you by adding your key contact information to the footer. This should include:
- Your business phone number
- Your business email address
- Your business mailing address (if applicable)
If you want to add a click-to-call phone number, you can do this with a simple tel: link, like:
To prevent spam, consider spelling out "at" and "dot" in your email address, like hello at yourdomain dot com. You can also use an email encoder tool to disguise it from bots.
10. Include a Contact Form for Lead Generation
In addition to displaying your contact details, consider embedding a contact form in your footer. This makes it incredibly easy for visitors to get in touch without having to leave the page they‘re on.
With a WordPress form builder like WPForms, you can create a simple footer form in minutes using its drag-and-drop builder. Just add the fields you want to include, connect it to your email marketing service or CRM, and embed it in your footer using a shortcode.
WPForms‘ responsive design ensures your form will look great on any device. And with its lead capture addon, you can identify your highest-value leads and reach out to them directly from the WordPress dashboard.
Need some inspiration for your own WordPress footer? Check out these examples from top brands:
HubSpot: HubSpot‘s footer combines multiple columns of helpful links with a simple email signup form. Its minimalist design and ample white space make it easy to scan and navigate.
Asana: Asana‘s footer uses contrasting colors to highlight its primary call-to-action. The "See our pricing" button stands out against the dark background, drawing visitors‘ attention.
Nike: Nike‘s footer is short and simple, with just a single row of essential links. This keeps the focus on the main content while still providing quick access to key pages.
Dropbox: Dropbox‘s footer is neatly organized into columns with expandable accordions. This allows them to include lots of links without overwhelming visitors.
For even more ideas, check out our roundup of the best website footer designs.
I hope this guide has given you some ideas for optimizing your WordPress footer in 2024. By including these key elements and CTAs, you can transform your footer from an afterthought into a valuable part of your website strategy.
Remember to keep your footer up to date as your site evolves. Make a habit of auditing it regularly to ensure all the links work, your copyright date is current, and your promotions and contact info are accurate.
Now go forth and create an awesome footer that drives results for your business!
