Announcements are an efficient way of grabbing the attention of your visitors. If you want to know what is an announcement plugin in WordPress, you are at the right place. Here, we will discuss everything about notification WordPress plugins.
What is an announcement bar?
An announcement bar generally sits at the top of a website, above the header. You can also place it at the bottom or sides. These notification bars are an effective way to advertise certain products, services, offers, or promotions.
The visitors to your website see the notification bar instantly, especially if it’s professional-grade and attractive. Include a call to action on the announcement bar and you can encourage your visitors to take action. The following announcement bars are designed with the help of WPAnnouncement.
What is an announcement plugin in WordPress?
A WordPress announcement plugin lets you create announcement bars, that offer discounts, encourage users to take online surveys, and run marketing campaigns to collect leads on your WordPress websites. These extensions showcase the promotions and declarations at the top, bottom, or sides of your website. Also, you can add a variety of visual effects and set a countdown timer to gain the immediate attention of your visitors.
The announcement plugins in WordPress let you customize your notification bars. So, you can create them as per the look and feel of your website. Most of these extensions come with a user-friendly interface, so you can use them even if you are a beginner.
Why should you add an announcement plugin to the WordPress site?
Installing an announcement plugin to your WordPress websites is highly beneficial. It lets you convey all the important messages to your visitors, including new releases, offers, discounts, upcoming events, news, etc. In addition, these extensions build trust in your audience, especially if you update your announcement bars frequently.
Moreover, a notification bar plugin helps you collect the contact details of your visitors and grow your email marketing list. What’s more? You can design announcements even if you do not have any coding knowledge. Here are some other reasons why should you add a notification bar plugin to your WordPress website.
- Announcement bars are non-intrusive, unlike pop-ups. Hence, they never disturb your visitors or hamper their overall experience on your website.
- These bars redirect your visitors to specific web pages. Hence, they increase the conversion rate and boost the sales revenue of your business.
- The notification bars induce fear of missing out (FOMO) if you add a countdown timer.
- You can drive traffic to your social media pages with the help of announcement bar plugins.
- The notification bars are affordable and easy to create. So, you can attract more traffic without investing a lot of money.
What to look for in a WordPress announcement plugin?
You can see hundreds of announcement plugins for WordPress in the market. However, not all of them are suitable for your websites. You should try one of the best announcement plugins to get the best results. Check the following factors before you select a notification bar extension.
- Customization: An announcement bar plugin should let you customize everything including text, images, content, and colors. It should also allow you to add countdown timers, and CTA buttons, and change the appearance settings of the announcements.
- Interface: All the announcement plugins for WordPress are different from each other. Some of them ask you to create the notifications from scratch while others give you pre-designed templates for assistance. The latter is perfect if you do not have any design experience.
- Targeting options: You should be able to target a group of audiences with the help of an announcement plugin. Otherwise, it’s not beneficial. So, make sure your notification plugin has advanced options to display announcements based on the activities, behavior, and interests of your visitors.
- Responsiveness: The announcement bars work well on desktops and notebooks, but what about smartphones? Nowadays, most of the visitors use mobile to browse your website. So, try a plugin that can create responsive notifications for smartphones and tablets.
- Pricing: How much do you want to invest in an announcement plugin? Are you interested in taking a monthly or annual plan? Answer these two questions before you try any WordPress announcement plugin. Also, make sure you get a complete worth of your expenses.
- Support: Helpful and responsive customer support is crucial so that you can solve all the problems without any delay. So, try an announcement plugin that has a high-class support function.
Best announcement plugins for WordPress
Let’s take a look at the best plugins to share announcements on your WordPress websites. It’s important to know the features of these plugins to understand them better.
WPAnnouncement
WPAnnouncement is one of the best announcement plugins that help you create and publish a wide range of announcements, banners, and top bars. It has a user-friendly interface, so you can easily create visually appealing bars without any struggle. Moreover, you can redirect your visitors to a different URL, subscription list, meeting link, or form.
WPA lets you add call-to-action buttons in the announcement bars, which improves the engagement rate. You can also change when the notification appears, including delay and auto close. In addition, it allows you to choose the pages where you want to display the announcement.
WPA comes with multiple pre-design templates for your assistance. It’s a responsive plugin. So, you can create announcement bars for smartphones. Moreover, this extension has a forever-free pan. Hence, you can try it without any risks.
Key features
- Wide range of templates
- Creates sticky notification bars
- Promo countdown
- Targeted promotions
- Geo-specific campaigns
Pricing: Starts from $23 per year. Free forever plan available.
Using WPAnnouncement
WPA is simple to configure. So, you can start designing announcement bars within a few minutes. Follow the given steps to avoid any confusion.
Download WPA from its website.
Upload, install, and activate the plugin on your WordPress panel.
Once activated, WPA creates a new option on the left menu, Announcements. Click it and select Add New.
The next screen gives you all the options to select, create, customize, and publish announcement bars.
You can select one of the templates and change its text and styles. On the left menu, you can see all the customization tabs.
Once you are done with the design, click on Preview. If you like the announcement bars, Publish it.
The notification bar appears on your WordPress website once you publish it.
MyStickyBar by Premio
MyStickyBar lets you share important announcements, offers, or any other news on your website. It’s a responsive plugin, so you can create announcement bars for all devices. Moreover, this plugin can also design sticky headers that stay visible to your visitors even if they scroll down.
You do not have to spend a lot of time configuring MyStickyBar. Install it, activate and you can deploy the announcements. This plugin has a wide range of options to customize the notifications, so you can adapt the design of your website to design the announcements.
You can install MyStickyBar on any WordPress website. It’s free to try. So, you can check all the features before you upgrade. Once you get one of the premium editions, you can create notification bars for more than one website.
Key features
- Creates sticky announcement bars
- Lots of customizations
- Slide and fade effects
- Ability to disable the announcements on mobile
Pricing: Starts from $39 per year. Free to try
WP Notification Bar
WP Notification Bar is one of the best announcement plugins for WordPress. It helps you to create notification bars for alerts, promotions, deals, and more. This extension also showcases the latest posts published on your website.
The Notification Bar allows you to modify the text and background color of the announcement bars. It has a user-friendly interface. So, you can create impressive notification bars without much learning. Moreover, it can also generate sticky bars.
Here comes the most interesting feature of the WP Notification Bar. It lets you control who can see your announcements. For instance, you can set the visibility only to the users who come from Google searches or social media platforms.
Key features
- Creates fixed and absolute bars
- Countdown timer
- Lightweight
- Targeting options
- 30-days money back guarantee
Pricing: $19.99. Free trial available to download.
Hello Bar
Hello Bar is another top-notch announcement bar plugin for WordPress websites. It gives you the power to add notification bars to websites built using WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and many more platforms. Moreover, this extension is easy to set up and use.
Neil Patel’s team has created Hello Bar. So, you can expect all the features to help you as a marketer. For instance, Hello Bar can also create pop-ups to collect more leads.
Hello Bar has a free forever plan. Hence, you can try all its features without even entering your card details. Over 600000 websites trust this extension. Hence, you can also install Hello Bar and see if it suits all your requirements.
Key features
- Designs a variety of popups
- Exit-intent technology
- Targeting option
- A/B testing
Pricing: Starts from $29 per month. Free forever edition available to try.
Easy Notification Bar
Easy Notification Bar is a free and simple-to-use announcement bar. It creates simple notification bars with a message and call-to-action button on the top of your WordPress website. This is a free-to-use extension. So, do not expect advanced options like WPAnnouncement.
You can customize the background color, add links, add content, change font size, and check the preview in real time. You can also enable the close option, which your visitors can click to hide the announcement. In addition, it designs responsive notification bars that work well on smartphones.
Easy Notification Bar could be perfect if you want to create static announcement bars. Moreover, it can also generate sticky bars. This extension is free to use. So, you can try it without any risks.
Key features
- Easy to setup
- Optional sticky display
- Optional close button
- Minimal coding required
- Creates responsive announcements
Pricing: Free to use
FAQs
Which is the best announcement plugin for WordPress?
Picking a suitable announcement plugin for your WordPress website could be confusing because there are lots of options to try. All these extensions are different from each other. Some of them only have basic functions while others come with advanced features. Choosing the right plugin depends upon the requirements.
WPAnnouncement is one of the best announcement plugins for WordPress because of its user-friendly interface, multiple customizations, and pre-designed templates. Hence, it helps you to attract new customers and increase the conversion rate of your business without a lot of hard work. You can also try MyStickyBar, WP Notification Bar, Hello Bar, or Easy Notification Bar. Check their reviews above and choose something that suits your expertise level.
How to create a horizontal announcement bar in WordPress?
If you want to add a horizontal announcement bar to your WordPress website, make sure you pick a plugin with features to design it. For instance, WPAnnouncement can create horizontal notification bars. So, you can install it and design all types of bars for your web pages, including the horizontal ones.
Final thoughts
We hope now you know what is an announcement plugin in WordPress and how you can display it on your websites. With the help of these extensions, you can offer discounts or promotions to your visitors and encourage them to take some action. They also help you to collect leads and grow your email marketing list.
We also discussed some of the best plugins, so that you can get started right away. Design a notification bar for your website today and increase the engagement rate of your business. Do not forget to create a buyer’s profile before you start designing an announcement bar.
