4 Elements That Can’t be Missing from Your Footer
The footer is a valuable space on your WordPress website. Utilized correctly, it can help visitors find what they need and stay on your website longer. The WordPress footer shouldn’t include anything and everything. It should be designed well and serve its purpose. In this article, we’ll look at 4 footer elements to include in your website’s footer.
1. Footer Elements: Contact Information
First, we’ll look at contact information. This type of information makes it easy for customers to talk to you and find your physical location. It’s often included in detail on a contact page but having some of the information in the footer is helpful. Shorter versions of this information are great for footer elements.
Basic contact information includes the email address, phone number, and address. For a store, you can add opening hours and other information. These are often added with individual text modules. Other modules add elements that make them stand out such as titles and dividers or styled borders.
Contact Form
Add a contact form so your visitors can reach you easily. Add the specific fields you want, but it’s best to keep it simple for the footer.
Social Media Follow
Social media follow buttons are ideal for almost any footer. Add your active social networks.
Map
Maps are great for providing directions to your physical location or the location of events. They’re easy to add with a Map module or plugin. They can be full-width or just take a up small column. Alternately, you can add Google Maps HTML.
2. Footer Elements: Calls-To-Action
Next are CTAs. Calls to action are powerful footer elements. Adding a call-to-action to the footer gives you one more chance to push something important to your business goals. This can be an email subscription, membership, link to your shop page, a reminder to ask for information, etc.
Email or Newsletter Subscription
Adding an email or newsletter subscription is as simple as adding an Email Optin module or other form element.
Purchase Call to Action
Create a link to your online store to remind visitors where they can shop. The shopping CTA should be larger than most other links and stand out. They can be full-width or fit within one of the columns.
Project CTA
A project CTA can nudge the visitor into requesting a quote or contact you for more information. They work best when they’re larger than other elements around them, but still keep them simple and clean.
3. Footer Elements: Links
Next, let’s talk about links. Links are some of the most popular elements we see in a WordPress footer. They work great as footer elements and they’re easy to add. They can link to pages, posts, comments, products, events, services, and lots more. There are several ways to create them.
Links to Pages
Links to pages can include specific products, legal information, about your company and team, your contact page, etc. It’s also good for links to pages that you don’t want to place in your primary menu. These links are usually created manually.
Posts and Products
Display a list of your latest posts and comments. You can also display WooCommerce products based on category, featured, hand-picked, or popularity. Add the proper widget to the WordPress widget area and then add them to your footer. Some themes offer a Sidebar module for that purpose.
Navigation Menus
Navigation menus look great when the links are stacked. You can add a stacked navigation menu widget to a footer area in your Widgets screen and then use a Sidebar module in your footer. Displays the navigation menu in a vertical stack.
Services and More
The footer is an excellent place to add links to your services, projects, portfolio, resume, case studies, events, etc. They work the same as regular links or you can highlight them with images or icons. Use only a few links rather than linking to all your projects and services.
4. Footer Elements: Company Information
Finally, we;ll look at Company information. This is one of the most important of the footer elements. Often, this type of information doesn’t fit well anywhere else on the page. This also works as a summary of the information. This includes copyright, company mission statement, information about the company, photos of people or products, etc. Be sure to keep it simple.
Copyright Notice
The copyright notice usually appears at the very bottom of the footer. You can enter the year manually or dynamically.
Mission Statement
Mission statements can be powerful messages about your company. They’re especially important for companies, such as charities and churches, that help others and accept donations that need to build strong relationships with donors. Mission statements are easy to add with Text modules.
Branding
Adding branding, such as a logo, reminds visitors of who you are. Add a logo using an Image module.
Photo
Photos can be a great way to make yourself relatable to your audience. Add an Image module along with Text modules for your name or contact information. You can also add photos of your products or an example of your work. One or two small photos are all you need in the footer.
Testimonial
A testimonial can help build credibility. Add one with a Testimonial module/plugin. You can add more with a Slider module/plugin and set it to display one at a time. Keep them short.
Ending Thoughts on Footer Elements
That’s our look at 4 footer elements that can’t be missing from your website and how to add them. The details of the elements are up to you, but every footer needs:
- Contact information
- A CTA
- Important links
- Company information
These examples show one method of how to create these elements, but they can be created using other footer placements. There is a lot of flexibility on what these are and how you create them. Be sure not to clutter the footer area. Use borders and different background colors to separate the elements and footer sections. Building these 4 important footer elements will make your footer more valuable and useful to your visitors.
