Do you want to add new users and authors to your blog?

WordPress comes with a built-in user management system. This lets you add users with different roles and permission levels.

In this article, we will show you how to add new users and authors to your WordPress website.

Adding a New User or Author to Your WordPress Website

There are 3 ways to add new users to your WordPress website. You can add users manually, let users register themselves for free, or create a paid membership site where users pay to register.

Here’s what we’re going to cover in this article. Simply click on the quick links to jump straight to the section you need.

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Manually Adding a New User or Author to Your Website

If you want to add a small number of people to your website, then this is easy to do with WordPress’s built-in user management system.

This method is ideal for:

• Small businesses have several different employees managing their websites.
• Organizations such as churches and nonprofits have volunteers updating their websites.
• Blogs with multiple authors, such as a fashion blog that you are writing with some friends.
• Online stores that have several people managing inventory, shipping items, etc.

You simply need to go to the Users » Add New page in your WordPress admin area.

Next, you just have to fill out the form to create a new user.

On the form, you first need to enter a username. The user can use this or their email address to log in.

Note: The WordPress username can’t be easily changed later, but all the other details can.

Next, enter the user’s email address. Double-check that you are using the correct email address. Users will need this in order to reset their passwords and receive email notifications.

After that, you can enter the first name, last name, and website URL. Since these are optional fields, you can also leave them blank. Users can edit their own profiles to complete these fields later.

In the next step, you will need to choose a password. We recommend using an online strong password generator for this purpose.

We suggest using the ‘Generate password’ button to automatically create a strong password.

Below the password field, you will see a checkbox to send the user an email. If you check this, the user will receive an email letting them know how to log in. This will also have a link, so they can set a different password if they want.

The last option on the page is to choose a WordPress user role from the dropdown list.

Each user role comes with a different set of capabilities. Subscriber is the least powerful role, and Administrator is the most powerful role. You need to choose a role depending on what tasks a user will be performing on your website.

You may already know what role you want to give your user. If so, select the role, then click the ‘Add New User’ button at the bottom of the screen.

If you’re unsure about the role, don’t worry. We have a detailed explanation of the roles in the next section of this article.

Remember, some plugins create additional user roles.

For instance, WooCommerce adds ‘Customer’ and ‘Shop Manager’ roles. All in One SEO adds the ‘SEO Manager’ and ‘SEO Editor’ roles. Simply check the plugin’s documentation to find out about any additional roles that you see in this list.

Understanding User Roles in WordPress

WordPress comes with these default user roles:

• Administrator
• Editor
• Author
• Contributor
• Subscriber

If you have a multisite installation of WordPress, there is also a ‘Super Admin’ role. These users can manage all the websites, whereas regular Administrators manage just one site.

Administrator

An administrator can perform all tasks on your WordPress site.

You should only assign this role to users who you fully trust. You should also feel confident about their technical skills.

With the administrator user role, a user can install WordPress plugins, change themes, delete content, and even delete other users. This includes other administrators.

You can learn more about the Administrator role here.

Editor

An editor can add, edit, publish, and delete their own WordPress posts. They can also do all of these actions for posts by all other users.

They cannot access website settings, plugins, themes, and other admin features.

This role is useful if you have an editor for your site who manages a team of authors and publishes content on a regular basis.

You can learn more about the Editor role here.

Author

Authors can add, edit, and publish their own posts. They can upload files, too.

They can’t edit or publish other people’s posts or access features like plugins, themes, settings, and tools.

You may want to use a plugin to restrict authors so they can only write in a specific category.

You could also let authors revise their published posts. Again, you will need to use a plugin to extend the Author user role.

You can learn more about the Author role here.

Contributor

A contributor can add and edit their own posts but cannot publish them.

However, they cannot edit other users’ posts or access features like plugins, themes, settings, and tools.

It’s important to note that contributors cannot upload media files, such as images. The easiest way to get around this is to get contributors to upload their post’s image(s) through a file upload form.

That way, the image(s) can be saved straight to the WordPress media library. This makes it easy for an editor or administrator to add them to the post.

You can learn more about the Contributor role here.

Subscriber

The subscriber role does not let users add or edit posts in any way.

With the default settings, subscribers can create a profile and save their details. This lets them enter them more quickly when leaving comments.

You can also use a membership plugin or LMS plugin to create members-only content that is available to subscribers. We will come onto that later in this article.

You can learn more about the Subscriber role here.

To find out more about all the different user roles in WordPress and how they relate to one another, check out our beginner’s guide to WordPress user roles and permissions.

Managing Users in WordPress

As an administrator, you can add and remove users from your WordPress site at any time. After you have added a user, you can edit their profile at any time and change any information including passwords.

Simply click on the Users tab in your WordPress admin to go to the user page. You can edit or delete a user at any time.

You can edit the user’s profile to change their password, change their role, and more. You can also bulk edit users to change their roles if you want to upgrade or downgrade several users’ roles at the same time.

Users can also edit their own profile by going to Users » Profile in the WordPress dashboard. There can add a profile picture and change most of their details, but they cannot change their role.

Open Your WordPress Site for Anyone to Register for Free

What if you want to let users register on your site for free?

It would be a lot of work to add each user manually. Instead, you can let them create their own account.

First, you need to go to Settings » General in your WordPress admin and check the ‘Anyone can register’ box.

By default, new users will be given the Subscriber role. Go ahead and change this to any role you want using the dropdown.

Warning: We recommend only letting users register as ‘Subscribers’ or ‘Contributors.’ If you let users register as ‘Authors,’ they could publish a post without approval. Never use ‘Administrator’ as the default setting.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom of the page to store your changes.

You also need to add a login form to your site. The best way to do this is with the WPForms plugin. Just follow our guide on how to allow user registration on your WordPress site for help with this.

Tip: You can also disable the WordPress admin bar for subscribers or other user roles.

Creating a Paid Membership Program on Your Website

Another way to add new users to your site is to create a paid membership program that users sign up for.

This allows you to sell members-only content, add premium content behind a paywall, sell online courses, and more.

To do this, you need a WordPress membership plugin.

We recommend using MemberPress. It’s the best membership and course creation plugin with all the functionality and flexibility you need.

MemberPress lets you lock specific posts and pages on your site so that only registered, paying users can access them. Many sites offer premium content like this as a way to make money online.

With MemberPress, it’s easy to create different access levels.

For instance, you might offer a Bronze, Silver, and Gold plan. Each of these plans would have its own user role. You could create separate courses that only users with certain roles could sign up for.

You also get access to powerful tools such as MemberPress’s reports to show you your average member lifetime value, how many members you have in total, and more.

MemberPress allows you to add drip content to create an evergreen membership site, and you can even sell group memberships in WordPress.

For a step-by-step tutorial on setting up MemberPress on your site, check out our ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add new users and authors to your WordPress website. You may also want to see our comparison of the best email marketing services and how to add push notifications, so you can connect with your users after they leave your website.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Do you want to add a navigation menu to your WordPress site?

WordPress comes with a drag and drop menu interface that you can use to create header menus, menus with dropdown options, and more.

In this step-by-step guide, we will show you how to easily add a navigation menu in WordPress.

What is a Navigation Menu?

A navigation menu is a list of links pointing to important areas of a website. They are usually presented as a horizontal bar of links at the top of every page on a WordPress website.

Navigation menus give your site structure and help visitors find what they’re looking for. Here’s how the navigation menu looks on WPBeginner:

WordPress makes it really easy to add menus and sub-menus. You can add links to your most important pages, categories or topics, WordPress blog posts, and even custom links such as your social media profile.

The exact location of your menu will depend on your WordPress theme. Most themes will have several options, so you can create different menus that can be displayed in different places.

For instance, most WordPress themes come with a primary menu that appears on the top. Some themes may include a secondary menu, a footer menu, or a mobile navigation menu as well.

That said, let’s see how you can create a custom navigation menu in WordPress.

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Creating Your First Custom Navigation Menu

To create a navigation menu, you need to visit the Appearance » Menus page in your WordPress admin dashboard.

First, you need to provide a name for your menu, like ‘Top Navigation Menu’, and then click the ‘Create Menu’ button.

This will expand the menu area, and it will look like this:

Next, you can choose the pages you want to add to the menu. You can either automatically add all new top-level pages, or you can select specific pages from the left column.

First, click the ‘View All’ tab to see all your site’s pages. After that click the box next to each of the pages you want to add to your menu, and then click on the ‘Add to Menu’ button.

Once your pages have been added, you can move them around by dragging and dropping them.

This way you can change their order and rearrange them.

Note: All menus have their items listed in a vertical (top to bottom) list in the menu editor. When you put the menu live on your site, it’ll either display vertically or horizontally (left to right), depending on the location you select.

Most themes have several different locations where you can put menus. In this example, we’re using the Astra theme, which has 5 different locations.

After adding pages to the menu, select the location where you want to display the menu and click on the ‘Save Menu’ button.

Tip: If you’re not sure where each location is, try saving the menu in different places, then visit your site to see how it looks. You probably won’t want to use all the locations, but you might want to use more than one.

Here’s our finished menu on the site:

Creating Drop-Down Menus in WordPress

Drop-down menus sometimes called nested menus, are navigation menus with parent and child menu items. When you run your cursor over a parent item, all the child items will appear beneath it in a sub-menu.

To create a submenu, drag an item below the parent item, and then drag it slightly to the right. We’ve done that with 3 sub-items beneath ‘Services’ in our menu:

You can even add multiple layers of dropdowns so that your sub-menu can have a sub-menu. This can end up looking a bit cluttered, and many themes do not support multi-layer drop-down menus.

Here’s the sub-menu live on our demo site:

Adding Categories to WordPress Menus

If you’re using WordPress to run a blog, then you may want to add your blog categories as a drop-down in your WordPress menu.

We do this on WPBeginner and have multiple categories like news, themes, tutorials, and more.

You can easily add categories to your menu by clicking the Categories tab on the left side of the menus screen. You may also need to click the ‘View All’ tab to see all your categories.

Simply select the categories you want to add to the menu, and then click the ‘Add to Menu’ button.

The categories will appear as regular menu items at the bottom of your menu.

Next, you can drag and drop them into position. For example, we’re going to put all of these categories under the Blog menu item.

Do you want to have a blog page on your site that’s separate from your homepage? If so, check out our tutorial on how to create a separate page for blog posts in WordPress.

Here’s how different categories appear in the navigational menu on our demo site:

Adding Custom Links to Your WordPress Navigation Menus

Aside from categories and pages, WordPress also makes it super easy to add custom links to your menu. You can use it to link to your social media profiles, your online store, and other websites that you own.

You will need to use the ‘Custom Links’ tab on the Menu screen. Simply add the link along with the text you want to use in your menu and click the ‘Add to Menu’ button.

You can even get creative and add social media icons in your menu or a call to action buttons to get more conversions.

Editing or Removing a Menu Item in WordPress Navigation Menus

When you add pages or categories to your custom navigation menu, WordPress uses the page title or category name as the link text. You can change this if you want.

Any menu item can be edited by clicking on the downward arrow next to it.

You can change the name of the menu item here. This is also where you can click ‘Remove’ to take the link off your menu altogether.

If you’re struggling with the drag and drop interface, then you can also move the menu item around by clicking the appropriate ‘Move’ link.

Adding Navigational Menus in Full Site Editor (FSE)

The new full site editor allows you to customize your WordPress themes using the block editor. It was released in WordPress 5.9 and enables you to add different blocks to your templates to create a unique design.

However, the full site editor is still in beta and limited to specific themes that support it. We’ll use the default Twenty Twenty-Two theme for this tutorial. For more details, you can see our article on the best WordPress full site editing themes.

To add a navigational menu using the full site editor, you’ll first need to go to Appearance » Editor from your WordPress dashboard. You can also click the ‘Customize’ button on the Twenty Twenty-Two theme to open the full site editor.

Once you’re in the editor, go ahead and click on the navigational menu that appears at the top of the website header.

Next, you’ll see different options to customize the navigational menu block from the panel on your right.

For instance, you can change the layout, edit the display settings, show a submenu on click, change the color of the text, background, and submenus, and adjust the font size.

For more options such as changing the menu or creating a new one, you can click on the ‘Select Menu’ option to open a dropdown menu.

For example, you can select any menu you previously created under the Classic Menus section.

Once you select a menu, you can add more pages, blog posts, site logos, social icons, or add a search option to your menu.

Simply click the ‘+’ sign to add a block to your navigational menu, and then select an option that appears in the dropdown menu.

The best part about using the full site editor is that you can add a navigational menu block anywhere on your site.

When you’re done, you can preview the changes to see how the menu looks in real-time. Then don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top.

Adding WordPress Menus in Sidebars and Footers

You don’t have to just stick to the display locations for your theme. You can add navigation menus in any area that uses widgets, like your sidebar or footer.

Simply go to Appearance » Widgets and then click the ‘+’ sign at the top and add the ‘Navigation Menu’ widget block to your sidebar.

Next, add a title for the widget and choose the correct menu from the ‘Select Menu’ dropdown list.

When you’re done, simply click the ‘Update’ button.

Here’s an example of a custom WordPress footer menu built on Syed Balkhi’s website.

Going Further with Navigation Menus

If you want to create a truly epic menu with loads of links, we’ve got a tutorial on how to create a mega menu in WordPress.

This lets you create a drop-down with lots of items including images.

Mega menus are a great option if you have a large site, such as an online store or news site. This type of menu is used by sites like Reuters, Buzzfeed, Starbucks, etc.

FAQs About WordPress Menus

Here are some of the most common questions we hear about WordPress navigation menus from beginners.

1. How do I add a homepage link to a WordPress menu?

To add your homepage to a navigation menu, you’ll need to click the ‘View All’ tab under Pages. From there, you should see your homepage.

Check the box next to ‘Home’ and click ‘Add to Menu’. Don’t forget to save your changes.

2. How do I add multiple navigation menus in WordPress?

In WordPress, you can create as many menus as you like. To place a menu on your website, you’ll need to add it to one of your theme’s menu locations, or to a widget area as we showed above.

To add multiple navigation menus to your WordPress site, first create the menus following our tutorial above.

To place them on your site, click on the ‘Manage Locations’ tab.

From here, you can select which menu you’d like to display in the menu locations that are available in your theme.

If you want to add a new menu location to your site, see our tutorial on how to add custom navigation menus to WordPress themes.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add a navigation menu in WordPress. You may also want to check out our guides on how to style navigation menus in WordPress and how to create a sticky floating navigation menu in WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Do you want to add Google AdSense to your WordPress website?

Google AdSense is one of the easiest ways to start making money online with your website. It allows you to automatically sell your website’s ad space to advertisers and get paid.

In this article, we will show you how to add Google AdSense in WordPress, along with some best practices and tips to increase your earnings.

What is Google AdSense?

Google AdSense is an advertising network run by Google that allows bloggers and website owners an opportunity to earn money by showing text, images, videos, and other interactive advertisements on their websites. These ads are targeted by site content and audience, so they’re highly relevant.

Google AdSense is hassle-free because you don’t have to deal with advertisers or worry about collecting money. Google administers and maintains relationships with advertisers. They collect the payment, take their management fee, and send the rest of the money to you.

AdSense offers cost-per-click ads (CPC), which means that you earn money every time a user clicks on the ad on your website. The amount received per click varies based on a variety of factors.

Getting Started with AdSense

The first thing you need to do is sign up for a Google AdSense account. If you have a Gmail account, then you can use your existing account to sign up.

Once you’ve submitted your application, you will need to wait for the Google AdSense team to review it. This may take a few hours to a few weeks for some publishers.

Once it is approved, then you can log in to your AdSense account and get your ad code. This is the code that you need to place on your WordPress website to display ads.

With Google AdSense auto ads, you can paste just one piece of code and then Google automatically decides when, where, and how many ads to show on each page.

However, many publishers use the manual method to individually place ads on their websites.

We’ll show you both methods. We recommend starting with the manual ad placement first. Once you have started earning, then you can experiment with auto-ads to compare them yourself.

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1. Manually Place Google AdSense Ad Code in WordPress

You’ll start by clicking on the Ads menu in the left column and then switching to the ‘By ad unit’ tab. From here, you need to click on ‘Create New Ad.’

You will be asked to choose an ad type. You can select from Display ads, In-feed ads, and In-article ads.

If you are unsure, then start with the display ads.

Next, you need to provide a name for this ad unit and select the ad size and type.

The name of the Ad is only used for internal purposes so you can name it anything like “SiteName Sidebar.”

The next option is choosing the Ad Size. While Google offers a wide variety of ad sizes, there are certain sizes that are listed under recommended because those are the most popular among advertisers.

You can also choose whether you want your ad to be responsive or fixed. We recommend choosing responsive ads as they work well on all devices and screen sizes.

Next, click on the Create button to continue.

AdSense will now generate the ad code for you. It contains the unique ad unit ID and your publisher ID.

Simply copy your ad code and paste it into a plain text editor like Notepad or TextEdit. You will need it in the next step.

Adding Google AdSense in WordPress

Next, you need to determine where you want to show the ad on your website. Ads are most commonly displayed in the sidebar. You can add Google Adsense to your sidebar by using WordPress widgets.

Simply go to the Appearance » Widgets page in your WordPress admin area. Next, click the ‘+’ button to add a ‘Custom HTML’ widget block to the appropriate widget area.

Next, you’ll need to enter the Google AdSense code in the Custom HTML widget block.

After that, don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ button.

For better placement control and tracking, we recommend checking out the AdSanity WordPress plugin. You can see our guide on the best ad management WordPress solutions for more details.

2. Add Auto-Ads AdSense Code in WordPress

Adding individual ads to different areas of your website takes a lot of time. Most beginners struggle to find the best locations to display ads on their sites.

To solve this, Google introduced auto-ads. This allows you to simply add one code snippet to your site and let Google AdSense figure out the highest paying location, ad size, and type.

The disadvantage of this method is that you have less control over ad placement on your website.

If you want to use the auto-ads feature, then this is how you’ll add Google AdSense to your website.

First, log in to your Google AdSense account and click on the Ads tab. Next, you need to click on the Get Code button to generate the auto-ads code.

AdSense will now generate a code snippet with your publisher ID and display it. You can now copy and paste this code into a text editor.

Adding AdSense Auto-Ads Code in WordPress

The auto-ads code uses a single code snippet to generate ads everywhere on your WordPress blog. This means you need to add the code to all the pages where you want to display the ad.

One way to do this is by adding the code in your WordPress theme’s header.php file. However, the disadvantage of this method is that your ad code will disappear if you update or change your theme.

The best way to add any site-wide code to your website is by using a plugin like WPCode.

First, you need to install and activate the WPCode free plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to the Code Snippets » Header & Footer page. From here, you need to paste your Google AdSense code in the header section.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your changes.

The plugin will now add the ad code on all pages of your website. It may take Google AdSense some time to start showing ads.

AdSense Best Practices and Frequently Asked Questions

Over the years, we’ve answered several AdSense-related questions. Having used AdSense on several of our sites in the past, we’ve learned a whole lot about optimizing. Below are some AdSense best practices and frequently asked questions.

What’s the best AdSense Ad Size?

Although ad placement is key, we’ve found that the best sizes are 336×280 and 300×250. These ads tend to fit on most screen sizes and have the best pay rate as well.

What’s the Best AdSense Placement?

This entirely depends on your layout. The goal is to get more impressions and clicks, so you want to place your ads in a more prominent spot. We have found that ads within post content towards the top of the screen tend to get the most clicks.

Several users have asked us about adding AdSense in a floating widget because it will be very prominent. We strongly recommend against that because it is not allowed by Google Terms of Service. If you violate their TOS, then you can get banned from the program.

Can I click on my own Google AdSense Ads?

Often beginners are tempted to click on their own ads or ask their family members to click on their ads. Please don’t do that. Google’s algorithm is very smart and knows when you’re clicking on your own ad. This can get you banned from the program.

What is Page RPM in Google AdSense?

RPM stands for Revenue per Mille, meaning revenue per 1000 impressions. This is determined by multiplying the total number of clicks and cost per click and then dividing that by the total number of pageviews.

Can I use my Blogger or YouTube AdSense account with WordPress?

Yes, you can. If you started using AdSense on one of Google’s hosted platforms like Blogger or YouTube, then you can change your AdSense account type and use it with WordPress. You’ll need to provide Google AdSense with the URL of the site you want to monetize by filling out an application form.

Simply log in to your AdSense account and then under ‘My Ads’ click on the ‘Other Products’ option. Next, you need to click ‘Upgrade now’ and complete the application form.

What is CTR in Google AdSense?

CTR or click-through rates differ vastly for different kinds of websites. Your ad clicks depend on a lot of factors like your website’s topics, your audience type, ad placement on your site, and more. The ideal CTR for Google AdSense is really hard to define because you don’t have access to the click rates of other websites like your own.

However, Google AdSense has built-in tools that will start showing you messages if your site is not getting a good CTR. You can follow the optimization guides shown inside the Google AdSense dashboard to improve your ad revenue.

When and how does Google AdSense pay publishers?

Each month, Google AdSense calculates your previous month’s earnings and shows them on your ‘Transactions’ page. If your earnings match the required threshold, then your payment is processed and released by the 21st of that month.

There are multiple payment methods available, including direct electronic transfer, wire transfer, check, Western Union, and more.

Why did Google AdSense reject my application?

Google Adsense may reject your application if your website is brand-new or otherwise doesn’t meet the AdSense program policies or their terms and conditions.

If they do, you could always consider using another ad management plugin or try another way to make money with your WordPress site.

What are the requirements to get Google AdSense application approved?

Here are the minimum requirements to get your Google AdSense account application approved.

• Your website and all its content must comply with AdSense program policies and terms and conditions.
• Your website should be at least 6 months old.
• You, the applicant, must be over 18 years old.

Note: Even if your application meets all the requirements, Google AdSense still reserves the right to decline your application.

Can I add Google AdSense in my WordPress.com blog?

WordPress.com does not allow you to add Google AdSense to your website unless you upgrade to the Business plan. For more on this topic, please see our guide on the difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

What is the difference between Google AdSense vs Google AdWords?

Google AdWords allows you to advertise on other websites, including those participating in the Google AdSense program.

Google AdSense allows you to make money from your website by showing ads on your website.

How do I get rid of Adsense Ads?

If Google Adsense is displaying too many ads or you’re seeing ads in random places on your site, you’re probably using Google Adsense Auto ads.

To turn off Auto ads, sign in to your Adsense account and go to Ads » Overview. Next, click on the ‘Edit’ icon next to your website. You can disable the Auto ads options in ‘Site Settings’ to completely remove Auto ads on your site. Or, you can select the ‘Page Exclusions’ option to disable Auto ads from specific pages.

We hope this article helped you add Google AdSense to your WordPress site. You may also want to check out our guide on how to increase your blog traffic, and the best email marketing services to grow your subscribers.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Do you want to add a featured posts section in the sidebar of your WordPress website?

Displaying your top content as featured posts in the sidebar can help you drive more traffic to your pillar articles.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily display featured posts in the WordPress sidebar using multiple methods.

Why Add Featured Posts in WordPress Sidebar?

Sidebars are columns placed on the left or right of the content area on your WordPress website. Most website owners use this space by adding an email newsletter form, social media buttons, banner ads, or other kinds of content.

Another way you can use the sidebar is by displaying your top articles as featured posts. This helps you get more traffic to those articles, and helps your users to be able to discover your best content without looking for it.

Here is how we feature our top articles on WPBeginner. This sidebar widget appears on all posts on our website.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to add featured posts in the WordPress sidebar to boost your pageviews and user engagement. We’ll cover four methods, and you can use the list below to quickly navigate through the article.

• Method 1. Featuring Posts in WordPress Sidebar Without a Plugin
• Method 2. Feature Posts in WordPress Sidebar Using Menus
• Method 3. Adding Featured Posts in WordPress Using Blocks
• Method 4. Display Featured Posts in WordPress With Thumbnails

Method 1. Featuring Posts in WordPress Sidebar Without a Plugin

This method is straightforward and does not require you to install any plugin on your website.

Simply go to Appearance » Widgets page and add a List widget to your WordPress sidebar using drag and drop.

This widget comes with a visual editor equipped with a few formatting buttons at the top. You can simply add titles of the posts you want to feature as a bulleted list.

To add your featured posts as list items, select the post title and then click on the link button to add a link to the blog post.

You can add a heading to the featured list by adding a Heading widget just above the list.

You can make the Heading and List widgets act as a single block by creating a group. Simply select both widgets and then click the Group icon. After that, you should select ‘Group’ from the pop up menu.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update’ button to store your changes.

You can now visit your website to see your featured posts in action. This is how it looked on our demo site.

Method 2. Feature Posts in WordPress Sidebar Using Menus

This method is less direct but lets you manage your featured posts more effectively.

Instead of adding the featured post list in a list widget, we will create a navigation menu and then display it in the sidebar.

The advantage of this method is that you can easily add new posts without editing the widget, and you can reorganize the list with a drag & drop interface. You’ll also be able to use the menu in multiple places on your website without having to create a new list each time.

Creating a Featured Posts Menu

First, you need to visit the Appearance » Menus page and click the ‘create a new menu’ link.

Next, you need to enter a name for your menu that helps you easily identify it whenever you need to add it somewhere.

After you’ve added a name, click on the ‘Create Menu’ button to continue.

WordPress will now create a new blank menu for you.

Now, you need to click on the ‘Posts’ tab from the left column to expand it. From here you need to select the posts you want to feature. You can find them under Recent, All, or use the search option to locate and select them.

After selecting the posts you want to add, click on the ‘Add to Menu’ button.

Your posts will now appear in the right column and you can edit each one of their titles by clicking on it. You can also rearrange them by simply dragging them up or down.

Once you are satisfied, click on the ‘Save Menu’ button to store your changes.

Your menu is now ready to be used.

Adding the Featured Posts Menu to Sidebar

Simply go to the Appearance » Widgets page and add the ‘Navigation Menu’ widget to your sidebar using drag and drop.

Next, you need to provide a title for your sidebar menu widget and then select the featured posts menu you created earlier from the dropdown menu.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update’ button to store your widget settings. You can now visit your website to see your featured posts list in action.

Method 3. Adding Featured Posts in WordPress Using Blocks

Alternatively, you may want to display your feature posts inside a WordPress post or page. This is a good option if you’re using the page editor to create a custom homepage layout, or your theme may not have a sidebar.

This method is similar to Method 1, but allows you to feature posts in your WordPress posts and pages rather than the sidebar.

Simply edit a WordPress post or page where you want to showcase your featured posts. On the post edit screen, you should click on the add new block button (+) at the top and then add the List block to your content area.

Now you need to add the title of each blog post you want to feature as an item on the list. Then select the text and click on the link button in the toolbar to create a link to the article.

Once you are done, you can save your changes and update or publish the post.

How to Make the Feature Posts Block Reuseable

One great feature of the block editor is that you can save a block as a ‘reusable block’ and then add the same block in any posts or pages you want.

To make your feature posts block reusable, simply click on the three-dot menu icon in the block toolbar and select ‘Add to reusable blocks’.

Next, you’ll be asked to provide a name for your reusable block. Give it a name that helps you easily identify it later.

Click on the Save button to save your reusable block.

Now, you can easily add the featured posts block whenever you are editing a post or page. Simply click on the add new block button and look for your reusable block by typing its name.

You can also edit reusable blocks and it will automatically get updated everywhere. For more details, see our article on how to add reusable blocks in WordPress.

Method 4. Display Featured Posts in WordPress With Thumbnails

A simple plain list of links may often go unnoticed by your users. Using a plugin to display thumbnails with your featured posts will help users notice them more easily.

First, you need to install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

You’ll need a MonsterInsights Plus account or higher to display featured posts and access advanced tracking features. There is also a MonsterInsights Lite version that lets you get started with analytics on your site.

Upon activation, you’ll be taken to the MonsterInsights welcome screen inside your WordPress dashboard. Go ahead and click the ‘Launch the Wizard’ button to configure the plugin and connect Google Analytics with WordPress.

You can follow our step by step guide on how to add Google Analytics to WordPress.

Once the plugin is set up, you’ll need to head over to Insights » Popular Posts in your WordPress admin area. Here you can select a theme for your popular posts widget.

You should start by clicking on the ‘Popular Posts Widget’ tab at the top of the page. However, if you want to display the list of featured posts in a post or page, then you should choose the ‘Inline Popular Posts’ tab instead.

Next, you should select a theme by clicking it.

You will immediately see a preview of that theme in the Theme Preview area underneath. You will need to click the Narrow option to view the list as a widget.

Not all themes display thumbnails with the post title, so make sure you choose one that does. You will have to select the theme again when adding the widget to your WordPress sidebar, so make a note of it.

You can now scroll down to the Customize Design section.

Here you can adjust the color, size, and background of the title, author, and date. If you are placing the list in a post or page, then you can also choose the number of columns that will be used.

The Post Count setting lets you choose how many posts to display in the widget. The fewest posts you can display is 2 and the most is 10.

You can also choose which information will be displayed with the post title and thumbnail. By default, the author and date of the post will also be shown, but you can turn these settings off using the toggle buttons.

Next, you’ll need to scroll down to the Behavior section of the settings.

The Widget Styling option allows advanced users to style the featured post list using custom CSS code. For this tutorial, we’ll stay with the default styles.

You should sort the list using the Curated option. This allows you to select the posts that will be featured. Alternatively, you can have popular posts chosen automatically by clicking the Comments or SharedCount options instead.

To add a post to the list, simply start typing its title. A list of matching posts will be displayed and you can click on the right one.

Make sure to include at least the same number of posts as the Post Count setting above. If you include more posts, then the widget will randomly rotate between them.

The Automated + Curated setting will automatically include your most popular five posts in the rotation. If you’d like that, just toggle the setting on.

The Widget Title allows you to display a title at the top of the widget. Feel free to add a title here, but you’ll have to type it again when you add the widget to your sidebar.

There are plenty of other settings for the MonsterInsights Popular Posts widget. For this tutorial we’ll go with the default settings for the remaining options.

When you’ve finished, you’ll need to scroll back to the top of the page and click the ‘Save Settings’ button to make the new widget available on your website.

Now you need to navigate to Appearance » Widgets and add the ‘Popular Posts – MonsterInsights’ widget to your sidebar using drag and drop.

You will need to enter a title for the widget, select the number of posts to display, and choose the same theme as earlier in the tutorial. When you’ve finished, don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ button to store your widget settings.

Feel free to visit your website to see your featured posts with thumbnails. This is how it looked on our demo website.

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily feature posts in the WordPress sidebar. You may also want to see our guide on the best email marketing services and best WordPress SEO plugins to grow your website traffic.

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