Advantages of Dynamic Content on WordPress Sites
Creating a more professional WordPress website can be done through enhancing site design and plugging in advanced features. Web developers will suggest these options to you; however, have you thought about including some dynamic content into your WordPress site to boost the overall user experience?
What is dynamic content?
Dynamic content is website content that adjusts based on the user and other factors like location, time, etc. Dynamic content is interactive and ever-changing, the opposite of static content that stays the same on the front end. Static content is content that doesn’t need to be modified for each user. While fast, efficient, and simple, static content can create a boring user experience for your site visitors and it just doesn’t fit the bill sometimes.
When a user accesses a website with dynamic content, WordPress will show the user the correct data based on what page they are visiting. An example of dynamic content would be searching for a restaurant near you on the internet. Your search engine will provide you with restaurant options nearest to your location, and will show open restaurants based on what time of day it is. These same tactics can be applied to practically any website. Dynamic content basically content that is tailored to the user. On a website, dynamic content will adjust to what the user is accessing or what they have already done on the website, making the entire web experience more interactive for the user.
Dynamic content on WordPress
Web developers who have worked with WordPress understand that no pages on WordPress sites are considered to be completely static because everything in WordPress comes from a database. However, there is plenty of static content like blog posts and articles – the content of those blog posts and articles won’t change based on the user’s location and won’t be personalized to each user.
Though dynamic content isn’t a default on WordPress sites, there are a few great plugins available for users in their websites to create personalized content. One of the most popular is If-So.
More about If-So
If-So allows you to add or change the information on your site based on the interactions and engagements from the individual user, and any element on your website can be customized with If-So. More personalized content means more interaction from your users, which is great for boosting your website engagements.
A few pieces of content that can be adjusted using If-So are (but are not limited to):
- User’s device type
- User’s location
- User’s timezone
- Logged-in users
- Facebook ads
- Pages visited by the user
- Google ads
- User’s browser language
- Page URLs
There are great features that make If-So a respectable plugin tool for your WordPress site. If-So works with any WordPress theme, no coding skills are required to utilize the program, the software works on posts, pages, and individual widgets, there are built-in analytics tools, it’s simple to use, and more.
WordPress Page Builders
Visual page builders are a relatively new feature for websites. The growth in popularity of page building software for WordPress is due to the ease and flexibility they offer for design as well as dynamic content. Two popular page builders are Beaver Builder and Elementor.
Beaver Builder
With over half-a-million customers, Beaver Builder is highly recommended among web developers (it’s the one we use most often). There is a free plugin version with a front-end editing feature, but the premium Beaver Builder plugin is the more popular option. There is little learning curve with this plug in because of its strong user experience and easy drag-and-drop functionality. Beaver Builder is a fast-loading interface with many categorized modules to help you build the dynamic content your site needs.
Elementor
Elementor gained popularity back in 2016 for offering a strong front-end visual experience when editing, whilst providing many premade templates to help with site design. All aspects of Elementor are open-source and optimized for internet search engines, they’re also all mobile-friendly. Additionally, any WordPress widget can be used with Elementor. There is a free version of Elementor (which covers the basics), and a Pro version which unlocks even more dynamic content designs and features. It’s an easy to use, efficient dynamic content builder.
Building dynamic content for anonymous visitors
Sometimes, personalized content can seem a little too personalized, which can scare off users. Users visiting your site for the first time might not want to release their name, location, time zone, email, etc. Many website users prefer to preserve a level of anonymity when browsing the web; for many websites.
There are still plenty of ways to plug dynamic content into your site without knowing exactly who your site visitor is. Here are a few:
- Location: Dynamic content can be adjusted based on the physical location of your site visitor.
- Behavior: First first-time visitors, there can be a certain chunk of content that is reserved specifically for first time visitors – after that, it won’t be shown to them.
- Previous visits: Did the user find your website through Google or through a link on Instagram? You can adjust the content shown based on the user’s previous location.
- Parameters: You can change the content sent to users by adding custom parameters to links in newsletters, emails, etc.
Advantages of using dynamic content on WordPress
Quality content on your website is key. Static is key to communicating information on a website; however, dynamic content provides many benefits and advantages that static content simply cannot. They include (but are not limited to):
- Dynamic content provides an overall stronger user experience. Users will appreciate when content is adapted to their behaviors and will be encouraged to interact more with your website.
- Dynamic content can improve your website’s conversions. This content can help reduce your site’s bounce rates and boost your conversions by offering content that is customized for each user.
- Some dynamic content requires no web developer or knowledge of coding. It’s easy to switch around and update your content without contacting your web designer.
Learn more about dynamic content with Design TLC
Want to learn more about including dynamic content in your WordPress site? Contact us today for a free consultation.