One of my favourite places to browse on blogs is the sidebar - it's prime real estate and there are literally thousands of widgets out there that you could use to dress it up and maximise it's potential!
So if you have a self-hosted Wordpress theme, here are a selection of my favourite sidebar widgets!
SOCIAL MEDIA ICONS
1. Simple Social Icons is by far my favourite social media icons widget. It's easy to use and looks great.
2. Web Font Social Icons Widget & Shortcode is another good one, but it is also a paid option - at $8.00 though, you can't go wrong!
INSTAGRAM WIDGET
3. Enjoy Instagram is a neat and tidy Instagram solution.
4. SnapWidget is my personal favourite - you generate a code and use a text widget box to display it.
5. Instagram Feed is another really great plugin that you can use on your sidebar.
PINTEREST WIDGET
6. Pinterest Pinboard Widget is my favourite Pinterest widget if you choose not to use the widget builder on the Pinterest website.
7. Pinterest Master is a neat tool that you can use to display your favourite Pinterest board.
8. Pretty Pinterest Pins lets you pick which boards and pins to display.
TWITTER WIDGET
9. Easy Twitter Feed Widget will add your Twitter Feed to your sidebar.
10. AccessPress Twitter Feed allows you to display a real time Twitter Feed on your website, could be really useful if you are hosting a Twitter Chat!
11. Twitter Timeline Widget by Jetpack is another great way to display your latests Tweets on your sidebar.
DISPLAY SPECIAL TEXT WIDGETS
12. WP Easy News Scroller is a paid app that allows you to display announcements and news on your blog sidebar. It's a one of $16 fee.
13. Quotes Collection is a great way to display testimonials on your sidebar.
14. Black Studio TinyMCE Widget adds a little visual editor to your text widget, meaning you really don't need to know any HTML or CSS!
MAILING LIST WIDGETS
15. MailChimp for Wordpress is a godsend if you use MailChimp (which I recommend) for your email subscriptions!
16. Genesis eNews Extended is perfect for sign up forms on your sidebar if you are using one of the Brand IT Girl premade Genesis themes.
POST, PAGE AND TAG WIDGETS
17. Advanced Tag List Widget displays your tags in a neat list rather than the default Wordpress cloud that can often be too messy!
18. jQuery Archive List makes it easy to display archived posts, breaking them down into year and month.
MISC WIDGETS
19. Remove Widget Titles does just that, making it easier for you!
20. Simple Image Widget makes it easier to display images on your sidebar, giving you options like opening in a new tab!
21. Display Widgets allows you to choose what widgets you want displayed on what page, making your sidebar a really flexible space.
That's just a few of the amazing range of widgets out there that you can use to dress up your sidebar. Which are your favourites?
(Photo Credit: Alex Lv)
