{"id":132625,"date":"2014-10-06T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/premium.wpmudev.org\/blog\/?p=132625"},"modified":"2014-10-06T18:16:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-06T22:16:34","slug":"add-whatsapp-to-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/add-whatsapp-to-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"Add WhatsApp To Your WordPress Website And Double Your Traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"

With mobile usage on the rise, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is a no-brainer.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Smart Insights<\/a>, mobile usage is overtaking fixed internet access, while\u00a091% of mobile internet users\u00a0go online\u00a0to socialize.<\/p>\n

So it’s no wonder smartphone apps like WhatsApp have taken off. WhatsApp is now the most globally popular messaging app with more than 600 million users.<\/p>\n

In today’s post we’ll look at how to integrate WhatsApp with your WordPress site to maximize engagement and make it easier for your visitors to share your content.<\/p>\n

\"WhatsApp\"<\/a>
Integrate WhatsApp with your website and maximize your shares on social networks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is WhatsApp and Why Should I Use it?<\/h2>\n

If you don’t already have WhatsApp installed on your smartphone, you probably will soon.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp is a cross-platform mobile messaging app, which allow you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS.<\/p>\n

In addition to text messaging, the app lets users send each other images, video, and audio messages, as well as their location using integrated mapping features.<\/p>\n

Many sites have already begun displaying a WhatsApp button. The button allows visitors to quickly send or share an article with their friends in real time while they are reading the article.<\/p>\n

BuzzFeed was an early WhatsApp adopter and,\u00a0according to\u00a0conversations of\u00a0Re\/Code<\/a> with BuzzFeed President Jon Steinberg, the site’s shares on iOS devices doubled while shares on Twitter also great.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we looked at WhatsApp\u2019s numbers, it blew us away,\u201d said Mr\u00a0Steinberg. \u201cWe knew last April this was a huge social network and have become increasingly obsessed with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The difference between Twitter and WhatsApp is that WhatsApp sharing is private, i.e. it works as if you\u2019ve sent an email to a friend and it can make anything go viral if you\u2019ve got loyal and engaging readers.<\/p>\n

We’ve explored the potential of displaying a WhatsApp button to your device users. Let’s look at how to implement it.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp with the Mobile ShareBar Plugin<\/h2>\n

Download and install the Mobile Share Bar plugin<\/a>, and then activate it.<\/p>\n

Go to Settings > Mobile ShareBar<\/strong> to configure the plugin.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Mobile<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The configuration is pretty simple. You can edit the sharing texts if you want but I recommend keeping them as they are. You can add your bit.ly credentials to automatically shorten URLs during sharing.<\/p>\n

Under the Display Settings<\/strong> option, you can select the position to\u00a0display, whether at\u00a0the top or bottom of the page and select which pages to show the buttons \u2013 front page, pages, posts, categories, etc.<\/p>\n

Under Troubleshooting and other Stuff<\/strong>, check the options \u201cDisplay Mobile ShareBar automatically\u201d and \u201cShow Everywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

Finally, save the changes and clear your cache.<\/p>\n

The only limitation is \u00a0the WhatsApp button works only on iOS devices\u00a0for now.<\/p>\n

\n
\"WhatsApp<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Now it\u2019s time to verify if the button is working, so open your website on an iOS device and check it out.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp with the AddToAny Plugin<\/h2>\n

Download, install and activate the AddToAny plugin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Go to Settings > AddToAny<\/strong>\u00a0to configure the settings.<\/p>\n

\n
\"AddToAny<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Select large or small icons as you need, and click “Add\/Remove Services” to add the buttons you want along with the defaults given for Facebook, Twitter and Google+.<\/p>\n

Scroll down a little and you\u2019ll find the WhatsApp service. Click on it to add WhatsApp\u00a0and configure the display options according to where you want\u00a0the button to\u00a0display \u2013 at the bottom or top of the page.<\/p>\n

There is also an option to use a floating social sharing bar at the side of your page that displays as you scroll down the article.<\/p>\n

You can also use custom icons to suit the design of your website.<\/p>\n

Finally, save the changes and check from your iOS device to see if the\u00a0WhatsApp button is working.<\/p>\n

What I like most about AddToAny is that it integrates with Google Analytics so you can\u00a0track the amount of traffic you\u2019re receiving from sharing analytics.<\/p>\n

Have you integrated WhatsApp with your WordPress site? Let us know in the comments below.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With mobile usage on the rise, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is a no-brainer. According to\u00a0Smart Insights, mobile usage is overtaking fixed internet access, while\u00a091% of mobile internet users\u00a0go online\u00a0to socialize. So it’s no wonder smartphone apps like WhatsApp have taken off. WhatsApp is now the most globally popular messaging app with more than 600 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":344329,"featured_media":132660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"blog_reading_time":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_tutorials_categories":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,263],"tags":[982],"tutorials_categories":[],"class_list":["post-132625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plugins","category-tutorials","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/344329"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200017,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132625\/revisions\/200017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132625"},{"taxonomy":"tutorials_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tutorials_categories?post=132625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}