How to Add a Countdown to Your WordPress Website

Have you ever thought about adding a countdown to your WordPress website? If so, then this article is for you. Below we will teach you how to add a countdown to your WordPress website. We will cover everything from the basic ideas through to the fine details. So, let’s get started.

What Is A Countdown?

A countdown is the time before something happens. For example, if you are cooking a birthday cake for your friend in the next few days, then the countdown is for the cake baking. Or if you are planning on going on a vacation in the next few days, then the countdown is for the vacation. You get the idea.

In software development, a countdown is used to indicate the time before an update is live. For example, you may have a beta version of a software which is due to be released in the next few days. During this time, the countdown can be used to indicate how many days there are until the public launch.

Why Should You Add A Countdown To Your WordPress Website?

There are several reasons why you might want to add a countdown to your site. To name a few, you can:

• Encourage users to return.
• Raise interest in your content.
• Grow your audience.
• Get more engagement.
• Include a fun element.
• Make your content seem more valuable.
• Give users control over the content.
• Make the user feel valued as a customer.
• Improve the user experience.

So, above you can see that there are many ways in which adding a countdown to your website can be beneficial. It is essential that you add the correct date, time, and URL for your countdown. Below, we will teach you how to do this correctly.

How Do I Add A Countdown To My WordPress Website?

From the time stamp icon which appears at the top of the WordPress dashboard, click the blue Get Started button. This will take you to the WordPress website creation screen. Here, you can enter a website name, brief about your site, and you can select a niche.

Once you make these selections, you will see a form appear with red Go ahead and click below it. This will take you to the Publish Screen. From here, you can click on the little yellow button which has been circled in red below.

On this screen, you will be brought through to the Options Panel. Here, you can select the publishing format for your site, set the site’s language, and define the type of blog posts you will use on your site. You can also add a featured image to the frontpage and some sample text for the header.

Once you make these selections, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the blue Save Changes button.

You now need to go back to the Dashboard Screen and you should see a new option appear in the footer named “Countdown Timer”.

Click on the option and you will see the following screen:

• Countdown – This is where you can put a countdown for your site. You can either paste in the raw HTML from here, or you can use the visual editor to create a more professional-looking countdown. In either case, you need to include the following fields:
• :Start date – The starting date for your countdown.
• :End date – The end date for your countdown.
• :Timer – This is where you can choose the length of time you want your countdown to be. If you have a specific length of time in mind, then enter it here. If not, then choose daily. This will make your countdown run for 24 hours before the end date. You can use the dropdown to choose a time duration that is either less than, equal to, or greater than 24 hours. When you enter a time duration, the site will then update the countdown accordingly. In the above example, the End date is 8/17/2019 and the Timer is set to 24 hours. So essentially, this means the count down will end on 8/18/2019 at 11:59 PM.
• :URL – The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of your countdown. In most cases, this will be identical to the URL of your WordPress website, with the exception of a few files like robots.txt, favicon.ico, and wp-load.php which are needed for the site to function.
• :Title – The title of your countdown. This is often used in the HTML for your site’s footer and the Description meta tag of your posts. If you have a long title which you cannot fit in a single line, then you can click on the .. icon which appears to the right of the input field and enter your title in multi-line format.
• :Tags – Tags is an abbreviation for ‘tagging’. Tags are used to classify your content or associate it with keywords or categories. To add tags to your content, click on the Tags option in the Options Panel. From here, you can type in one or two tags and choose either the Exact match or All words option.
• :Categories – Categories are a way to organize and label your content. To add categories to your content, click on the Categories option in the Options Panel. From here, you can type in one or two categories and choose either the Exact match or All words option.

Once you make these selections, you will see a green check mark appear next to the options you have chosen. Click on the blue Save Changes button at the bottom of the panel.

If you are using the visual editor instead of pasting in the HTML, then you can use the visual editor to add the countdown in a professional manner. You can use the block editor to create a boxed layout with a background image and some text. For best results, create a mock-up of what you envision your finished product to look like and then use the HTML editor to perfect the look of your site. This will help you avoid any errors and omissions which can lead to problems after launch. So, for example, if you are doing a daily countdown and you entered the wrong date or time, then your site may break down after a few days. This is why it’s preferable to use the visual editor to build a countdown rather than pasting in the HTML.

How Do I Add A Date To My WordPress Website?

If you want to add a date to your site, then you can either enter it manually or use the visual editor to make it easier. To enter the date manually, click on the time stamp icon which appears at the top of the WordPress dashboard and then click on the blue Get Started button. This will lead you to the WordPress website creation screen.

On this screen, you can enter a website name, brief about your site, and you can select a niche.

Once you make these selections, you will see a form appear with red Go ahead and click below it. This will take you to the Publish Screen. From here, you can click on the little yellow button which has been circled in red below.

On this screen, you will be brought through to the Options Panel. Here, you can select the publishing format for your site, set the site’s language, and define the type of blog posts you will use on your site. You can also add a featured image to the frontpage and some sample text for the header.

Once you make these selections, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the blue Save Changes button.

You now need to go back to the Dashboard Screen and you should see a new option appear in the footer named Date.

Click on the option and you will see the following screen: