The one size fits all design of WordPress websites can become tedious if your content does not change for each user. By adding dynamic content, your site gets a boost in user engagement. Users stay longer as the content changes under certain conditions, like the user’s age, location, and preferences.
Also, with dynamic content, you can display content from other sources on your WordPress website. In addition to offering different content, you can personalize and display content that differs for existing and new customers.
With the varying content based on what the user is looking for, dynamic content delivers a better interactive experience by finding the information faster.
Why You Need Dynamic Content
There are several benefits to using dynamic content on your WordPress site. Some of those benefits include:
- Personalized User Experience;
- Increased User Engagement;
- Increased Conversion Rate;
- Design Flexibility;
- Time-Saving.
Dynamic content lets you customize content for each user based on device type, location, or browsing activity. If you have registered users, you can offer dynamic content based on their profiles. For example, YouTube has dynamic content for its users. The layout is the same, but dynamic tags handle personal content for the user.
By using dynamic content, users increase their engagement with your website by spending more time there, perusing content tailored especially for them. Each registered user has a unique homepage with the same layout as other users but displays content tailored to their preferences.
A dynamic content website has more conversions since users see products like the ones they shopped for in the past. Every user’s page shows content relevant to their preferences.
Dynamic content allows you complete flexibility with customizable page layouts for the homepage, product pages, single posts, and more. This flexibility ensures that the different pages match the overall site design.
Timesaving is one of the best features of using dynamic content on WordPress sites. Dynamic content makes content modification easy and quick. If you want to make changes, for example, changing the layout once reflects changes on all pages using that layout and not just a single page. Changing the layout saves time over the repetitive and time-consuming job of changing each page manually.
WordPress and Dynamic Websites
WordPress is one of the easiest systems for building a website. With an intuitive dashboard for creating content and making changes, WordPress allows any user to create with just a mouse click.
WordPress has a more complicated backend using PHP and MYSQL databases for creating and serving CSS and HTML pages. This makes WordPress an out-of-the-box software for creating dynamic websites.
Static websites use CSS, HTML, and Javascript for their UI needs, and the content doesn’t get changed through the backend. For users, this is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get, meaning there is no interaction between the user and the website.
A dynamic site uses different programming languages like Python, C#, PHP, Ruby, and others and uses server-side processing and databases like MySQL. The backend allows the change processing or unique information a particular user needs. The dynamic website changes its appearance, content, and features to fill the user’s needs.
Saving Time
The initial cost of building a dynamic website is more than that of a static website; however, unlike a static site, the dynamic site upkeep requires very little to no technical expertise.
With a dynamic website, businesses can regularly provide visitors with relevant content. If you have a blog, the WordPress editor requires no technical knowledge and is easy to use.
If you have a static site, a simple blog post needs a new HTML file written by a web developer. Writing an HTML file not only means additional cost, but it takes extra time and knowledge.
Top 5 WordPress Dynamic Plugins
When building the perfect dynamic content WordPress site, using a dynamic content plugin lets you build and enhance the website layout based on information provided by the user.
You can create custom post types that inherit the theme style, categorize snippets, create custom fields, and create the final website structure.
Toolset
This dynamic website plugin offers features for designing and customizing a website while adding dynamic functionality. An advanced tool, Toolset saves time with its custom post types letting users quickly create post pages without changing the theme through its Content Template system.
Users can build new templates for pages and posts without writing code. Customization options include a Skins Manager, Shortcode Generator, Glossaries, and Data Stores. The Fields and Views feature provides a comprehensive selection of in-built WordPress fields to apply to your templates.
Toolset offers some of the best support with its massive community packed with tips, helpful information, and answers to problems that might arise.
JetEngine
Like Toolset, JetEngine allows developers to design and build dynamic WordPress sites. However, JetEngine may be a better plugin for your project, depending on what you want to create. JetEngine employs a Modules system that lets users customize functions by enabling or disabling certain features. Also, the plugin allows enabling external modules like chart builders, dynamic tables, and custom content types.
The new Content Type option lets you add custom fields specific to a specific content type. This feature enables you to stay organized when building your site and prevent deleting the wrong data. Also, creating a new content type allows registration of that type as an API for dynamically displaying data.
Advanced Custom Fields
A lighter option for building dynamic content into your existing WordPress theme is the Advanced Custom Fields plugin. This easy-to-use plugin doesn’t create new post types but lets you add custom fields with its extended interface. Advanced Custom Fields has one of the easiest, most intuitive dashboards while including the conditional logic ability for displaying field data.
The Advanced Custom Fields plugin has a developer-friendly approach by simply opening the single.php file and calling the custom field using a function. Also, you can extend the plugin’s capabilities for building dynamic content templates by using any free WordPress plugins tagged with Advanced Custom Fields or ACF.
Meta Box
Like Advanced Custom Fields, Meta Box is a plugin for generating custom fields. However, Meta Box also allows building new custom fields by using an online generator outside the WordPress platform. Once you create a code snippet, placing the snippet in your site’s functions.php file is a simple process. Also, Meta Box has an add-on feature called MB Views. This feature, available in the Pro version, uses any of your site’s custom fields for building a complete design. The template can be applied to any page, post, or custom post type.
For building new post types, the Meta Box has a separate plugin for this which is free and utilizes an online generator for custom post types.
Pods
Pods is different from the other plugins in that both Custom Fields and Custom Post Types are rolled into one plugin. This plugin is not as intuitive as the others and works on a system like a framework. This is a more advanced option and is not a beginner-friendly plugin. However, the simple interface will allow most users to manage taxonomies, fields, and types, build post relationships, and assign templates.
For someone that works with WordPress or is a developer, Pods is a good choice with its integration ability with a pre-existing workflow.
Handling Content for Anonymous Users
Dynamic content becomes worrisome if the content becomes too personalized, making keeping certain web browsing anonymity vital. It becomes necessary to continue delivering customized information to the user while they remain anonymous.
For example, clothing websites provide personalized content based on the user’s browsing instead of the user’s gender. If the user browses the women’s section, then returns to the homepage, the site customizes to female products.
When the user returns and enters the children’s section, the featured products are still set to women’s clothing. Dynamic content pulls information off the user’s browsing session, not their gender.
There are numerous ways to handle dynamic content for anonymous visitors:
- User behavior – When visitors return to the site, the featured content from their first visit is displayed on the page.
- Location – Add dynamic content based on the previous outside sites it came from, like Facebook, Google, or other websites.
- Current Location – Dynamic content information helps you build content on the page with specific visitor URL information.
- Customized Email Parameters – Adding custom link parameters for changing content when sending out emails.
- Events – When hosting upcoming sales or events, customize the date and time limits to avoid it showing up after the event is over.
- Location – Customize content to the user’s location. Customization is important for sites offering content available to various locations.
Common Categories
Dynamic content delivers excellent benefits to several types of websites. These sites offer valuable information to their users while providing local information. Some of the most common types of dynamic content websites are:
Social Media
Social media has become essential to everyday life for individual users and businesses. Companies depend on it for their day-to-day business, and for individuals, it is a crucial way to keep in touch with family and friends. A huge time saver, dynamic content widgets help companies organize all their social media feeds in one place. Using a social media hub on a business site keeps content current and local and delivers the latest news in their area.
Travel
When planning a vacation, most people head to the internet making travel one of the categories most dominated by dynamic content. Websites catering to tourism want to attract people to their location, so they ensure their content will encourage people to visit. Having updated information is a must. These sites’ dynamic content includes updated weather, news, lodging, things to do, events, transportation, and more.
News
Dynamic Content is necessary for the latest headlines and ever-changing news. News can change by the minute, and what was breaking headlines two hours ago may now be old news and obsolete. Plugins that post and refresh help keep the news stories up to date and relevant. The time saved by dynamic content over manually changing news stories makes news site management quicker and easier.
Summing it Up
Excellent visuals and the outstanding copy can increase user interest. However, if you want to boost your strategy and move your visitors to act, you must add dynamic content components. Correctly used dynamic content gives website users a highly personalized experience that builds trust between you and your visitors. Dynamic content is an effective website enhancement for making a professional site that provides users with a fulfilling experience.
