How to Add WordPress Push Notifications to Your Site (3 Easy Steps)

Catching the interest of your visitors is a tough endeavor, but nowhere near as difficult as keeping them on board for the long term. One of the newer ways to succeed in doing so  is to figure out the best ways to reach users  outside your website  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ hence the need to consider adding WordPress push notifications.WordPress push notifications enable you to set up a direct line of communication with  your audience. Theyre far more straightforward than emails and are more engaging than regular campaigns. If you learn  how to deploy them, they can become a huge boon to your site.In this article, well explain why WordPress push notifications are so useful. Then, well guide you through the process of setting them up on your site using the free OneSignal plugin. Lets get cracking!What push notifications are (and why you should use them)WordPress push notifications are simple to understand and put in place. If youve used either  Android or iOS, youre familiar with apps send ing you notifications even when theyre closed – those are push notifications. Websites can do the same thing even if youre not browsing them at the moment, as long as youve got your browser running. Heres what a desktop notification looks like  on Mac OS X:Push notifications can come in handy in several situations, like:Notifying users about new posts on your website.Letting subscribers know when you add  a new product to  your eCommerce site.Making significant announcements – concerning events and such – to your user base.Aside from these types of practical reasons, its worth noting that push notifications are a great tool to increase user engagement [*]. The key is to update them only concerning important stuff, so they wont start ignoring your notifications. Dont think about push notifications as a replacement for email lists or social media channels. Theyre simply another means of direct contact, with the added benefit of being able to provide real-tim e updates to your visitors.How to set up WordPress push notifications (in 4 steps)Before we jump into the technical stuff, its important that you back up your WordPress site. You should always do this before adding (or removing) any major features from your website, in case something goes wrong. In fact, you should be doing it regularly, even if you dont implement any significant changes. Check out our  guide on how to back up WordPress  with several options.For the purposes of this tutorial, well use  the OneSignal plugin to set up WordPress push notifications. Its not the only option out there, but its one of our favorites. If youd prefer to check out an alternative, take a look at the  Push Notifications for WordPress  plugin.Step #1: Set up the OneSignal plugin OneSignal Web Push Notifications Author(s): OneSignalCurrent Version: 1.17.9Last Updated: October 1, 2019onesignal-free-web-push-notifications.1.17.9.zip 82%Ratings 1,537,858Downloads WP 3.8+Requires On eSignal is a one-stop solution for WordPress push notifications. It supports both desktop clients (Chrome, Safari, and Firefox) and Android systems (theres no iOS support yet). Once enabled, your visitors can opt-in to receive notifications each time you publish a new post (or custom post types) through the WordPress editor or a third-party platform.The first thing we need to do is install and activate the plugin as per usual:When thats done, a  OneSignal Push tab will appear in your WordPress dashboard. Click on it, and youll be redirected to a setup tab to finish configuring the plugin. Read through the  Overview and then head to the  Chrome Firefox Push tab:The plugin includes step by step instructions (with screenshots) for adding both services, so it would be redundant to repeat them here. Follow the procedures for Chrome and Firefox, and then head to the  Safari Push tab if you want to add those notifications as well. Safari notifications only work on the macOS versio n, though, so keep that in mind.With that out of the way, lets go about adding WordPress push notifications to our website.Step #2: Configure automatic notificationsAs I mentioned earlier, OneSignal WordPress push notifications only appear when you publish new content to your site. That includes both regular posts and custom post types. The plugin enables you to set up notifications manually by ticking a box next to the WordPress editor on your posts:If youd rather automate this process, go to OneSignal Push Configuration in your WordPress dashboard. Now scroll down and locate the  Automatic Notification Settings section.Turn on the first option, as seen above,  et  voilà  . Your subscribers will automatically receive notifications each time you publish a new post. You can also replace the default OneSignal logo on the notifications with your posts featured images, by heading up to the  Sent Notification Settings section:Enable the corresponding option, and youre all set!N ow its time to configure an  opt-in for our notifications.Step #3: Add a notification opt-inOur WordPress push notifications are ready to go, but weve still got one step to complete. Before users start receiving notifications, they need to agree or  opt into the program (hence the term opt-in). Here what a OneSignal opt-in looks like on Safari:To do this, lets return to OneSignal Push Configuration. Inside, locate the  Prompt Settings Notify Button section:The setting we need to turn on is first on the list:  Automatically prompt new site visitors to subscribe to push notifications. Do so and then feel free to play around with the rest of the settings next to it. The Notify button option, for example, enables a small notification button in the bottom right corner of your site, which enables users to check recent notifications.ConclusionWordPress push notifications are an effective tool that can increase your sites engagement with little effort. As long as you keep producin g quality content, it stands to reason that users will be interested in checking it out – all youre doing is providing them with the occasional reminder to do so.If that sounds like a winning formula to you, here are the steps you need to know to add WordPress push notifications to your site:Install the OneSignal plugin.Configure automatic notifications using the plugin.Set up a notification opt-in for your visitors.What do you think about WordPress push notifications – are they a gimmick or a useful tool? Share your opinions with us in the comments section below!