Do you want to change the content in the footer of your website but just can’t figure it out? We’re here to help!

We get this question a lot so we figured we’d write a guide on how to manage the content in the footer of your website including copy, dynamic widgets, theme features, colors, and more.

TL:DR Links

Edit the footer widget content and features
Edit footer content and code via footer.php
Edit footer content via Theme Options

Edit the footer widget content and features

Looking to add an event registration plugin form to your website? Perhaps you want to add a dynamic store locator plugin feature to a column in your footer to show customers where they can find you? This can all be done and more from your WordPress admin dashboard!

First, log in to your WordPress admin at www.(your site).com/wp-admin/. Once you’re logged in, click “Appearance”, then “Widgets”.

From here, you will see all the widgets used with your theme including widgets for sidebars, page elements, and the website footer. Edit the necessary widgets or add/remove widgets to various areas of your website.

Widgets you’ll typically find here include but are not limited to: recent blog posts, social media feeds, archive lists, search widgets, comments and more! Don’t see what you’re looking for? You can add more widgets to your website by adding WordPress plugins to your website via the WordPress Plugins menu item.

The left hand side of this page will contain all available widgets, the right will display dynamic sidebars your theme is using. Add a widget by selecting a widget and then selecting the sidebar you’d like to display the widget in. Don’t forget to hit Update to save your changes!

Edit footer code and content via footer.php

Edit footer.php via the WordPress dashboard

Use this method if you’re not familiar with FTP, don’t have your hosting server’s login credentials, or if you don’t have a preferred development environment.

First, log in to your WordPress admin at www.(your site).com/wp-admin/. Once you’re logged in, click “Appearance”, then “Editor”. This is your built in WordPress code editor. When you navigate to this page, WordPress will notify you that making changes to these files can harm the functionality of your site — if you’re comfortable with code and know what you’re doing — click “I understand”.

Next, look for the file labeled “footer.php” in the sidebar on the right to open the file. From here you can make any changes to the file you’d like and they will reflect on your website!

Don’t forget to always hit “Update” after making changes or your changes will not be saved! It’s also always good practice to save a backup of the file before making changes so you can revert to a previous version of the file if you do make mistakes.

Edit footer.php via FTP

Use this method if you’re familiar with FTP software and have a favorite code editor. The WordPress editor is not quite up to par with sublime text, atom, and the like — using the FTP method will allow you to edit the file in your own dev environment.

First, connect to your hosting server via FTP. Then, navigate to your root folder, then /wp-content/themes/(name of the theme you are using)/. In the theme folder you’ll find footer.php — download this file to your local machine.

Open the file, edit the desired code, save, upload the file via FTP and overwrite the footer.php file on the server and done!

Typically, and all themes can be different, you want to look for the <footer> element with the ID “colophon”. In this element you’ll find dynamic sidebars for footer widgets, copyright code (powered by wordpress, all rights reserved, etc.), and anything contained in your website footer.

Edit footer content via theme options

Note: all themes are different and there is no “one size fits all solution”

First, log in to your WordPress admin at www.(your site).com/wp-admin/. Once you’re logged in, click “Appearance”.

From here, you may see a menu item labeled “Theme Options” or the name of your current theme — if you do see this, click that — if not, move on to the next paragraph. From here, you should see a new page with a list of menu options, look for anything related to your “footer”, “branding” or “general”. Somewhere on one of these pages you will find an area to edit footer content, colors, copyright text, etc. Don’t forget to save your changes!

If you don’t see a “Theme Options” or the name of your theme under “Appearance”, click “Customize”. Often themes will include their customization options directly in the WordPress Customizer. From here, you should see a new page with a list of menu options, look for anything related to your “footer”, “branding” or “general”. Somewhere on one of these pages you will find an area to edit footer content, colors, copyright text, etc. Don’t forget to save your changes!

Conclusion

It can be extremely frustrating when you can’t figure out where to edit certain areas of your website. Hopefully we were able to ease some of that frustration for you, if you have any questions or would like us to write a guide for anything else web development, design, or search marketing related — let us know in the comments below!