Wibiya Toolbar: Are You Helping Your Visitors or Just Irritating Them?

Lately when I visit a WordPress site, I’m being greeted by a small annoyance.

It’s called a Wibiya toolbar and it sits at the bottom of your browser bar on sites where it has been installed.

On the toolbar are links to recent posts, random posts, Twitter, your Facebook community, if you have one, and other dubiously-useful links.

In general, I don’t like things popping up on my screen suddenly when I visit a website and I have to say I find the Wibiya toolbar more annoying than helpful.

If you want to present a professional website, I suggest you don’t consider installing this toolbar. The functionality and links that it adds can be better incorporated into your WordPress site in more attractive and useful ways. For instance, if you want to direct visitors to your RSS feed, the universally recognizable square RSS icon can be inserted into your header or sidebar or dozens of other areas. If you want to invite visitors to join your group on Facebook, an attractive Facebook icon and short invitation text will get their attention without the risk of annoying them.

It’s easy to get carried away adding features and “doo dads” to your site, especially a WordPress site. After all, there are nearly 7,000 WordPress plugins available now to add all sorts of features to your site.

Before you implement any add on or feature on your site, make sure you are clear that it adds value and is useful to your visitors.