How to Add a Countdown Timer Widget in WordPress (3 Easy Ways)

Adding a countdown timer to your WordPress site can make it more engaging. Whether you’re highlighting a product launch, marking an important date, or building anticipation for an event, a countdown timer does the job effectively.

For example, we have used countdowns on our websites to highlight product sales, Black Friday deals, and more.

With just a few steps, you can set up this eye-catching widget on your website. It not only grabs attention but also keeps your audience informed.

In this article, you’ll learn three simple ways to add a countdown timer to your WordPress site. Even if you’re not tech-savvy, we’ve got you covered.

When and Why Use a Countdown Timer Widget?

Countdown timers are versatile and can be used in various scenarios. They add excitement and urgency, encouraging visitors to take action.

Launching a new website? A countdown timer can build anticipation and create a buzz. You display the timer on a beautiful coming soon page to encourage visitors to check out the latest updates.

Another great time to use a countdown timer is for upcoming sales or promotions on your online store. By displaying a timer, you inform your customers about limited-time offers, boosting sales and engagement.

Countdown timers can also benefit event organizers. Whether it’s a webinar, a conference, or a social gathering, setting a timer helps attendees know exactly when the event will happen.

During website maintenance, countdown timers are also useful. They let visitors know when the website will be available again so you can keep them informed and reduce frustration.

For smaller-scale uses, like marking a personal milestone or an anniversary, countdown timers add flair to your WordPress site.

Now, you can display a countdown timer in your posts, pages, and sidebar widget area.

Countdown timers can also be added to lightbox popups, floating bars, scroll boxes, and other design elements to engage site visitors and bring them back to your website.

Since there are so many use cases for a countdown timer, we have listed 3 different methods for adding a countdown timer widget in WordPress:

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Method 1: Adding a Countdown Timer Widget Using the Countdown Timer Ultimate Plugin (Free)

Countdown Timer Ultimate is a simple plugin that lets you add a basic countdown timer to your website.

In this tutorial, we will use the free plugin, as it has all the tools needed to create a countdown timer.

To get started, the first thing you need to do is install and activate the Countdown Timer Ultimate plugin. If you need help, you can see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll want to head over to Countdown Timer » Add Timer from your WordPress admin area.

On this next screen, you can give your timer a title. Simply type any title you want into the ‘Add New Timer’ field.

After that, you can scroll down to the ‘Countdown Timer – Settings’ area to set your countdown timer’s expiration date and time.

Once you’ve located the ‘Expiry Date & Time’ field, go ahead and select the date from the date picker. Then, you can drag the ‘Hour,’ ‘Minute,’ and ‘Second’ sliders to adjust the expiry time.

Simply click ‘Done’ to continue to the next step.

The next step is to define the timer label.

To show the days, hours, minutes, and seconds indicators in your countdown timer, go ahead and check all the boxes in the ‘Timer Label’ field.

Now, let’s scroll down the page and switch to the ‘Design’ tab to style the countdown timer.

In the first section, ‘Design Settings,’ you can choose a design and set the timer size.

Unfortunately, free users can only choose the ‘Circle Style 1’ timer design. However, in ‘Timer Width,’ we can define how wide our timer will be. Here, we set it at 850 px.

Below ‘Timer Width,’ you’ll find the ‘Circle Style Settings’ section.

The first thing you’ll want to do is choose an animation. You have two options: ‘Smooth’ and ‘Ticks.’

Once you’ve decided on the timer animation, you can set the circle’s foreground and background width by dragging the sliders.

After that, you can go on to customize the countdown timer’s colors.

In the ‘Clock Background Colors Settings,’ you can adjust the background color and individually change the color for days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

Once you are satisfied with the settings, go ahead and click on the ‘Publish’ button.

Displaying Your Countdown Timer Widget in WordPress

Now that you have set up your countdown timer widget, it’s time to add it to your website.

First, click on the ‘Countdown Timer’ menu item from your WordPress website. The timer you just created will be listed in the ‘Countdown Timer’ table.

Next to your countdown timer, you will see a shortcode that you need to copy.

After copying the shortcode, you’ll want to open your post or page where you want to display the countdown timer.

From here, you can click the ‘+’ button to add the Shortcode block. Then, simply paste this shortcode into the content area of your WordPress post or page.

Then, you’ll want to make sure to click on the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.

You can now visit your website to see the countdown timer widget in action.

If you use a classic theme, you might also be able to add this countdown timer to your site’s sidebar.

Simply go to the Appearance » Widgets page. Then, you can click the ‘+’ button in the ‘Main Sidebar’ section and search for the Shortcode block.

Simply click on it when it appears and paste the countdown timer’s shortcode.

Once you’re done, don’t forget to click on the ‘Update’ button to keep your widget settings.

You can now visit your site to see the countdown timer in the sidebar or widget-ready area.

Method 2: Adding a Countdown Timer Widget Using OptinMonster (Recommended)

OptinMonster is the best WordPress popup plugin on the market, but it does much more than just popups. It helps you convert abandoning site visitors into subscribers and customers.

Using OptinMonster’s countdown timer feature, you can integrate the countdown timer into a lightbox popup, sidebar widget, floating bar, or any other OptinMonster campaign type.

The tool offers a smart way to display a countdown timer with a beautiful design. It even allows you to create evergreen countdown timers in WordPress.

An evergreen countdown timer starts a countdown for each individual visitor. Then, the timer begins when the person arrives at your site. It’s also referred to as a dynamic countdown timer.

First, let’s visit the OptinMonster website and sign up for a plan that meets your needs.

Once done, you can install the OptinMonster plugin on your WordPress site. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

This plugin will connect your WordPress site to the OptinMonster app. Upon activation, you can click the ‘Connect an Existing Account’ button and follow the prompt to start the integration process.

After that, you’ll see a popup window appear. Simply select the email address you used to sign up for an OptinMonster account and click the ‘Connect to WordPress’ button.

The plugin will now connect your WordPress site to your OptinMonster account.

Once connected, you can start creating a new campaign from your OptinMonster dashboard. Simply head over to OptinMonster » Campaigns and click the ‘Create Your First Campaign’ button.

The plugin offers a variety of campaign types and templates to choose from.

You can use any campaign type and add the countdown timer to it. For this tutorial, we’ll use the ‘Popup’ campaign type. Then, we’ll use the ‘Get a Discount Code’ template.

A popup window where you have to name the template will appear. The name is for your reference only, so you can use anything you want.

For example, we named our campaign ‘Countdown Timer.’

Once you’ve done that, go ahead and click ‘Start Building.’ OptinMonster will then redirect you to the builder interface.

From here, let’s explore the ‘Block’ section on the left panel. Then, simply drag the ‘Countdown’ block and drop it to the preview on the right panel when you see it.

Next, you can select the ‘Countdown Type’ from the dropdown field in the sidebar panel. There are two options, ‘Static’ and ‘Dynamic.’

Now, choosing between the two types depends entirely on your goal. A static timer, as its name suggests, remains fixed to a single end date and time, making it ideal for one-off events like a product launch or webinar.

But what if you want to create a recurring sense of urgency? That’s where the dynamic timer comes in handy.

Let’s say your online store runs a flash sale every week. A dynamic timer will automatically reset after each sale period, which can be a huge help.

For this guide, we’ll create a dynamic countdown timer to promote weekly flash sales.

So, let’s choose ‘Dynamic’ from the dropdown menu and set the expiry date and time. Then, you might also want to toggle on the ‘Conversion tracking?’ option to gather campaign insights.

If you want, you can customize how the countdown timer looks.

Simply switch to the ‘Advanced’ tab, and you’ll find customization options to change the timer’s background color, fonts, shadows, and more.

Once all is set, head over to the ‘Display Rules’ tab.

This is where you control exactly when and on which pages your popup will appear. The default setting is after 5 seconds on every page, but you can easily customize it to suit your needs.

Alternatively, you can take advantage of OptinMonster’s MonsterLink.

This feature lets you trigger the popup to appear when users click a link or button on your site. So visitors get direct control over when they want to see your offer or message.

To use MonsterLink, you’ll first need to click the ‘time on page’ dropdown. Then, simply select ‘When (Triggers)’ and then ‘MonsterLink (On Click).’

Once added, you can click ‘Copy MonsterLink code.’ You’ll need it in the embed process.

Then, you can delete the other display rule by clicking on the trash icon.

Now, it’s time to publish the campaign with the countdown timer. To do this, let’s move to the ‘Publish’ tab.

From here, you can change the status from ‘Draft’ to ‘Publish.’ After that, simply click the ‘Save’ button and exit the editor.

You’ll then be redirected to an OptinMonster’s page, where you have to verify your campaign status.

In the ‘Visibility & Status’ section, go ahead and change the ‘Pending’ status to ‘Published.’

Don’t forget to click the green ‘Save Changes’ button to make sure your changes are saved.

One thing that’s left to do now is to add the MonsterLink code to your WordPress website.

First things first, you’ll want to open the post or page where you want to show the campaign with the countdown timer.

For example, we will add ours to the ‘Gallery’ page on our demo photography site. So, let’s navigate to Pages » All Pages and click ‘Edit’ on the ‘Gallery’ page.

On the page editor, you can click the ‘+’ button and search for the Custom HTML block. Just give it a click to add to the page.

In the ‘Custom HTML’ block, simply paste the MonsterLink code you copied earlier.

Here’s what it might look like in the page’s block editor:

Now, the ‘Subscribe Now!’ call to action might not suit the campaign’s purpose.

So, let’s change it to ‘Get Our Limited Promo Code,’ ‘Unlock Exclusive Discounts,’ or something else that better fits the context. Once done, you can go ahead and ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ the page.

Now, if you visit the page, you’ll see MonsterLink in action.

Simply try giving it a click, and you’ll see the campaign popup with the countdown timer.

Here’s what it looks like on our demo ‘Gallery’ page:

Method 3: Adding a Countdown Timer Widget Using SeedProd

SeedProd is the best theme and landing page builder for WordPress.

Its drag-and-drop builder lets you create amazing landing pages and add a countdown timer to grab your visitor’s attention.

To use the countdown timer feature, you will need SeedProd Pro. With the Pro plan, you can also get access to different templates, page blocks for customization, email marketing integrations, and more.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the SeedProd Pro plugin on your WordPress website. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can go to SeedProd » Settings from your WordPress dashboard to add and verify your license key. You can get this key in your SeedProd account.

After entering the license key, you can click the ‘Verify key’ button.

You can also install SeedProd Pro manually. Before you do that, make sure you’ve downloaded the SeedProd Pro .zip file from your SeedProd account.

Then, you can go to Plugins » Add New Plugin and give the ‘Upload Plugin’ button so it shows the ‘Choose file’ option. Go ahead and upload the SeedProd Pro .zip file.

After that, simply click the ‘Install Now’ button.

Now, you’re ready to create a new landing page. To get started, you’ll want to navigate to SeedProd » Landing Pages.

SeedProd lets you set up different types of pages, including coming soon pages, custom WooCommerce cart pages, login pages, and 404 pages. You can also create other landing pages by clicking the ‘Add New Landing Page’ button, such as a thank-you page or a page to sign up for a webinar.

For this tutorial, we’ll use the ‘Coming Soon’ page. It’s a great place to add a countdown timer and remind your audience about an upcoming product or event.

Let’s click the ‘Set up a Coming Soon Page’ button.

Next, you’ll select a template for your landing page.

While there is an option to create a page from scratch using a blank template, we recommend using a template, as it saves time and allows you to edit the design as you want.

Once you’ve found the perfect template, you can hover over it and click the ‘check’ button to use it.

On the next screen, you’ll be taken to the SeedProd drag-and-drop page builder under the ‘Design’ tab.

Here, you can customize the landing page by adding or removing sections and blocks. You can also format the page’s layout.

To add the countdown timer, simply scroll down the left panel to the ‘Advanced’ blocks section. Then, drag and drop the ‘Countdown’ block anywhere on your landing page.

Once you add the countdown block, let’s customize it. Simply click on it, and you’ll see the customization options in the left panel.

There are 3 tabs you can check, ‘Content,’ ‘Templates,’ and ‘Advanced.’ Let’s check them one by one.

In the ‘Content’ tab, you can choose a countdown type, set the end date and time, select a timezone, adjust the timer’s alignment, and more.

Now, let’s move on to ‘Templates.’

Here, SeedProd lets you choose from 5 available countdown timer styles.

Finally, the ‘Advanced’ tab has several sections.

The ‘Styles’ section lets you change the timer’s typography settings, colors, and borders.

Then, you might want to scroll down the ‘Advanced’ tab to the ‘Animation Effects’ section.

Here, you can apply animation to highlight the countdown timer when visitors see it. Simply click the dropdown menu and choose from the available effects, such as ‘Flash,’ ‘Pulse,’ ‘Swing,’ ‘Wobble,’ and more.

If you want to adjust the other landing page elements, like the texts or social media buttons, you can click on them. Then, SeedProd will open the customization options.

When everything is set, go ahead and click on the ‘Page Settings’ tab to publish your landing page with a countdown timer.

The first thing you’ll want to do is to give the landing page a title. For example, we named our landing page ‘Coming Soon.’

Next, you can change the ‘Page Status’ from ‘Draft’ to ‘Publish.’ You also have the option to show or hide the ‘Powered by SeedProd’ link.

Next, let’s check ‘Access Control’ under the ‘Page Settings’ tab and manage who can view your landing page.

This feature is really useful if you want certain people to be able to bypass the’ Coming Soon’ page and work on developing your website. SeedProd also lets you include and exclude URLs on which the ‘Coming Soon’ page will be shown.

By default, the page will be visible on the entire website. However, you can change it to show only on the homepage or on specific URLs.

After that, you can optimize your page for search engines by going to the SEO settings.

SeedProd lets you add an SEO title, description, favicon, and social media thumbnail.

If you want to add code snippets to your landing page, then head over to the ‘Scripts’ section in Page Settings. Here, you can add scripts to the header, body, and footer of your page.

For example, you can add the Google Analytics tracking code in the ‘Header Scripts’ field to see how people use your landing page.

Once you’re done, make sure to click on the ‘Save’ button. You can also preview your landing page to make sure everything is set up correctly.

After that, simply click the ‘X’ button to close the SeedProd editor.

Now, let’s go to SeedProd » Landing Pages and change the status of your ‘Coming Soon’ page to ‘Active.’

That’s it. Your landing page with a countdown timer will be live.

You can now visit your website to see the coming soon countdown timer in action.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add a countdown timer widget in WordPress. Next, you may also want to check more website design cool tricks on how to add a scrolling news ticker and how to add rotating testimonials in WordPress.

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