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Are you looking for a solution to let users subscribe to specific categories in WordPress? When you provide a distinct RSS feed for each category, visitors can subscribe to the topics that interest them the most. This can help you gain more subscribers and engagement. In this article, we will show how to allow users to subscribe to categories in WordPress.
Why Allow Users to Subscribe to Categories in WordPress?
Categories help you organize your blog records into different subjects and sections. This can assist visitors in identifying engaging and relevant information, increasing pageviews and lowering bounce rates while also improving visitor experience. For example, if you run a travel blog, you could add categories like Accommodation, Itineraries, and Safety Tips.
WordPress generates an RSS feed for every category on your site. This allows readers to subscribe to your material and receive notifications whenever you publish a new blog post that they may be interested in. For more details, please visit our comprehensive guide to using RSS in WordPress. That being said, let’s look at how to allow people to subscribe to individual categories on a WordPress website.
Using WPCode to Let Users Subscribe to Categories in WordPress
This tutorial requires you to include code on your WordPress website.
Frequently, tutorials will instruct you to alter your theme files, however, this might result in a variety of typical WordPress issues. In the worst-case situation, it may render your website inaccessible.
For this reason, we suggest using WPCode. It is the best code snippets plugin for WordPress, allowing you to add custom CSS, PHP, HTML, and other features to your website without compromising its security.
First, install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For more information, check out our step-by-step guide to installing WordPress plugins.
Once the plugin is activated, navigate to Code Snippets » Add Snippet.
Here you will find all of the ready-made WPCode snippets that you may use on your website. These include a snippet that allows you to disable all comments, upload file types that WordPress does not normally accept, disable attachment pages, and much more.
On the next screen, simply hover your cursor over the ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)‘ option and click the ‘Use Snippet‘ button that displays.
You may now allow people to subscribe to categories in WordPress using one of the techniques listed below. You can use these quick links to skip to your preferred method:
Method 1: Add an RSS Subscribe Link to the WordPress Category Pages
One alternative is to provide a ‘Subscribe’ link on your website’s category pages. These are the pages that display all postings from a particular category.
For example, www.abc.com/category/wordpress would display all posts under the ‘WordPress’ category.
After selecting the custom code option in WPCode, enter a title for the code snippet. This is simply for reference, so you can use whatever you wish.
Then, click the ‘Code Type’ selection and select ‘PHP Snippet’.
Once that is done, simply put the following into the code editor:
$category = get_category( get_query_var('cat') );if ( ! empty( $category ) ) {echo '<div class="category-feed default-max-width"><p><a href="' . get_category_feed_link( $category->cat_ID ) . '" title="Subscribe to this category" rel="nofollow">Subscribe</a></p></div>';}Â
This code snippet will dynamically add a ‘Subscribe’ button to the current category page, allowing users to subscribe to the category’s RSS feed.
After that, navigate to the ‘Insertion‘ box and select ‘Auto Insert‘ if it isn’t already checked.
Open the ‘Location‘ menu and select ‘Before Post‘ in the Categories, Archives, Tags, and Categories area.
Then, add ‘1‘ to ‘before post number.’ This guarantees that the Subscribe link appears after the category title but before the first article in the category on your WordPress blog.
To display the link only on category pages, proceed to the ‘Smart Conditional Logic‘ section.
Here, click the ‘Enable Logic‘ slider.
You may now access the ‘Conditions‘ dropdown and select ‘Show‘.
After that, enter the next set of dropdown menus and choose ‘Taxonomy Page‘, ‘Is’, and ‘Category‘. This will just add the code to your category pages.
Now, scroll to the top of the screen to make the sample active.
You can now click the ‘Inactive‘ option to make it ‘Active‘, and then click the ‘Save Snippet‘ button.
You may now see the new ‘Subscribe‘ link on any category page.
This is how it appeared on our demo website.
Method 2: Add an RSS Icon to the WordPress Category Pages
Another approach is to include an RSS symbol on the category pages. This may capture the visitor’s interest more than a simple link.
To add an RSS icon to your WordPress category pages, first upload the icon you wish to use. You can use any icon you wish, however the official RSS website provides a logo in PNG format.
Once you’ve created a logo, simply upload it to the WordPress media library. You will then need to obtain the image URL, as it will be used in the following step.
After that, follow the steps outlined above to generate a new PHP code snippet in WPCode. However, this time, paste the following snippet in the WPCode editor:
$category = get_category( get_query_var('cat') );if ( ! empty( $category ) ) {echo '<div class="category-feed default-max-width"><a href="' . get_category_feed_link( $category->cat_ID ) . '" title="Subscribe to this category" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/rss-icon.png" width="32" height="32" alt="Subscribe" /></a></div>';}Â
This code snippet does the same function as the previous one but also includes an RSS icon for the current category page. Replace the http://example.com URL with the URL to the RSS symbol that you submitted in the previous step.
Set the code to run just on category pages and then publish it as mentioned above. The RSS indicator is now visible on any category page.
Method 3: Add Multiple Subscription Options for Categories in WordPress
Most people who use an RSS reader will have previously installed the service’s browser extension, which allows them to effortlessly add new feeds. However, you may easily persuade people to subscribe by including icons for these various services. We’ll teach you how to add buttons for Feedly and Inoreader, but you can do the same for any other service you like.
To begin, add the icons for the services you want to display. You can usually discover appropriate icons on the service’s website or by performing a simple Google search. Make a note of the URL for each RSS icon in your WordPress media library.
$category = get_category( get_query_var('cat') );Â
if ( ! empty( $category ) ) {echo '<div class="category-feed default-max-width"><p>Subscribe via: <a href="' . get_category_feed_link( $category->cat_ID ) . '" title="Subscribe to this category" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://localhost:10003/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/rss-icon.png" width="32" height="32" alt="Subscribe" /></a>Â
<a href="http://www.feedly.com/i/subscription/feed/' . get_category_feed_link( $category->cat_ID ) . '" title="Subscribe via Feedly" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://localhost:10003/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/feedly.png" width="32" height="32" alt="Subscribe" /></a>Â
<a href="https://www.inoreader.com/?add_feed=' . get_category_feed_link( $category->cat_ID ) . '" title="Subscribe via Inoreader" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://localhost:10003/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/inoreader.png" width="32" height="32" alt="Subscribe" /></a>Â
</p></div>';}This code snippet dynamically provides numerous ‘Subscribe’ options for the current category page, allowing users to subscribe to the category’s RSS feed using a variety of feed readers.
As before, replace each link with the picture URL you want displayed on your WordPress website.
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The Last Line
To allow users to subscribe to categories in WordPress, the method includes using plugins and installing the correct settings for smooth performance. Begin by choosing a suitable plugin, such as “Subscribe to Category” or “Category Specific RSS Feed Subscription”. Install and activate the chosen plugin via the WordPress admin panel. Configure plugin settings to select which categories users can subscribe to, and tailor subscription forms or widgets to the website’s style.
Make sure that alerts are configured correctly so that subscribers receive updates when new posts are published in specific categories. Finally, test the subscription process to check that it runs properly and offers a great user experience. This method not only increases user interaction but also helps in the creation of a focused audience for specific content areas on your WordPress site.
