When you go to a popular blog or website, you may have noticed they tend to show you a message before you read the content. Typically, this is called a simple notice or a pop-up. You can close it and move onto the site, but for the website owner, it's an opportunity to advertise, greet new users or show an announcement to their followers.

In this WordPress tutorial, you will discover how you can use these simple notices to increase user engagement. Displaying these notices in WordPress isn't difficult and any user can do it.

<h2>Using the Simple Notices WordPress Plugin</h2>

As usual, you will need to download, install and activate the right WordPress plugin for the job. If you want to display these simple notices, you need to use the <a href="http://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-notices/">Simple Notices plugin</a> for WordPress. 

Even though the plugin page says this specific WordPress plugin hasn't been updated in over two years, we tested it and it works just fine with the current version of WordPress (3.9.1).

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/PluginNotice.png" alt="Plugin Notice" width="799" height="76" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7157" />

Once you have downloaded, installed and activated this plugin, you will have a new tab in your WordPress dashboard called "Notices." This will be the section where you create your notices and decide how they display.

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Notices.png" alt="Notices" width="162" height="184" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7158" />
Click the "Add New" section of this plugin and you can create a notice. Within the notice you can add a title, a message, use HTML code for an advertisement or anything else you prefer. The edit screen for the plugin looks much like the edit screen to for a post or page. 

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/NewNotice.png" alt="New Notice" width="1169" height="314" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7159" />

Along with adding HTML code, text, images and a title to your notice, you can configure it with the right color. The Notice Configuration box found on the right side of the edit screen will allow you to select the color and set the notice for only logged-in users. 

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/NoticeConfiguration.png" alt="Notice Configuration" width="284" height="198" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7160" />

After you've created the notice and preview it, you can publish it to your site. It will show up at the top of the page and will have an "X" for users to close it, if they prefer.

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/MyNewNotice.png" alt="My New Notice" width="922" height="63" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7161" />

<h2>Using the Ninja Announcements Plugin for Simple Notices</h2>

Another plugin you can use in WordPress to display simple notices on your website is called the <A href="http://wordpress.org/plugins/ninja-announcements/">Ninja Announcements plugin</a>. This plugin allows you to create text and/or media announcements and display them in different places on your website. It comes with a lite and an upgraded version, which will give you more features and functionality.

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/NinjaAnnouncement.png" alt="Ninja Announcement" width="514" height="259" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7162" />

One of the main features of this plugin is the ability to set an announcement or notice to expire. This works great if you're running a sale for a few days or even a few hours. You can advertise the sale and let it expire automatically without having to delete or disable the announcement manually.

Download, install and activate the lite version of the plugin first, and then you can access it from the new tab created in your WordPress dashboard sidebar called, "Ninja Announcements."

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/NinjaTab.png" alt="Ninja Tab" width="166" height="227" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7163" />

If you go to the "Plugin Settings" section, you will have the option to upgrade the plugin. This will give you the ability to use advanced display options, hooks and filters, announcement groups and HTML markup control. 

However, if you just want to use the Lite version, you can create a new announcement just like you would with the Simple Notices plugin. Just go to the "Add New" section and use the editor screen to create your announcement. 

Below the main editor area, you will find a few advanced sections including the "Announcement Schedule" section. This section will allow you to set a begin and end date, along with selecting the days of the week to display the notice. 

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/AnnouncementSchedule.png" alt="Announcement Schedule" width="466" height="334" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7164" />

You will also find a section called, "Announcement Options," which will allow you to show the title, allow users to close the announcement and even allow users to re-open the announcement. 

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/AnnoucementOptions.png" alt="Annoucement Options" width="466" height="188" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7165" />

The final section found in the edit screen is called, "Main Page Display Options." This section will allow you to select whether you want the announcement to show on your Homepage, Frontpage or both. 

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/MainPageDisplayOptions.png" alt="Main Page Display Options" width="463" height="118" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7166" />

Both of these WordPress plugins will help you display announcements and notices on your WordPress website. This is a great way to improve user engagement and announce the different things going on with your website.
