Integrate MailChimp with WordPress

Integrate MailChimp with WordPress

In my last article titled, “Quickly Set Up a RSS MailChimp Campaign,” we set up a RSS MailChimp campaign for users to subscribe to a MailChimp list. This article covers the last step in setting up MailChimp on a WordPress website. This article will cover integrating MailChimp with WordPress using an API key. This integration is important because when changes are made to lists on the MailChimp account, the changes can be applied in the WordPress Dashboard.

As mention in my previous article, the process for setting up MailChimp on a WordPress website involves: Step One - Setup of a MailChimp account; Step Two - Setup of a RSS-driven MailChimp campaign; and Step Three - Connecting the MailChimp account to the WordPress website. This article will cover Step Three, and is the last step in setting up MailChimp on a WordPress website.

Integrate MailChimp with WordPress

Let’s get started by logging into the WordPress Dashboard and using the following instructions as a guide to integrate MailChimp with the WordPress website.

1.    From your WordPress Dashboard menu, select “Plugins,” then “Add New.” 

2.    In the search bar on the upper right side of the plugins page, type “MailChimp for WordPress,” then select the MailChimp for WordPress plugin.

·       Make sure that the plugin description states: “Compatible with your version of WordPress.”

3.    Next, click the “Install” button, and after the plugin is installed, click the “Activate” button.

4.    Go to the “Plugins” page to see that the MailChimp for WordPress plugin has been installed and activated. Then click the “Setting” link just below the plugin name.

5.    Click on message: “Enter your MailChimp API key on the settings page of the plugin.”

6.    Login to your MailChimp account, and from the MailChimp Dashboard click on your name, then click account, then click Extras, then click API Keys.”

7.    Scroll down to API Keys list, and copy API key. (If there is no API key on the list, click “Create a Key” button.)

8.    Return to WordPress Dashboard and the MailChimp plugin and paste API key in form, then click “Saves Changes.”

·      The MailChimp account is now connected to WordPress and you can scroll down to see your MailChimp lists.

9.    To add a signup form to your list, return to the MailChimp Dashboard and go to your list, click on the list, then select “Signup Forms,” then select “General Forms.”

10. To edit the fields of the form, click on a field. To delete a field, click “_” symbol, then type “DELETE” in the form, then click “Delete.”

11. Return to the WordPress Dashboard and the MailChimp plugin, then click “Renew MailChimp List” button.

12. Scroll to your list to confirm that changes were made.

13. From the MailChimp plugin, click on “Forms.” To edit form, click on buttons at the top of the form.

14. After editing the form, click “Save Changes,” then copy short-code and paste it where the form will appear on the webpage.

15. To add the form to the sidebar section of the webpage, go to “Appearance,” then select “Widgets.”

16. Scroll down to find the Visual Editor widget, then drag and drop the widget into the sidebar section.

17. Once the widget is inside of the sidebar section, click the drop-down arrow of the Visual Editor widget to open it, then click on the “Text” tab and paste the short-code and click “Save,” then click “Done.”  

18. Return to the WordPress Dashboard and update the webpage to view the website and see the form. 

Congratulations! You have integrated the MailChimp account with the WordPress website. In a previous article, we briefly covered how to add text and images to the website. In my next article we will cover working with images in WordPress in greater detail. Knowing how to use images in WordPress is important because image sizes directly affects the functionality of the website, specifically page load times.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to use the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you.

Diane Penny is a full-stack Web designer, author and blogger. 

Image Citation:

Email-marketing-2362038_640. Tumisu. Pixabay.com. Web. 5 Oct. 2018.