How to Add WordPress Widgets to Sidebars or Footers

By Lisa Sabin-Wilson from WordPress Web Design For Dummies

WordPress widgets are built-in tools that enable you to arrange how content displays in your website footers or sidebars. Widget areas are the editable regions defined in your theme that allow you to insert or arrange content by dragging and dropping (and editing) available widgets on the Dashboard’s Widgets page into those corresponding areas.

The left side of the Widgets page lists all the available widgets for your WordPress site. The right side of the page lists the sidebar and footer areas designated in your theme. You drag your selected widget from the left side of the page into your chosen widget area on the right. For example, to add a search box to the right sidebar of the default layout, drag the Search widget from the Available Widgets section to the Primary Widget Area.

Choose Appearance→Widgets from the Dashboard.

The Widgets page appears.
Decide which widget you want to use from the Available Widgets section.
Click the widget title and then drag and drop the widget into the Primary Widget Area on the right side of the page.
Configure options for the widget as desired and then click Save.

Each widget has different options that you can configure. Some widgets have a number of editable options; others let you write a title for the widget area. For example, the Recent Posts widget has two options: one for editing the title of the widget and one to determine how many recent posts to display. Be sure to open the widget title’s drop-down list to explore the options available.
(Optional) Repeats Steps 1–4 to add more widgets to your layout.
Arrange your widgets in the order in which you want them to appear on your site by clicking a widget and dragging it above or below another widget. Repeat this step until your widgets are arranged the way you want them.

After you select and configure all your widgets, visit your website in your web browser, and you can see that your site’s sidebar matches the content (in the proper order) you’ve arranged in the Primary Widget Area on the Widgets page in your Dashboard. You can go back to the Widgets page and rearrange, add, or remove items to your heart's content.

To remove a widget from your sidebar or footer, open the widget title’s drop-down list and then click the Delete link. WordPress removes the widget from the Widget area on the right side of this page and places it back in the Available Widgets section. If you want to remove a widget but want WordPress to remember the settings that you configured for it, instead of clicking the Delete link, drag the widget into the Inactive Widget section on the right side, near the bottom of the page. This stores the widget, with all its settings, for future use.