In this episode of Adventures in Visibility, I take on two notification bar tools: Hellobar and the Foobar plugin for WordPress.
You’ll also witness me in all my experimental glory as I was distracted by my own voice coming in to my headset with a 10 second delay. At the moment, I couldn’t figure out how to turn off the audio so I carried on. A strange experience. And, that’s why I call these Hangouts “experiments” and “adventures” in learning how to use visibility tools. I’m learning right along with you.
Back to notification bars: Hellobar vs Foobar
As I discuss in the video, I’ve used Hellobar and I currently use Foobar. Both are excellent tools to use on your site to build visibility:
- Display time-sensitive notices
- Invite readers to opt in to your list
- Invite visitors to follow you on social media
- Promote specific blog posts
- Promote your products and services
- Promote a your new book and/or a virtual book tour
- Promote a sale
- Promote webinars, teleseminars, Hangouts and other events
- and more…
The possibilities for the notification bars are only limited by your imagination.
If you are using a notification bar or dive in to try one of these two tools, feel free to post a link to your site in the comments below so I can check out how you’re using it.
To get reminders about when Adventures are scheduled and when replays are posted, you can get on the list and/or follow me on Google+. Be sure to let me know you want to be added to my Adventures in Visibility Circle so you get the invitation directly through Google+.
Hello!
Thanks for the video and write up. Before this, I had some serious thinking and deciding to do between Foobar vs Hellobar. The thing is, I’m not willing to fork out that amount monthly! I would rather just add it into my hosting package etc … if you get what I mean.
So guess you know what I decided then 😀
Thanks for sharing ya!
Reginald
It’s so difficult to choose a plugin or service that is monthly. I’ve just broken myself from that cycle. I didn’t notice if there was a one time payment also as it just said the free or monthly option and I’d HOPE to hit more than 25 clicks a month on the bar 🙂
Besides the one time payment, I love the foobar name lol
Not familiar with both hellobar and foobar but looks like it will really help me with online visibility. Thanks will surely experiment with it.
Hi Denise,
I enjoyed watching this episode…even with the glitches, which is after all what happens everyday in spite of all the technology available to us. Thank you for sharing hello bar and foobar. I get very inspired to start a serious blog when I watch Visibility, it is just a matter of time….Cheers
Paola
Those pesky glitch gremlins were at it again, Denise, but you prevailed! 🙂
Thanks for highlighting the main features of Hellobar and Foobar and sharing the differences, as well.
See you soon on future AiV!
Denise —
I have been using Hellobar for a few months now and it is working well. I have looked at Foobar but my hold back is that there are no stats or A/B testing which is very important to see how well a given notice is performing. I like the customization that can be done with Foobar and that there are no monthly fees but I need data. Do you know of any other notification bar that is like Foobar with A/B testing? I know I can do some workarounds but really need something that is all-in-one.
Thank for the info.
Manny
Hi Manny, thanks for stopping by. Brad Vincent, from Foobar just responded to that question and stats and A/B testing will be included in the new version they’re working on.
Hey Denise,
Thanks for using FooBar – we are in the process of putting together all the feature requests we have had over the past year, for a full rewrite of FooBar. The focus of FooBar V3 is going to be on usability and responsiveness, so it works well on all devices 100%. We are also gonna make it much easier to create specific types of bars from default “templates” (plain old text and link, just an image, rss, subscribe form etc)
Let me know what you would like to see in the new version and I can add it to the list.
PS: we are also in the process of moving FooBar off CodeCanyon and completely onto fooplugins.com where we have full control over the licensing
cheers
Brad
Hello Brad and nice to meet you
Denise mentioned “stats” in her video in regards to FooBar. Are you planning to offer users a way to collect pertinent data? Thank you.
Hi Melanie,
I forgot to mention that one. Yes, stats for number of views and links clicked, is definitely on the cards. Other notable features will include scheduling FooBars to show at certain times, and A/B testing
cheers
Brad
Hi Brad, thanks for stopping by and sharing your plans for Foobar. I’m very happy to hear about the stats and A/B testing features that will be in a future version. Also, love the idea templates. I think that always makes tools easier for beginners to use, helping them get comfortable.
Thanks, Brad — sounds like some pretty cool updates are on the horizon for FooBar!