Why Widgets?
Want to wow your site’s viewers, draw a ‘whoo’ hoo, and enrapture them with total amazement? Why not add a widget? Facebook’s fabulous Srabulous widget draws 600,000,000 pageviews a day according to Advertising.com. These mini-applications are stickier than a glue-based mousetrap and can spread like jelly via word of mouth (especially on social networking sites where they thrive).
Performance-wise, how do you get your widget to work its wonders? First, select what type of widget will work best for your site.
Choose from a desktop widget that can be downloaded onto user’s desktops. Common desktop widgets include the Yahoo! weather widget, election political tickers, and stock quotes. Or, if you want to expand the widget’s reach, you can post it on a personal webpage. Last year Google renamed its personal homepage iGoogle, which includes a widget-happy interface that allows users to post YouTube videos, personal photo albums, games, and lots more. Finally, the widgets with the most exposure are known as public web widgets can be installed on multiple sites.
By design, widgets are meant to by dynamic, interactive and fresh. People are information hungry and a stale application is doomed like moldy bread. Image and interaction are key factors to sustaining a working widget. A widget’s best quality is arguably its ease of use. Applications can showcase video, text, images, links, and more; providing several monetizing opportunities. Proponents will say that a crafty widget will draw more traffic to their site than any search engine. Widgets are effective branding, advertising, and marketing tools. They’re seen daily, constantly updated with information, and perceived as credible as they’re chosen by the user.
To conclude, widgets are wise and when carefully calculated to reinforce a company’s product or brand, can work wonderfully.