Nine Ways to Widget Wisdom

Widgets are so omnipresent these days, I thought everyone knew about these nifty little gizmos that are springing up willy-nilly all over the Web. So, I was taken aback recently by a savvy financial journalist who had no idea what they are, or what to do with them. She had never noticed widgets and really didn't understand why I was so excited about them. Well, that opened the door for me to spout off on all the wonders of widgets and how she could use them on her financial blog to spread the word and give millions of people easy access to her content...

Let me share with you my Nine Ways to Widget Wisdom: And why you should get wise to them!

1. Widgets Make Content Portable

Do you have a daily blog that you want to share with others? Widgets -- also known as Gadgets or Blidgets, etc. -- are a wonderful way to enable people to share your content with others. If a site visitor sees a widget they like, they can pick it up and put it on their own website or blog in the blink of an eye. It's as easy as plugging in a snippet of HTML code -- which you can usually find via the link under most widgets. There are many widget companies springing up all over the web. I have used SpringWidgets, Widgetbox, and the more tech savvy Google Gadgets (for programmers only).

2. Widgets Are Free Advertising

Ask any website owner if they'd put a free ad on their site and you'd likely get a blank-faced stare, if not a rude reply. The great thing about widgets is that they are essentially mini-ads. If your widget delivers useful functionality, relevant content, or a fun experience, website owners will put them on their site and not charge you anything. Widgets are a silent salesmen that can expand your audience and drive traffic to your site. It's up to you to decide how you will monetize that traffic!

3. Widgets Help People Embrace Your Idea

If you show me an ad, chances are I will ignore it, and even make my screen smaller so I don't have to look at it! But show me a fun and useful widget that delivers relevant content, and I may just fall in love...and embrace your idea...and put it on my site, or on my desktop. Widgets help users get engaged.

4. Widgets Are a Window

If you have visited any social networking sites, you've probably seen those little boxes that have people's faces in them. You may not have known that these are widgets too. As registered visitors come to the site, their photos or other images are shown in a widget window. Many sites use them to foster a stronger sense of community.

5. Widgets Come in All Sizes

The real beauty of widgets is that they can be easily customized to fit into almost any website by anyone! So if the widget you want is wide, but you have a skinny sidebar, applications like SpringWidgets will allow you to customize it to fit your site, and then at the click of a button...Voila! You have the code that makes it fit snugly into your site. You'll grasp what I'm saying if you go here and try it for yourself. Just put in different numbers for the height and width, click, and see the widget change before your eyes.

6. Widgets Have No Red Tape

Widgets can be picked up and used by anyone without asking for permission. You don't even need to say, "Pretty please." By posting a widget, the creator is giving you permission to use their content on your website or blog for free. Widgets follow on the heels of the "open source" movement, which encourages free sharing of content.

7. Widgets Are Easy to Build

You don't need to be a programmer (except if you use Google Gadgets). If you publish an RSS (really simple syndication) feed from your blog and know how to make an image, you can create your own widget in under five minutes. FeedBurner makes it super easy with SpringWidgets. And there are tons of other widget solutions exploding on the Web.

8. Widgets Are the Next Wave

A wave of widgets is sweeping the Web. The financial wizards will figure out how to make money from them I'm sure, but in the meantime they are a super cool toy to help you disseminate your content on the Web.

9. Now, You Are Widget Wise. Have Fun!

Now that you are widget wise, you'll see there are tons of widgets available -- and new ones springing up every day. If you are the widget creator, you can create wonderful and imaginative widgets, with just a little extra effort. You don't need to be stuck in the standard template mode. Enlist the help of a programmer or designer to stretch the limits of your technical knowledge. Get inspired by visiting widget sites to look at the huge range of widget designs out there. With a little programming help, you are limited only by your own imagination!


Franke James is co-founder of The James Gang, an advertising and design firm based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.