I have previously wrote a post about The Birth of a Blog. This time, I'm going to write about: Blog Widgets.
*Image taken from Google search
What is widget you ask? According to Wikipedia,
"A widget is a stand-alone application that can be embedded into third party sites by any user on a page where they have rights of authorship (e.g. a webpage, blog, or profile on a social media site). Widgets allow users to turn personal content into dynamic web apps that can be shared on websites where the code can be installed. For example, a "Weather Report Widget" could report today's weather by accessing data from the Weather Channel, it could even be sponsored by the Weather Channel. Should you want to put that widget on your own Facebook profile, you could do this by copying and pasting the embed code into your profile on Facebook."
Get it? In simpler terms, widgets are like mini applications that you put into your blog as add-on accessories. Mummy bloggers tend to put in widgets like baby birthday tickers, or anniversaries tickers. Foodie bloggers tend to put in recipe or food of the day widgets. Book lover bloggers will put in book shelf widgets. I can go on and on about the type of widgets I came across throughout my blog hopping adventures.
Now, why does this concerns you? Please read on to know the benefits of adding widgets into your blog:
* good for online PR, brand awareness and also for direct sales through affiliate marketing. (Example: You can see the Book Depository.com at the bottom of my right sidebar)* accesses the internet to provide users with information right at their desktop (Example: weather today, or currency exchange at the moment, calendar, etc etc)* social media tools which are generally used for sharing and bookmarking purposes (Example: Facebook fan page)* and many more-depending on the type of widgets you choose.
Next, what are the widgets that I think are good (and my reasons) to put into our blog:
WIDGETS
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MY REASONS
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If you want blog followers, put this in! I for one, will generally skip or make my exit if I can't find the GFC widget in a blog. Bloggers who make it difficult for people to follow them are well, not worth following. Hence, you see this widget appearing right at the top of my blog sidebar.* 1st March 2012 update: This widget is no longer supported for non-Blogspot blogs by Google, hence I have removed mine from my blog.
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| Social Media Icons |
I put these icons right after my GFC widget. This is to provide other channels for my blog readers/visitors to follow me other than through my blog. |
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A blog widget that appears under each post, linking to related stories from your blog archive. I think this widget is a must have too! I don't use this as my blog engine came with the option to display related posts already :D
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FeedBurner is a Web service that allows you to enhance and refine RSS feeds. It can be used to convert blog feeds into podcast feeds, and it can be used to insert advertising into RSS feeds. |
| Blog Stats |
If you are planning to do product reviews, please consider putting this in. Some companies actually look at your blog stats. |
You don't really see much widgets in my blog btw as I've removed quite a number of them lately. Of those that I keep, I do so for my own reasons. I mean, I own the blog, I can put whatever I want (heheheh...), such as the Visitor Stats, which I like to see. I mean, sometimes when I get blogger's block (or writer's block) I look at the stats and goes "Whoa... there's actually this amount of page views on my blog" or "Whoa... look at all the countries my blog visitors are from!". And there is the "Motivation for Moms" widget which gets updated daily with inspiring quotes and sometime bible verses.
Just a tip for you guys, I look around for widgets from this awesome site: http://www.widgetbox.com/widgets/ You can browse around by the category or even make your own widgets! Just be sure to read through the feedback from the people who used the widgets as some of them does not live up to their reputations and some are even out of order.
You can also get more inspiration from other blogs by searching around and trying them out. Also take note of the time taken to load the widgets into your blog, for me, if it takes longer than 10 seconds to load it, I say ditch it.
So there you go... I think I pretty much covers all there is on the topic of blog widgets. I've always treat my blog as if it is my child (ok, lower ranking than Ben of course!), and I think you should too! Please do look around the Net to find the widgets you like (please don't just copy it off my blog!), test and play around with the widgets. It's a nice feeling to have when you realised how a widget can make your blog looks oh-so-much better!
Nurture it, build it, have fun and make happy memories with it as how you would do with your child. It does bring joy to your heart! Feel free to leave me a comment if you would like to find out more on a certain topic.
Until then, happy blogging!
