Widgets are all the craze these days, and it’s not hard to understand why. A widget is essentially a “chunk” of code that can be placed on any website. The flexibility presented by widgets is something that most marketers will appreciate. If you can distribute your web app across many websites, you will have a steady source of fresh visitors.
I’ve been experimenting with simple widgets, and a tracking system employed by Clearspring. This system makes deploying and tracking widgets easy. You can see how many people have installed your widget (placements) and see stats concerning unique visitors and interactivity.
I didn’t make much of a widget, either. I did an rss feed widget using several of my blog’s RSS feeds. The immediate advantages I can see for widget marketing are:
- It doesn’t cost anything to make and market a widget
- Widgets target web-savvy users
- Widgets can be “spawned” easily, widget to widget, without need for users to return to a central web page
- Widgets have a “cool factor” for the time being
I can see big things for widgets. Sure, most won’t do much, but if you actually have a distributed web app with a popular widget, you are looking at gaining major traffic.
Do your market your website using widgets?
Clearspring has a great solution, and the market is sure to expand this year. My company, NewsGator, has a widget framework that we have sold into some of the largest media companies, including USAToday, CNN, CBS News and Discovery Channel.
We have a free widget solution that you can use to get started and a “paid premium” account level that gives you much greater control over the widgets and reporting.
If you email me I will comp you a paid account.
Best,
Jeff
Sounds good, Jeff. I sent you an email.