Widgets: Little Pieces, Big Possibilities
Posted on | August 17, 2007 | No Comments
You’ve seen them on blogs and web pages, on Facebook, MySpace and MOG, in tools bars and on desktops. Widgets, those tiny bits of code that invite you to “paste this on your blog or web page”, are everywhere!
Widgets allow users to paste a few lines of code on their websites and add a ton of personality and functionality–from simple favorites lists and new content alerts to Evite-esque party RSVP lists to full-featured shopping experiences. There are even widgets that allow users to build their own television and radio stations by cobbling together videos and mp3 files from all over the web, and from their own web cams. And, the latest widgets track and install other widgets so that you can check out your friends’ widgets and then make them your own.
Far from being just cutesy drop-and-drag decorations, widgets are marketing, branding and sales powerhouses that are disrupting the barely established performance measures the advertising industry in order to price ad space. Widgets do away with the need to visit a website or portal to shop its products or view its latest content, thereby unseating page views as the most legitimate measure of a web page’s activity.
The number of downloads will likely be the new standard. And, new widget-makers are setting the bar high by signing up more than a million users per month. All of this activity is, not surprisingly, attracting lots of attention and millions of dollars from venture capitalists, advertisers, content developers and, of course, search giants.
Fox Interactive Media recently purchased Photobucket, maker of a photo-sharing widget, for $300 million. Venture capitalists are giving widget-makers like Slide and iLike $100+ million valuations. Big companies like Reebok, Zappos.com, Macy’s, Amazon and eBay, are employing widget-makers to create signature widgets that propagate their best features and content throughout the Web via personal blogs, web pages and home pages. Google is offering new widget-makers $5,000 grants and $100,000 seed investments. Widget-makers even have their own well-attended, amply sponsored industry conference–WidgetCon.
The widget market has billion-dollar potential given that the business model is so darn infectious.
HOW WIDGETS MINT MONEYÂ
- Social networkers “decorate” their personal web spaces with widgets that allow them to share what they like with their friends and admirers.
- Friends and admirers join the bandwagon in droves.
- Advertisers hitchhike a ride on the train to seemingly innocuous ubiquity, all the while, hawking their wares and plastering their brands all over the virtual walls of cyberspace.
- Widget-makers get paid a flat fee from the advertiser/company for creating the widget, then receive residual per-download income.
- Advertisers/companies get millions of leads, sales, sign-ups, downloads, other transactions.
- Downloading “decorators” split per-transaction revenue for all transactions conducted via widgets on their websites or blogs.
So, how does one get in on this bonanza?
First, study widgets in their native habitats. Visit WordPress, Facebook, MOG, Hi5, MySpace and other popular social networking sites to see which widgets are being downloaded most. You’ll need to join the networking sites to get the full experience. Then, view pages of members who are using them to see how they are customizing the widgets and where and how they are using them on their sites.
Set up your own accounts and spaces on the social networking sites of your choosing and download plenty of widgets. Test and tune them to see what they offer and what’s missing.
Become an expert on the interfaces and development tools, as well as the social trends (who’s on, what are they doing) on the networking sites too. They are key to your success.
View the source code. Learn the coding language (Javascript, AJAX, etc.)
Code. Code.
Test and tune.
Publicize your widget by listing it in the widget directories of the social networking sites. They are the primary way folks find out about the available widgets, besides learning about it from friends.
Make lots of friends!
Provide great, ongoing support. Glitches are expected, but timely fixes can save your new venture and provide opportunities to introduce new features and new widgets.
HOT TIP!
iPhone widgets are the flavor of the moment.
RESOURCES
WidgetCon 2007 Agenda – Good list of widget-makers who’s who
The Springbox – site that tests widgets for MySpace, Tagged, Bebo, Xanga, Multiply, Faces.com, Hoverspot.com, Friendster and Social21.
Widgetbox – Directory of web widgets
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