The killer widget

No, don't get excited; I don't have one for you.

But we quite often talk about coming up with some killer widgets which is about as useful as people asking you to come up with "something that will go viral". Well, yes, that's a great idea!

The trouble is that we're starting from a point of view of having loads of feeds and stuff sitting around on our websites that could be widgetised so half our work is already done.

But frankly, who wants to put our "latest HR news" or "latest jobs in electronics" feed on their blog or website? This is the trouble for non-sexy B2B publishing.

Forbes has widgets and so does CNET but they are all basically content that was already there and don't deliver much more than an RSS feed would/does. And they sure aren't sexy. I don't think any of them will prove to be the Killer Widgets.

Here's where I am with my thinking on widgets:

1. The easy stuff first

The easy stuff is the stuff we already have to hand (e.g. news feeds). I wonder if for these we should maybe be chasing intranets, not the Internet. The intranet for a road haulage company would probably find a latest news widget a useful addition to their intranet; a blogging trucker less so. Unless your brand is VERY cool in addition to being VERY reliable (which all of ours are, of course).


2. Customise the widget to the widget hoster

So, if you have a social media element such as forums and photos, create a widget that lets them show off their latest forum or blog posts or photos, or top rated photos or whatever. In other words, let people use it to show off their stuff, not yours.

3. Add value to the widget hoster's site

For example, by offering some kind of interactivity to their users to make their site stickier and more engaging.

4. Provide some quid pro quo

Find some way in which their hosting of your widget gives them something backfrom your site. Maybe the widget results in a link from your site or their blog in your blogroll or gets them included in some kind of social competition. Something that gives them their attention.

Reading that back, it's clear that I'm just thinking aloud. Sorry. Ignore this post.

I'm sure my colleague Piers will come up with some better ideas...

What a wonderful widget world

My inestimable and resourceful colleague Michael Targett has put together a collection of useful widget links and has invited me to publish it, for which I thank him.

Recommended widgets

http://widgets.yahoo.com/search/top-rated
http://mashable.com/2007/09/06/widgets-2/

News widgets

http://eco.netvibes.com/widgets/live?category=4
http://widgets.yahoo.com/search/?q=news

Images widgets

http://bumped.org/WebApps/category/image-widgets/
http://flickrtools.blinklist.com/tag/flickr%20widgets/

Video widgets

http://newteevee.com/2007/10/16/top-five-video-widgets-to-fidget-with/

Apple widgets
http://www.applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/the-9-best-widgets/

Community widgets

http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/363435/top-ten-facebook-widgets.html
http://www.boonex.com/products/ray/
http://www.rateitall.com/t-22486-community-widgets.aspx

Blog widgets

http://widgets-gadgets.com/2007/08/top-10-web-widgets-for-your-blog.html
http://technorati.com/widgets/blogwidgets

RSS widgets
http://widgets.yahoo.com/search/?q=RSS

Map widgets

http://www.visitwidget.com/feature.htm (good one for community build by nation)
http://bumped.org/WebApps/category/map-widgets/

Creating your own widget

http://www.yourminis.com/
http://grazr.com/config.html


Further widget reading

Widget marketplaces (see WidgetBox , LabPixies and Widgipedia)
Widget blogs (see WidgetsLab and Widgetoko).
Widget conference (whole conference)

Blog readability scam - an inspiration

Charles Arthur has blogged a great post on The Guardian about a cunning scam which gets bloggers to unwitting link to a commercial site offering loans to boost its Googlejuice.

But I believe that 20% 0f every idea is good and to be nurtured.

Exposed: another fiendish way to make money on the web relates how a number of prominent websites have been conned into linking to a company by publishing a "blog readability" score on their website.

It's interesting because it fits in with a number of conversations we've been having here, lately:

1. Finding ideas for compelling widgets for other people to put on their sites and blogs.

2. My "Seven Deadly Sins" theory of human behavioural motivation. Sounds grand, doesn't it? It's not. It was one throwaway slide at a recent conference.

Anyway, I'm stretching it because I don't think vanity is strictly speaking one of the seven although it could come under Pride, I suppose. Or Gluttony.

Anyway, the point is that appealing to the vanity of bloggers ("Hey! My blog has great usability!") is probably a great starting point for devising that killer widget.

Oh, in case you can't name them, the Seven Deadly Sins are:

Lust
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Pride

I shall work my theory up into something publishable at some point...