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Creating Widgets for Your Websites and Blogs
By Doran Roggio (c) 2007

With a widget you can place the current information from your
blogs and or/websites on other webpages, and your personal pages
on social networks like myspace, ning.com and your private
clubs. This is not only fun and informative, but an excellent
promotional tool.

What is a widget? According to Wikipedia a "web widget is
anything that can be embedded within a page of HTML, i.e. a web
page. A widget adds some content to that page that is not
static. Generally widgets are third party originated... Widgets
are also known as modules, snippets, and plug-ins. Widgets can
be written in HTML, but also in JavaScript, flash and other
scripting languages...

Applications can be integrated within a third party website by
the placement of a small snippet of code. This is becoming a
distribution or marketing channel for many companies. The code
brings in 'live' content - advertisements, links, images -
from a third party site without the web site owner having to
update."

You have probably seen widgets on web sites you have visited.
When clicked on the widget will take you to the source of the
information. Although widgets have been around since the late
nineties, they are becoming increasing more popular especially
with the rise of social networking.

I first started playing around with widgets as a way to promote
my own AC published content. While widgets are not that
difficult, they can be a little tricky at first if unfamiliar to
you. It took me several tries to perfect my own widgets and
place them on my blog and social networking sites. They now work
perfectly without any problems. As I add content to my AC page
for example, the widget automatically updates to show the most
current article titles.

If you have not had the opportunity to work with widgets or have
attempted to do so without success, this article is for you. With
little effort you will be able to make the widgets and place
them on the web pages that you choose. Once mastered the widgets
are really cool and worth the effort.

Making A Widget

At widgetbox.com you can make a widget to place on your pages.
You can customize the widget with size, details, title and
colors and even list it in their blidget directory which gives
more exposure to your blog and AC page (every little bit of
promotion helps). You can make as many widgets as you want, I
have one for my blog at Women-sense.com and another for my AC
content producer page so far.

Go to widgetbox.com, on the left sidebar click on the button
that says 'Make a blidget'. This will open up a box that asks
for the url where the information is being gathered. For my blog
I just entered the blog url, (http://women-sense.com).
Widgetbox.com automatically draws from the rss feed for that
URL. Don't ask me how, I have no idea but it works. For my
Associated Content I added the actual RSS link which I found by
clicking on the RSS symbol and copying the url address from the
browser address bar.

Once you add the link to the blidget box it will open to a page
that will give you customizing options. You will see your widget
on the right hand side with your information from the RSS feed.
You can opt to list article titles or titles with article
summaries. Different colors as well as sizing and/or images are
other options available. Fool with the options until you get it
the way you want it to look.

When you finish setting the options and you are happy with the
way it looks, click on one of the article titles to assure it is
working correctly. When clicked it should click thru to the site
your are promoting.

Registering and Getting The Code

If working correctly, the next step is to get the code. Now you
will need the code in order to place the widget on your myspace
page or other website of your choice.

Before getting the code the next step in the creation of your
widget offers you the chance to list your widget in the blidget
gallery. I opted for this and you will probably want to do so as
well. It can only add to your exposure. Add keyword tags and
click 'publish blidget'.

You will then be asked to register if you do not already
have an account. Don't worry, the service is absolutely free.
By registering you will be able to come back and make as many
widgets as you want and add them to your account for editing.

Once you have registered you will now be taken to a another page
with several options. Near the top you will see the title of the
widget (example: AC Media) on the far right of the title click
the green button that says 'get widget'.

Placing The Widget On Websites

A drop down list opens up for you to choose where to place the
widget. You will see there are many choices. If you are placing
your widget on myspace, for example, choose that selection. You
will be asked for your myspace email and password, along with
what section you want the widget to be placed. Widgetbox.com
will automatically place the widget on your myspace page in the
section you desire.

Perhaps you want to place the widget on a site that is not
listed. In this case you would choose the section that says,
'get code'. There will be two choices to choose from, a
Javascript and a Flash script. At this point you may have to
experiment to see which code will work on the site you are
attempting to place the widget.

Many sites do not allow Javascript. If you are working on your
own webpages you can probably use the Javascript code. Copy and
paste the code in your website's html, save and upload your page
as usual. The widget should work fine.

For other sites like ning.com you want the flash script. Select
all and copy the code for the flash script. Paste the code into
a block where you are able to add information by clicking on
edit/add in the box and paste the code. You are almost done.

Before saving you will need to add opening and closing div tags
to the code in order for it to show up. At the beginning of the
code place the <div> and at the end of the code include </div>.

Click save and close the opened text box and your widget should
be displayed. If correctly done, your widget will automatically
update every time you add new content to the site your widget is
promoting.

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Doran Roggio is a freelance writer & online entrepreneur. For
business resources visit Doran at http://atdorans.com and
http://adsense-smarts.doranunlimited.com.
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