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Essential Widgets that Blog should have

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Revathi
from Denver |

Hello People,

I was recently going through the forum and was searching for a thread on essential widgets and couldn't find one. Or maybe my eyes are failing after hours of online activity. So I have put together a few widgets from the top of my mind. I have installed most of these in my blog so please visit if you need to check out any widget. Feel free to add more:

Thanks!

Reva@ http://lafemmereva.blogspot.com

1. Blogroll - This gives a blog's readers a chance to see other blogs and is actually  great way of giving other bloggers a platform to publicize their blogs. Win Win for all :)

2. Feed Subscribe (Email included): This widget is a must. This way blog readers can be updated with the  site feed and don't have to frequently check back to see if the author has come up with something new. Moreover the search engines also pick up the feed.

3. Search within the site: Visitors can search posts with the keyword specific to their requirement.

4. Install some code like google analytics which will give the author an insight into your readers

5. Labels/Tag Clouds

6. Archives

7. About me - This really helps a reader connect with the author.

As a blogger's subscriber base increases he/she may want to add some more widgets like:

1. Recent 5 Comments

2. Recent 5 Posts: In the form of a headline animator maybe

3. Visitor Info with real time visitor stats

4. Reader's favorite posts which will give the readers a chance to appreciate the blogger's style of writing.

Replies 1 to 15 of 15

Healthy Living India
from Bombay |

Excellent list.

What would be also helpful to note is that email signup, feeds and headline animators are all provided by Feedburner and the integration process is really simple, for both Blogger and WP.

Another thing one could think about is to use social networking to drive traffic as well as connect with readers. I've got widgets of the networks I belong to - Facebook (Networked Blogs), Blogcatalog, Technorati and Indiblogger.

cheers!

Prashant.

http://healthylivingindia.blogspot.com

Revathi
from Denver |

Oh yeah!! Glad your brought it up Prashant!! Facebook lets you integrate your blog so that the posts appear as mini feeds on your profile. I have dont that !!! Hey - Do review my blog when you find time!

Puneet Jain
from Vadodara |

One blogger must put all these in his blog.

http://mobigyaan.com

Kokonad Sinha
from University Park, PA |

That's a great list!

I feel one good widget is to have a "random posts" widget. This brings in random posts (or based on tags/categories/labels) from your archive and puts it up front for people to read. Helps to increase traffic on long forgotten posts and also exhibits your writing style well. The widget refreshes itself everytime you visit a link/post or you reload the page.

What do you think?

Kokonad Sinha
from University Park, PA |

Yes, I do think it is a great widget to have. In fact I had been looking for a good 'related posts' too - for some reason it does not show up on self-hosted wordpress blogs. Anyway, that's how I came across the random posts widget - and I kind of like it. I have been getting hits on them, I suppose. :-)

Manik
from Delhi |

Another widget that can be added is a chat-box, don't remember its technical name, but guess you got it. Would let users discuss and pass comments! And some more interaction too! Right?

kunal sachdeva
from New Delhi |

yeah chat-box or Shoutmix should be there.......

Kokonad Sinha
from University Park, PA |

I never tag too! But I know why. L.A.Z.Y. :)

Btw, I think tags do help your posts to feature on Google searches easier. Labels and categories help the reader figure out what's the content. Tags help Google figure out what's the content. That's my idea, though. Don't quote me!

kunal sachdeva
from New Delhi |

quite rite........ Tags are very useful for searching.......  A large amount traffic comes from search engine & The Tag Should contain Unique and important keywords which justify your post.....

Samuel
from Hyderabad / Pilani |

Having a Top Commenters Widget is also very good when the blog readership increases.. It shows the top 10 users with the most number of comments on your blog.. Its a great way to publicly thank your regular blog commenters.. I'm using one such widget from Blogger Buster.. Cool

chai-coffee.blogspot.com

Adesh Sidhu
from Gurgaon |

Great list...Do not have many widgets as I am still learning tips and tricks of adding more useful lists on my blog.

Keep sharing!

Pushkaraj Apte
from Pune |

When I started blogging, I added lots of labels to each post. Ask me why? For some strange reason I naively beleived that this increased traffic to the blog!

Now the tag cloud is looming large on my blog! I feel the 'Categories' widget is a better way to provide pointers to previous posts than having such a massive cloud. It can replace the standard blogger 'Blog Archive' widget, am I right?

I have been (unsuccesfully) trying to search for this widget.

Help please!

Thanks,

Pushkaraj

FSK
from New York |

If you are using a 3rd party Tag Cloud generator, you can control what is displayed by choosing the minimum frequency for  a particular label..

Alternatively, you can create custom categories, although Blogger does not provide it. Check out the "Recipes by Type" section on my blog's sidebar.. If that is something like what you are looking for.. let me know...

FSK

Fork Spoon Knife - What's on the menu today?

FSK
from New York |

I would recommend the widget from Add This which allows a reader to forward or bookmark an interesting post via multiple mediums...I have it on my blog .. Also, perhaps the 10 X posts.. so a new reader gets hooked and they can easily see what your best posts are...

FSK

Fork Spoon Knife - What's on the menu today?