Have you ever seen a grouping of Google gadgets available as tabs? It looks like the image to the right (click image to see what I am talking about). This is the way iGoogle tabs are distributed. A page like this is shown to the user who can then decide which of the gadgets will [...]
When you promote your Google gadget, you may also be unintentionally promoting your competitors gadgets as well. Google wants to provide suggestions to their users of other gadgets they might enjoy. The problem this may cause for you is that those “other” gadgets may just well be your competitors. Here is a way to keep [...]
With mentions in Mashable and SearchEngineLand this Digg like gadget is off to a very good start. The What’s Popular gadget shows stories, videos and images that are popular. You can submit your own stuff to the gadget and these things can be voted on. What’s Popular? How about What’s Probable? There are some notable [...]
This lesson will surely give you an upper hand in having your Google gadgets be seen by more people. It explores the best practices of how to effectively describe and spread your Google gadgets via the underused method of complete ModulePrefs. Guide to ModulePrefs What are ModulePrefs? ModulePrefs are the “metadata” of a Google gadget. On [...]
One common question among businesses considering Google gadgets or other widgets is basically this… “Why should I encourage people to use the functionality of my web site without actually visiting my website?” This question makes sense if someone for example is monetizing their site via adsense. If they display their content elsewhere like iGoogle or [...]
This post will describe the best practices of how to promote a Google gadget, but most of the things I mention are equally useful for any kind of widget promotion. Google Gadget Promotion 101 Let’s get right to a couple of obvious things first so that we don’t waste any time… Usefulness: If your Google [...]
1.) Widgetbox Widgetbox has offered for over a year something called “blidgets”. These are widgets that take a feed and, well, turn them into a widget. It takes only a couple of minutes to do it. In fact, you don’t even need to tell it your feed address, just your blog address. You just go [...]
One underutilized method of gadget spread is Internationalization. Google gadgets that are only listed in the English language are missing tens of millions of potential users. The Google gadget directory, when seen in Italy, prefers to show Italian language descriptions and titles. They are more useful to Italian users. Also consider that when an Italian [...]
The same Google gadget can be displayed in different languages depending on who is looking at it and what country thay are looking at it from. Gadget usage is reported differently depending on where you are looking at it and what language is specified. You may have a million people using your widget in another [...]
What are gadget enabled objects? They are objects that can be placed in rooms that have functions, like video or clocks that actually work. To see some gadget objects from the catalog go here…. To make these, you have to be a content developer (but it will open up to everyone eventually). The Object Editor [...]
