There are so many to choose from, especially through the process of adding a third-party gadget called a badge or a widget. It's like picking a slot machine at a casino. They are so colorful, so enticing, so addicting.
Check out Google Gadgets For Your Webpage to get an idea of what I'm talking about. There are 160,541 choices. Hot female celebrities, music, inspirational messages, calorie calculators, top daily beautiful photos, bejeweled puzzle games, for starters. Even under creative writing, the widgets are limitless.
So how many gadgets are helpful, and how many are too many?
It's easy to put gadgets in your sidebar. In fact, here's a video at Internet Marketing For Professionals to show you how.
But don't get carried away. Sometimes less is better.
In my blog, for instance, I had a gadget called My Blog List and then another called Margaret's Shared Items, which covered just about the same thing. And then I had one called Books on Craft and another called Library Thing. Again repeats.
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| By grace mcdunnough |
Plus the experimenting is fun.
Just keep in mind that you don't want to distract your reader from the content of your blog with too many bells and whistles.
In the end, your reader will reward you by not coming back.
There are many places on the Internet to find gadget suggestions. On Jimmy Roger's makeuseof.com, for instance, is a list of 6 of The Best Items For Your Blog's Sidebar.
He says: Even the best blog authors need a little help to spice up their sidebar. While some argue that a plain, white-space inspired sidebar is best, I’ve become used to the little gardens of chicklets that most bloggers cultivate next to their posts. Here are some of the best ones I’ve run into on the web.
And he ends with: That’s all for now. There are a MILLION widgets, chicklets, embeds, and other discrete objects you can place on your blog. Be considerate of your users when doing this and try to limit yourself to about two lengths of a standard monitor. Beyond this not only will your widgets get no visibility, but you’re just increasing your load time.
Have fun. Experiment to your heart's delight.
And then delete.
(First photo image by Angelo Su)
