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Tuesday, January 08, 2008



Using Widgets and Mashups to Promote Your Business

A "widget" is a program that runs inside a browser or on a user's desktop (such as when running Google Desktop) that provides extra functionality for the user. Widget creation is a hot trend in online marketing these days. They are generally written in JavaScript, although other languages can be used as well. The advantage of a widget is that, if you can get your prospective customers to install it, it provides you with a way to keep your marketing message in front of your prospects. And as you know, repeated exposure to a marketing message is key to its success.

Widgets created for Google Desktop are called gadgets. But the concept is the same. Google provides an API for creating gadgets, which can be found at the following web address: http://www.google.com/apis/gadgets/docs-home.html.

For example, let's say you sell New York Yankees merchandise. You could create a widget that showed updated news headlines related to the Yankees. A Yankees fan could place the widget in his browser or on his desktop that would constantly feed him Yankees news, along with marketing messages to buy Yankees merchandise. Or maybe the widget would constantly display new listings on eBay for Yankees merchandise, which would be very useful for a collector.

If you lack the knowledge or internal skills to code widgets, you might try hiring a third party contractor. You could create an account on eLance.com and post details of what you are wanting to do. Chances are excellent you could find a developer who will do the work for a very affordable rate.

A mashup is something that combines content or functionality from different sources, such as a web site that contains pieces of other web sites. Microsoft has a very interesting web site called PopFly.com that lets you drag and drop functionality from different web sites to create mashups without any coding. For example, while trying it out, we combined a Microsoft Live image search with some kind of image rotater. The merged product was a screen that showed images pulled from Live.com rotating in a circle. We're not sure how useful this particular mashup is, but it was fun to create.

Widgets and mashups are definitely a hot trend in marketing, and they can help get your marketing message distributed and repeated to your target market in a way that they find entertaining or useful, which will make it easier for your message to soak in.

If you could use some guidance using widgets or mashups to promote your business, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

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posted by Jerry Work / Chris Work @ 7:48 AM   0 comments

Monday, October 01, 2007



Mashups - the Future of Online Application Development

Jerry here. For those of you who had inquired about the status of my daughter, she is doing just fine. The surgery was a success. She is waking up in the middle of the night in quite a bit of pain, but for the most part she is still a happy, healthy baby. I was at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital most of the week, so little real work was done. But now that that is over with, we can get back to the business of Internet marketing!

The future of online application development will involve heavily around "mashups", which are applications that combine functionality from different APIs ("Application Programming Interfaces"). Many companies, such as Google, make data available via Web Services. A Web Service is a way of retrieving data in XML format for use in an application. For example, Google has Web Services which provide search data and that allow you to manage AdWords accounts. By accessing these Web Services (which, in turn, provide access to APIs), you can create your own custom applications that let you manage AdWords accounts and perform various other functions.

In general, when accessing data via a Web Service, you create a "class" that uses the functions provided by the Web Service. Web Services are written in a language called WSDL ("Web Services Description Language"), which can be used to generate a class. The class, in turn, provides methods and properties that can be used in the application code.

So what is the point? It's that if there is an online marketing application you need that doesn't exist, chances are pretty good there are Web Services that can be accessed that will make the development of the application much easier. Sure, you still need to be able to program, but programmers can be hired for cheap (try elance.com) if you can clearly define what the application needs to do and there are Web Services that provide the necessary access to data.

Work Media is working on a proprietary AdWords management system that works by using Google's Web Services. What features would you like to see in your ideal paid search management program? We would love to hear from you on this matter. What other kind of application could you use that would improve your online marketing? Chances are pretty good that there are some Web Services that could make it possible.

If you have an idea for a new online marketing application and need some help, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

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posted by Jerry Work / Chris Work @ 6:52 AM   0 comments