Over the last five years, widgets have become wildly popular across the desktops of millions of internet users. Not the widgets from Accounting class in high school, but web widgets: easy-to-install mini-applications that subtly inform users of information they might find important. For example, a widget might show how many unread messages a user has in their email inbox or tell them whether or not they should wear a jacket outside.

These widgets can be placed practically anywhere and work on almost every computer: every Windows Vista and Macintosh OS X computer already supports widgets (Vista calls them Gadgets), and programs such as Opera 9.26 (opera.com) and Stardock Object Desktop (stardock.com) add this same functionality on computers that don’t otherwise support these applets by default. Some widgets can even be put on websites, Facebook profiles, MySpace pages, and blogs, such as those offered by Widgetbox (widgetbox.com).

Widgets are not just novelties, however. Because of their size and ease of use, they are great tools for spreading a brand or company name directly to a user base’s desktop or personal blog or website. For instance, Acme XYZ Corp. might build a widget that shows off the latest gizmo to come out of their labs. Every user with the Acme XYZ widget will then see that information (along with the Acme logo) on their desktop, Windows Sidebar, or Macintosh Dashboard. Pretty cool, huh?

On a blog or website, widgets can be even more valuable towards building consumer relationships. Not only will the owner of the site see the widget, but so will all of the website’s visitors! The webmasters of these sites are essentially providing free advertising in the form of a fun, useful tool in their navigation sidebar of page body.

I personally use a number of widgets on my home computer. One of them is powered by a company called Woot (woot.com), which sells only one product per day until that product is sold out. The widget shows a picture of the product on sale below the Woot logo. Hovering over the widget shows the name of the product on sale and a link to woot.com. Not only are they encouraging my return by titillating my love for their products, but providing a logo and link to their site right on my desktop!

In conclusion, widgets done right can boost sales, maintain existing relationships, and even foster new clientele.

Matt Basta, Web Developer contributed to this blog entry.