How Do Widget Companies Monetize Their Services?
July 15th, 2007 | Categories: blogs, marketing, strategy, trends, widgetsHope for a buy-out? Maximize on-site page views?
To be completely honest, I have no answer for this question. I don’t think that the terms ‘widget’ and ‘profitability’ were destined to be together. Any thoughts on this?
July 15th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I think it would depend on how the widget it implemented. Placing a textlink (outside of iframe) is quite valuable (from SEO perspective), though just getting a brand name out there into the sidebars around the blogosphere has got to have some sort of marketing value. The bottom line is that widgets capture more users that hopefully contribute some data back to the central database.
So no, I don’t think that widgets themselves are directly profitable, though I do think that they generate value for the parent website.
July 15th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
I don’t think that widget are profitable. But big site like the Washington Post or Newsvine can use them to increase their influence subconsciously.
Those popular political compass widget for Facebook is something that a conservative individual might install on their profile while subconsciously hearing the name Washington Post in their head.
I think it has something to do with marketing but I think the real trick is that big companies use widgets to get the upper hand on smaller companies.
July 16th, 2007 at 12:16 am
So I guess what I’m saying is that you can’t have a company entirely based on widgets. You have to have a larger plan than that.
July 16th, 2007 at 12:36 am
Michael,
I’d have to agree. I think I can sum up my thoughts with the following statement: widgets are NOT a business model, but rather a marketing tool for something more.
Cheers,
Aidan
July 16th, 2007 at 5:59 am
I tend to disagree for obvious reasons.
Keep well
Damon