In between Inman's Conference last week and developing more tools for agents and brokers we haven't had a chance to summarize some of the key take-aways at the Blogger's Connect Widgets panel…so here it is…  In a quick summary the consensus was (to no surprise) that agents want widgets that increase their business.  One common question was "is there such a thing as too many widgets ?"  One of the drawbacks that Matt mentioned during the panel was slowing down your overall site if you're putting too many widgets that makes too many calls from your site.  The other argument is too many widgets may distract your site's overall effectiveness to focus on your content.  Yes, you want your readers to focus on your content but there are certain widgets and plugins that are absolutely necessary to help you gauge  your site's effectiveness and call your readers to action.  The following are essential and were mentioned multiple times (not in any particular order):

MyBlogLog - Understand your site statistics and who is reading your site.  Ubiquitous tool that also creates a sense of community on your site.

Google Analytics -  One of the most powerful free analytics tools on your site.  Understand where your readers are coming from, which posts generate the most interest.  As you understand when and on what topics to post, you can create a better reading experience for your visitors.

Jaxtr  (CEO of Jaxtr, Konstantin Guericke spoke on the panel)   – Click to Call widget for your site.  Convert customers on your site quickly with this widget.  When one of your readers have a question, all they have to do is click on your widget and they can make an anonymous call.

Plugoo and Meebo – Instant Chat widgets, allows agents to respond quickly to questions in real time.

Native Wordpress Plugins – Featured Listings and Lead Capture Forms.

Also, to display local market knowledge agents can also use local market widgets from Altos Research (Congratulations Mike and Scott for winning the most innovative technology of the year award!)  Another great widget to display local market information is Trulia's widgets including Trulia Stats, Trulia Map, HomeRoll, and Trulia Search to display local price statistics and local listings. 

Many more can be found at Trulia's  www.housingwidgets.com and at www.widgetbox.com
 

A good blog setup, compelling content, and the right combination of widgets and plugins can make your online presence change dramatically and most importantly can generate more business for you!

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