RSS & Widgets: 8 Ways to Utilize RSS in Widgets

RSS feeds make it easy for web publishers and marketers to create custom widgets on Widgetbox… with no development resources! Below are eight great ways to turn feed-based activity into viral widgets sharable across the web:

1. Convert your blog or website’s RSS feed into a Blidget or Blidget Pro on Widgetbox.
Just enter your feed and customize the widget’s appearance, size and content. The widget will dynamically update as the RSS feed changes.

2. Add multiple RSS feeds with the Blidget Pro.
Why stop at one feed when you can add multiple tabs and content sources?!

3. Create custom Twitter widgets based on your activity or favorite searches:

4. Add your favorite RSS feed to your Facebook profile with a Widgetbox App (learn how!).

5. Create YouTube & Vimeo widgets that play videos in-line:

6. Turn your Flickr feed into a slideshow widget:

7. Turn your eBay listings and store items into viral marketing widgets (learn how!):

8. Turn your real-estate listings into a viral widgets and reach new potential customers:

Mashable even recommended using Widgetbox to help navigate your Twitter activity:

“Provide a website widget: For anyone who isn’t using or knowledgeable with Twitter, provide an easy conversation tracker tool on your website. You can make one via Widgetbox”

Here’s how you can use hashtags within your Twitter widgets:

1. When creating your Blidget Pro, add a tab for Twitter
2. You will have three content source options: My Updates, My Favorites, and Search

3. Under search, you can enter any text… or enter a hashtag (ie #FollowFriday or #voting)
4. The widget will then dynamically update with posts around the Twittersphere with the hashtag that you set

Exciting news: you can now create Blidgets and Blidget Pros from your Facebook Feed. Add you Twitter activity, blog or RSS feed, and other useful content from across the web and you have the ultimate social media / marketing widget! Here’s how:

1. Install Chia’s Newsfeed RSS App

To get started, you need to allow the new Newsfeed RSS Application on Facebook and grant it access. The application will access your Facebook feed and convert it into an RSS feed. Note: this all occurs on Facebook.com and you will need to login before accessing the application and granting access

You can read more about Newsfeed RSS on ReadWriteWeb.

2. Grab the RSS Feed and Create Your Blidget Pro!

Once you have granted Newsfeed RSS access, you will be provided a link to your feed. You can now enter that directly into the Widgetbox Blidget Pro editor (enter directly from our homepage). You will now have the regular options to:

- customize the Blidget Pro’s appearance
- customize the feed’s layout (supposedly images are coming soon!)
- add multiple tabs to the widget (such as Twitter, blog feeds, etc)

Here is an example using:
- my Facebook Badge as my Blidget’s header
- three tabs: my Facebook feed, my Twitter feed and my blog feed

Learn more about the Blidget Pro and read other Tutorials

This is part three of our series on turning your Blidget Pros into successful, viral Facebook Applications:

1. Beginners’ Guide to creating Facebook Apps
2. Video Tutorial of the Facebook App Creator
3. Advanced Guide to Facebook App customizations (below!)

Once you have turned your Blidget Pro into a Facebook Application, there are several customizations that can make your app more successful on Facebook:

Customize the Application’s About Page

Each Facebook Application has an About Page that includes (see an example here for the American Idol Application)
- A custom image and overview
- Basic statistics (reviews, users, friends, etc)
- A “Wall” and a “Discussion Board”
- A list of “Fans” and “Friends Who Have Added the Application”
- User reviews

Within your “Facebook Developer” page, you will find an option to “Edit About Page”. There, you will be able to manage the page’s layout, customize the content and upload your graphics:

Customize the Application’s Settings

Each Application also has a set of universal settings that are particularly important for the widget’s viral-ity through Facebook. As the developer, you can access the “Edit Settings” page directly from your “My Applications” page.

There are four key elements to pay attention to:

1. Application Name: make it simple, catchy and descriptive
2. Basic Information: Again, be clear and crisp
3. Icon & Logo: These are particularly important because the graphics appear in Facebook’s feed and in the browser

4. User-Facing URLs: Enter in URLs where the user can get more information about the brand / app

Submit the App to Facebook’s Application Directory

Also available from the “My Applications” page is the ability to submit the app to Facebook’s Application Directory (tucked away tightly in “Submit It” link beneath the App’s title).

Submitting your application to Facebook’s directory is a huge boost for awareness and finability. You must first have at least 5 total users or 10 monthly active users before submitting:

Study the App Data and Iterate

Available under “My Applications”, Facebook provides in depth data through the “Statistics” section. You can access data about the:
- Application
- Users
- Interaction
- About Page
- etc

Create a Page for the Community

Facebook Pages are public forums for fans and brands to interact. Pages are terrific ways to communicate with fans and promote / include your Application. Creating a Facebook page is simple and allows numerous customizations: just select your category and Facebook will configure the process depending on your focus: Local, Brand (product or company) or Person (artist, band, public figure).

Let Widgetbox Help Distribute

Whether you need help customizing your Application or crafting custom distribution campaigns, let Widgetbox be helpful. Contact us and we can help craft promotional campaigns that deliver based on your requirements (partnerships at widgetboxdotcom)

Learn more about the Blidget Pro and read other Tutorials

We are very excited to announce a great new feature on Widgetbox that is now available for all Blidget Pros: a simple image cropper that allows custom widget headers, footers and backgrounds. You can select images from three sources:

1. Your desktop (locate the file and upload)
2. A URL (just enter the url of your desired image)
3. Your feed source (Widgetbox automatically scans your content and makes images available)

Once you select your desired image, you can scale, size and crop accordingly. This is a terrific way to make great looking, truly unique widgets… and did I mention that Widgetbox hosts the images and that you can edit / update them at any point?!

Below is a video tutorial demonstrating a couple examples:

Learn more about the Blidget Pro and read other Tutorials

One of the most powerful capabilities of the Blidget Pro is the ability to turn the widget into a fully viral Facebook Application. Below is a video tutorial demonstrating what Blidget Pro Facebook Apps look like and how you can create one.

You can also find a couple examples here:
- Crank High Voltage Facebook App
- American Idol 2009 Facebook App
- Investor Business Daily Facebook App

Learn more about the Blidget Pro and read other Tutorials

One of the best features of the Blidget Pro is the new Custom Tab tool (read more here).

Below is a video tutorial of how the Custom Tab works. You can also see custom tabs in action on these recent widgets:

- Crank High Voltage
- American Idol
- Chow.com Recipe of the Day
- Online Coupons from Savings.com

Learn more about the Blidget Pro and read other Tutorials

If you are interested in creating similar integrations with your user-base, please contact us directly (shawn @ widgetbox.com)!