Guest Post by Dominic Fawver.

Session Description:  This presentation discussed how to enhance your site using various widgets, what works and what doesn’t, and how effective different widgets are to your site.  The panel consisted of:

• Woody Wood, Product Manager, Amazon (Twitter @AmazonAssociate)

This session gave an overview of what a widget is, and what it can bring to your site.  Many examples were given from the Amazon Associate program and a couple of examples from other sources.  One of the chief reasons for using a widget is to add interactivity and functionality to your website.   A key point that was mentioned was that a widget should be used to augment your site, along with all of the links and banners, instead of replacing them.  Several suggestions were made as to what works and what does not.  Included in the what works category were things like:

• Use the right widget for the job:  focus on targeting the widget at relevant material to your site.
• Place the widget in the most effective spot:  for example, in the center of the page for a one off topic specific item, or on the sidebar for something that is more long term.
• Use the widget as a self expression tool:  add comments and recommendations to the items to make the relevant to your audience.
• Change content regularly:  make sure that people want to return to your site.

The only negative thing I took away from this very well put together presentation was the mention of the very short duration of the cookie given by the Amazon Associate program.  This will most likely not stop me from using Amazon widgets on my site, but is a little disappointing.

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