TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote:Widget mania is erupting across the Web, making it easy for both casual online sellers, such as bloggers and hobbyists, and serious e-tailers to expand their exposure and boost sales. For the former, simply cutting and pasting a snippet of code to your site can bring in bucks without setting up a storefront. For the latter, widgets can open new sales channels on places such as MySpace, where if you're lucky, members pass it on giving you a free viral marketing campaign.

Widgets are mini-applications that generally come packaged in a little window, and can be dragged and dropped onto a Web page and offer a scaled down version of features you would ordinarily get at a full-fledged site.

For e-tailers, this means you can, for instance, showcase your eBay listings on your social networking page, bringing your merchandise to interested shoppers who might not have found your storefront, and those who like what you're selling can even pass your widget on to their friends. Another way e-biz owners can earn extra revenue is by using affiliate marketing widgets at their Web store sites or blogs. Or, if you're new to e-commerce, widgets provide an easy access point to online selling...

Quote:Ecommerce sites have had varying degrees of success with these applications, correlated directly to how useful or fun the apps are. These small programs need to have viral attributes — those hard-to-define qualities that make users want to add the app to their page and share it with their friends. BlueNile.com has created the “Blue Nile Wish List” app, which keeps friends informed about what jewelry an individual would like to purchase (or have gifted!) from the site. Buy.com has created the “Garage Sale” app, which ties the sale of used merchandise into their system. Rather than use branded Buy.com elements, the interface looks like a generic garage sale sign easily purchased at any hardware store, and the connection to Buy.com isn’t immediately apparent. It’s just a little ol’ online rummage sale! And therein lies its charm.

So, what exactly does it take to create a Facebook app?...