Counters & Playlists & Widgets! Oh My!

As I travel around the blogging world, I see all sorts of widgets that people have added to their blogs. Clocks, maps, weather reports, music, book lists, the list could go on forever! Like a woman wearing too much jewelery or make up, can a blog have too many widgets? Or is it the way they are displayed on the blog that might make them confusing to the eyes of a reader? Some widgets serve a purpose, such as a counter, while others are for fun, such as Sally, the virtual puppy in my left side bar. I can't have a dog right now, and I've always wanted to name one Sally, so I just made her for kicks!
Many bloggers use their site to bring in a little extra cash through advertisements. Sometimes even big cash! You can't get advertisers if you don't have traffic statistics to share with them. For others bloggers, a stat counter or world map of visitors is interesting because it can be compared with the number of comments received to show the blogger how many people took the time to say something. I like using my stat counter to see how long people stay at my blog and how many pages an individual clicks on. This tells me if what I am writing is of interest to that visitor, and if one thing I wrote made them check out the archives for something else on a similar topic. Stat counters are available for free from several hosts. Three of these are BlogPatrol, StatCounter, and Site Meter. I know, I know, many of us had issues with Site Meter a few weeks ago, including me! However, I've used the free version of Site Meter on different web sites for about 8 years, and this was the first bug I ever had with it. I just deleted my counter until they fixed the issue, and then put it back up. For more detailed information on these statistic counters, I highly recommend the article, It's All in the Numbers from Blogging Basics 101.

One Plus You is a pretty irreverant site with wacked-out quizzes such as, "How Many Cannibals Could Your Body Feed?" "The Blog Cuss-o-Meter" and other potentially hysterical or traumatizing questions! They also have blog bumper stickers with crazy messages.

A place for fun widget quizzes is BlogThings. They are the home of What Kind of Pie, Flower, Cookie, etc. Are You? Something that totally freaked me out at Blogthings was the quiz, "What Should I Be When I Grow Up?" There was 1 question with 8 picture designs to choose from. Just pick the one that appeals to you most. So I did, and it hit me right on the head!
You Should Be a Teacher
You are patient, optimistic, and good at explaining things.
You work well with all types of people, and you are a good role model.
Success and positive outcomes are extremely important to you.
You are both a good leader and instructor.
People look up to and depend on you.
You do best when you: 1) Can see the results of your work, 2) Are able to teach someone a new skill. You would also be a good nurse or non-fiction writer.
At Miniclip bloggers can find games, puzzles cartoons, and goofy clips such as a dancing George W. Bush, that can be added to a website.

Sally, my little dog, comes from Widgetbox. At Widgetbox they have all sorts of fun, silly, and interesting things for your blog. They even let people who know programming create new widgets, and guide them through the process. Some of the widgets available are newsfeeds, virtual jigsaw puzzles, games that can be played on your blog, art to create and display, & so many other cool things!
Toonlet is a very specific site that allows users to create cartoons and characters for free! It is very cool, and not many blogs that I visit use it. Take the tour to check it out, but you must be a registered user to actually create things. One blog I visit has created characters for all their family members and uses Toonlet to tell funny stories about them.

I have been working on this particular post off and on for a few weeks. Blogger has just done a lot of my work for me! Do you read the articles in the Dashboard when you sign in? If so, you know that Blogger now has thousands of widgets, which they are calling "gadgets" for our sites! They are so easy to use; the hardest part is choosing! They have combined so many things I was going to write about, such as daily quotes, daily artwork, sports scores, business news, etc. If you are a Blogger user, definitely go check out some of the options. It's so great to have all of this in one place, and so easy to use!I am no Joe-Pro blogger, nor do I have the technical/programming knowledge to create an amazing design from scratch. I am new to the world of blogging and am just learning the etiquette and terminology. BUT, as a teacher, I believe the greatest skill any of us can have, especially in the 21st century, is to know WHERE to go for information. My 3 biggies for information on blog design, HTML, etiquette, and getting the most out of your blog are, in alphabetical order: Bloggerbuster, Blogging Basics 101, and ProBlogger If you have a favorite, I'd love to hear about it! Before you start exploring all of these places for funny and sometimes helpful things, ask yourself what the needs are for your individual blog. Do you need a stat counter plus a feed telling you where your readers are located, or can you find that information in 1 widget? Do you need a list of "top commenters" as well as a "recent comments" list? Instead of showing us what kind of flower, pie, dog, etc. you are all at once, why not change it out on your sidebar every few weeks? One article I read suggested making small visual changes to our blogs to hold reader interest.So come on back and let me know what interests you, and which of these sites you found fun and/or easy to use. I had problems w/ a couple of different widgets themselves, but not everything on any one site.