How to make a successful widget, and what to avoid...

Another question from the field - How to make a successful widget? I'll try to keep the answer short. In fact, here's the super-short answer. Widgets are successful when you are able to deliver the right content to enough of the right audience.

Breaking that down a little bit more, the success of a widget is defined simply through engagement and distribution. Engagement relates to the presentation of the widget and the content it serves. Distribution relates to whether the widget is getting in front of enough of the right people. Do those two really well, and you'll have a successful widget.

Sounds simple right? Sure. But "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry".

Here are the caveats - some of the places where widgets fall down

Engagement:
- widget is too complicated. Don't make the audience click to get to content (unless it's a big play button on a video). Users will look at the widget, then decide if they want to click. That first look is all you get to bring them in.

- fonts are too small, widget is too bland. Widgets always look great in development, but they have to compete with very busy pages. Pictures, big headlines, source content logos are always great ways to draw users into the widget.

- content doesn't look fresh. Did you forget to include a publish date in the widget? How often is the content getting updated? For most widgets, more content with frequent updates = better.

Distribution:
- widget is buried on your site. You can't put a widget 5 clicks deep in your site and expect people to find it. Widgets are like impulse purchases at grocery stores. They need to be displayed prominently in convienent places for people to pick them up.

- widgets are only deployed to the 'galleries'. Galleries don't work unless you are buying traffic and sending people there. Your audience doesn't spend a ton of time in the galleries looking for widgets.

I'll stop there - did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments