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Widgets in 5 Easy Steps

By
Real Estate Agent with No longer in the sales business

Ever wondered how to put those cool widgets in the right panel of your AR blog?  Here's how to do it, made easy.

1.  Log in and open your AR profile.  Click "My Settings" in the left panel.  Go into the small box labeled "Blog Description" (the middle box) and scroll down below the text you have placed there about yourself.  Text is limited to 100 words, but the widget code you'll place there does not count as words.

2.   Open another tab or window on the internet.  In this new window, go to http://www.widgetbox.com/ or another widget website.  Choose a widget to download.  Ask for the details (it may say "embed code") You can copy the code to your clipboard (control-C).  The code will look like gibberish, for example:  script type="text/javascript" src="http://widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js?  --- etc., etc.

3.  Return to the "Blog Description" box on your open "My Settings" profile page.  At the bottom of the text you should enter one or two blank lines, then paste in the code you copied (control-V).  The gibberish you copied should appear there.  Click "Update" on the lower left of the Blog Settings box.

4.  Click "My Blog" in the left panel to see the results of the code you chose and copied.  If all goes well, you'll see your selected widget appear in the right panel of your blog from now on.

5.  To customize a widget, you will need to set up an account in widgetbox and/or feedburner.  It is free, you just register and then you can customize a widget to show the titles of your blog articles, etc.  This is a more complex process.  Easy Widgets, Part 2, will teach you how.

For additional sources of widgets, just run a Google search on "widgets".

Comments(20)

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Vickie Nagy
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate - Palm Springs, CA
Vickie Jean the Palm Springs Condo Queen
Marsha, widgets are cute, but they REALLY slow down the load time on your blogs coming up ... and our ability to comment.
Feb 09, 2008 05:21 AM
Dwayne West
Atlanta Real Estate - Canton, GA
Canton Georgia Real Estate
Thanks for the information. I have wondered, but have not had much time to figure out how to do this.
Feb 09, 2008 05:24 AM
Monica Pineda
RE/MAX Horizon - Elgin, IL
RE/MAX Horizon - Elgin, IL Real Estate
Great, thanks for the information I need to add these to my website and blogs.
Feb 09, 2008 11:53 AM
Roland Woodworth
Blue Cord Realty - Clarksville, TN
Benchmark Realty
thank for the infomation.....Guess ch onehas its own amount of loading time. I like widges
Feb 11, 2008 05:27 AM
Tina Merritt
Nest Realty - Blacksburg, VA
Virginia Real Estate
Thanks for the info.  I had never heard of widgetbox.
Feb 11, 2008 05:56 AM
Andrew Monaghan
The Monaghan Group - Glendale, AZ
CRS, GRI, EPro Associate Broker

Thank you fior teh tip, ill start playing with it and see if i can make it work.

 

Feb 11, 2008 07:56 AM
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired
You should add this info to "hidden secrets of active rain" in the tag line.  Great info, thanks for the help. Sorry - AR hidden features. It's been a long cold day!
Feb 11, 2008 09:20 AM
Sharon Harris
Keller Williams Keystone Realty - Hanover, PA
Realtor
Thank You I am going to give this a whirl..Sharon harris AllQuest Real Estate Hanover PA
Feb 13, 2008 03:39 AM
Marsha Cleaveland
No longer in the sales business - Glendale, AZ
GRI, AHWD, CNE
Vickie, maybe it's because of your internet speed. Once you get high-speed internet, you forget about those issues. 
Feb 13, 2008 08:09 AM
Marsha Cleaveland
No longer in the sales business - Glendale, AZ
GRI, AHWD, CNE
Mike, Dwayne and Monica, May you find great widgets and enjoy the process.
Feb 13, 2008 08:13 AM
Marsha Cleaveland
No longer in the sales business - Glendale, AZ
GRI, AHWD, CNE
David and Roland, Widgets are fun, but they're a mystery until someone explains how to do it.  I tried to grab someone's headline animator (using the "grab this animator" button at the bottom) and almost ended up with their headlines on my blog! Read Easy Widget, Part 2 to learn how to do Headline Animators (the right way).
Feb 13, 2008 08:17 AM
Marsha Cleaveland
No longer in the sales business - Glendale, AZ
GRI, AHWD, CNE
Tina, Lyn and Sharon, Glad to be of service.  May your widget search turn up some fun and useful items for your blog.
Feb 13, 2008 08:26 AM
Marsha Cleaveland
No longer in the sales business - Glendale, AZ
GRI, AHWD, CNE
Andrew, Widgets are a lot easier than slogging through Haz Mat ready REO's.  Take a break and try it out.
Feb 13, 2008 08:35 AM
Frances C. Rokicki
Fran Rokicki Realty, LLC - Bolton, CT
Broker-Mentor,CRS

Marsha, I like the widget you have posted on here with the poem on the empty house. I think that it touches the heart, thank you:)

It's a Good Life!

Fran

Feb 13, 2008 11:53 AM
Flavia & Klaus Westerwelle
Agent Referral Center / TransDomo,LLC - Greenville, SC

Thank you very much. I always wondered how it works.

 

Feb 13, 2008 12:06 PM
Gabrielle Nemes
RE/MAX Realty South - Tumwater, WA
206.300.8421, S King & Pierce County RE Advocate
Thank you, thank you, thank you Marsha!! I've been looking all over for directions on how to get widgest on the right side! Now I'm off to give this a try!!! Whoopee!!
Feb 14, 2008 03:55 PM
Joseph David
Clarion Mortgage Capital, Inc. - Fountain Valley, CA
CMPS
Thanks Marsha! I was wondering how all that cool stuff worked.  
Feb 14, 2008 05:18 PM
Marsha Cleaveland
No longer in the sales business - Glendale, AZ
GRI, AHWD, CNE

Gabrielle:  It looks like you were successful with widgets!  Your right panel looks great!

Flavia & Klaus:  Nice-looking widgets. Keep up the good work.

 

Feb 15, 2008 08:39 AM
Marsha Cleaveland
No longer in the sales business - Glendale, AZ
GRI, AHWD, CNE
Fran: Thanks for your kind words about my poem.  I find that real estate touches the heart at many points, but this foreclosure market really gripped me.
Feb 15, 2008 09:00 AM
Marsha Cleaveland
No longer in the sales business - Glendale, AZ
GRI, AHWD, CNE
Joseph: May you have success adding cool widgets to your blog.
Feb 15, 2008 09:01 AM