Gadgeticulous ...

Do you like gadgets on your blog or website? I love 'em!  Okay it isn't cool to plaster them all over your website as it can end up looking tacky rather than professional ... but you can fart around on your blog to your heart's content.

I go through phases of using certain things and dropping them - it's just a way of putting something else on other than your own content that people might find interesting or amusing.  Some are there for verification, so only need to be there temporarily.  Others serve a purpose and have a permanent presence.

So, I'm going to tell you about the things I use as you may find them useful yourself.

'Google Translate' might not give a 100% effective translation in all languages because of the different styles of grammar in all the languages it supports ... but it gives other people from other countries an idea of what you're writing about.  It'd be interesting to hear if it's ever provided a translation that was way off and ended up supplying a translation that was the opposite of the intended message and caused offence.  You can get it here.

'Follow by email'.  Does it work?  Does anyone ever use it?  Who knows?!  It doesn't take my more than a few seconds to setup though and is one of the modular options provided by 'Blogger', so go look at 'Design' in your blogger settings and you'll see it there.

'Search this blog' could be useful if you've been blogging a while and people want to search through past entries for something specific.  Again, it's one of the modules on Blogger.

'Blog Archive' is a must.  It's handy for me to see what I've been doing as well.  I have a short term memory problem and there's nothing worse than repetition.  You'll find in the Blogger modules.

'Followers' is an interesting module and a potential source of networking that's supplied in Blogger.

If you have followers then I feel it's necessary to have the 'About me' module from Blogger, so you can tell people about yourself.

People will also want to know what blogs you follow.  I tend to use this as a networking tool AND as an SEO tool.  It's important to follow blogs you like and show mutual support ... but it's also important to follow bloggers that also write frequently (at least once a week).  You'll find this under blogger's modules.

HTML/JavaScript is a very useful module.  You can add just about any gadget off the web with this.  I've used it to setup links for my Facebook Pages relelvant to work and work related projects and Twitter.  I've also setup the blog on an app in Facebook called 'Networked Blogs'.  If you set it up correctly, you just update your blog and it will automatically submit the article to your Facebook and Twitter pages for you.

I love the Moon!  It took me a long time of self exploration (not the under the sheets kind) to find out that I had a pattern that relates to the moon.  So it's handy for me to know the Moon's phases in relation to the Earth.  Having it on my blog means I can check it out anytime and know where She is.

I used to have 'Flag Counter' on my website and I might put it back up again as I LOVE seeing what people from which countries are interacting with my website and blog.  I remember it becoming a bit of a pain for some reason but it might be ok now.

'Blog Archive' is a must.  It's handy for me to see what I've been doing as well.  I have a short term memory problem and there's nothing worse than repetition (just testing if you're awake!).

Last but not least is the 'Networked Blogs' verification box which can be removed once your blog is confirmed by 6 people.

There's so much out there to play with  ... enjoy!

Wolf