Widget Tips for Bloggers Part 2

If you miss part 1 of my tips on what widget you should prioritize putting on your blog's sidebar, the link is here.

Here's the next list of common widgets that a blogger have at his disposal.

1. Categories/Label
I personally like this widget on my sidebar. It gives new users a quick glance on what type of posts they can see in my blog. And if they read a post that's interesting, they will most likely check out other posts under the same label. This can be placed below the fold of your site and still be effective.

Grade: B+. You might want to skip this if you have tons of categories (like maybe 25+).

2. Blogroll/Blog List 
This widget shows your friends' blogs or sites you frequent in your sidebar. Professional bloggers avoid this but for a small blog, it would help create a community of sites that shares the same theme of your blog. If a visitor see sites that they also frequent on your blogroll, they will most likely feel at home reading your blog.

Grade: B. If you have plenty of lists in your blogroll, better create a separate page for them.

3. Archive
So you want to show off to your readers how long your blog has been going by displaying the months/years on your archive. But how often would you click on those links if you see them in other blogs? I don't.

Grade: F. Better create a separate page for it with comments disabled. Check out my archives page for an idea.

4. Search
I believe all blogs should have a search box. If I read something interesting from a blog and want to read it again after a month, I don't want to trawl over all pages till I see it. Do you? A search box is a must and it's quite easy to set one up with Google's Adsense for search.

Grade: A+. Make sure to place this on the upper part of your blog where it's usually located.

This is it for now. I'll continue with other not so common widgets on the next part. I have a few more in mind but if you have suggestions on what other widgets that you commonly see, please feel free to comment.