The 25 Best Widgets To Include on Small Business Websites
BY Stephen Alemar
•May 16, 2021
0
minute read
Widgets are highly useful tools for building websites at scale. Essentially, website widgets are individual site elements that can either be dragged and dropped onto a web page or added by cutting and pasting a bit of code.
There are many different types of website widgets out there. Widgets can be used to add design elements to a page, improve usability and functionality, and integrate third-party tools and applications. Using a tool like Duda’scustom widget builder, you can even create your own.
Below, you’ll find a comprehensive list of the best website widgets to add to your next web design project.
Here are some anchor links for those that would prefer to skim the list and jump ahead:
Somewhat obviously, text is one of the basic building blocks of the web. Using text widgets on your website enables you to quickly add copy to a web page and easily manage aspects like font type and size, text style (e.g., header), text color and more.
2. Image Widget
Image widgets can be found on pretty much every small business site across the web. Very few web pages today make use of text only. However, just because image widgets are common doesn't mean they can't be deployed in interesting ways. If you can successfully work image widgets into your digital storytelling, you're much more likely to turn visitors into customers.
3. Before & After Widget
People have short attention spans on the web and you want to convey messages quickly. Before and after widgets can be used to tell a whole story in an instant and will definitely be a big hit on any site you create. Plus, the slider on the image is very fun to play with.
4. CAlendar Widget
A calendar website widget is easy-to-understand and visually engaging way of letting site visitors know what is on a business or organization's schedule. For example, a yoga studio may use a calendar widget to display upcoming classes on a homepage.
Most small business owners look forward to calls from potential customers, so it should be a top priority to facilitate as many as possible from the website. Click to call widgets usually take the form of big, thumb-friendly buttons that enable a visitor to call a business in just one click. This widget is great at getting attention and driving customer leads.
6. Share Widget
Word of mouthing is often thought of as the best form of marketing. On the web, sharing is how we facilitate it. Share widgets enable customers to easily tell other consumers about the cool product or service that are offered on the website. Almost every web page you build should have a share widget included on it.
7. Countdown Widget
Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
Countdown finished!
Countdown widgets are a fun and eye-catching way to build excitement and let users know about an upcoming event. Be sure to take advantage of any customization options the widget provides to ensure the countdown fits the design of the site you're creating.
8. Business Hours Widget
Most businesses keep some form of regular opening hours. You want to display these clearly on any small business website you create, especially if the business maintains a physical location where customers might show up. The homepage is an excellent location for a business hours widget.
9. Lottie Animation Widget
Lottie animations are sleek, flexible vector animations that load quickly and look fantastic on all devices.
Lottie animations draw visitor attention where you want it to go. An image is worth 1000 words; an animation is worth even more!
Lottie animations are vectors that fit any screen size and device type. This means no pixelations, regardless of size.
Lottie animations are exported as JSON files, so they load quickly and won’t slow down your sites.
You can change the color of the animation directly in the Lottie editor, enabling you to give it the right look and feel for your site.
10. Map Widget
Adding a map to a website providers visitors with a visual representation of one of the most important pieces of information you want them know. A map widget allows you to quickly add a beautiful and explorable map to a site in just a few clicks. Almost every kind of business can benefit from the inclusion of a map on their website.
11. Image Slider widget
Slide title
Write your caption here
Button
Slide title
Write your caption here
Button
Slide title
Write your caption here
Button
Image sliders are super useful if you want to conserve space, but still allow visitors to check out lots of images without leaving the page. Image sliders can come in all shapes and sizes and many image slider widgets will include some more advanced design functionality that allows you to do things like add filters and interesting transitions.
12. Contact Form Widget
Contact Us
Thank you for contacting us. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Oops, there was an error sending your message. Please try again later.
Contact forms are the workhorses of small business websites. These simple tools often perform the most important function of a website — generating a pursuable lead for the business. Contact form widgets make it easy to add a beautiful, neatly designed contact form with all of the entry fields a small business or organization needs to qualify potential customers and prioritize their customer responses.
13. Video Widget
Video is one of the go-to tools for digital marketers and web professionals around the world. There are a variety of ways you can add video to your websites, such as using an iframe or hosting the video yourself. However, you can also find some amazing widgets that make it easy to add video to a site in just a few clicks. Many of these widgets will easily work with YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and other online video platforms.
14. Photo Gallery Widget
City skyline
Photo By: John Doe
Birthday Sparks
Photo By: John Doe
Fashion Magazine
Photo By: John Doe
Blurred Lines
Photo by: John Doe
Photo galleries can come in all shapes and sizes. Photo gallery widget to display images is a great way to show off a portfolio of work, the smiling faces of employees, or business's decor and layout. Its the versatility of this widget that makes it one of the most commonly found on sites across the web.
15. Accordion Widget
Title or question
Describe the item or answer the question so that site visitors who are interested get more information. You can emphasize this text with bullets, italics or bold, and add links.
Title or question
Describe the item or answer the question so that site visitors who are interested get more information. You can emphasize this text with bullets, italics or bold, and add links.
Title or question
Describe the item or answer the question so that site visitors who are interested get more information. You can emphasize this text with bullets, italics or bold, and add links.
Accordions widgets are great for packing lots of helpful information onto a web page in a way that doesn't overload the user. Accordions can be displayed in a variety of designs; however, they all maintain the same basic functionality. These widgets are especially useful on product, services and FAQs pages.
Lists are one of the most common ways people format content on the web. List widgets provide web designers and digital marketers with an easy way to present a list of information in a beautiful design. List widgets are commonly used to display everything from business locations to services and employee profiles.
17. Table Widget
Number
First Name
Last Name
Email Address
1
Anne
Evans
anne.evans@mail.com
2
Bill
Fernandez
bill.fernandez@mail.com
3
Candice
Gates
candice.gates@mail.com
4
Dave
Hill
dave.hill@mail.com
In a way, table widgets are similar to list widgets. They are used to organize and display a large amount of information in a succinct way. However, the design of a table on a web page is usually quite different from that of a list. A table widget makes it easy to create a table that will display properly on desktop, tablet and mobile. Many of these widgets will also enable you to create a table simply by connecting a spreadsheet of some kind.
A weather monitor widget is useful for any business whose operations depend, at least in part, on the weather. Outdoor cafes, ski lodges and whitewater raft companies can all benefit from providing their site visitors with a convenient way to determine if the weather will hold during their interaction with the business.
Social proof is important on a website because people like to work with businesses they know people like to work with. Adding a rolling counter widget to a website enables you to quickly communicate that consumers enjoy engaging with the business or organization. This widget is very useful for boosting customer engagement and conversions online.
Testimonials are a very useful form of social proof that helps build trust with a site visitor. Using a testimonial widget makes it simple and quick to manage and display any great reviews the business or organization receives from consumers.
More advanced than your everyday image slider, the waterwheel slider provides web designers with a unique way of showing off employee photos, products and more. Consider adding a waterwheel slider to your site if you really want to create something unique that will impress and engage site visitors right when they land on the page.
One of the most common questions anyone has when shopping online is, "How much does this product/service cost?" Adding a price slider widget to a website is a fantastic way to enable site visitors to answer this question on their own quickly and easily.
Design widgets are often useful in drawing a visitor's attention to a specific section of a web page and helping users process the information therein. A blackout gallery widget fulfills this dual purpose perfectly. Try adding one to a small business website to provide a little more eye-catching movement for users.
A trip planner widget enables site visitors to figure out exactly how long it will take for them to get to a business or organization's physical location. This level of functionality is sure to stand out on any small business site, which makes it an excellent option when considering what widgets to add.
For businesses and organizations with large staffs (e.g., schools, gyms, medical offices, etc.), a list widget might not be the most scalable option and a table widget may lack the full design capabilities you need to create engaging profiles. In this case, a staff directory widget is the ideal tool to deploy. Using this advanced widget, you can build out rich employee profiles that are easy to navigate and search.
There are all kinds of widgets out there that help web professionals easily add beautiful design elements and advanced functionality to websites. Above, we've covered some of the best website widgets out there, but this is by no means a complete list. Many more useful native widgets can be found in web design platforms likeDudaor widget and plugins directories (e.g., the WordPress Plugin Directory).
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When your users adopt multiple products, they are more likely to stay because they become embedded in your ecosystem. The benefits of this strategy are clear. Research shows that once users adopt more than one product, especially when they integrate >4 tools into their workflow, their likelihood of churn decreases significantly. This happens because the more a user integrates into your suite of products, the harder it is for them to switch to a competitor. These users have invested time in learning your ecosystem and rely on it for their day-to-day operations, making it much harder for them to make the switch. 4. Create a personal connection with your users Human connection is one of the most powerful drivers of user retention. People don’t want to feel like they’re using a cold, faceless platform. By offering exceptional customer support, personalized communication, and community engagement, you build a relationship with your users that goes beyond the product itself. 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