Create Android apps from any web content

January 27th, 2011

Graphic1 We haven’t updated you recently with news, but it doesn’t mean there’s nothing new – we’ve just been totally focused on our new tool for you! Meet the AppsGeyser – a platform for building Android apps from any web content.

AppsGeyser works the same way as Desktopify. You can clip any content or use any widget code. By following just 2 easy steps, you’ll create a native Android app that you can submit to Android market. You can use your existing widget code to build your app with AppsGeyser – or try something completely new.

Reach millions of Android users with your new apps!

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Widgets are changing the Internet

September 29th, 2010

Twitter app

A few articles have been published recently about how widgets are changing the Internet and how we use it. The most prominent was Wired’s article, “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet”.

Desktop and mobile widgets (also called mobile apps) are taking over our desktops and mobile devices in a big way. This is mainly because they’re small, and easy to install and use – and they deliver!

We don’t need websites, we need content

The Internet is overloaded with websites and information. To get the piece of information we need, we usually conduct a search for it, wading through dozens of websites to get to the nugget we want – and many times, it’s not very easy to find. The fact is, websites are overloaded. You can see this by taking a look at any big website or portal. Everything is on homepage, but the problem is that we don’t need everything; we need just the piece of content or service we are looking for.

Here come widgets to the rescue. With a widget, you get only the piece of information you need. If you need weather – you get just weather, if you need news or video – you get just news or just video.

We want easy interface

Websites vary greatly and use so many different interfaces that sometimes it’s difficult to find your required content block. However, widgets use a simple and familiar desktop interface. Widgets are more unified so we can use them intuitively.

There’s no doubt that a desktop interface is more handy than a web interface. 75% of all Twitter traffic comes from third-party applications such as TweetDeck , Tweetie, Twitterrific, and more.

We’re moving from “searching” to “getting”

With the introduction of widgets on the scene, we’re changing the way we access information. We’re using Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and Google widgets and apps instead of browsers. “Search for information” behavior is rapidly changing to “get widget and get content” – and this is much more direct.

Statistics show that more and more people prefer to find an appropriate widget and get content from it rather than search the web for the content they need. There are now:

· 17 million widget installations from Live Gallery per month

· 150 million widget installations from Google Apps Marketplace per month

· 3 billion widget installations from Apple App Store per month

…and these numbers are increasing every month.

Are you on the widget train or will you be left behind at the station?

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Get 1000 installs of your widget daily

September 7th, 2010

Smart widget promotion greatly increases your widget’s adoption – and your website traffic.

Statistics example of widget that gets 1000 daily installs

It’s not difficult to get 30,000 installs of your widget within your first month. Publishing your widget in widget galleries and download archives will help you boost your widget installations. The main source of installations for your widget is Live Gallery.

Follow these simple steps to get 1000 daily installations:

  1. Create a widget from any web content, or convert your existing web widget to the desktop.
  2. Make a nice screenshot, 60×60 pixels.
  3. Add your widget to Live Gallery.
  4. Attach the screenshot you created in Step 2.
  5. Add tags to your widget profile, so users will be able to find it. Use as many tags as you need, and use different keyword variations.
  6. Ask your users to vote for your widget and leave comments.

How does this affect your website traffic?

You can place an ad or link to your website on a widget, or make a widget that interacts with your website and sends users directly to it. For example, send users of your widget to your website database search.

The average CTR (click-through rate) on a widget ad or link is 10%. You can increase this value by interacting with widget users, sending desktop alerts, and making special offers and promotions.

Example:

Let’s assume that your widget receives about 30,000 installs each month. In 3 months it will get about 90,000 installs. Predicting that you have a 10% CTR, you can expect about 9,000 visitors to your website who have a high chance of becoming constant users.

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Distribute Your Widget from the Dashboard

July 15th, 2010

Great news! We added a new tab in the Dashboard – Distribute. Now you can easily publish your widgets in galleries and archives. Distributing your widgets brings new users and traffic to your website.

Log in to your dashboard and open the Distribute tab. You’ll see two options: “Submit to Galleries” and “Submit to download archives”.

Choose “Submit to Galleries” to submit your widget to three widget galleries:

· Desktopify gallery

· Live Gallery

· Widgipedia

You can also submit your widget to download archives. These are catalogs where people search for applications, games, and utilities. Follow the instructions provided to submit your widget to these archives. You can submit your Windows Gadget and Standalone Windows Widget as well.

While submitting your widget to galleries and archives, don’t forget about SEO. Publishing your widgets on high Page Ranked archives has a great impact on your SEO. Your widget could be on top in Google by using carefully chosen keywords. Research your targeted keywords and use them in the widget’s title, description, and tags while submitting.

The Distribute tab is not the only feature we recently added. Here are some more:

1. Mac Dashboard Widgets support
Instead of stand-alone Mac Widgets, Dashboard Widgets are created. Now your Widgets work like any other widget with the MacOS X Dashboard.

2. iGoogle, Netvibes, and Widget box widgets support
Easily convert your iGoogle, Netvibes and Widgetbox widgets. Now Desktopify fully supports these widgets – just paste a code.

3. One account for many widgets
You can now have more than one widget on one account. Just sign in with your login/password to add new widgets to your account.

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How to get visitors to your website

May 27th, 2010

image

Previously we wrote about how to promote your desktop widget. Today we’ll talk about how to get repeat visitors to your website.

This short post talks about putting your widget on Windows Live Gallery, which is a great channel of distribution of your widgets. Best of all, people who download your widget from this popular site will have easy access to your website – increasing your traffic quickly. Here’s how to take advantage of this popular channel:

  1. Make a widget.
    If you already have a web widget, just paste your widget code and get a desktop widget. If you don’t have a web widget, use our Web Grabber to grab content from you website and make one.
  2. Submit your widget to Windows Live Gallery.

Some tips:

  • Make a widget that will be useful and interesting for your audience.
  • Create a great thumbnail that will attract attention.
  • Use an appealing name and description.

What you can expect?

Let’s take a look at some examples. Here is a Pacman gadget that was published in Live Gallery. During its first month alone it received about 10,000 downloads from Live Gallery. The interesting thing is that nice looking widgets make people actively share it. Actual installs from Live Gallery and other resources for this widget came to more than 30,000 installs during the first month. Sounds great.

Here are more successful examples:

· Horoscope Daily gadget  2.2 million downloads

· Piano gadget  2.8 million downloads

· Language Translator gadget  6.5 million downloads

· And finally WeatherBug gadget 26.4 million downloads

Posted in Desktop, Desktopify, Marketing, Widgets | No Comments »

Desktopify API released

May 26th, 2010

Today we release our API. If you have an application that works with any content, now you can make desktop widgets right in your application.

It’s simple:

1. Register as a developer to get your API key and documentation.

2. Integrate your application with Desktopify, using the API.

3. Offer your users the ability to create desktop widgets without leaving your application.

How it works:

1. Your application sends content using the API.

2. Desktopify returns links to desktop gadgets made from this content.

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Desktop widgets: Radio on the desktop

May 11th, 2010

We’re really excited that our desktop widget service is being used by more and more publishers, and that it’s helping them to promote their web services. Today we’ll show you some real examples of how these widgets are being used in web radio. Our desktop widget is highly effective for any broadcasting company that streams audio or video online, and some interesting online radio stations are using our service to build their own desktop widget and promote their brands. Check them out!

deepgrooveradioDeepGroove Radio

Deepgroove Radio is a private Web radio stations from Germany. They created a desktop widget that allows everyone to listen to the radio on the desktop. You can download the deepGroove Radio widget here: http://desktopify.com/gallery/deepGroove Radio Widget

 

radiogetswildRadio Gets Wild

Radio Gets Wild is an online interactive community radio station with DJ broadcasters from all around the world. You can get the Radio Player desktop widget and listen live here: http://desktopify.com/gallery/Radio Gets Wild Radio Player.

Or you can get their Music on Demand widget to listen to recorded shows. They also offer other cool desktop widgets here: http://radiogetswild.com/Desktop.html

"I like desktopify.com because it gives the chance to offer something different to website users. Desktop widgets are extremely handy since users don’t have to open a website webpage."
Tim Daymond,
Radio Gets Wild
Station Founder

cadenatop Cadena Top

Cadena Top is Latin-based web Radio. Their desktop widget allows you to switch between channels and is available for download from Cadena Top website and our gallery.

 

 

bbcradio

 BBC Radio

This is an unofficial desktop widget that displays useful information about what’s on BBC Radio live, as well as easily switch between and listen to all BBC radio stations from the desktop:
http://desktopify.com/gallery/BBC Radio Player

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What’s the buzz?

April 16th, 2010

It’s just a bit over a month since we launched, and we’ve already had many mentions in various online media and blogs.

We’d like to thank all of you who have reviewed and are using our service. Thank you for your support, for your time, and for your good words. They support and encourage us to make this service even better and bring you a lot more great features.

Here’s some of the buzz about Desktopify in on-line media:

killerstartups  Killerstartups: Building Widgets Intuitively

“The Desktopify site will let you carry out a very concise task, namely building desktop widgets in an easy and uncluttered way.”

“It is an almost foolproof way of ensuring that your content and information will be reachable at all times.”

Read full story

image

Makeuseof: Make Desktop Widgets from Web Widgets

“Desktopify can be especially useful for webmasters since you can send alerts for users who have installed your widget on their desktops. With this tool, you can use HTML, Javascript and Flash and you do not need to learn how to create a desktop widget.”

Read full story

image Widgets Lab: Use Desktopify to put web widgets on your Desktop

“Desktopify adds an easy way for businesses to get their already existing widgets onto your desktop with minimal work and no coding or lengthy submission process.”

Read full story

image Devil’s Workshop: Convert web widgets into desktop widgets

“Great idea if you are running a web service as you can use this to create your own desktop widget and prompt your visitors to use a Desktop Widget. It is quite handy as it also allows sending updates, messages and also monitors stats for the number of people using the widget.”

“I personally liked the ease with which I could create widgets and put them up on mydesktop. Desktopify also has a bookmark-let which allows creating any block of a website into a desktop gadget.”

Read full story

image PresseCitron: Convert web widgets into desktop widgets with Desktopify (in French)

“Desktopify allows you to turn a web widget into a desktop widget very easily in just a few clicks.”

“Why? Just keep an eye on information that interests you and display it permanently on your desktop while you’re busy with other tasks, without launching a browser and entering a URL.”

“Desktopify offers other features including a widgets gallery, a dashboard that lets you manage your widgets, statistics, and even an alerting system that lets you send a direct message to all who have downloaded your widget. Make an attractive, sexy widget that can be downloaded hundreds of times.”

Read full story

image Geekissimo: Desktopify, convert online widgets for your desktop applications (In Italian)

“In a few simple words: you can convert the widgets of various webservices into a desktop application for Windows and Mac . Quickly, easily, and free.”

Read full story

image Wwwhat’s new: Convert web widgets into desktop widgets (in Spanish)

“If you prefer to have widgets with news and information installed on your desktop instead of in your netvibes or iGoogle dashboard, then desktopify.com can make your life easier.”

Read full story

image Globedia: Convert web widgets into desktop widgets (In Spanish)

“If you are someone who likes to use desktop widgets rather than Web services online, you’ll love Desktopify – a service that converts web widgets into desktop applications.”

Read full story

image TuttoVolume: Desktopify turns widgets and websites for mobile applications for the Desktop. (in Italian)

“For some tasks there are many of us who still prefer to use a desktop client or widget rather than a browser. Desktopify is a very interesting service that lets you convert widgets for various sites and web services to the desktop.”

“The tool is very easy to use. Just open the Desktopify site, paste the widget code, and fill in the name, description, and size of the widget.”

“Desktopify is a free service that I believe many of you will learn to love.”

Read full story

image webAdictos: Convert web widgets to desktop (in Spanish)

Desktopify is ideal for webmasters who want to distribute their web widgets to Windows and Mac desktops. Best of all, you don’t need to install any toolbars or anything else in order to run the widgets you’ll convert.”

Read full story

image HomePC : Desktopify (in Russian)

“The scope of this service is very wide – from all sorts of news and weather tickers to various Flash games.”

Read full story

IKUBON: Web services to desktop (in Japanese)

“With a little knowledge of JavaScript, you can easily create your own widget for Desktopify. This is more convenient than Yahoo! Widgets. I think Desktopify is killer.”

Read full story

電腦玩物 : Convert web widget to the desktop (in Chinese)

“The web and social networks are increasingly integrated into our lives, and you can improve your efficiency by working with them in a more convenient way: by putting them on the desktop.”

“In addition, Desktopify widgets have smooth performance. I tested memory and CPU usage for a long time and it’s very stable.

“If you want to bring web and social interaction to your desktop then Desktopify is indeed a commendable conversion tool that converts web content into the desktop widgets.”

Read full story

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Convert Any Part of a Website into a Desktop Widget

April 7th, 2010

Today we’ve launched Desktopify bookmarklet – a browser plug-in that allows you to convert any website content to a desktop widget.

Simple to install

Bookmarklet is easy to install. You don’t need to run anything – just open this page and drag the Desktopify button to your browser links toolbar.

Simple to convert

While browsing, find useful content on a website. For example:

· A news block

· Charts

· Radio

· A Web application

· A Flash game

Just click the Desktopify button bookmarklet_button on your links toolbar, the select the website block containing the content, and click “Desktopify”. You’ll be forwarded to a widget creation wizard with prepared data. Just fill out the form and you’ll get the widget!

Check out this one-minute video to get the idea.

 

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How to promote your desktop widget

March 30th, 2010

Desktop widgets are great way to stay in touch with your audience and promote your content. The more downloads and installs of your widget, the more visits and clicks you’ll get on your website. Desktop widgets are highly adopted by users, and are lightweight and easy to install – especially Windows Vista and Windows 7 gadgets which don’t require the “installation” that most of us are accustomed to. You simply “add” the widget to your desktop.

Content

Value
Content is king, and it’s important that your content provide value to your users. This rule applies to widgets, too. Your widget should be interesting and valuable to your users. Give them something that they’ll love and can really use.

Uniqueness
Users can install many widgets on a single desktop, so don’t try to put everything into one widget. Give them unique widgets with your own content, and don’t make just another clock or RSS widget. Also, offer users choices by making several widgets and letting them choose the ones they they want to install.

Distribution

Your website
This is your primary distribution point of your widget. Whether it’s their first time at your site or they’re regular visitors, if users find your content valuable there’s a good chance that they’ll install your widget so they can access your services any time from their desktop. We prepare code to paste at your website – you’ll get this code in your confirmation email after you create your widget, or you can always come back to your Dashboard to retrieve it later.

Galleries
You can also post your widget in the Desktopify gallery to expose it to other users who are looking for widgets. To do this, you need to add thumbnail of your widget when you create it, and make sure that your widget operates properly. There are also other widget galleries out there, such as Widgipedia, and to promote your Windows Vista or Windows 7 gadget, you can add it to Live Gallery. All Windows users have access to this gallery from the Gadgets menu in Windows. This is the most popular gallery, and top widgets there have been downloaded by millions of users.

Directories
Desktopify also provides you with widgets that run like a regular application. This allows you to submit your widget to download directories. There are hundreds of these directories: CNET Download, Tucows, Softpedia, and many more. Submitting to these directories not only increases widget downloads, but also has positive effect on your SEO.

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