Third-Party Widgets to Add More Functionality to your Website
Not all website platforms and themes come with the inbuilt functionality that your business needs for optimum efficiency. To get your website working seamlessly for your business and audience, we can use third-party widgets for specific functionality*.
Widget integrations onto your site can enable onsite search, social feeds and reviews, to display nicely for audience access to promote your business, and for a better user experience.
*There is an annual fee for using most third-party widgets on your website.
Onsite search widget
Onsite search is a helpful tool for website users. If you’re a Squarepace site owner, you’ve likely experienced frustration at the ineffective onsite search tool that is offered by the platform.
Back around 2015 when I built my first Squarespace site using Squarespace 7.0, the inbuilt onsite search tool worked seamlessly. The tool yielded relevant pages, products and blog articles in relation to the search query.
With the introduction of Squarespace 7.1 in 2020, I was alarmed that the inbuilt search tool didn’t work. Now, even Squarespace 7.0 sites have now lost efficiency with the onsite search functionality. Big-time disappointment, yes.
Seemingly, technology updates to website design have resulted in platforms like Squarespace dropping the ball on providing effective inbuilt onsite search tools.
The solution? My fix for this is setting up a Google Search API for your website and integrating your API with a third-party search widget installed on your site, like the one I use for Site Content, on the top right corner of the screen.
Need help with setting up an onsite search widget for your website? Contact me to set one up.
Social feeds and chat widgets
If your social channels are important for communicating with your audience and marketing your business, integrating a feed of your latest posts on your website could work for you to inform, and get more likes and followers to your channels.
We can also set up a chat widgets from most social channels, and Whatsapp, to receive messages direct to and from your site.
Review widgets
Google reviews: If your business has a Google Business profile, you potentially have accumulated great Google reviews from your customers! Why not promote these reviews, via a Google Review widget, on your website?
Airbnb and other reviews: Promote your best reviews from your accommodation listings on platforms like Airbnb, or Booking.com on your own website.
Scheduling appointments
Let your customers make appointments for one of your services, directly from your website. Having a third-party plugin to manage your appointment diary will save you time, plus offer your customers the ability to make appointment at any time of the day or night — no phone calls necessary. You can set up an option to send a confirmation email within 24 hours of receiving the online booking.
Need something else for your site?
I’d love to be part of the solution. Let’s get your website working as it should. Contact me.
