Hi all! Summer has almost come and the brain is slowly starting to melt from the heat, but I decided to put it together and write an article on how to insert the VKontakte group widget on the site, since several friends have already contacted me with this question.
Such a widget will come in handy in order to link your blog with your VKontakte group, and, accordingly, make the blog more popular and visited.
Of course, this assumes that you already have a group on this social network, as we will need your group's address in order to embed the widget on the site.
It is most often placed in the sidebar or above the footer, whichever you prefer. Externally, this block will look something like this:
So let's get started with the installation. First of all, in order for us to get this widget, we need to go to the following address: http://vk.com/dev
You can also get to the page we need from your page on VKontakte. All you need to do is follow the link at the bottom of the page. "developers":
By the way, as you know, getting to the very bottom of the page is very difficult, especially if you have a lot of news on the page. Therefore, I advise you to go to the "settings" section, from where it will be very easy to get to the bottom of the page.
Also, you can get to the desired page bypassing all the previous points, simply by going to the address: http://vk.com/dev/Community You will get to the same place.
I will analyze the settings according to the points that I numbered in the figure:
1. In the first paragraph, you need to insert the address of the page of your group. To do this, open your group in a new window and copy the address of the group from the address bar.
2. Decide how the widget will be displayed: as avatars of participants (as in my example), news, or just as a title. Test all the points in turn and see which one you like best.
When you change any parameter, the widget at the bottom, for example, will constantly change, depending on the new settings, so all changes will be immediately visible.
3. Adjust the width and height, depending on the place on the site where the widget will be located.
By the way, in the future, if you need to change the size, it is not at all necessary to go back to this page and set other numbers. It is quite simple in the code that we will insert on the blog to change the parameters "width" (width) and "height" (height)
4. In the fourth paragraph, select the color of the background, text and button to your liking.
5. And the last thing to do is copy the code below to the clipboard.
6. The sixth point is just a good example of how the created widget will look.
There are two options for pasting the code. I've used both and both worked for me with no problems. So see which option is best for you.
The first option is considered more correct. The first part of the code, next to which I put the letter “A” in the figure, needs to be copied and pasted into a template file called “header.php” before the closing tag “»
.
Some bloggers advise to insert all such codes into a file footer.php so that they do not interfere with the loading of the main content of the site. But, with this widget it doesn't work, it just won't work
The second part of the code (marked with the letter B) must be written in the place where the widget will be located. Most often this is the "sidebar.php" file. Or you can simply insert it through the site admin panel. To do this, go to the "Widgets" section, select the "text" widget, drag it to the sidebar and write the second part of the code there.
Second option. If you're new to website building and don't enjoy tinkering with your blog's template files, this option is for you.
In this option, you don’t need to open any files, just go straight to the site’s admin panel to the “Widgets” section and, as in the previous option, write both parts of the code in the “text” widget, that is, both A and B. Don't forget to save the changes.
Everything, after that the VKontakte group widget should appear in the sidebar on your site. I hope you will not have any difficulties installing the widget, however, if something does not work out, write in the comments, we will figure it out together.
I am sure that everyone who reads this article will register at least in one of the social networks. And practically each of the registered users with great pleasure uses the proposed functionality and capabilities of social networks.
That is why some functionality is in demand for us, the owners of sites and blogs, which we will consider today.
The most useful, in my opinion, is the Community Posts widget.
A widget with which any registered user of the Vkontakte network can send a message from the site to your group.
In order for the widget to work, you need to enable the widget in the group settings in the "Messages" section and allow its use on the pages of the blog or site.
Of the additional settings, the “Open immediately” parameter (shown: 1) should be noted. Do not be intrusive, let your user decide on their own whether to write you a message, leave this option hidden.
Widget you can see at the bottom right of my blog, try to write something.
The Contact Us widget is a simplified version of the previous widget. The only difference is that an authorized user of the Vkontakte network, when clicking "Write to us", proceeds to a dialogue with a group or a specific person.
In this widget, you can specify not only a group and your own page.
It is enough to enter the necessary data and install the code to display the “Write to us” button in the right place on the site:
Widget "Comments" - ready-made commenting functionality for your site.
Unfortunately, this widget cannot be integrated into the site system, and therefore VKontakte comments on the pages of your site or blog will not be indexed, which is both a minus and a plus.
This kind of commenting form is suitable for information sites where there is no moderation of information received from users, or its volume does not allow moderation. Everything that will be written in the comments is not yet available for search robots. At the same time, it will not work to expand the volume of content and dilute it with “good additional” keys.
An additional advantage of this widget is the duplication of the left comment on the user's page with a link back to the source.
Any of the administrators connected to the application can moderate comments. Just click in the comment header on the link "administration"
One of the simplest widgets in which you can use any posts from VKontakte pages (including audio and video recordings)
This widget will be useful for those who hold various promotions and contests in their own groups, or publish user-generated content that, for one reason or another, cannot be posted on the official website.
One of the most common widgets from the social network Vkontakte.
You have met this widget, and perhaps you yourself use it on the pages of your own blog.
Two related to each other and at the same time of little use widget.
With this widget, you can like the page. The data will be entered into the Vkontakte application and will be stored for a month.
This widget displays posts liked by your users by the number of likes, but counts them exclusively from the application. Therefore, it takes into account only those likes that were made thanks to the "Like" widget.
Using the "Polls" widget, any registered user of Vkontakte can take part in the voting or express their own opinion on the pages of your site.
This widget can be incredibly useful, but in cases where it is tied to a specific functionality. This topic, I think, is quite complicated, and requires a separate article. If there is a need for it, I ask you to vote a little higher for its appearance on the blog.
The Publish Links widget is a great name for a widget, especially for SEOs. Shares of pages on your site or blog in a social network, with which you can really get a significant number of links that your readers and users share.
Information about the shared page is best read through OGP.
Standard functionality for subscribing to a group or a specific page for authorized Vkontakte users.
How to add a widget to VK to a group, a step-by-step description with pictures.
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There were many requests for improvements to help with the administration and maintenance of groups, for adding extensions.
Much of what has been proposed has been successfully implemented. After all, it is important for the managers of a social network that it develop, be popular and loved by users.
So, we can say that both the administrators of the social network and the administrators of VKontakte groups are doing one thing, a common cause aimed at improving the leisure of fellow citizens.
One of these appeals, which was noticed and quickly implemented, was the proposal to add a widget to groups in VK.
A widget is a separate window with an extension, an application that adds various functions that are useful for both the owner and visitors.
However, for now, according to the rules, you can add three applications and one widget to the group.
That is, one of the three allowed applications can be placed in the widget.
At the moment, there are a huge number of applications. Which one to choose depends on what goals you want to achieve.
Simply put, proceed from what the group was created for. For example:
In addition, there are extensions that set up polls, tests. Applications linking the site and the group about which I wrote above are popular, and so on.
All applications are installed in the same way, the difference lies in their subsequent settings.
However, if you carefully look at the tips and follow the recommendations step by step, then it will not be difficult to complete the work you have begun.
To add an extension to a group, do the following:
However, this process of adding the extension is not completed, the application has yet to be configured. For the program to be effective.
Now, using the example of adding an extension, I will show how the application is configured. And also, installing a widget, depending on the tasks.
When installing an application, it must be activated and configured. An elementary example, if you want to collect donations, you need to specify the electronic wallets where the money will be transferred.
For an online store, it is important to indicate the contacts to which applications are sent. Need a phone to call. It is important to indicate the regions of delivery of goods and so on.
But the most important thing is that the applications themselves suggest what steps to take and what to configure.
Only at the end of the application settings, you can proceed to the widget settings.
After adding applications, they will become visible in the right column, under the subscription button.
And the widget, if added, is located at the top of the central ribbon. That is, almost under the cap, in the center.
If there is no header, then immediately below the heading.
The welcome widget is very popular right now. Maybe you have noticed that when you visit a group in VK, you are addressed by name?
Now we will install such a widget in my group. I found a personalized widget in the list and clicked - add.
A list of groups has opened to add an application. You should mark the group or groups where the application is added.
After that, a notification appears for a few seconds that the application has been added. Let's go back to the main page of the group and set up the application.
An application icon appeared in the right column with a call to open it. We will do this, because we need to set everything up.
Click on the permission to give the application access to data.
And we write our text for the visitors of the group. That is, we are setting up a greeting.
The replacement process is as follows - click on the object that you are going to edit and the editor will open in a new window.
For example, this is what editing a button looks like.
A preview window will appear with the final result.
If everything suits, then click again - install the widget in the group. If not, you can come back for revision.
I want to say to beginners - do not be afraid to press the buttons, look at the opportunities.
For example, in the settings of this widget, you can set up to 4 styles. There are separate settings for men and women and so on.
Once you've installed the widget, it's a good idea to hide the app itself from the right column for all visitors.
To do this, go back to management - applications - installed - change.
We go into the application and set the following settings.
That is, we indicated that the widget is visible to everyone, and the application itself is visible only to administrators.
Now you can enter my
First, let's define the concepts. The term “widget” means a graphic block that displays information or some functional elements of a group in a social network. There are a great many such modules on VKontakte, but today we will be specifically interested in lead widgets - web applications for communities, publics and events that allow you to create personalized advertising offers and attract visitors' attention to important information. In addition, they can be used to call for certain actions, including:
In this way, you can significantly improve conversion rates, and as we know, it is this ratio that business owners are most concerned about, although from the point of view of SMM, there are many more than the number of leads.
Widgets for the VKontakte group are created by third-party companies and private developers. As a result, their functionality and terms of use vary greatly. In this article, we will consider the three most useful, from our point of view, tools.
Let's start with the basics and figure out how to generally connect third-party programs to the community. To do this, go to the menu “Management” -> “Applications”. Unfortunately, the directory does not have adequate built-in navigation, so you'll have to press Ctrl+F the old fashioned way. Let's use the keyword "constructor" to find the desired string.
Now just click on “Add” and voila - you can get to work. The first screen will prompt us to configure the display of the application itself on the main page of the group. In the "Visibility" column, select "Administrators only", change the rest as you like.
After that, an automatic redirect will take us to the control panel. By the way, although the developers warn that ad blockers can negatively affect the operation of the application, we did not find any problems.
Click on “Create First Widget” and select the “Personal with Avatar” option. Everything is simple here: we click on the required field and enter the text in the pop-up window, and attach a link to the landing page to the button. We remind you that the URL can only be internal, that is, related to the second-level domain vk.com or vk.me.
When setting up the VKontakte widget, intuitive variables are used. Essentially, all you need to do is capitalize the value you want to substitute into the text and enclose it in curly braces. Among the options available in the free edition:
● name;
● surname;
● avatar;
● city;
● country;
● id.
In addition, words can be declined in the genitive, accusative, dative, instrumental and prepositional cases, for example (NAME_PRED). The full list of commands can be found.
After completing all the manipulations, click on “View and install widget” and confirm your choice. Next, return to “Management” -> “Applications” and select “All users” in the “Widget visibility” field.
Now the home page will display a personalized greeting, but the designer button itself will remain hidden from prying eyes.
In addition to the standard module, the application supports the following widget configurations:
● tiles - displays vertical images with a brief description;
● covers - shows up to three widescreen pictures with an interactive button;
● list and compact list - from 3 to 6 (in the premium version) text blocks with buttons;
● text - displays extensive text blocks;
● table - data in the form of a grid containing 1–6 rows and up to 4 columns;
● matches - special modules for displaying sports scores.
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Thus, you can choose a template suitable for your theme, even if you are engaged in SMM promotion of a bookmaker or an online cinema. In general, the VK widget designer can be called one of the most convenient solutions. Rich basic functionality and simplicity make it easy to create effective personal appeals without additional financial costs. However, let's see what competitors can boast of!
The next application is no less popular, and even won the title of “folk”. The reason is that it is free and easy to use. The principle of its installation is the same: look for “Widget in the community” in the list, add it to the administered group, hide the display of the program, but make the graphic module itself available to everyone (or only to subscribers if you plan to hold exclusive promotions).
Setting up the extension will not cause problems either: choose one of the 4 available display styles, click on the required field and change the information in the pop-up window.
The functionality of this constructor is more modest, however, it also has its own chips. Here we are offered only two variables:
● - only the name is displayed;
● - first name and last name are displayed.
It is not possible to choose a declension, so adapt the message to the nominative case in advance. As for the layouts, in addition to the classic greeting, we have tiles, covers and a text block at our disposal. Calling the lack of tables and match grids a disadvantage is not a drawback: such options are relevant only for certain niches. But the developers have provided the ability to display different inscriptions depending on the gender of the VKontakte user.
This is very convenient in cases where you organize promotions dedicated to gender holidays, or, for example, want to notify girls about the appearance of a new collection of women's clothing in an online store.
Another nice little thing is the character count counter, which we also didn’t see in the previous plugin: you could find out about exceeding the specified limit only after an unsuccessful attempt to save the text.
Another popular solution is SpyCat, which can be found in many SMM materials. Its demand among optimizers is explained by built-in targeting on paid plans, the cost of which starts from 590 rubles per month for each (!) Connected community (as of August 2018). However, we strongly do not recommend it to beginners: the free functionality is very poor, and if you have not yet decided on the portrait of the target audience and methods of stimulating conversion, the subscription will turn out to be just a waste of money.
In the basic version, only one template is available - a simple text invitation that does not even pick up the visitor's avatar. The VKontakte widget is configured by filling in text fields, that is, in the process of creating a module, you will not be able to evaluate its appearance. And even instead of a graphic button on the free plan, only a text link is available.
There are no restrictions on variables, but their number is not encouraging in principle:
● (Firstname) - name;
● (Lastname) - last name;
● (City) - city;
● (Career) - profession.
Declensions, as you might guess, are not available.
As for commercial templates, here we will see a classic VK widget with an avatar and a button (which the developers of the applications described above provide to everyone for free), familiar tiles and covers. The block of promotional goods (which will appeal to owners of online stores), the list of customers (more relevant for the B2B segment), the best reviews of all time and the announcement of events are of interest, but, again, such functionality will not be useful to everyone.
Thus, if we consider SpyCat only as an application for creating lead modules, then in terms of price and offered features, this solution turns out to be the least profitable of all the presented ones.
After reading this material, you got an idea of the most popular tools for connecting graphic and information modules to the VK group. It's time to make a choice, and here, in fact, everything is extremely simple:
● if you have never worked with widgets before and are just starting to test the waters, start with the Community Widget program - it is absolutely free and ideal for experimentation due to its rich features;
● having better studied your target audience and its reaction to personalized offers, you can switch to the “Constructor” - an abundance of variables will help you compose texts that are more effective from a marketing point of view, and a democratic paid subscription (the tariff for your entire account will cost 200 rubles / month as of 08.2018) allows you to create blocks of any complexity;
● SpyCat can only be recommended if you want to get many times more leads by personalizing offers for different audiences. You will need to first understand the audience, invest in the service and study it, but it will pay off (judging by the cases). Unfortunately, the free version of this solution loses to analogues on all fronts due to the negligible number of settings.
Although applications for creating VK widgets help solve technical problems, their effectiveness is determined primarily by how well you know how to write sales texts (albeit short ones), as well as knowing the preferences of the target audience. However, these issues are beyond the scope of today's topic and deserve consideration in separate publications.
