My New Facebook Like Toolbar – What It Is and How You Can Get One

I’ll be honest with you – I’m a COMPLETE SUCKER for new plugins, widgets, code, scripts and anything else I can get to jazz up a website. I’ve installed a ton of plugins on my blog to try them out. I remove the majority of them in order to save on loading time and to prevent my visitors from getting overwhelmed. But, some are just too cool to let go.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to remember the website I was visiting that led me to my new found treasure – if I remember, I’ll update this post. Anyways, I saw this Facebook like toolbar at the bottom of a website. It was just so cool. I clicked some of the buttons and quickly realized I couldn’t live without it! So, I clicked the little logo icon on the toolbar and got whisked away to Wibiya.com.

I had considered looking for something like this in the past, but I never got around to searching. Suddenly there one was – a Facebook like toolbar for blogs – I found one! But, I always try to do a little window shopping for applications before committing. So, I headed over to Google as fast I could (I wanted to install the toolbar immediately!!!).

I did a quick search for “Facebook like toolbar for website” and found one for Drupal. But, nothing else on the first page of results caught my attention. Like I said, I did a QUICK search. If you happen to know of other toolbars, please leave me a comment below.

I clicked back over to Wibiya.com and began soaking in all the info and cool features…

What Is The Toolbar?

I like to think of it as my “FresheVenture.com Visitor Dashboard.” The toolbar is a social network application topped off with a couple handy navigation tools. It essentially offers my visitors quick access to, well, ME!

Whether you want to connect with me, meet other visitors, share one – or all :) – of my posts, or find recent topics on my blog, the toolbar provides you with an easy gateway solution!

Features:

Facebook Fan Page: Show off your fans, display your latest fan page updates and offer your visitors an easy way to become a fan!

Facebook Community: Build your own community with Facebook connect. Visitors can join, post comments and see which of their friends have joined! They can also easily share your blog on their Facebook profile!

Twitter: This is probably my favorite feature. With the Twitter Dashboard, your visitors can twit your blog pages/posts, see who else has twitted about that page/post, search Twitter, view trending topics and see YOUR recent twits and Twitter profile!

RSS: Allow your visitors to subscribe to your RSS right from the toolbar!

Live Notifications: Need to make an announcement to your visitors? Live Notifications allows you to do just that. As soon as your toolbar loads visitors will see a little bubble notified with your message. Don’t worry – it won’t continue to show up every time they load a page unless you’ve added a new notification. Visitors can also see an archive of your notifications.

Recent Posts: You probably already have a list of your recent posts in your sidebar, but now your visitors can navigate to them from wherever by simply using the toolbar!

Random Post: Your super spontaneous visitors can use the Random Post button to be instantly whisked away to, umm, a random post!

Share: Allow your visitors to easily spread the word about any of your pages or posts on their favorite social network!

Search: No more time wasted hunting down your search box! Visitors can search either your website OR Google right from your toolbar.

Translator: Think you might have visitors from other countries? You’re probably right. Now you can offer an easy translation option for your foreign friends! This feature uses Google to translate your blog posts/pages into 11 different languages!

Photo Gallery: Got some kick ass Flickr photos? Want to show them off? Now you can with a beautiful picture gallery using Cooliris’ 3D Wall!

Games: Keep visitors on your site longer by offering some time-wasting activities!

Platforms:

You can add your own Facebook like toolbar to almost any type of website or blog including:

• WordPress
• TypePad
• Blogger
• Standard Websites

Results

From your Wibiya.com dashboard, you can determine how your visitors like or use your toolbar by tracking:

• Live Notifications Read
• Community Views
• Posts Navigator Clicks (Random and Recent Buttons)
• Number of Tweets Read
• Fan Page Views
• Number of Posts Shared
• Subscribed Users to RSS Feed
• Translated Posts
• Website Searches
• Page Views Generated
• Posts Shared on Social Networks
• Page Views Generated from Facebook Community

Support

Wibiya.com utilizes the ultra cool Get Satisfaction support system. The toolbar is still in beta and the team is eager to hear feedback and suggestions for new features. I spent a little time on their support system last night and I must say these guys truly are there to help you with any questions or issues you may have! I also made a few feature requests.

Customization

Customizing your toolbar is as easy as clicking a button! Change your color scheme, add and remove buttons, upload your logo or input your Favicon and check your stats all from your Wibiya.com dashboard!

How to Get One for Your Website

Since the toolbar is still in beta, you can only access it by invitation. Simply head over to the “Get It Now” page and enter your information. Within a couple of days, you should receive an email invite!

8 Reasons Why You Should Use the Toolbar

1. Increase your page views!
2. Keep visitors on your site longer!
3. Get more RSS subscribers!
4. Get more Twitter followers!
5. Get more Facebook followers!
6. Offer easy navigation of your website!
7. Get to know your visitors better!
8. Build your own ON-SITE community!

Join My Community!

I would like to invite you to join my new FresheVenture.com community! Simply click the “Facebook Connect” button in my toolbar to log into FB. Then, click the Facebook Community button and use the “Shoutbox” to introduce yourself and your website!

What Do You Think of My Toolbar?

I only want it on my blog if it benefits YOU. I want to make sure the toolbar is noticeable, but not intrusive. I’m also stuck between making it light blue or orange. Please give me some feedback by voting below!

Will You Be Grabbing Your Own Toolbar? If You Already Have One, How Has It Benefited Your Website?

Topic Tags:

facebook, social networking, social profiles, toolbar, twitter, wibiya