5 reasons why your website needs a weather widget

For those looking to improve their website features it seems that one of the most overlooked additions may be that of a weather widget. However, whether you’re a retailer whose business is cutting edge fashion, or a travel agent who may be a more traditionally suitable applicant for a weather widget, there is a world of reasons why such a website feature can serve your visitor well, and here are just five of them.

1.     Weather widgets can inform your visitors, and help them plan ahead

Think about it, what is more influential on our lives than the weather? After all, it is what defines holiday seasons, our clothing, our diets and even our daily commutes. So including a weather widget on your website can help your visitors when they are planning ahead.

For those who use them in the savviest of ways, they can also serve to boost bottom lines. So how about these ideas for size?

• An online fashion retailer who serves up seasonal specific items, such as scarves, hats and thick jumpers, on the coldest of days.
• A travel agent that harnesses weather forecasts that highlight the brisker of temperatures for those searching for last minute deals.
• A travel ticket centre, such as a bus or train website, that demonstrates whether the commute tomorrow will benefit from a brolly.
• An astronomy-based website that features a weather widget that defines the best nights for stargazing.
• A charity that provides emergency relief around the world, which features a tornado or extreme weather widget.

2.     A downloadable Weather Widget can serve up custom messages

Sometimes going a step further can present serious business opportunities. And providing users with a weather widget that they can download from your website and onto their desktop can represent an everyday, ever present advertising window right there on your target market’s computers. So serve up essential weather forecasts alongside fun, engaging marketing messages that ensures that your business name has an everyday mention.

3.     The weather widgets of today are a whole lot more beautiful than those of old

Once upon a time weather widgets were pretty ugly and came only in the colours and designs that developers decided upon. Today, however, weather widgets have really come into their own and can serve up weather forecasts both beautifully and simply.

4.     Weather widgets are super flexible, as well as accurate

Weather widgets can be completely customised to show the data and features that you wish. This may include the most basic of features, such as current temperature and upcoming weather over the next week, as well as more comprehensive features, such as precipitation levels, night sky clarity and even real time radar images that were previously only available for weather professionals.

5.     And finally… It’s super easy!

Installing a weather widget on your website can be super easy, and may just be a matter of copy and pasting a few lines of code. That said, however, for the more robust of widgets there are a world of developers out there that have built, and that can build, seriously comprehensive applications that include everything from location specific weather reports right through to data that is customised for the alerting of specific events, such as dangerous weather. So whatever your website, and whoever your target visitor, your weather widget can serve up weather data to suit.

Here at APIXU we know just how integral the weather can be to the everyday lives of people from around the world, from those who suffer an extensive and exhausting compute each day of the week, right through to the planning ahead for holiday travels.

Our clients are always provided with the robust data they need to power every type of weather widget going.