10 Gmail Sidebar Gadgets for Search & Social Marketers

I guess most search engine marketers use Gmail in some way or another: either as a primary email service or to register online accounts or anything else. The reasons why Gmail is so popular are quite clear: it is free and belongs to Google which does a good job connecting it to its other useful services.

Now, for all those Gmail fans among us let me share 10 Gmail gadgets they may consider using (there is a FireFox addons among them, but it feels like a gadget):

1. Google Docs Gadget

(Gmail labs)

Adds a box in the left column which displays your Google Docs. Shows recent docs, starred docs, and has fast search.

2. Email Signature Hacks

(Gmail labs)

There are also a couple of useful gadgets to tweak your SEO consultant’s email signature:

• Signature tweaks: This one places your signature before the quoted text in a reply, and removes the “–” line that appears before signatures.
• Random Signature: This gadget allows to rotate among random quotations for your email signature.
• Location in Signature: Appends your location to your signature. (You must have your signature enabled.)

3. Google Calendar Gadget

(Gmail labs)

• Adds a box in the left column which shows your Google Calendar. See upcoming events, locations, and details.
• Allows to schedule events directly from Gmail using Add link

4. Message Translation Gadget

(Gmail labs)

Uses Google Translate to translate messages you receive in other languages.

Note: another good gadget for international browsing is Currency Converter (that can be installed via adding this custom gadget)

5. Gmail Notes

(Install it as a FireFox extension or a Greasemonkey script)

Allows to add notes when reading an email letter.

6. Twitter Gadget

(Found as a custom gadget*, installed via Gmail labs)

• View your Twitter stream sorted into tabs: All, Direct messages, Replies;
• Send Tweets right from your Gmail.

7. Digg Gadget

(Found as a custom gadget*, installed via Gmail labs)

Lets you discover news, images and videos as voted on by the Digg community. You can even customize your Digg gadget by topic (!), and view more story information, such as comments and a friend’s activity feed.

8. Facebook Gadget

(Found as a custom gadget*, installed via Gmail labs)

Allows to view your Facebook news feed and update your status from iGoogle.

9. FriendFeed Gadget

(Found as a custom gadget*, installed via Gmail labs)

Enables you to keep track of all the videos, photos, news, and web pages your friends are discovering around the Web.

10. Delicious Gadget

(Found as a custom gadget*, installed via Gmail labs)

* To Install a Custom Gadget,

You’ll need to:

1. Enable custom gadgets in Gmail Labs;
2. Go the “Gadgets” tab in your Gmail setting and provide the gadget URL: