Apture is one of the coolest plugins I’ve stumbled across in a long while.

It allows you to instantly add rich, dimensional media to your blog or website by integrating text, images, video, maps, music and much more from over 50 sources; including Wikipedia, Flickr, NY Times, YouTube, Twitter and many others.

In the data rich environment of the Web that we now all live in, for many of us the big challenge is finding a way to present all the great new content we have at our fingertips on a web site.

So as a web site owner or blogger, Apture allows you to begin to curate that content and begin to provide the proper context for your visitors.

Take, for example, this widget (click image to activate) I created for the neighborhood in which I live; containing a map, photos, video driving directions, historical background and a great article from the NY Times on Portland’s restaurants.

You can also create a link that has the same functionality built in.

Using a third party source like Outside.in for content is certainly a sensible and easy way to add some depth to your web site (see Looking for Hyperlocal Content?) but using a plugin like Apture, you can really add the right personal flourish (like linking your Twitter profile) and, more importantly, begin to apply the proper editorial oversight to really present your city, town or neighborhood in the right context.

Read More: Sellsius’ Joseph Ferrara writing on Inman News also profiled Apture.

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[Ed. Note] Erik Hersman, formerly of Realty Thoughts, joins FOREM as a contributing author today. Erik been blogging about technology in the real estate space for a couple years and he now works as an independent blogging and social media consultant, operating out of Florida.  You can also find him on an Orlando-focused real estate blog called Roofable. 

Widgets and third-party tools on your blog can be useful to your readers. However, anyone who has been blogging for any time realizes that they are a tricky thing to deal with. Limited space means that we all have to balance usefulness, value, fun and quantity in that ever-so-small sidebar.

There’s definitely no “right” answer for which tools you should use, but I submit that there are some guidelines you should follow:

Relevance
Whether you are a broker, agent, vendor, pundit or real estate blogger of some other type, you will each have different angles and need. Make sure that the tools you put in that precious space are relevant to your site.

Value
Every time you see a shiny new widget that you covet for your blog, first ask yourself how useful it is for your readers and yourself. If it will be rarely used, then you should probably think twice about adding it. Your most valuable website real estate should have your most valuable information and/or tools.

Let’s run through the items that you are likely have in your sidebar buy default:

• Blogroll
• RSS feed
• Categories
• Archive
• Recent comments
• Recent posts
• Search

(can you feel that screen real estate shrinking?)

A couple that you might consider using, though this is highly relative depending upon why you blog – and PLEASE don’t use them all…

• Chat – Plugoo or Meebo
• Listings – vFlyer or Postlets
• Market stats – Altos Research, Trulia or Bankrate.com
• Community – MyBlogLog, Flickr or Technorati Links
• Feed Subscription by Email – Feedburner
• Of course, you might also have ads, or your own widget if you’re a vendor.

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