This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Setster

Quick Pitch: Setster provides appointment scheduling and confirmation for your business via an easily embeddable widget on your website.

Genius Idea: Having appointment scheduling available right on your website could be a huge boon for your small business, but it’s not always cost effective to pay someone to code or install a working system. That’s where Setster comes in, with an easy to embed widget for appointment and service scheduling you can quickly add to the sidebar or elsewhere on your site.

You can set up a profile of your business including what types of services and appointments you provide (with prices listed, optionally). Once your appointment widget is ready to your satisfaction, you simply grab the embed code and add the appointment scheduling component to your own site wherever you like.

When a customer or client visits your site, they can then see available times and services to sign up for. After they submit their requested time, service, and basic contact information about themselves, they will receive a message requested confirmation of the email address.

Once the email is confirmed, both the customer and your business get confirmation emails of the date, time and details of the appointment. Integration with iCal, Google Calendar or Outlook lets either party easily add the appointment to the calendar of their choosing.

For small businesses who just need simple scheduling without the hassle and cost of rolling their own back end system, Setster looks like a solid and free option for third-party scheduling integration.

Spark of Genius Series Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

Tags: appointments, bizspark, setster, small business, webdev, widgets

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