Building Your Freelance Portfolio with WordPress: Essential Plugin Pack

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There are many reasons why many freelancers choose WordPress for building their portfolio of websites: It’s easy, reliable and flexible (thanks, of course, to plugins). Okay, maybe you will occasionally be told that Tumblr or Blogger is the better choice especially for those looking for a more casual blogging experience. But for the professionals, WordPress always comes out on top — and for good reason, considering the number of features, tools and free plugins you can access to customize and monetize your content. [Read more…]

Best Tweet of the Week

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Actually this might be my favorite Tweet of the month.

The Tweeter: doshdosh

My reasoning: It made me laugh out loud (more than once). Sure I like think-worthy tweets, but I can always use some funny.

I’m not a Digg fan, but then, I’m not a big Reddit user either. Mainly I think it’s hilarious that someone would go to so much effort, and in such a high school way.

Have you seen any funny tweets this week? Share in the comments if you have.

Will Work for Diggs

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I hit the Digg front page a couple of times and it felt darn good. When I hit it wasn’t because I sent a shout or email to friends asking them to vote. Each time I hit, someone else (someone I didn’t know even) submitted my post and it got lucky. On the occasions I asked for Diggs for what I felt were good articles nothing happened. I stopped asking for Diggs and Stumbles, however, because I feel doing so on a regular basis turns one into a pain in the butt.

It’s no secret how I feel about people who come out of the wordwork to ask for social media loving. With that in mind, I’m sure you can already imagine how I feel about b5Media’s new policy of rewarding bloggers who hit big on Digg.

Actually I learned a little about a new bonus system before the details were announced at TechCrunch because I had the pleasure of chatting with Jeremy Wright and David Peralty in the speaker room at BlogWorld Expo. While we chatted, I agreed with Jeremy that bloggers should receive bonuses for hard work. Indeed, when I have an especially good month at FWJ I share with my bloggers. Also, when I was an editor for LovetoKnow we were allotted a monthly allowance to give bonuses to our bloggers. I feel strongly about rewarding the people who work for me and enjoy calling them out for going on and beyond. I think b5Media got it right when they put a plan in place to award bloggers bonuses in recognition of a good month or good deed.

But (and you knew there’d be a but)

The more I think about giving out bonuses for Diggs the more I’m not so sure it’s a good idea. This could just be my personal feeling but I think by doing so b5 bloggers will write more for the Digg factor and less for their readers. Don’t get me wrong. Linkbait can be fun, but I don’t want to read it every time I visit a blog.

I also feel this will turn many bloggers into social media beggars. More bloggers will be hitting up their buddies, and even people they barely know, for Diggs and Stumbles. Digg lists will be created so everyone can vote on each other and now bloggers will put much of their effort in getting Diggs rather than building community or writing good content.

Rewarding bloggers with bonuses? Good idea. Mad props to Jeremy and the team for looking for a way to give credit where it’s due. Encouraging the almighty Digg? I’m not so confident this is a good idea. Digg traffic is temporary. Instead bonuses should be awarded for community building, quality comments, great content and a good steady rise in traffic.

What do you think? Am I wrong about this? Should bloggers be encouraged to get out the Digg?

Cool it With the Digg Requests

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I have this thing about Tupperware and Pampered Chef parties. I rarely go to them. Invitations for these things usually come from people who wouldn’t call me to say hi, invite me out for a drink or even send a Christmas card. Yet somehow I’m a good enough friend to invite over so I can spend my money so the hostess can receive some free merchandise. No thanks.

I feel the same about Digg and Stumble requests. I don’t mind doing them, but if you’re not going to at least drop a line or a Skype to say hello to me now and then, don’t send me your Diggs.  I find this so annoying.

I don’t mind doing favors for my friends. Indeed there are plenty of people I’m happy to give up the Digg love for. There are a few others who are wearing out their social media welcome. These are people who I know only slightly or who only contact me if it’s to ask me to promote something. I don’t think so.

Here’s a good rule of thumb, if you’re sending a Digg request to someone you barely even speak to, think again. It’s kind of rude to only come calling when you need a favor.

Being A Team Player at A Blog Network

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blogger teamworkAs a blogger at a blog network, what’s typical is to be split into sections (or niches or channels). It could be by blog topic (such as all the pregnancy and parenting blogs are grouped together), it could be that your blog is simply one of many assigned to a particular managing editor, or it might be that the network is small enough that everyone falls under one main managing editor, or whatever the boss likes to be called.

What’s true of all networks is that within your section, the bloggers and editors can work as a team or not as a team. Having blogged on teams that actually are a team, and teams where you don’t even know each other’s names, I can tell you that the, “Let’s work as a team situation” is absolutely better.

When the editors and bloggers in a channel or niche are on board with teamwork, it’s great. If not, well, it can be frustrating.

It’s frustrating because perks of working as a team can be really nice. Perks of teamwork can include higher page views for your blog, the channel, and the network as a whole, better communication when something goes wrong, or even better when something goes right, overall happiness with your job, more friends, and a more flowing feeling.

Honestly, what’s the point of being part of a specific channel, if you’re really not part of that channel? Many bloggers come to a network after having blogged on their own, so maybe the switch to team player is tough. But that’s a network. If you sign on, you’re signing onto a team, not simply your own blog.

blogger teamwork

Team components:

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