Helping You Rock Out Your Site Like A Rockstar!

A lot of the topics at WordCamp Chicago worked around social media. One of the sites that were plugged was Lijit, which is a free service you can sign up. What it does is once you sign up, you insert all the social media places you have an identity with, and then you can put a widget (or as Lijit says – ‘wijit’) on your blog. The widget is a search field.

I am sure that you are saying, especially if you are using a content management system: Why would I need another search form when I already have one built into my site?

Well, Lijit, as explained in their About section that it is like social media. People will seek information from people they trust first before going out into the internet to find what they want to know. When your visitor types a search into your Lijit search, it will go through all of your social identities that you put in your Lijit profile and pick up whatever results are closest to the topic they are trying to find. In a way, it kind of helps keep your visitors on your site.

Not only that, but Lijit gives you the ability to see what your visitors are searching for so you can provide the information they need. It is a pretty cool tool. Try it and see. There is even a WordPress plugin for Lijit Wijit too. Pretty cool, huh?

I just had to say it. I already said it on Twitter, but this whole big deal with Facebook coming out with usernames was really dumb. There was so much hype into it that I felt like people would be seriously worried about their username being taken. It kind of sounds like when you hear those Black Friday stories from Walmart goers that stand all over the store and when it hits 7AM, everyone goes bonkers. Or, the one analogy where you (that is, if you are a woman) end up fighting over a bra at the Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual sale.

Well, there were those who acted like it, and I laughed when people were counting down the minutes and seconds until Facebook allowed users in as if they pushed a button to let people through their virtual turnstyles. Once they got their usernames, they were said “I got my username that I wanted.” I could just hear the thrill…well read it. Yeah, I know… I am not enthusiastic.

My response – Well, good for you. I did get my username over 20 minutes after because I was not in a rush, and did not care. It was easy to pick my username, but I kept thinking on why in the world Facebook did not think of it sooner. I feel special that I am no longer a number, but I that have a username. It was the worst hype ever since the recent KFC grilled chicken (which my local store cannot cook the chicken to what I need it to be. It was a whole debacle that was tramatizing for me…physcially. Enough said on that before it goes over that WTMFI line.)

Frankly, Facebook is becoming too much like MySpace. All the applications that you can use for it are similar and with MySpace trying to keep up, your real-time activity stream now appears. All the ads are annoying too. I have ads that have nothing to do with me as a person.

Did you get your username? What did you think of the whole ordeal?

As announced by Matt Mullenweg, WordPress 2.8 became available June 10th. The version is named “Baker” after the jazz trumpeteer and vocalist, Chet Baker. As explained by Matt during WordCamp Chicago, each of the versions of WordPress that have come forth are named after jazz musicians because of his love of music, as well as background in music. Of course, this information had not been just released to those at the convention, but a week before in San Francisco. Nevertheless, most WordPress users I am sure are happy to hear this news as it brings WordPress another step higher since its birth over 6 years ago.

Some of the key features that are noticeable in this version, according to the the WordPress development blog are:

- 2.8 runs faster than its previous versions
- one click installs from the theme repository to your blog, straight from your WP admin panel
- CodePress editor: provides a syntax editor for those who like to edit plugins from the admin panel side
- Redesigned widget interface
- and more than 180 more features added

This is a huge step! There is a great video on the WordPress.org blog on all of the features mentioned above and a little bit more.

What kind of things are you wanting for future WordPress versions?

Sometimes simple can be good, especially if it is a nifty site like a short URL site or perhaps a site that searches domain names, or even favicon manipulation sites. SingleFunction contains articles on different sits to whet your need to see simplicity at its finest. The site is a clever creation of Webmasterish.

The site is one big showcase. I had to say that I was pretty impressed with the smorgabord of sites covered and the information gathered about each. You can even suggest a site, but it has to be a site based on a singular type of function. Also, you can vote on the sites showcased. Even Re-Url.me is showcased there. Re-Url.me is a single function site for shortening URLs and I give the script away here at the site – free to use. Feel free to leave a comment there or send some vote love… well, I would hope you might. *bats eyelashes*

This is a great site to surf around and pick up a few tools. I saw some sites showcased that are simply dedicated to helping webmasters chose the right color palette. This site is truly a showcase to resourceful sites.

During WordCamp Chicago, David Dalka, one of the speakers treaded upon the topic of Tweetmeme. First he asked, “What is the most popular social media site launched in 2009?”

I am sure as you all read that, you thought it was Twitter. Nope! It is Tweetmeme. Tweetmeme is a site that people can tweet through their site and onto Twitter. This means your visitors can tweet it at the click of the Tweetmeme button from your website. In a way, Tweetmeme is a new digg-like resource using Twitter. People are finding relevant topics to bookmark and share with others in a way that is more real-time.

The content on Tweetmeme is categorized and easy to find. If you notice on Blondish.net, there is a Re-Tweet button, which is actually a WordPress plugin that allows you to re-tweet my pages and articles onto Twitter. Pretty cool, huh?

Although I have seen the Tweetmeme button around, I can say that I was not motivated to use it until WordCamp Chicago. My only issue is that the plugin has not turned out to be HTML valid. I want to continue to use this plugin, but it has thrown up 18 errors in the W3 validator.

Do you use Tweetmeme? What do you think of it?

Yes, I did the blush and giggle as I shook Matt Mullenweg’s (@photomatt on Twitter) hand at the end of Day 2 for WordCamp Chicago. I could not help it. He was cute, and actually, I am a fan of WordPress. I use it almost religiously. And yes, I just said he was cute. It is true! Hey, I am allowed to look even if I have a boyfriend.

I also got to gush a bit over Lisa Sabin-Wilson (@LisaSabinWilson on Twitter). She did an awesome job with the convention and I just have to say that I cannot wait to see another. I actually plan to ask advice for future WordCamp’s… perhaps there could be a future WordCamp Nashville OR WordCamp St. Louis?

Brian Gardener (@bgardner on Twitter)was great. Everyone was having fun gushing over his big pecs. They did look great, in my honest opinion.

Also, I wanted to thank all of the above and then some for the opportunity to go and to learn and connect with people who can ‘speak my language’ – the language of social media, blogging and WordPress.

Anyway, I had a blast at WordCamp Chicago. I stayed at the Holiday Inn on Orleans Street. By the way, I got woke up by the people upstairs running around and slamming doors for over an hour. Note to staff there: if someone is complaining, you should really be quick about it. Also, your maids have no reason to knock on the door before 9AM. My boyfriend was rudely awakened despite the fact there was a ‘Do Not Disturb Sign.’ Last complaint… I promise: Think about changing your parking lot rates, especially for guests. It is a ripoff to pay $31 a night to park. Other cities I have stayed in the past have put theirs around $15 to $20 a night.

I met a lot of people. I am kind of at a point where I have so much information that I am processing from WordCamp Chicago that I have a lot of blog posts to share. I think I will try to make it one blog post about each of the speakers from WordCamp. I want to thank my new twitter and internet diva blogger friend (well, she is new, but I see the potential) @interactiveAmy for offering to send me the notes in detail to make my blog posts possible in the coming days.

Last week I blogged Follow Frenzy with MyTweetFollowers.com?. While in a way it does own up to what it says, there was one thing I did notice as well as some of my followers.

The following message was sent more than once in the stream in a day.

100 NEW FOLLOWERS A DAY!!!

http://mytweetfollowers.com

From what it was told from the creator, Cord Marston (@cordm on Twitter), you only send out 1 tweet when you sign up and then once a day. I noticed I was sending out more than 4 tweets a day with this system. This ends up as spam to my members.

I asked if a person has to re-join when their profile is off of the “rider” rotation, which you have to join at least 20 of them and all of the paid VIP people. This was what I was told:

Answer: The regular riders are taken off the regular list after 40 new people join. So for every 40 regular riders that join you are taken off and have to follow new people to join again.

So, if you join 5 different times, you are going to get more than 1 tweet a day than what was originally told. The other does not fall off? This is a bit confusing. If there are 40 people as regular riders, you get 40 possibly followers… that is if they choose you out of the 20 others. You are guaranteed a follower if you are a VIP.

My only thing is that it is unsettling to me to pay to get followers, especially when the user is not even employed by Twitter itself. It would be like someone making good money off my graphics when they are not for commercial use. Yes, I have to credit the general idea, but I think it should be free and based on the point system that goes with it. Twitter does not currently have anything in regards to people creating applications to make money off of their services, so I should not be complaining. My big reason is a recent tweet that came through Cord Marston’s twitter stream:

yes everybody i make money on twitter. no you can’t have vip on my site. and you will suck my dick if I get on aim? lol. aim – cordonmyspace

I am not sure after that one if I would want to even purchase a VIP account from him. That is not very professional. If you have tried it out, but no longer wish to be a part of it, you can opt out.

As for the type of people that I came across through MyTweetFollowers.com, most were real people and no bots. However, I only have spoken with a few that also tried the program, so I would say it is more a program for those who want bulk up their followers.

If the site comes back up, I would recommend using the free section, but not going back a second time as you may put more than one tweet plugging that site. Otherwise, I would stick to the organically old fashion way of getting followers – by connecting with them first.

Yes, you can now buy and own your followers at Buytter.com. No, you will not own them for real, but it is a real fun Twitter application that you can buy your followers and see how much you are worth to them. Yes, in a way, it is another vanity-type application, but it is still fun.

The application is much like the MySpace application that also offers some of the same things, just that it is designed for Twitter users using the Twitter API. When users join, it really is easy as you only have to either allow it to automatically connect with Twitter or for your to log in with your Twitter username and password. (By the way, that information it not shared with anyone.) Every user starts off with $1000 buytter dollars to spend. You can simply purchase your friends and let the games begin. All newbies on the site are worth $200.

You can also send a gift, a kiss or poke your friend. I actually made a suggestion to the creator, Chistophe Lefevre (@Bleebot on Twitter) that he should consider putting like a daily ‘login’ bonus. I already got a response back that he would think about it.

On note of fun sites for Twitter users, I will most likely have a blog soon listing some of the ones I think are great.