Wondering what to buy that person in your life who is addicted to the computer and blogging?  Christmas is just around the corner and I have some ideas for you:

Journal

Every blogger needs someplace to jot down their thoughts and plan out blog posts. There’s something about getting away from the computer and sitting down with a journal that helps get the flow of ideas started.  This leather journal from Kiki James is one I recently received and it is simply beautiful.  The cover is a soft, buttery leather and the pages have almost a handmade paper feel to them.  They have a variety of colors and styles- I got the pink one.  The paper is unlined, so it’s nice for doodling design ideas as well as scribbling notes.

ProBlogger Book

ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income is required reading for anyone who is new to blogging, as well as those who have been doing it for years. Just take a look at this story of what one experienced blogger learned from the book and the difference it made in her career and life. I’ve read the book and highly recommend it.

T-Shirt

How about a blogging t-shirt?  The WiFi Detector t-shirt is genius!

Membership to a Forum or Training Program

The gift that keeps on giving- a membership to Performancing Hive or Authority Blogger would make any blogger happy.

Anti-Glare Filter for the Computer Screen

Staring at the computer for hours and hours can be very hard on the eyes.  An anti-glare filter screen is a perfect gift for computer addicts.

Desk Lamp

Good lighting at one’s desk is essential. I have this one from Target and it’s beautiful.

Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse

I have this awesome Microsoft wireless keyboard and optical mouse and I LOVE it. The keyboard is not SO ergonomic that it’s difficult to use, but it just has a little curve to it that makes it much more comfortable.

Caffeine

Coffee is always a great gift for those who drink it.  If the person you’re buying for is not a coffee drinker, then how about some candy?  I hear that Shock-A-Lots are awesome, and this caffeine candy sampler is pretty cool too.

A Massage

Sitting in front of the computer for a long time can lead to a stiff neck and shoulders, and bloggers are notoriously bad about getting away from the desk to loosen up a bit.  A massage would definitely be a welcome gift.

What about you? What do you want for Christmas?

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It’s the small details that can make all the difference in a site design.  Just using a fancy bullet instead of a disc or square can really dress up your lists. It’s difficult to find good bullet sets out there, so I’m offering this set free for any use, commercial or private.

Download transparent PNGs here or if you have a high percentage of visitors still using IE6 (and your background is white) you might want the non-transparent PNGs instead, as IE6 does not support PNG transparency.

Wondering how best to set up your CSS to use an image instead of the standard options?  Here is a quick run down:

Instead of the standard:
ul
{
list-style-type: disc
}

Make the bullet the background image of your list element, like so:
ul {
list-style: none;
}

li {
padding-left: 12px;
background: url(“images/diamond.png”) no-repeat;
background-position: 0 4px;
}

In the background position element, the first value is the horizontal position and the second is the vertical. The top left corner is 0 0. You’ll likely have to play around with the background positioning to get the bullets centered, and be sure to check the appearance in several browsers.

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One of the reasons I love WordPress is the plethora of amazing plugins available. Here are 5 plugins that I recommend for getting a professional look to your site:

Featured Content Gallery

This plugin is amazing. It’s so easy to implement and really makes a big difference in a static site.  Check out this site or this one to see it in action.  To use, you simply install the plugin, and then set your preferences in the admin panel, add the bit of code to your theme files, and start posting in your featured category including the use of the custom field for the featured image.  Just an FYI, for you techie types, I have found that this plugin does not work on a site that is also using “Moo Tools” javascripts. Click here to visit download page.

Breadcrumb Navigation XT

Another simple one to implement and a must if you have a site of any depth. It ads “breadcrumb” links to make it easy for the user to navigate, especially as they get deep into your content.  Click here to visit download page.

Multi-page Toolkit

If you have content that is quite lengthy, this is a perfect plugin to help your users wade through it.  There are many options for customizing it in the admin panel, and you can style the display by adding some plugin specific CSS to your theme’s stylesheet. Check out this post for an good example, and click here for the download page.

Related Entries

This plugin gives your readers suggestions at the end of each post for other posts that may interest them, and is a great way to increase the time they stay on your site. You can even include exerpts if you like! Click here to visit the download page.

CForms

This is simply the best contact form plugin I have ever come across.  It allows for multiple forms, custom form styling and it’s very easy to insert your forms into posts, pages or your sidebar.  Download page is here.

And, while I’m in plugin mode, here are some plugins I couldn’t live without:

Ozh Admin Drop Down Menu

Share This

WordPress Automatic Upgrade

BackUpWordPress (if you don’t have a plugin installed that backs up your site, drop everything you’re doing and install one now)

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Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Have you ever worked on a project with a group of people, and one of them drops the ball and makes you look bad even though you did everything that was expected of you?  Recently there have been some difficulties at Perfomancing Ads because of the negligence of one person.  Articles are being written calling the program a scam because payments are somewhat delayed, and attacking the whole group of people who participated in the launch of the service, including me because I did the design, though I haven’t been involved with the project since the design was complete several months ago.

Performancing Ads is a great concept and there has been a hitch in the startup because one person hasn’t followed through with their responsibilities.  Does that make it a scam?  Of course not.  I know all the people involved in the project and they are some of the best people I’ve ever worked with.  Even the “ball dropper” was pretty good to work with.  Performancing is taking measures to get the situation rectified and I’m confident payments will be sent as soon as possible and in fact, I believe at this point, payments have gone out.

What’s my point?

I’m not writing this post because I’m concerned about my reputation. Anyone who knows me and has worked with me knows that when I say I’m going to do something, I do it, and that I’ll go above and beyond to make sure those I do business with are completely satisfied and happy with the results. My main thoughts about this are that working in an online environment poses some very difficult challenges.  When people are hired to work on a project, it is far too easy for them to flake out and leave others holding the bag.  The relative anonymity of the online world means that people end up doing things that they would likely not do if they were working a regular day job and had to face people in the office every day.

Just a minute, let me step up onto my soapbox

If you say you’re going to do something, just do it.  If you break it, fix it. If you screw up, make it right.

We all fall short of this at times in whatever business we’re in- I’ve certainly done my fair share, but you always have to keep in mind that when you drop the ball you’re not the only person it affects.  Through your negligence you can damage someone else’s reputation and that’s much worse than damaging your own.

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My friend and genius designer Natalie Jost has a new site called TwitterPatterns, which has lots of free backgrounds for your Twitter page (check mine out). There are even some great “pink for October” patterns! She is also selling some beautiful brushes and patterns on her OliveManna site that you should definitely check out if you’re a Photoshop user.

Fellow Perfomancing Hive member, Sid Savara recently reviewed a new virtual assistant service that offers unlimited tasks for just $59 a month.  Take a look a the article not only for an interesting review of the service, but also for an excellent example of how to write a review article. He is clear, easy to read, offers visual aids and very thorough.

Just a side note…  what do you think about the above service business model?  If you’re in the virtual assistance business, does it concern you?

Considering using a VoIP service like Skype or something similar?  This article compares the 10 best free VoIP options.

A great post from Char: 5 Easy Ways to Market Yourself Online

I recently did some work modifying the premium WordPress theme One Theme for a client, and found it to be an excellent theme right out of the box.  There are many options for layout, featured posts, header and logo customization and ad management in the admin panel, and without any custom modifications at all you can have a very sharp looking site.

And finally, some more recent work of mine: two sites still a bit in development, but nearly finished, and I have really enjoyed working on them with some wonderful clients.

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I’ve been a fan of Fast Company Magazine for a long time, and have recently been invited to be one of their “Expert Bloggers”.  My first post is up, taking a look at reasons companies should be in the blogging business:

1. Build Relationships

2. Build Reputation

3. Build Customer Loyalty

4. Build Authority

5. Build Traffic

Check it out, and be sure and subscribe to the feed while you’re there!

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