I’m back and my laptop has a fancy new trick; it plays with my sense of smell and teases me into thinking there’s coffee brewing in the kitchen…

There we are, sitting in a huge dining hall at the conference venue, and someone stands up, grabs a mic and makes an announcement that anyone who left their laptops in the conference room should come back and claim them. Many of us were confused, as we’d been told earlier that we could leave our electronic oxen in the conference room to charge between sessions and not have to carry them all over the resort. So, we trecked the half-mile back to pick up our things and I got my stuff all unplugged, wound up the cords, and started packing everything into my laptop bag. I closed the laptop, picked it up, and liquid drained out in a steady stream.

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At the time of this posting, I’m making the journey from north Texas to Nashville, Tennessee. Driving that is. Or, maybe riding, depending on who got first dibs driving the all new Chevy Equinox the GM folks kindly lent to us…

BlissDom; the second largest annual women’s blogging conference. Held in Music City, at the Gaylord Hotel, this event draws over 500 women bloggers together for 3 or 4 days packed with educational sessions, networking, and fun!

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What other people have to say about a businesses’ services or products plays a big part in the decision making of potential consumers. I know when I shop for an item, I not only compare the products based on the site’s list of features, but also the customer reviews provided.

Bloggers who are selling their own products or services need a way to display customer testimonials on their sites. When building my web services site, Techno Mom Designs, I did some research to figure out the best way to show recommendations from my happy clients. I really wanted to have a space in my sidebar that would show a rotating testimonial, and I wanted it to be easy to manage. After trying several options, I found one I like, aptly named:

Testimonial Manager

This plugin is very easy to use and makes adding and removing testimonials a breeze! You can choose to show them on a page, and/or the sidebar via a widget. The widget automatically rotates the testimonials so a new one (or however many your specify) shows on each page load.

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Almost daily there is a new service for Twitter users… From fancy new ways to search the live stream, to commenting systems allowing visitors to sign in using their Twitter ID, this networking, micro-blogging phenomenon has made connecting with people easier.

And now, you can send your friends eCards, via Twitter!

I’m proud to announce…

Simply select a design, fill in the information, and the site generates text and a tiny url for you to paste into your Twitter stream!

So, if you’ve ever wanted to show a Twitter pal some appreciation, send them a TweetHeart Card!

Sorry guys, not a lot of neutral cards/images yet. I’m working on that! Seeing as how all three contributing artists are women, we have a lot of girlie designs for launch, and mostly Valentine’s Day themed…

Besides for my art and photos, I’m proud to launch featuring designs from PK Photography and Morgan Denise! Please, visit their sites and enjoy their beautiful work!

Notes: This is version1. I say that because:

1. I have great ideas and plans for this site that could not be implemented in the 3-day time period I had set aside to launch this project. Yes, I got the idea last week, and spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday building it!
2. Eventually I’d like to add categories to the site, along with cards, for different occasions, holidays, and every-day cards. Our first version focuses on the Valentine’s Day holiday simply because that is what gave me the idea, and it’s the closest holiday to our launch!
3. It’s free. And, I want to keep it that way. But, I’d also like to monetize it in the future by implementing some ads. I don’t want it to ever look cluttered or junky, so I’m waiting on the ads till I have a solid idea of what I want and how to do it without looking ‘cheap.’
4. Real Integration. In the near future I would like to have real Twitter integration, so that one can Send Card, and walla! it’s in their Twitter stream.

Any other ideas for future versions?