Inspired in large part by this great post from Wordpress expert Andrew Rickmann, as the second half of 2009 begins I’m tackling lots more than this site’s overdue migration to Joomla 1.5.x and Wordpress 2.8; I’m contemplating the important questions of what I do and why — and why it matters to my clients and readers (and even a few Twitter followers).

1. What is Mango Digital?

2. Why base the business around open-source projects, products & services?

3. What is community?

4. What is the Mango Digital community?

5. Why does this matter?

6. Where is this going?

I’ve written several website business plans, web-strategy presentations and Joomla extension translations, all of which are free. However, as Wayne Smallman comments in the same blog post cited above: “my reimbursement has been and continues to be the exposure my skills and expertise enjoy as a result of people using and sharing my products, which is an extension of my knowledge.” So that’s definitely still going to be an important part of the purpose of Mango Digital, and I’ll make information and advice available in myriad forms – Twitter, downloads, SlideShare, emails, etc. – yet my time is not free (and gets increasingly more valuable).

I’ll continue to provide advice and development services for  clients’ projects and communities, but as you’ll discover in coming months, I’ll be dedicating my efforts and time on creating new & unique online communities that add value to a market, an audience or a place.

Clickability presents a informative, free webinar that reviews the experiences of several print publications and how they have transitioned to an online “publication” to serve their audience. Especially interesting is the review of the 3 options that every business owner/web publisher needs to learn prior to selecting their CMS: build an in-house CMS, buy it from a professional site-administration company (that is, an outsourced solution) or employ an ongoing, typically month-to-month SAAS (software as a service) arrangement.

Whether you already manage an online community, are responsible for your organization’s Facebook page or are just thinking about creating a social media campaign, there are some helpful fundamentals that will help you understand if you’re ready & willing to make the commitment of time, resources, and (yes) work that are necessary to effectively use social media.

Public relations agency Page One explains the 5 essential aspects in an excellent post today – I highly recommend it to you.

It’s said repeatedly and debatably that “content is king” for a website. Despite the desire to add interactive, user-engaging features such as games, profiles & forums (thereby increasing the duration of their visit), I think that content’s importance is central to the success of any website – and especially a community.

Not only does web content increase relevance and therefore search engine rankings and results, “static” content – here, defined as articles, tutorials and other text-based information – reinforces the community’s central mission. In other words, it is valuable information that serves to interest and enrich the reader with utility and meaning.

Members of an affinity audience want to anchor their presence and participation. For example, locals want a place to call their online home. Followers and fans of a band choose their favorite “space” and invest their time there, adding songs, photos and more to their page. Digital video professionals congregate where FAQ and reference material is available 24/7. Good content makes this possible: When these same users also find useful articles, news, links and reviews, their attachment to their chosen site is strengthened.

Therefore, the more relevant, topical content that web publishers add to reinforce the uniqueness & value of their site/community, then the better it is for everybody – for users, advertisers and owners. Content creates value over time (so don’t unpublish anything!). The challenge is to find out how to create & present your special content in a special way that truly adds lasting value.

Why integrate a calendar in your online community? I highly recommend that publishers, especially those that serve a geographically local area, add an events list or calendar to their site. In addition to giving users yet another reason to return to your site, Calendar Hub lays out the user benefits quite clearly:

Stay Organized – reminders and deadlines for social, business and special events, including editorial & advertising closing dates.

Coordinate Your Team – to-do lists, tasks, milestones and to see what everyone else is doing and coordinate better.

Promote Yourself – special offers, limited-time sales & discounts and announcements, from groups & businesses.

Inform Your Audience – school dates, federal & commemorative holidays, meetings, festivals and more!

Stay in Touch – RSS, iCal and vCard standards can help you get reminders or import events into your own, private calendar , cel or iPhone.

There are many choices to add a calendar to your site – too many in fact – but I do have some requirements for any calendar that is to be integrated into a community before selecting among the many available options.

Read the rest of this entry »

Based on the free download from WhitePaperSource, I was curious to ask myself about white papers. I’ve always wondered where the term came from as well as the difference between a report or ebook and a white paper. Read the rest of this entry »

The BBC had an interesting article the other day regarding the trend toward “lighter”, faster, real-time activity between individuals – communicating to followers, fans and friends using one’s status availability instead of e-mails.

Says David Sacks, founder of Twitter-for-business service Yammer, “We are all in the process of creating email 2.0.”

I know that increasingly I am decreasing my e-mail time and increasing my online-social time. I agree with many of the heavy users of services such as Facebook, Twitter and FriendFeed that the Internet is becoming much more pervasive – certainly, we are connecting to the Internet in ways far beyond the browser or news reader. It opens up new opportunities for sharing news as well as methods for delivering services.

Read the full text article.

With web development becoming more user-friendly and accessible yet more complex, it’s important to remind myself of the importance of the user experience – that is, the elements that make visiting & using a site so much easier and enjoyable.

I’ve put together a quick, non-inclusive list of five questions to ask myself when adding a feature to a web community. Read the rest of this entry »

An excellent demonstration of online presentation + personal storytelling + insightful analysis — and it’s FREE!

Where am I? I feel like I’ve been lost on some island in the Pacific: hard drive crash & recovery on my Powerbook not once but twice, knocking me out of commission for 2 weeks the first time (fortunately under warranty) and then 2 months the second time (oops, warranty expired). The 2nd time was the killer – the drive was dead, worthless, kaput.

In order to finance a new laptop — nothing less than an Apple Macbook Pro was acceptable — I had to juggle several projects, put others on standby, postpone some payments and trade work for financing my little pony toy tool. It wasn’t easy, but I’m back in business.

Over the past 2 weeks I have edited my sites (this one now has my portfolio and plans & pricing), updated my blogs to the most recent version of Wordpress, integrated open-source customer support help desk software, written up some job/collaborator descriptions (to be announced soon), and of course reinstalled, reorganized and backed up the contents of my shiny, new MBP.

Now that I’ve recovered my username and passwords, I have a lot to share with you!

PD: For those of you who read my blog at Apodo.tv, this story is a little bit different yet the title of this post was so good I just had to use it here too!