Interview with Nile Flores of Blondish.net

Nile Flores is a sassy mom from Southern Illinois who is a proud PHP code ninja and a WordPress designer/developer.

She has been a part of the WordPress community since its beginnings as b2. Nile has 2 popular PHP scripts called PHPurl and PHPads which are at Hotscripts. PHPads has been adopted by Softaculous as a one-click install with hundreds of webhosts.

Nile blogs at Blondish.net and WPAddict.net, and hopes to help educate people on how to create, maintain, promote, and just about anything it takes to run a website.

Who do you look up to?

I look up to my father.

Without him, I would not be where I am today. As of 2011, I am 30, so there are not many people in mainstream web development that I look up to. It might sound cocky, but as a woman, I get a lot of inquiries from guys about web development.

My father raised me to be a tomboy, meaning that competing in a world against men meant nothing, especially when I wanted to make a name for myself.

How do you build traffic to your blog?

Unlike a lot of the more recent bloggers, I have been around the blogging community for over 8 years. I used forums, early social networking, blog commenting, word of mouth, and banner advertising to build traffic.

The problem is a lot of bloggers want to build a whole site based on the “me” concept, which means they only talk about what they are only interested in. That is great, but will not build anything outside their inner blog circle. This is a habit I try to urge bloggers to break out of.

What are your passions?

My passions are graphic design, web design, poetry, writing in general, traveling, karate, and watching WWE.

I might be a female, but I like to watch WWE, both RAW and SmackDown.

Why do you enjoy blogging?

I enjoy blogging because it allows me to share information with people who are interested in the topics I like to share.

Because, my first and foremost goal, even before making a web design contract between myself and a client, is to help. I try to provide articles that are informative and can be used by both newbies webmasters/website owners and up to advanced users.

I have always provided resources and will always continue to do so on Blondish.net and WPAddict.net.

How can we use social media in a more powerful way?

The problem is that people still get social media and social networking confused.

You use social media marketing on social networks to drive traffic where you want it.

If you can understand that, then you can start to understand how to engage with your followers and fans, and then also entice them to actually click on your products and promotions. Social media marketing is a two way street. You cannot just force feed your material into the masses and expect them to smile, click, and buy. You have to actually connect with them, which equals actually talking with them. Even if it is a few Facebook replies or even Twitter tweets, it is still engaging.

If done correctly, you will be amazed on the positive response you can get back from your followers.

What should a blogger do to be better?

Bloggers in general, no matter the niche, can do better by making sure they are in tune to what their niche is about, and provide unique and informative material that is better than their competitor. Now, this is only half of the battle, so I will say that even if a blogger is one of the best in their niche, to be even better…. reply to their readers who comment and if their reader happens to have a site – return the comment.

Although a lot of websites preach this, still…. only a small percentage of pro bloggers actually follow up. Find the time one hour a week to comment back and engage, just from those who took the time to comment on your own blog.

Throughout the years, I can attest, these are the type of people that stay as readers and are more than likely to have your back when sharing your articles on the social network sites.

How do you find happiness?

I find happiness in a lot of things.

As a mom, my son has been someone who has been the best gift in my life and he makes me laugh a lot. Of course, being a boy, he has his unruly times, but he is a good boy.

For those still single, I know this is sappy, but seriously… you would not understand until you actually have a child of your own… and even for those gals who grew up a tomboy like me.

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1. The Creative Juicer: Interview with Deirdre Breakenridge
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Tagged as: blondish, interview, nile flores, social media marketing