One of the most common items that a website visitor wants to find is a means to contact you. You may already have some great information on your site about your products and services, but they may want to know more before placing an order.

A contact page is a great start, especially if you have a contact form set up for e-mail communication. You might also list your phone number, but what if your customer is calling from another locale and doesn’t want to pay long distance? That’s where the Contact Call Plugin can come in very handy.

The biggest advantage here is that the plugin can embed a “call us” button right on your website. When a visitor clicks on that, they call you from within the web browser. It’s that simple. Your call can then be received via Skype, mobile, GTalk, or landline. It works through the Push2Call protocol.

Go to the WordPress Plugin Directory for more information on Contact Call, including an introductory video on the Push2Call service. Naturally, that page is also where you will find the free download link as well.

Referrals are the lifeblood of many businesses. It’s true of freelance writers, real estate agents, lawyers, general contractors, and all sorts of other professions. That’s why you want to make sure that all your customers have a positive experience, one that is so positive they’ll tell their friends about it.

A big part of this has to do with providing good customer service and delivering on your promises, but it also helps when you go the extra mile. This is especially true when the extra mile is completely unexpected.

For instance, I had a recent experience with a mortgage broker. They get paid for referring the business to the banks, so I (as the borrower) did not have to pay any fees to the broker. All I wanted was to get a good deal on my mortgage with the terms that I wanted. And she delivered in a timely, friendly, and efficient manner.

Shortly after signing the papers for the mortgage, I received a note in the mail. At first, I thought it was just a thank you note, which would have already been pleasant. Inside, though, was a $100 gift card to an electronics store. It’s not a huge gesture, but it was definitely positive and unexpected. Will I recommend this broker to my friends if they’re looking? Absolutely. It’s all about that extra mile.

Convergence devices are all around us. Your cell phone likely has a camera in it. Your portable GPS device might have a Bluetooth speakerphone. And this USB optical mouse has a digital scale in it.

This has to be one of the stranger spins on convergence, as I would never have thought to combine these two functions. On the surface, this looks like any other generic computer mouse. It has two buttons and a scroll wheel in the center, along with the USB cable for connecting to your computer.

Remove the cover toward the rear, however, and you discover a fully functional digital scale. It’s not going to weigh you, but it could come in handy for little trinkets. The scale only goes up to 500 grams, but it can also display weights in oz, gn, or ct. In this way, it might be handy for jewelry stores, for instance.

You can find the USB Optical Mouse with Pocket Digital Scale at Brando.com for the reasonable price of $22. Strangely, the scale appears to need its own AAA batteries, not running off of the supplied USB power.

Creativity is one of those things that is very hard to measure. At the same time, there’s just a certain something that you recognize when you say that you like a particular design. And I like what Loaded Designs has to offer.

Nathan is the guy behind Loaded Designs and he’s the BlueFur customer of the week. If you head over to his website, you’ll learn that he is a freelance graphic designer with “creative solutions” that will “capture engaging results.” He offers print, branding, and interactive services, ranging from brochures to logos, website design to product packaging.

To get a sense of Nathan’s particular brand of style, be sure to check out the portfolio on his site too. There, you can see the campaigns that he helped to create for DLish Urban Kitchen, Western Living Homes, Caritas Home Lottery, Experience Realty Group, and others. I particularly like the logo he made for Urban Games.

Do you use BlueFur to host your websites? Let us know and we can feature you in a future blog post. Send an email message to blogfeature@bluefur.com with your name, website URL, and a brief description of what you’d like to see highlighted.

The great thing about WordPress is that it can be used as the platform for so many different sites. We’ve seen themes that are great for business sites, blogs, and even e-commerce stores. Now, let’s look at Fliphoto theme, which is designed largely for photo blogs.

The design itself is quite clean and simple, but it is remarkably robust in its feature set too. You get the main header image at the top, of course, while the main content area is divided up to show six very large thumbnail images that can then link out. Interestingly, each also has a “more info” link that animates the panel, flipping it over to reveal more information about that post. That’s very slick!

The thumbnail images are automatically resized within WordPress, so as an avid photographer or graphic designer, you don’t need to resize your images to suit the blog’s dimensions. Other nice features include the widget-friendly footer, no need for a plugin to get related posts, and integration with various social bookmarking networks.

Check out the live demo of Fliphoto Photoblog Theme at SimplyWP.net. Read up on the features and then hit the download link to get this theme for free.

What’s happening in the ‘sphere this week? Let’s have a look.

Teague Publishing‘s Derek Semmler starts us off with a call out to poets. He’s looking for submissions from all the poets on the Internet, putting together and publishing a compilation where all the proceeds will go directly to charity. Donate your words to a good cause.

Anny Chih had a revelation the other day. Despite thinking she’s Canadian, she discovered she’s really American. She was born in the United States, but never lived or worked there. Upon gaining this tidbit of knowledge, she must now figure out the taxation situation. Does she have to pay taxes in both countries?

Bob Buskirk runs a tech review site, so it only makes sense that he lives on the bleeding edge of technology. Check out how he is using the cloud to perform his daily duties. From Gmail for e-mail to Dropbox for file management, Bob really does live on the Internet.

Raul Pacheco-Vega continues on the technology trend by offering us his review of the HP TouchPad. This tablet might not be on the radar of folks who might otherwise focus on the iPad or an Android tablet, but that doesn’t mean that it should go unnoticed. HP’s webOS has a lot to offer!

John Biehler finishes off with more fantastic technology, but with more of an artistic spin. He lets us know what he’s learned after using a 3D printer for a few weeks. In his own words, “Yes, it’s as awesome as you think it is.” Check out his Colbert timelapse for a look at how it works.