I don’t know about you, but I am really starting to look forward to Fridays even more these days! One reason is that the line up of web pros I get to feature in the Essential Tools series just keeps getting better and better!! This week we check in with Deb Ng, a social media consultant, professional blogger and owner of the number one online community for freelance writers, Freelance Writing Jobs. If you are looking for writers or a writing gig, her site is the best place to start.

According to Deb, she is technically challenged. Anything that makes her life easier, and that she can use without breaking her blog network is an essential tool, however, she can narrow it down to a few can’t live without apps and programs.

WordPress – As a blogger for hire Deb has worked with every platform imaginable; Blogger, Drupal, Moveable Type, and a few others. WordPress is quite simply the best. It’s customizable, has plugins for all occasions and is as user-friendly as they come. While she has had occasions where she hasn’t been able to implement a particular design or community feature on one of the other platforms, this has never happened with WordPress. If it hasn’t been done, it’s only a matter of time.

Google Calendar – Deb uses many of Google’s free tools like Gmail, Google Analytics, and Google Docs. She has been using Google Calendar as an editorial calendar for a year now and it hasn’t let her down yet. Because it’s web-based, she can access the calendar from anywhere and receive updates via email every morning. If you don’t take already take advantage of some of the free goodies from Google, may I recommend you do so?

Performancing Metrics and Google Analytics – A killer combination for any stats junkie, PMetrics and Google Analytics are the ultimate analytical tag team. PMetrics allows accurate real time analysis. In fact, you can see what any one user is doing at any particular time on your site. Using this platform, either by itself or with some backup from Google Analytics (which allows Deb to analyze her advertising stats and a few other details that PMetrics doesn’t cover) has resulted in an increase in traffic and revenue. The fee for pMetrics is $10 a month and it’s worth every penny.

Seesmic – As a Twitter junkie, Seesmic allows Deb to maximize her experience. She has columns set up to display Tweets from her friends, her own Tweets, @replys, direct messages and several search terms and hashtags that she finds useful for her blogging. Moreover, it allows her to post to Facebook and see what her Facebook friends are up to as well.

Skype – Skype enables Deb to keep in contact with my family, friends, clients, collaborators and the people who blog or handle technical stuff for my blog network. She rarely uses the calling feature, but always takes advantage of Instant Messaging. Unlike certain other Instant Messaging services that will remain nameless, Skype has never crashed her machine.

And, Deb has a Droid!! (I just got one, too – and I am so in love – but that is a post for another day)

Deb’s husband gave her the Droid Eris for Christmas so she can travel and leave the laptop at home now and then. Her Droid is an essential tool in itself because it allows her to stay in touch via Gmail, Text, Skype and more. Deb’s essential tools for the Droid are:

• WordPress to Go – While you can’t use it for heavy blogging because its hard to write a lot with two thumbs and a tiny keyboard, it’s terrific for adding simple bits of content.
• Seesmic for Droid – Totally rocks Deb’s Droid/Twitter experience. She doesn’t have as many tabs set up as her laptop version of Seesmic, but it still allows her to see everything at a glance.

Visit Deb and her community for freelance writers now and stop back next week for more essential tools for success, featuring Matt McWilliams, Affiliate Manager at Legacy Learning Systems. If you are interested in sharing your essential tools for business, drop me a line at cpolanosky [at] gmaildotcom.