Search-Powered Web Apps

After our release last night, we’re proud to introduce a super-cool integration that allows you to see blog comments in your search results. If you’re using JS-Kit, Intense Debate, or Disqus, you’ll now see something different when doing a Lijit search.

For example, if you do a search on Guy Kawasaki’s blog for Twitter, this is what you’ll get…

Underneath the search result, you’ll see how many comments the post received and when you click on the link, you’ll get a preview of the first couple of comments. There is also a “View more comments” link that will show you all the comments on the post.

Why is comment integration important?

–People that write and read blogs are always interested in what others have to say.  One of the most valuable pieces of any blog is the comments section because it’s an excellent indicator of reader engagement and shows the conversation taking place around a topic. Lijit understands that and with this integration, give you the ability to judge a search result by checking out the comments before you click on the result.

–The integration of comments into search results is an important step forward in the integration of widgets and the content that BOTH publishers and readers find valuable. Lijit is proud to offer a unique search experience that is not available anywhere else.

–Lijit was founded on the notion of trust.  We recognize the critical importance of your social network in establishing and conveying trust.  This is yet another example of how Lijit uncovers more valuable information for publishers, readers and commenters alike.

We are proud of this new feature and want to know what you think. Leave us a comment with your feedback and enjoy the enhanced search functionality!

Next weekend, I’m heading to Nashville for the Blissdom Conference and am most excited to be going. In addition to speaking on a panel about blogger outreach, I’ll also have the chance to meet lots of bloggers getting their bliss on. The conference has sold out and the list of activities is impressive. I took a quick look at the attendees and can’t wait to meet the following Lijit users in person…

Her Bad Mother
Complete Organizing Solutions
The Bean
Velveteen Mind
The Inspired Room
Successful Blog
Blissfully Domestic
DesignHER Momma
Alex Year Two

…not to mention having the opportunity to evangelize Lijit to many other bloggers. If you’re going to be at the conference, be sure to send me a note and let me know your t-shirt size. You know I’ll be packing some serious swag with me.

We’re honored to help spread the word about one of our favorite tech sites, Crenk. If it’s tech news you’re looking for, you’ll find it covered on this blog. Whether it’s product reviews, mobile apps, or something software-related, this blog has all the resources to guarantee that you’ll make an informed decision.

Steven, the founder of Crenk, was kind enough to write a post about using Lijit on his site, so it only makes sense that we return the favor. Plus, how can you not love a tech site that has a pink widget? I sent Steven some questions about his blogging experiences and I’m excited that he was game to answer them.

• How long have you been blogging and what made you start?

I have been blogging for a bit of a year now, since October 2007. I started blogging because I had a keen interest in startups and wanted to voice my opinions.

• What has been the greatest thing you’ve gotten from blogging?

Blogging has allowed me to actually talk about a topic I love and definitely helped me in learning how to express my thoughts correctly.

• Of all the posts you’ve written, what has been your favorite and why?

This is my favorite post because it actually has meaningful discussion in the comments.

• What are the top 3 tech tools that you love using and why?

Spotify (great for creating playlists and listening to in the office), Tweetdeck (it simplifies Twitter) and Filezilla (the best FTP program I have ever used).

• How has Lijit helped you as a blog publisher?

Lijit has simplified the search process for my blog. It allows me to easily add a great search tool and not have to worry about quality of search tool, plus allows me to focus on content.

In addition to the wonderful content he provides on his blog, Steven (using the Crenk name) is a poweruser on Twitter. You can follow him here and learn more about his blog here. Many thanks to Steven for helping us out with this interview and for using Lijit on his blog. We appreciate both!

Okay, okay, to start with…Jackie Jo isn’t really her name, but it is the sweet nickname that we gave her shortly after she started working here. (Blame our CEO.) It took Jacqueline a while to warm up to everyone, but once she did, she never looked back. Whether it’s never wearing socks in winter, sending IMs with many typos or pushing out emails to the entire company warning against the dangers of putting your hands in the M&M jar, she has made her mark here at Lijit. Especially when she represented us at the Blog World booth in Vegas…

Fortunately, when I told her I was resurrecting the “Get to Know Lijit” series, she was game to answer the usual five questions. Enjoy getting to know one of our Community Catalysts.

• What is your Lijit contribution?

I am on the reactive end of customer support. I work with potential and current Lijit users to ensure they’re happy with our search, in addition to helping acquire new publishers through biz development strategies.

• What is your least favorite word and why?

Frustrated…because I can’t seem to pronounce it and then I just become “frustrated”.

• What sound or noise do you love and why?

The sound of fireworks…it’s just spectacular.

• What profession, other than your own, would you like to attempt and why?

Relief aid worker because I’m passionate about helping others or owning my own bookstore because I love to read.

• Something you’re guilty of…

Spending money on Tory Burch shoes, eating red meat when I say I don’t, and sticking my hand in the M&M jar.

And just so you don’t think Jacqueline is all serious business, here’s an awesome image I captured outside of our office building when she just happened to match all of the construction that was taking place on our sidewalk. Notice her yellow shoes that blend right in with the caution tape.

If you’d like to get to know Jacqueline even better, feel free to follow her on twitter (JMalan) or check out her blog (A Cowgirl’s West). Big thanks to Jacqueline for making our office an even better place to work!

One of the aspects of my position at Lijit is that I get the opportunity to not only attend, but speak at various conferences. I have had the pleasure over the years to present Lijit and things we are working on or believe in at many various conferences.

Luckily, it is not just me. Todd Vernon our CEO, Walter Knapp our COO, as well as Tara Anderson, our Marketing Manager have all had the pleasure to speak at various conferences over the past year or so.

What I have learned is that one thing I really enjoy doing is speaking at conferences. I just spoke at WordCamp Las Vegas, and plan to speak at SXSW (in both cases about Filtering and Discovering Content and Online Influence). Here is a link to my WordCamp presentation.

I have also learned that its not easy to get speaking gigs. Not because people dont want me to speak, but mostly because I am unaware of the opportunities out there.

What I am hoping to do is ask our Lijit community for help:

1) What conferences do you think it would be interesting to have someone from Lijit speak? Recent topics include: Trusted Search, Social Search, Online Filtering and Content Discovery, Personal Branding, and my personal favorite Measuring Online Influence.

2) What conferences should we attend? I know we cant speak at every single one, but there are benefits to us attending various conferences and meeting Lijit users (both current and potential).

Of course, if you are interesting in having Lijit at your conference, drop me a line at micah [at] lijit [dot] com.

After all, trust me, I speak good.

Last night I was interviewed by BloggerSchool on BlogTalkRadio.

It was great to talk all about Lijit. We covered a lot in 30 minutes, which I will summerize here:

• Lijit’s history and Stan’s early concepts about trusted search and content discovery.
• We discussed Lijit’s functionality: search, re-search, our stats and our ad network.
• There was an interesting discussion around content discovery, influence and expertise.
• Revenue was a hot topic and I outlined our ad platform, which unlike other ad platforms, allows publishers to price and sell their own inventory (rather than having no idea as to the revenue they could generate.)
• The importance of having your blog be the center of your universe was another topic of discussion.

Rather than tell you what was said, take a listen!

While Tara was at Chicks Who Click ‘09, I was out in Las Vegas speaking at WordCamp Las Vegas (which occurred during CES, which Todd Vernon, our CEO attended).

Whew!

WordCamp Las Vegas was a wonderful event, where Wordpress users and developers get together to discuss all things Wordpress.

This WordCamp was a bit different in that there was also a good discussion around the business of blogging and social media.

The speaker list was quite the who’s who of social media. Chris Brogan (Lijit User), Liz Strauss (Lijit User), Warren Whitlock (Future Lijit User), Jim Turner (Lijit User), Jim Krukal (Lijit User) and Dave Taylor (Lijit User) all gave highly interesting and informative talks.

My presentation, You Are The Center of Your Universe can be found here.

Luckily, our host, John Hawkins captured it all on Ustream here.

It was great to hang out with Matt Mullenweg (who celebrated his 25th birthday) and the couple of hundred folks the came to the conference.

I am planning on speaking/attending about 4 other WordCamps this year, including Chicago, DC, San Francisco and Denver (I might head down to Dallas as well). Let me know if you are planning on attending a WordCamp and I will bring you a Lijit T-shirt!

This past Saturday, Lijit was proud to help sponsor the first-ever Chicks Who Click, a social media conference geared for women. More than fifty women (and a handful of men) gathered to talk about many different aspects of social media, including how to effectively use different tools to market your small business, how to create a consistent brand online, and how to balance your online activities with your offline life.

I was honored to speak on a panel titled “Your Social Media Toolbox”, with the amazing Wayne Sutton and the talented Lucretia Pruitt, both of whom know way more than I do and both of whom I’m sure will be installing Lijit any day now (wink, wink). Once I got going, I realized that I’ve really learned a lot in my two years at Lijit and with that in mind, there is still so much more to learn. Just over the course of our panel, I learned about some interesting new tools that look promising. I’ll be sure to share more details once I’ve tested them out myself.

It was lovely meeting so many different women, doing so many different things, that were able to come together to discuss something we all had in common. Whether it was a small business or a huge corporation, everyone seems to realize the importance of social media. The main challenges come from proving the value of it to those who don’t understand…ah yes, ROI.

Some of the businesses represented at the conference include:

The Wisdom Coach
Fresh Organic Office Delivery
BirdDog Press
Baby Candy
Little Alouette
Sama Baby
One2One Network
BumperTunes
Park City Mountain Resort
ZoomAlbum
Working Knowledge
Klein Buendel
Crocs
Embarq
Colorado Springs Health Partners
Beneficence
Synapse3Di
Local Matters

If I forgot someone, please let me know and I’ll be sure to add you to the list. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to talk to everyone!) Many thanks to the other sponsors, Kirtsy, Metzger, and Walmart and to the many women who shared their expertise. Chicks Who Click was a wonderful event and I’m looking forward to doing it again next year!

[Photo credit: Emily Lewin]

By gets, I mean made the unbelievable choice of asking me to speak. At a conference. In front of people.

The truth is, speaking on subjects that I am passionate about is something that I love to do, and I am excited that WordCamp Las Vegas has given me the opportunity to do that.

So what is WordCamp?

Well, as the name implies it is all about the WordPress blogging platform. At a WordCamp, you get to meet lots of WordPress developers and folks that use the platform for really interesting applications.

This year’s speaker line up is fantastic. There are some really heavyweights speaking, and my hope is that some of the bloggers that are currently at CES, will take the time to come visit WordCamp as CES winds down.

What am I speaking on?

Not Lijit. The beauty of WordCamp is that unlike trade shows, the focus is not on vendors or products, but rather users. This was never more clear than when I attended WordCamp SF last year and got to hear developers, theme designers and non-developers talk about all the awesome stuff they were doing. It really helped drive my blogging to a new level.

I decided to speak on a topic that has really been sitting in my brain for awhile. Expertise, Personal Branding and Influence. The title of the presentation (which I will put online) is called: You Are The Center of Your Universe.

Here is the concept (tell me if you think I’m an idiot):

As we create content online we develop our online identity, influence and expertise. Every Flickr photo, every blog post, every link on delicious is a small piece of a complete picture that other people are collecting to determine our influence and expertise. Therefore, it’s imperative that there is some central location where potential clients, friends, colleagues can discover one’s social content in order to truly understand one’s influence/expertise. This is the act of building a personal brand.

Make sense?

Obviously, the best place to create that location is one’s blog, and I will highlight some plugins and techniques to showcase one’s expertise and/or influence.

I’m excited, and I hope others find it interesting.

What do you think?

This is a guest post from one of the newest players to join our team, Perry Quinn. In addition to being our VP of Market Development, he’s also an avid skateboarder whose claim to fame is that he rode mountain bikes in Nepal with Dan Cortez on MTV Sports in the 90’s. Yep…he has the pictures to prove it.

I went through about a hundred thoughts (slight exaggeration) around what I wanted to write on the Lijit blog. I am not one of our stronger bloggers, but will definitely be kicking in hard in 2009.

I thought about “big to small company” stories…New Year’s resolutions…even began writing about “commitment to blogging.” All met with a not-swift-enough death.

Then I started thinking about what I truly liked about Lijit…and as cliche as it sounds, I realized it was the people. Straight up.

Keeping with this theme, I wanted to write a few words or a sentence about each person that works here. Not anything special or endearing, just the first thing that popped into my mind.

A list of Lijit folks and my random thoughts about them…

Todd Vernon–Rush, cars, being only children

Walter Knapp–I hope he does not get back in shape…will be too much pressure on me.

Micah Baldwin–Old soul. Indian food. “I did not say you are wrong…”

Dan Jones–I can’t have conversations with Dan…I have to use spell check just to get his title right…smartness beyond my grasp.

Leslie Osborne–She owns her own racing helmet (and shoes)!

Mike Meredith–Kicks serious tail on the bass.

Emmanuel Puentes–Daughters that thankfully look like their mother.

Dave Ferro–Has a rocking Bronco and ingests fair amounts of supplements.

Mark Chessler–Head of the OFG group.

Bill Marcum–My future cycling buddy…maybe running buddy too.

Derek Greentree–Became a Rock God on December 16th, 2008. The world, and Derek, are changed forever.

Ningsheng Liu–Is currently becoming a MySQL expert (whether he wants to or not)!

Mike Pritchard–Pip blushes when I use American words that have different meanings in the UK.

Charlie Wanek–I am scared to ride with Charlie…he breaks bike parts.

Doug Farmer–Lijit South–hope to get to know Doug better in 2009.

Jeff Kriese–Also Lijit South–also hope to get to know Jeff better in 2009.

Zach Conger–Quite possibly the most patient person at Lijit…at least with me.

Daniel Weiss–King of all things to be known (he is my answer man).

Ryan Peterson–I hope to learn every tea secret that Ryan knows.

Shawn Tanaka–Has a cool name…and works QA magic through even the toughest sicknesses.

Tara Anderson–Stand-up comedian, seventh grade teacher, evangelist, marketing queen…and she had to sit by me all day long!

Jacqueline Malan–Sockless J, the Tri-State Spelling Bee champion.

Grace Boyle–Fearless future life coach.

Colleen Clair–Knows about 4WD (and sports car) suspensions…more organized than anyone (yes, anyone) I have ever known.

Aditya Kaundinya–I vow to learn how to (properly) say Aditya’s name in 2009!

Julie Penner–Not last on the list on purpose…I am just jealous of her trip to Patagonia!

[Insert witty ending here.]