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Whatever you do today, make sure you take a moment to think of all those who have put their lives in danger to protect our freedoms. All across the Lijit network, publishers were making their voices heard in posts commemorating Veteran’s Day. Here are just a few that I found…

• Bargain Briana has a post up today with a list of national businesses that are showing their appreciation to all veterans by running special deals or offering free giveaways.

• Like many people, the authors of Silicon Valley Moms Blog had family members that served in the military. Their Veteran’s Day post includes memories of those family members and a touching tribute to all those who have fought for our country.

• Our favorite tax blog, Don’t Mess with Taxes, shares a helpful list of military tax tips featuring valuable information about special tax considerations for those currently serving in the armed forces.

• The Moderate Voice, a hub for moderates, centrists and independents posted a very special cartoon in honor of our veterans today.

• Finally, for something a little different, Screen Rant names the movies that Veterans love…as reported by the veterans themselves.

From all of us here at Lijit and our over 11,000 publishers, we’d like to thank all the veterans. We wouldn’t be where we are without you.

We love hearing what our users have to say. (Especially when it’s good stuff.) One of our favorite blog wranglers, Anne-Marie, was easily convinced at Blog World to tell us why she likes Lijit. Take a look…

If you like what Anne-Marie had to say, be sure to check out her delicious blog, This Mama Cooks, her review blog This Mama Cooks Reviews or the advice she dispenses at The Write Spot or Mom Central Blogger University.

These are just a few of the places she’s blogging. (It makes me tired just to think of all that!) Additionally, you can follow her on Twitter–she’s adding value over there as well.

Many thanks to Anne-Marie for her continued support. With users like this, how can we not be excited about what we’re doing?

This was our third year having a booth at Blog World and it just keeps getting better for us. Instead of going on and on about what a great conference it was and how many times our company got mentioned in sessions or during keynotes, we thought pictures might do a better job of telling our story…

Our booth, along with the swag we were handing out, attracted quite the crowd. The  Purell was a big hit…either due to the fact that folks were shaking a lot of hands or that they agreed that Las Vegas was a dirty city.

But, one of the main reasons we go to Blog World is to be immersed in a world we love…that of blog publishers. Seeing their eyes light up when we explain and demo what we do is something that just can’t be described.

Not to mention all the opportunities we have for spreading our message to a larger audience…

However, probably our most favorite thing to do while at a show like Blog World is to thank our current users. Folks like the masterminds behind I Can Has Cheezburger, Neatorama, and WebUrbanist. And slapping a few stickers on cute mommybloggers doesn’t hurt the cause either. (Hi Extraordinary Mommy!)

A conference like Blog World takes a lot of energy. Not only is it a big show, but the fact that it takes place in Vegas makes it all the more tiring. To make sure we were up to the task, we made sure we had all of the essentials covered…

Thanks to everyone we met and to all those who told us how much they loved what we’re doing. Wear your Lijit shirts with pride and we hope to see you next year at Blog World 2010!

[Photo credits: Perry, Grace, Greg and http2007]

It’s that time of year again for the geeks and bloggers to arrive in masses and congregate in Sin City for Blog World.

Lijit is gearing up for our third year at the BlogWorld New Media Expo held October 15-17th at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

We will be setting up shop at our Lijit booth (#330 to be exact) equipped of course with our soft, Lijit t-shirts. Our crew will be ready to meet and talk all things wijit. If you’re a Lijit user, want to use Lijit or want some Purell to help clean up your search, then be sure to stop by our booth and say hello!

Don’t forget to catch some Lijit speakers, too! Greg Keller, Lijit’s VP of Product Development will be speaking at WordCamp Las Vegas in coordination with Blog World. At 3:00 PM on Friday, October 16th Greg will be speaking on: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Our Readers - A Study of Reader Profile Data. Micah Baldwin (former VP of Business Development for Lijit) will be speaking on a panel with our CEO, Todd Vernon at 11:30 AM on Saturday, October 17th on Measuring and Building Online Influence.

We look forward to meeting you and please feel free to e-mail Tara (tara at lijit dot com) or Grace (gboyle at lijit dot com) if you would like to set up a specific time to meet. For the latest Lijit news fresh from Blog World, follow us on Twitter (@Lijit) as we hold it down on the expo floor.

Lijit’ees present: Todd Vernon, Walter Knapp, Tara Anderson, Perry Quinn, Grace Boyle and Gregory Keller.

The last few days I was in New York at the OMMA Global Conference. The OMMA Conference gathers Ad Industry experts to discuss where online advertising has been and where it’s going. This year, the title was “The New Socialism” and talked about how social media is often the key to engagement between brands and audiences. Of course, we already knew that. Lijit is based on engaging your readers with your Brand through all the social connections you have. It was fun to see Madison Avenue coming to the same conclusion.

There were lots of good panels including one entitled “The Mommy Bloggers - What It’s Like When Marketers Really, Really Want You”. That panel featured a couple of Lijit publishers and many thought-provoking insights.

OMMA was very interesting to me because lately, we have been approached by some major brands to help them reach very specific audiences within our publisher base. When there’s a convergence between a publisher’s audience and a Brand, we offer the opportunity to the publisher. Sometimes these are specific Ads within a publisher’s search results page, sometimes these are display campaigns that we offer to our publishers for the content pages, and sometimes they are cool interactive applications that run on the publisher’s site.

Of course, we only offer these opportunities to our publishers if they have expressed an interest in monetizing their site with us. We respect that many publishers simply want to deliver a great experience for their readers and monetizing is not important. For those that are interested, major brands are looking for audiences like yours, and we talk with them every day.

If you’re a Lijit publisher and have not heard from us about a specific opportunity, it’s most likely that we haven’t found the right opportunity for you yet. If you are interested in hearing more, please send us a note. If not - no problem, we want to make sure we are the best solution in helping your readers effectively connect with your Brand!

Next month is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and around the country, many chapters of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure will be raising funds through the Race for the Cure. Since we love a good cause (and we all love the ladies), it only seemed right that we feature a blog that is out to educate folks about breast cancer and is working hard towards finding a cure.

The Denver branch of Susan G. Komen for the Cure is one of only two branches in the nation that even have a blog and since Colorado has one of the highest rates of breast cancer cases, the Denver Komen blog is an amazing resource. In addition to providing information about the upcoming Race for the Cure, the blog also seeks to share educational materials with young women and provide information about how Colorado is doing in treating breast cancer cases.

We’re fortunate that Michele Ostrander, the Executive Director of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Denver Affiliate, was able to take time out of her schedule to answer a few questions we had about the Komen blog. Read on to see how blogging has helped her non-profit…

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

We’re actually fairly new to blogging, as we just started about two months ago. But we’re only one of a handful of Affiliates to start blogging, and we are even blogging before National. We see this as an opportunity to reach a wider-range of women and keep in close touch with our breast cancer community. Comments give us instant feedback, and we’re excited to have this tool as another way to engage with our survivors, fundraisers, grantees and volunteers.

What has been the greatest benefit you’re received from blogging about the Komen cause?

We recently heard from one of our survivors who is in Stage IV, and the blog served as a great way for her to get in touch with us and give us needed feedback on the community. Now we’re going to feature her story and her feedback on the blog.

Can you tell us more about the Survivor Stories?

The women who have had breast cancer have incredible stories. Every time they gather at events, they have so many stories to tell and are so inspiring to each other. We hope that by hearing about each other’s triumphs and struggles, we’ll help everyone understand that they’re a little less alone than they thought they were previously. We’ve been able to feature a woman who creates jewelry in honor of her sister who passed away from breast cancer, a marathon runner, a mother of two and a mother of seven. Breast cancer affects one in seven women in Colorado, so it affects a lot of different women, each with a story to tell. Despite just blogging for a short time, we’ve already had people reaching out to get involved and tell their story.

As a non-profit, how does blogging fit in with your marketing and fundraising strategy?

The blog serves as a way to keep those already involved in the fight for cures for breast cancer, but also a way to get more people aware. Plus, with Komen Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure Denver, 75 percent of the money we raise each year stays local. The blog serves as an important way to feature and put a face to those that we’re helping. Plus, we love being able to spotlight the great grantees that are able to benefit from the money we raise each year.

We also hope to raise awareness for the Komen Denver Race for the Cure on October 4, 2009, and the Pink Tie Affair on November 7, 2009, which are our top two fundraisers for the year. We’re lucky to have an energetic and creative group of people helping us so we also have fundraisers to feature like Bat for the Cure, Cupcakes for the Cure, and Massage for the Cure throughout the year.

How has Lijit helped you to become a better blogger?

As we’re trying out new ways to keep in touch with our community, Lijit helps our members find what they’re looking for amongst all our new communication channels. Plus, it’s fun to see the top terms that people are searching for on our blog and knowing that Lijit helps our visitors find the information they need.

For more information about Komen Denver, check out their website for more information or follow them on Twitter. And by all means, use the Lijit search on their blog to find out how you can help raise money to find a cure for breast cancer.

This past weekend, Lijit was proud to be one of the sponsors for the ongoing Chicks Who Click conference series. San Jose, or to be more specific-downtown Palo Alto, was the setting for this installment of the (mostly) female gathering of those involved in social media and working in the tech industry.

There was a panel featuring Aubrey Sabala of Digg, Margaret Stewart of YouTube and Meagan Marks from Facebook. These three incredibly smart women talked about how they’ve trailblazed their way to fantastic careers by carving out roles for themselves that cater to their strengths. One of the key take-aways from this panel was the notion of “intelligent risk-taking” and that if an opportunity scares you, then it’s probably exactly what you need to be doing.

I spoke on a panel about being a woman involved with a tech startup. (There I am, in the middle, talking with my hands yet again.) Emily Olson of the delicious Foodzie and Suzanne Xie of the stylish Weardrobe joined me as we discussed the different challenges we’ve faced as being part of early-stage tech companies. Suzanne brought up the point that her background is in finance and coming from that kind of workplace, tech seems very open to women. Both Emily and I agreed that being female has helped with marketing our companies in both online and offline communities. A point that resonated with the audience is that if you’re going to have women users, it can be beneficial to have a female voice or face to assist with tech support or new customer outreach.

In case you haven’t experienced it, there really is a kind of magic that happens when you get a roomful of women (and a few men) together, talking about collaboration, connection and how tech can play an important part in building a business. Women of all ages shared stories of how they found jobs on Twitter, used Facebook to get the word out about their startup or formed relationships with major brands all because of their blog. It was an inspiring day, full of shared knowledge and newly-formed friendships. I’m grateful that Lijit was able to help make it happen.

I love going to conferences and listening. There is always a lot of conversation going on, in sessions and hallways, and I enjoy just shutting up. With so many inspiring bloggers in one place, there is much to be learned. A big part of our culture at Lijit is to listen to what our users have to say and I was honored to do just that in Chicago at BlogHer.

On quite a few occasions at the conference, someone in a group would ask about Lijit and before I was able to answer, a blogger standing nearby would jump in to explain why they were using Lijit. It really is enough to make a girl’s heart flutter. To see the hard work and evangelism that everyone at our company does on a daily basis come to life? Totally awesome.

Here are just some of the Lijit publishers that I ran into, ran alongside, stalked silently, watched on panels, asked for feedback and perhaps even danced with:

A Simple Walk
Deb on the Rocks
Marketing Roadmaps
Surrender, Dorothy
This Mama Cooks!
Inherent Passion
PHAT Mommy
Roni’s Weigh
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
Craftastrophe
OutdoorDogs
Jessica Gottlieb
SecondHand Tryptophan
Queen of Spain
Immoral Matriarch
Average Jane
The Plus Size Mommy
temporarily me dot com
FunnyBusiness
Her Bad Mother
CityMama
Sparkplugging
Mindful Momma
Uncommon Misconception
Scheiss Weekly
Piper of Love
Adria Richards
Jory Des Jardins
Diary of a Crazed Mommy
Assertagirl
Suburban Turmoil
Green and Clean Mom
Blonde’s I-View
Gifted Travel
Cutie Booty Cakes
Velveteen Mind
Kaiser Mommy
califmom
Mommy Needs Coffee
A Mommy Story
Everyday Goddess
Send Chocolate
Big Green Purse
Adventures in Babywearing
motherbumper
the weirdgirl
5 Minutes for Mom
Mommy Bits
No Sense of Time
Twofer Mom
POP! PR Jots
Talk It Up!
Lip-Sticking
The Busy Dad Blog
Adrienne’s House
Whiskey In My Sippy Cup
Miss Britt
The Diaper Diaries
Condo Blues

It’s taken me a while to get to this post, but only because it’s taken me a while to fully process and recover from the conference. I apologize that this post has turned into a long list of links, but it is a long list of links that makes me happy. Some of these publishers are women that I met at BlogHer in 2007 and they’re still using Lijit. When I compare this list with the one I put together after last year’s conference, it’s amazing to see the growth. I can only imagine what next year’s post will look like.

Thanks to everyone at BlogHer and I’ll see you ladies (and gents) in New York next summer!

UPDATE: Just as soon as I hit publish, I remember some lovely publishers I left out. Sorry.

[Mandatory note: If I somehow forgot to link to you, please leave a comment and I'll rectify that situation.]

We’ve decided it’s time for a mid-summer contest. Nothing complicated–we just want to hear your Lijit story. To reward your efforts, the best storyteller will win a Kindle and ALL submissions will get a super-comfy Lijit t-shirt.

What should you write about? Absolutely anything having to do with Lijit.

Your contest entry could be about how you found out about Lijit…

“I landed in Nashville for the BlissDom09 conference. It had been a REALLY long flight day for me. The last leg of my trip was out of Denver, and I picked up my luggage and searched for the hotel’s shuttle van…

We talked a bit and I learned that she was representing Lijit, one of the sponsors for the event! (Sorry, I didn’t have the sponsors memorized.) Her name was Tara and I was feeling lucky to have met her like that, one on one, ridin’ in the van…”

–From Carissa at GoodNCrazy

Or simply what you like best about our service…

“This isn’t even the coolest part of Lijit, though, IMHO.  Instead, in my mind, the most interesting feature is the “Research” feature.  After you’ve searched for a specific term or after you reach TOCWOC through a search engine, the Lijit widget shows a Research area which gives you other possible posts or pages from TOCWOC and from the entire Civil War blogosphere!”

–From Brett at TOCWOC

Of course, you could be like Louis Gray and write a post that explains our service better than we do…

“Google’s goal in life is to find the one right answer that is true for everyone. Search for iPhone, and you should get the same answer I do at the top of the results, blanketed by potentially relevant ads from the company’s partners. Lijit’s goal in life is to find the one answer that is most accurate, depending on where you are searching. Search for iPhone on my blog, and you will find the most relevant responses that come from my blog and my content from around the Web, including Flickr, Twitter, Delicious, YouTube and other social sites. Search for iPhone on Steven Hodson’s blog (also using Lijit), and you should get a different set of responses based on his activity.”

–From the blog of Louis Gray

Then, like Louis, you can turn your babies into little Lijit evangelists as well…

(But that’s not necessary to win the contest.)

To enter the contest:

• Simply post your Lijit story on your blog.
• Link back to us here.
• Leave a comment on this post with a link to your entry to insure we don’t miss your post.

You have thirty days and we will pick the winner with the help of everyone around our office. To answer potential questions, Lijit employees and their families are not eligible to win. (Lenora and Walter, I’m talking to you two!) Also, if you have posted something about Lijit in the past, feel free to republish your older post and we’ll consider it a valid entry.

In addition to the Kindle, you’ll also be featured on our blog, our homepage and receive our undying love & devotion.

Seems easy enough, right?  Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you come up with!

In case you were wondering where all the honey bees have gone…look no further.

According to eyewitness reports, the swarm “arrived in tight formation, surveyed the Rio Grande across the street, found it unsuitable and then proceeded to colonize our tree.”

The guy in the white shirt is Bill, a wonderful guy and Lijit employee who alerted us to the swarm’s presence yesterday. After others in the building caught wind of the news, a small crowd gathered to enjoy the spectacle of nature until some do-gooder beekeepers came by to collect the bees a little while later.

A final close-up shot of the swarm, so you can fully appreciate just how Lijit we can bee…

Many thanks to Zach Conger, our resident Systems Architect and honey of a guy for rushing out to document this extraordinary event.

And yes, this does constitute exciting around our workplace. No judging.