Lijit

From all of the turkeys here at the Lijit office…

We hope you have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

(Thanks for being such a good sport Daniel…)

As a small business in Boulder, we enjoy supporting others in the same space. Trek Light Gear is just one such company. It’s a wonderful hammock operation started by outdoor enthusiast Seth Haber. Now, just a few short years after he launched Trek Light Gear, Seth can boast of global sales and a very popular kiosk on the Pearl Street Mall.

As a small business in Boulder, we also appreciate the work-life balance that Trek Light Gear espouses. Trek Light Gear sells not just hammocks, but also loudly evangelizes the hammock lifestyle and the frequent use of said hammocks. (I’ll give you a minute to envision yourself laying in a hammock somewhere beautiful and relaxing.)

Now that you’re feeling groovy, read on to see what Seth has to say about Trek Light Gear’s company blog, Trek Life, and where he likes to hang his hammock.

How long have you been blogging and why did you start?

I started the Trek Life blog back in 2006. Even though blogging had been on my radar and I recognized it as a good idea for the business, I really just needed the inspiration to get it off the ground. Right around that time, I had a good friend named Bret who pitched the idea of taking a ‘Trek Light Road Trip’ around the US. The idea was to put the Trek Light name and logo on a big, blue van and drive it around to various campsites and National Parks, spreading the word about Trek Light while also doing some festivals and expos along the way to make some sales and fund the trip. Bret even managed to build a hammock stand that came directly off the top of the van so he could literally stop anywhere and have a hammock booth with inventory to sell! So right then and there I knew it was time to get a blog going so I could share the story and the pictures with our fans. Unfortunately, the van didn’t hold up as well as we had hoped so the trip wasn’t as long or as vast as we intended, but we got some great blog material and that got the ball rolling. On a side note, if anyone has the makings of a Trek Light mobile and ever wants to recreate the Trek Light Road Trip and pick up where Bret left off, let me know!

How does blogging fit in with your business plan and marketing strategy?

Without sound too cliched, I’ve always believed that Trek Light Gear is as much about lifestyle as it is about the products. When I hand you a hammock, I know that it’s going to have a positive impact on your life. Maybe it makes you spend more time outside, it may reduce your stress and help you to relax, or maybe it gives you the chance to spend more quality time with your friends or family.

Our Eco Totes also have a strong lifestyle attached to them. When you buy a reusable bag you’re saying, “I choose to do something that I know is better for the planet.” I never try to attract just one type of person to Trek Light Gear, because while our products may be great for an ultralight backpacker, a rock climber or even a hunter, they also appeal just as much to someone living in Manhattan who wants to live a greener lifestyle or just hang a hammock on their balcony.

The two biggest media exposures we’ve had so far have been Martha Stewart’s Body + Soul magazine and Penthouse, so that just goes to show how broad of an audience we’re appealing to with just a few products. Blogging is such a great extension of all of that because it gives me a chance to talk about anything and everything that might appeal to that broad audience and bring them all together. I certainly wish I blogged more and I wish people got engaged and commented more, but the community is growing and I know the Trek Life blog will continue to be an important part of my connection with everyone out there who lives the Trek Light lifestyle.

Where is your favorite place to hang a hammock? And why?

That’s a tough question so I’m going to have to give two answers. First, there’s an amazing feeling that comes when you setup a hammock in places that you’d never have expected to before owning a hammock that you can take anywhere with you. Whether it’s hanging between two cars and tailgating at a sporting event or music festival or sitting next to a waterfall on the side of a mountain, you get this feeling of bliss that’s hard to beat. You just know that you’re doing a good job at life when you’re chilling in a hammock somewhere you never would have expected. I’ve had plenty of people tell me that once they owned the hammock it was like seeing the world through a different set of eyes, everywhere they looked they’d find two points and know where they could hang a hammock!

All that being said, my other favorite place to hang a hammock is right at home. I’ve got a hammock setup on my balcony right now and it’s truly hard to beat that spot. I work from home so I can literally just walk out there anytime and grab five minutes in the hammock and I’ll come back in feeling like a million bucks. I waited until now to tell you, but I’m answering every one of these questions while laying in my hammock. WiFi and hammocks are a match made in heaven.

How has Lijit helped you to become a better blogger?

When I describe Lijit to people, I usually begin by saying that Lijit is awesome because it’s something that’s equally beneficial to me and to my readers at the same time. It’s a search tool that gives my audience access to the information they’re looking for but it’s also an analytics powerhouse that helps me be a better blogger. On my end, I’m able to quickly see what’s bringing people to my blog and then on top of that, what they’re searching for when they get there.

I wrote a post about cat hammocks over the summer and all of a sudden, I discovered that lots of people were coming to my blog because of the cat hammocks post. I never expected that and while I don’t plan on ever doing a blog series on cat hammocks, it was a clear indicator that writing very specific content can be a big traffic draw. While many of those visitors read just that one post and left, I had several people that explored my entire site and were clearly intrigued by what they saw.

But as I said, Lijit isn’t just about me, and that’s where the search feature comes in. The ability for my readers to search within my network’s content is huge. Well beyond my blog or my website, people are able to discover our content on Flickr, YouTube, etc. and getting people to discover your content is clearly why we blog and post content online. Lijit rocks and I know that the more I blog and the more I expand my online network, the more valuable of a tool it’s going to become.

Seth, we think you rock too and encourage everyone to give Trek Light Gear a look. The holidays are right around the corner, and if even just for yourself, hammocks are guaranteed to make killer gifts. You can read more about the hammock lifestyle on the Trek Life blog (if interested, you can see a guest post written by a certain someone, ahem), follow them on Twitter and be sure to make time in your busy end-of-year schedule for some crucial hammock time.

In what may be one of the least necessary holiday observations around, today marks International Men’s Day. To celebrate this very special day, we thought it only right to show off some of the best male-oriented sites we have in our network. Well, to celebrate, and to make sure the majority of our company knows how appreciative the women of the office are to have them around. (Is it obvious that I was in dire need of blog content?)

Kicking things off, we have the one of the most humorous and vintage mens’ site around…The Art of Manliness…

which provides guidance in areas ranging from Dress & Grooming to Health & Sports. Also, for those who are just starting out, the site features a whole section devoted entirely to living A Man’s Life and acquiring Manly Skills, including such essentials as how to be a hobo and how to exit a room like a man. I hope you’re taking notes, gentlemen. Or that the women in your life are planning on getting you The Art of Manliness book for Christmas.

For some, however, the true art of manliness can be found in fathers. On the daddy blog, Real Men Drive Minivans, PJ Mullen shares his adventures as a stay at home dad…

where he generously posts everything from his recipes (the butternut squash and apple bisque looks especially good) to his thoughts on fathering in a modern world. You can read even more about PJ and his blog in this publisher spotlight we posted earlier this year. Although smaller in number than their mommyblogging counterparts, daddybloggers the world over deserve nothing but respect. (And maybe their own conference?)

There is a newer site to the Lijit network that is devoted to providing just the basics for men. That site is called Guyism and their tagline really sums it up nicely…

because judging from that tagline, you’d think that Guyism would have posts about things like oxygen, water and shelter. But you’d be wrong. The site actually publishes helpful information like 7 ways to tell if your lady is absolutely crazy and many knowledge-filled posts about the importance of supermodels. Good to know that what guys really need is not always safe for work. (You’ve been warned.)

Because of the global scale of this holiday (it is International Men’s Day, after all), we would hate to leave out any men residing on different continents. Which brings us to…Ask a Frenchman…

…where important questions like Why French Women Do Not Ask Men Out? and Can you explain the Bourgeoisie? get answered. The publisher’s disclaimer may be one of the best parts of the blog. He is very clear in his intentions…

“As no less than the self-proclaimed world specialist on Frenchness and all things French, I will answer any question about anything you’ve always wanted to know and never dared to ask about France and the French.”

The author also wants you to know that there are a few questions he can’t answer…

“French men are individuals and as such have a mind of their own, they do not all think the same things, so no I cannot know what they think just because we share the same nationality.
-And no, I cannot read minds either.
-I’m not your bitch, neither a replacement for your ability to think by yourselves (or lack of thereof), so before asking me a question think twice about whether you can find the answer by yourselves, and about how stupid your question really is.”

And finally, what International Men’s Day honorary tribute would be complete without a shout-out to our gay brothers? No one does it better than Towleroad…

…which proudly proclaims itself as “a site with homosexual tendencies”. Whether you’re in the market for the latest news on gay marriage, gay pageants or gay celebrities, chances are this site has everything you need. Of course, if you’re simply looking for pictures of hot gay men, you’re adequately covered on that front as well.

From all of us here at Lijit, we wish all of you a very happy International Men’s Day!

<requiredsnarkyfemalecomment>Isn’t every day Men’s Day?</requiredsnarkyfemalecomment>

Our #CrushIt contest with Gary Vaynerchuk has come to an end. Before we announce the winners, we want to thank everyone who participated and signed up for Lijit. We like working with friends of Lijit, our community and giving back so if you have any feedback or additional ideas, send them our way. We’re all ears.

Without further ado. Drumroll please…

The five winners, picked at random are:

1. Programming Language FAQ (http://programminglanguagefaqs.blogspot.com/)
2. Over U (http://overu.typepad.com/overu/)
3. I Heart PGH (http://iheartpgh.com/)
4. E Books For You (http://www.freeebooks4you.co.cc/)
5. John Allsopp (http://blog.tropicalismo360.com/)

Each of the five bloggers listed, will receive an autographed copy (by the man himself) of Gary Vaynerchuk’s, Crush It.

Note: We will personally e-mail each winner for addresses so we can send you your copy of the book.

It’s been a while since we’ve profiled a Lijit employee. I’m blaming that on the fact that there only a precious few left that haven’t been interviewed yet AND it’s been a little crazy around these parts. But we’re back and very excited to introduce you to one of the feistiest** members of our Publisher Acquisition team…Erica Prather. Lijit is Erica’s first REAL job out of college (awwwww…how cute!) so she still has a lot of that school spirit that seems to wither the further from graduation you get. Here she is, showing off her Jayhawk pride…

Can you say Rock Chalk? She can…and loudly. But the thing about Erica is that she brings that same enthusiasm to everything else she does as well. See for yourself.

What is your Lijit contribution?

I work in business development, which means that I identify publishers that would benefit from the Lijit search. I maintain relationships with current publishers, help customize their widget and learn way too much about Heidi Montag Pratt while doing the aforementioned. I also act as Advertising Services Manager - meaning that I create ad tags, schedule ad campaigns and generally manage the affairs of our publishers when it comes to the ads served on their page.

What is your favorite word and why?

I appreciate the f*#% word for all of its versatile goodness - if you can name one emotion it doesn’t cover, let me know. But since my mom is reading this, I’ll have to say milquetoast, because it sounds like a cool Kellogg’s cereal, but it’s really describing a boring person.

What turns you off, emotionally, spiritually or creatively?

I’ll have to go with excessive materialism and a skewed perception of reality…I think that people tend to forget that they go to bed with a full belly and a roof over their heads every night. Even I struggle with it (don’t get me started on car troubles) - but realistically we deal with what I call ‘luxury’ problems on a daily basis. Losing your vacation home, your Porsche or your retirement because of a bad economy is really not a problem…I think we forget how truly blessed we are.

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

I just want to travel and get paid for it or just survive doing it. I don’t care if it’s cliche - I love everything about it: the accents, new smells, interesting foods, weird things people wear, funky music, other people’s traditions, it’s awesome. Should I start looking for a trust fund baby to marry?

Something you’re guilty of…

I think we all know that I hate sharing my food when ASKED to. You can borrow my clothes, shoes, earrings, even sleep in my bed, but touch my food and you are dead to me. Maybe it’s because as a kid, if you didn’t make it downstairs in time, you’d miss out on the muffins/cinnamon rolls/treats because I had two siblings (one being a garbage disposal brother). But excuses and psychological reasoning aside - I hate sharing my food unwillingly.

As you can tell from the above pictures and her profile answers, we can all safely say that Erica is far from being a milquetoast. She is spunky, a quick learner and always prepared with a punchline. In other words, she fits in around Lijit perfectly.

Especially with her love of the f*%# word. (Sorry Erica’s mom!)

**Yes, it really is a word.

“Crush it. Crush it real good.” (Sorry we had to).

As a startup we believe in passion and crushing it. It’s pretty obvious Gary Vaynerchuk has both in the can, which is why we’re teaming up.

Who: We’re hosting a contest with our friend, Gary Vaynerchuk - the man of hustle, Wine Library TV and the author of the recent book, Crush It.

What: We have five Crush It books, signed by Gary himself ready for you. You know you want to know how “Skills are cheap, passion is priceless.” Here’s all you need to do to be one of the lucky winners.

How: Choose one of these three options:

1. Never used Lijit? Sign up for Lijit’s custom search (we provide you with stats, too), add it to your blog or website, then add (http://crushitbook.com) to your Lijit network.
2. If you’re a current Lijit user just add (http://crushitbook.com) to your Lijit network.
3. If you’re a current Lijit user, get your friends to sign up and use Lijit’s custom search, while also adding (http://crushitbook.com) to their Lijit network.

For points 1 and 3, to sign up be sure to use this link so we can track and include you in the contest.*

Timeline: The contest starts now: October 23rd and lasts until November 6th.

To add (http://crushitbook.com) to your Lijit network: Sign in to your Lijit profile page and click on ‘Network’ at the top or the ‘Edit’ button next to your Network list.

Then, you’ll be on your network page…

At the end of the two weeks, we will pick (at random) five lucky winners who will be on their way to learning how to #crushit.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email Grace.

*You get one contest entry for each friend who signs up with Lijit. Remember, if you have lots of friends (good for you) but it also means you can enter more than once.

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]

Think about all those times you visit an unknown place. And I mean this in the analog world…e.g. a ‘real life’ place such as when as you walk into a new building and don’t know if you’re even in the right place, what floor you need to be on, etc etc. You have enough stress in your life, right?

Got the mental image? OK, hold on to it for a sec…

Now repeat that real life process I speak of above. You have your Google map printed and in hand, you generally have building location nailed. You walk in and…behold!…a concierge waiting to welcome you to the property and fundamentally telling you you’re in the right place and where to go and hopefully lots of other insightful information. Makes you feel are warm and fuzzy, right?

Ladies and gents: Welcome to the software equivalent of this example above, now available for your site:

The Lijit Welcome Wijit!

Let me give you a bit of a background on the Welcome Wijit. Frankly, it doesn’t deviate too far from the ‘real life’ example above!

Your content is extremely valuable to you and even more so to your loyal readers. Yet how many times have you done a search on a horizontal search platform like Bing, Google, Yahoo, Ask, etc and clicked on a link in the result set only to land on the page, not dive deeper into the content other than a 2 second eye scan and bail on it via back button to return to the search results and keep on searching. Admit it! What we’re attempting to do with Welcome Wijit is prevent this from easily happening to YOUR content. Fundamentally Welcome Wijit is about….

• Welcoming new readers to your site when they’ve linked in from somewhere else…e.g. a search engine, blogroll that includes your site, etc. They land on your property and they get a true ‘greeting’ to say thanks for stopping by!
• Better content discovery: Readers landing on your site for the first time will have an initial experience right off the bat of mining your content. What is old to you is all new to your new readers! Welcome Wijit will help them find it easily.
• Tools tools tools for your readers: The Welcome Wijit by design is about improved loyalty and return visits. The Wijit offers features to quickly add your feed to RSS readers, My Yahoo and iGoogle home pages to ensure they have you earmarked for return visits.
• Pre-selected search results: When a reader is searching the web for something and they stumble upon your site, Welcome Wijit knows that search term and will provide a pre-selected list of the top 3 relevant items fitting that search on your blog, within your content and throughout your network…given them a true ‘feel’ of the Lijit search experience.
• Advertising opportunities: We’re committed to doing what we can to make you more money! Similar to your Search Engine Results Page advertising, Welcome Wijit provides Google Ads to ensure more relevant ads are seen and clicked through by your readers.

So how does the Welcome Wijit Work? Let’s show ya!

Turning the Welcome Wijit On:

If you have the Lijit Search Wijit installed, Welcome Wijit is ready for use! You’ve got to turn ‘er on though first. You do this by visiting your Wijit management console and you’ll see a new tab for Welcome Wijit. By default Welcome Wijit is turned off. Simply check the ‘Show my readers the welcome wijit’ and you’re done. In addition, the Welcome Wijit management console provides you certain customization features and a preview of the wijit as you see here:

By default, the Welcome Wijit is set to appear above the post your reader is clicking in from via search engine, etc. The position of the Welcome Wijit can be set to be seen below the post, however:

How your readers interact with Welcome Wijit

You’re probably asking: “So how do my readers interact with Welcome Wijit?”. Easy! Assume that the reader has found your site through prototypical means…e.g. a search engine search, a link from someone’s blog roll, a link in an email, etc. The Welcome Wijit determines things like where your reader came from, what search terms if any were used to find your content, etc, before unveiling itself and providing the pre-selected content for your reader.

From a mechanical perspective, Welcome Wijit will invoke and appear within the content post region of your site. In cases where we can not automatically detect this, our team can work with you to ensure this fits to the place you need it to. Welcome Wijit automatically determines characteristics of your blog and assumes styling traits of your Lijit Wijit to inject itself into your site elegantly.

What are the main features of Welcome Wijit?

Let’s walk you through the UI. Note that the screen shot below is what is referred to as ‘expanded mode’, controlled by the reader to unveil more tools (and more of your content!)

1 Welcome Wijit will ensure we say hello to your reader from the place they came from. A Google search in the example above.

2 RSS Subscription feeds have been added to put them front and center. By design we want new readers to come back to your site time and again to enjoy the content your publish.

3 Your Network is key! Providing a link to traverse over to your Lijit user page so readers can see your network, popular search terms, etc is designed to help readers see your larger presence on the web.

4 Like RSS, we’ve added one-click tools to insert your site’s feed into iGoogle or My Yahoo gadgets so your readers can scope out your new prose first thing in the AM with their coffee.

5 The Lijit Search Field is front and center and designed to incentivize readers to search more of your content. It will be pre-loaded with the search term the reader was hunting for on their initial search when they found your site.

6 Pre-selected content based on the search term will be unveiled to ensure the reader will see the historical depth and richness of your content. What’s old to you is new to them! Let ‘em find it easy!

7 Thumbnail previews of the content items will help attract readers to see your content and visually parse its relevance. Plus it’s pretty cool.

8 Advertising like that on your Search engine Result Page are included on the Welcome Wijit in a slim and non-intrusive implementation. We’re about making you more money and advertising opportunities like this will help ensure this with better and more creative visibility to your readers.

So there you have it folks! The first release of the Lijit Welcome Wijit! The team is pushing to produce more tools for  you and your readers, dear publisher! Better discovery of your content, improved time on site as they see really what you have published all yield improved loyalty and more opportunities for you to make money and gain more exposure.

So go ahead and enable your Welcome Wijit! Start giving your readers that big ‘ol warm electronic hug when they enter your domain for the first time. Not unlike when your Grandma used to hug you when you visited. C’mon, you know you have a soft side….

Check out our FAQ if you want more info !

Little Ben Matson has been with our company for long enough now that we can easily make jokes at his expense. That’s always the true test, isn’t it? And fortunately for us, he can laugh at himself AND he has a blog designed to document his D&D adventures. Really…what more could we want from a co-worker?

Let’s not forget that Ben is an extraordinary team player who is willing to help out anyone at any time. Since he’s been at Lijit, he’s been put in many situations of extreme pressure and has passed all the stress tests with flying colors. Of course, he has yet to experience the famed Lijit Holiday Party. We’ll see how he does with that one. In the meantime, enjoy getting to know Ben. I can honestly say that the picture he provided me of his summer internship has to be one of the best of all time.

What is your Lijit contribution?

I am one of two Publisher Support Engineers at Lijit, and we do a variety of things around here. Whenever a blogger has a technical question, or runs into a problem with something, we work to provide the answers and solutions they’re looking for. Whenever we can’t handle an issue ourselves, we track down the people that can and make sure things get resolved properly. But my job is not just troubleshooting, I also get to trick-out the special accounts we create with a bunch of custom features for the different business development deals that go on around here. One of the things I really enjoy about my particular role at Lijit is seeing all the different ways our products get used, and all the neat things our company can do.

What is your least favorite word and why?

If I could remove any subset of words from the human vocabulary, it would be racial slurs. They are a bane on our advancement as intelligent and benevolent creatures, and generally come from a place of ignorance and hatred.

What is your favorite sound and why?

The ambiance of the natural world. When you can get away from all of the cars, all the humming electrical boxes, and all of the noise that society makes, you can hear what the world sounded like before the modern age. Admittedly, it is mostly just wind, but it can really have a profound effect on you if you let it. I also really like the sound of eggs cracking open.

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

Before joining Lijit I spent some time as an intern in an intergalactic mercenary syndicate with a focus on mounted dinosaur assault squads. They had their hands in everything from galactic warfare to spice smuggling, plus they had amazing dental benefits. Ultimately though, Lijit just made me a better offer.

Something you’re guilty of…

Living a total bachelor lifestyle. I very rarely cook for myself, or even buy groceries. I’m pretty sure the only things in my fridge right now are some shredded Parmesan cheese, half a jar of raspberry jam, and a couple beers. A few of the girls in the office have tried teaching me the ways of healthy and responsible food purchasing habits, but I have thus far proved untrainable.

Actually, Ben, speaking for many of the girls in the office, we think you’re highly trainable. Thanks for all you do, even when we continually bug you for tech support help. If you’re interested in learning more about Ben, follow him on Twitter, take a look at the outtakes from our photo shoot, or ask him if you can join him on the next quest to raid the Green Dragon’s lair. I’m sure he’ll let you play. He’s nice like that.

In the United States, we have a three-day weekend coming up in which we celebrate the struggles we’ve endured in our labor. We’ve been observing Labor Day in the U.S. since 1882 and it was something we borrowed from Canada–only to make it our own. Some view Labor Day as the end of summer, while for others, it means the beginning of the school year.

In case you don’t already have plans, may we suggest a few options gathered from our wide range of publishers?

You could try out a new hobby. Perhaps this is the weekend that you finally get around to pursuing that birding dream you’ve always had. If you need help, be sure to check out the Little Brown Job and use it as your blogging birding bible.

You could go shopping. Whether it’s for back-to-school or some of the newest fall fashions, a three-day weekend is the time to take advantage of the sales which will be all over. Two of our publishers, Bargain Hunting Moms and Vintage Indie, have the inside track on some special sales going on. Who doesn’t love a deal? Especially combined with a day off work?

You could cook something yummy. There are many people who celebrate this holiday with a backyard BBQ, and for those folks, La Jolla Mom provides a recipe for gourmet sliders, Cupcakes Take the Cake offers a recipe for sweet corn cupcakes, and The Perfect Pantry serves up ideas for everything in between. Whether in the kitchen or manning the grill, there is no excuse not to eat well this weekend.

You could go outside. (Crazy, I know.) A three-day weekend presents an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and spend some quality time with nature. If your preferred method of getting away from it all includes four wheels, then the German Car Blog might hold some interest for you. Like biking? Check out VeloNews for everything going on in the cycling world. And if you’re one of the crazy few that actually packs everything on your back, then the Backpacker blogs are more your bag.

You could use the holiday to challenge yourself. The Happiness Project shares twelve ways to create a happier workplace, if you’re looking to get a heads-up on the rest of your week. The Simple Dollar suggests trying new ways of doing things that will result in saving money. And Duct Tape Marketing is helping with a contest that asks online workers to redefine what it means to work in today’s workforce. The grand prize? Healthcare coverage for 2010. Whether you’re looking to be happier, richer or simply to have health care, Labor Day weekend is the perfect time to start on these goals.

Whatever you end up doing this three-day weekend, be sure to have fun and be safe. We’ll be back to laboring next week, making search an even better experience for everyone.