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Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash 5000**
Aug 22nd
by Tara Anderson in Company, Lijit publishers, events, fun
We are excited to be one of the sponsors for the upcoming Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash, taking place on Thursday, next week in downtown Denver. In addition to having the usual suspects gang of bloggers from the area, because of a certain little event that will be taking place at the same time (ahem, the DNC, cough, cough), there will be MANY more bloggers in attendance that night. The response from attendees has been overwhelming and it’s shaping up to be a bash to remember.
If you’re interested in joining us, you can find out more details and RSVP here.
And if you’re worried about missing Obama’s speech, don’t. The RMBB has reserved the only room in the bar with a TV.
Finally, if thinking about the parking in Denver stresses you out, don’t. (As in don’t even think of driving!) The organizers of the RMBB have put together a useful guide to help you navigate Denver’s public transport system.
We look forward to seeing you in the Mile High city and yes, there will be many comfy Lijit t-shirts at the party as well. So, whatever your political leanings, remember that this party is for the bloggers, by the bloggers, and booze has no party affiliations.
Big thanks to the organizers, Shannon and David, for making this happen and thinking of Lijit as a worthy sponsor. (Funny that they asked around the same time we got our recent funding…)
**The RMBB numbering scheme is as mysterious as the recent sightings of Sasquatch. Less hairy, but still unexplainable.
Tags: Denver, event, lijit, publishers, RMBB | View Comments
Yet another BlogHer wrap-up
Jul 23rd
by Tara Anderson in Company, Lijit publishers, employees, events, fun
Micah and I attended BlogHer this past weekend, held in San Francisco. This was my third BlogHer event and they’ve all been unique. With a thousand attendees, the BlogHer organizers did a fantastic job of logistically insuring there was an ample amount of activities scheduled in order to have lots of opportunities to meet other bloggers and learn from them. As a representative of Lijit, it was helpful knowing some bloggers going into the event. On top of that, Lijit was mentioned on two different panels as a useful tool for bloggers. (Yippie!) And to round out our good Lijit vibes, when I told people where I worked, I was greeted with looks of recognition.
From attending a session on why mommyblogging is a radical act (shhhh…it’s because women are telling the truth) to a session on how to pursue your passion, there were intelligent and dedicated bloggers all over. I know that some women were concerned with the high school/sorority aspect of the conference, but for me, it was all about thanking the publishers who are currently using Lijit and following up with those who have yet to install. Building relationships is a HUGE part of my job and BlogHer presents a wonderful space to do just that.
I would never have started blogging if it weren’t for taking a job with Lijit and I love that because we make a blogging tool, it’s a no-brainer for us to have a presence there. (I’m thinking that next year, we might even have to get a booth!) It’s amazing how being social, striking up conversations, and meeting people can take it right out of you. I never realize how hard I work at a conference until I come home, sleep-deprived and with a three-inch stack of business cards.
Micah wrote a post about his experiences as one of the few BlogHims in attendance, while I posted some personal highlights of the trip over here.
In order to share the link love, here are some of the blog publishers that I ran into at the conference who are currently using Lijit:
Schmutzie’s Milkmoney Or Not, Here I Come
califmom
Everyday Goddess
Greeblemonkey
electromute
Send Chocolate
Whiskey In My Sippy Cup
Dirt to Dish
PHAT Mommy
Average Jane
Pause
This Mama Cooks! On a Diet
Scheiss Weekly
Greek Tragedy
Table for Five
contentious
CityMama
Queen of Spain
Mommy Needs Coffee
SecondHand Karl
MOMocrats
A Mommy Story
POP! PR Jots
Her Media
And then, if that isn’t already a great list, we’ve also had some blog publishers sign up as a result of Lijit being at BlogHer. We’d like to welcome these new users…
bad mom
Elkit in Wonderland
Oh, The Joys
happykatie
Alex Year Two
Glossed Over
Moms In The Right
Thanks to all those who gave us great feedback and shared their thoughts about Lijit. We loved having the chance to listen to what you had to say and appreciate your continued support!
Tags: BlogHer08, conference, lijit, publishers | View Comments
I was going to entitle this post “When the Mouse Speaks…” but, by now, we all realize that Chris Brogan is no mouse.
Last week, a day before I left for BlogHer, I was at Techstars listening to the teams’ 45 day demos (quick analysis: 2-3 interesting ideas, no great presenters, a lot of work ahead in a short period of time). As I left to grab a quick dinner with the mentors and the teams, a direct message from Chris buzzed on my phone.
Thinking he was talking about the ads that appear in our search results, and that he had a valid question, I responded with:
To which Chris responded:
Confused, and thinking that the normal ads on our results pages were wonky on his site, I responded with:
(side note: not sure why all the DMs are marked as Chris. I hope you can follow the thread…)
And then a couple of hours later (closer to 1am MST), I got home to a message from Aaron Brazell that Chris had written a post on Lijit and ads, and I should check it out.
Exhausted after a long day, I clicked on the link, and as soon as I saw the picture on the left, smacked myself in the head.
“He was talking about Re-Search!” <SMACK>
Re-search is an interesting feature of Lijit, which about 3/4 of our users have turned on.
To digress a bit, there are four major features of Lijit that we feel help the publisher (and ultimately the reader). They are:
- The search itself. The ability to get a more focused and related search on a blog is of high value to both readers and publishers. For example, a search on my blog, Learn To Duck for “billie” (my dog’s name) will turn up posts, pictures and videos done by me AND people I trust. Which is a different tact than Google, where they attempt to index everything (we index only the things that are important to you), and we assume everything is trusted (Google assumes everything is spam).
- The popular search cloud. The inclusion of the search cloud seems to drive searches. How many searches? It seems to drive 3x-10x of the searches depending on placement and use. The more the readers use the search cloud, then the more publisher content they discover.
- Search statistics. While many publishers have Google Analytics, they have little insight into the search behavior of their readers. Lijit provides an easy way to to see a snapshot of the previous 30 days of search activity.
- Re-Search. Re-search is a box that opens up with your widget or across the top of your site (if you know what you are doing, I believe you can put it in different places) that takes the query just done on a search engine (the box only appears on the approximately 30% of visitors that come from search engines to our publishers) and does a “re-search” on your publication.
Sounds good right?
Except that Re-search only appears when a search is done from a search engine. How many publishers do a search on Google for their own publication and then click through to their site? Probably none.
So, when a publisher does that, they are (sometimes) surprised to see the Re-Search box. As Chris was.
So, rightfully so, Chris wrote a post. And the comments were quite interesting. some positive, some negative. Mack Collier, a social media expert, decided to uninstall and write a blog post about why he was (unfortunately) not going to reinstall.
Todd Vernon, who normally I try to keep away from commenting on posts, jumped into the fray as I left for BlogHer. He listened to what the commenters, and Chris were discussing, and about half way through the day, pulled together a group of folks at Lijit, and decided that 1) we need to do a better job of calling Re-Search out in our signup flow (making it a requirement in the new redesign), and 2) to turn off ads within the Re-Search box, given that according to our users, they are intrusive, and 3) make the ads part of a opt-in ad strategy.
At Lijit, we are in a constant state of learning.
We are trying things, and testing things, and breaking things and failing at things. What makes the process truly rewarding, is that our publishers join us in the process, and they let us know what they think about the things we are doing.
Sometimes our lessons come from the whisper of a mouse, and sometimes they come from the roar of a lion.
So, thank you Chris and Mack, your feedback is invaluable. After all, we will never be what we want to be if we dont stay in a constant state of learning.
Tags: ads in search, chris brogan, learning, lijit, mack collier, micah baldwin, publishers, Todd Vernon | View Comments
Jay is one of those Lijit publishers that has been with us from the beginning. With each new blog he starts, he installs our search application and continues to amuse us with his variety of antics. Besides his personal blog, Jay also writes about Denver’s finest dive bars on The BarDiver and about the worst that Netflix has to offer on Flix Flops. (Our own Derek Greentree helps Jay with the movie reviews occasionally.)
Jay was kind enough to answer a few questions and shed some light on his motivation for blogging. Enjoy getting to know Jay, better known to his Twitter posse as Skabber.
How long have you been blogging and what got you started?
I just looked back and found a post from October 24th, 2002. Before then I had a “personal web page” but I don’t think it was considered a blog. I started to blog because I got this new phone called a Sidekick that could send email and attach pictures. I thought it would be fun to write a script that would catch emails sent from the phone and post them to the web.
What is the greatest thing you’ve gotten from blogging?
Meeting people who have read my posts. It’s rare, but on a few occasions I have met someone and had them say, “Oh, I know you. I’ve read your post about…” It’s always shocking when I find out that there are really people out there who have read my posts.
What’s your favorite post ever?
This is really hard to answer. Aren’t posts like your children and you’re not supposed to play favorites?
I just finished a post about my experience building a fixed gear bicycle out of an old 10 speed. It was fun to be working on a tangible thing and be able to write about it. Most of my blog posts are about programming or software, so this was a new experience for me.
And since we’re not playing favorites, can I choose another? This was a post I wrote about an idea I had for the Django web framework. It got a great response and in less than a month was officially part of the project.
You’ve established an entire site devoted to Denver’s dive bars and the people who frequent them. What’s your favorite dive bar?
OK, so maybe we are playing favorites. This question is one of the reasons I created BarDiver.com. I wanted people to be able to let others know about their favorite bars and discover new ones. My favorite bar is The Whiskey Bar, a great corner bar 2 blocks from where I live. They have lots of whiskey, friendly bartenders, a relaxed atmosphere and a great location (for me). You can see the other bars I visited here.
How has Lijit helped you as a blog publisher?
I love the Lijit search wijit. It is so much better than using the default search feature that comes with most blogging platforms. It allows people to not only search for posts on one blog but through all of the content I have posted on all the other social sites that I use. Plus, as someone who has written my own blog software in the past, it saves me the trouble of coding the search feature. Another favorite of mine is the Re-Search feature. It’s so cool that people can come to my blog from a Google search and see a list of other posts relevant to what they searched.
We appreciate Jay’s support and the fact that he is our first drinking widget. Perhaps, after seeing pictures of Jay, you’re thinking that he seems awfully familiar. Well, if you’ve ever flipped through a SkyMall on a flight, then chances are you have seen Jay before. He is none other than the famous Slanket model extraordinaire. So, if you’ve ever been tempted to purchase a hands-free blanket while at 35,000 feet, remember to thank Jay for making it look so good.
Tags: Lijit publishers, profile | View Comments
A big part of what I love about working for Lijit is the tech startup community that we belong to here in Boulder. I may joke about having our investors in the same building, but it’s amazing how much support we receive from everyone in the area. Case in point: Kary and Gerhard Rivera
I met Kary at a local women in tech meetup and her husband at the second Boulder Startup Weekend. Besides just being awesome people, the two of them have teamed up to start their own venture, Fling it Girl, which is a cool way of sharing online finds. They understand the value of the Lijit search application and it was one of the first things they installed on their new blog.
After our meeting, I made sure to get them outfitted in Lijit shirts so that they could help out with our evangelism efforts. Seeing this picture made my heart flutter in appreciation. (Now that we have a Rockies picture and a Broncos picture, I’m wondering who’s going to step up and provide us with our next sporting Lijit shot.)
Big thanks to the Riveras for their support. With a community like we have here in the Silicon Mountain, it’s exciting to think just what they might accomplish with Fling it Girl.
[Full disclosure: I'm helping the Riveras out as a beta girl, testing their new site and providing feedback.]
Tags: evangelism, Lijit publishers | View Comments
In January, Orli Yakuel, one of the authors of the Go2Web2.0 blog wrote a post about the value she sees in Lijit. As someone who checks out a lot of web apps, Orli’s opinion and feedback meant a lot. I thought it might be interesting to hear more about her thoughts on blogging and what she’s learned from her experiences online. Fortunately, Orli was game enough to answer a few questions and I’m proud to put the spotlight on one of our Lijit publishers.
- How long have you been blogging and what made you start?
I’ve been blogging for 2 years now. When I first started my blog, I didn’t know if I was going to keep blogging but somehow, I did. I was always good with discovering interesting links and offering them to my friends, but I didn’t think I was good at explaining about those link’s essence. Well, I guess like in any other issue in life, practice made perfect…
My first blog post wasn’t actually a text post. It was a post with bunch of Web 2.0 services on it. My dream at that time was to create a web page that gathers all those wonderful Web 2.0 applications, but I didn’t have the skills to make such a page, so I added them onto one post. But I was lucky to have a friend (Eyal Shahar) that took my dream and made it fly, and now both of us are the co-founders of a pretty successful Web 2.0 directory. So basically, I can say that my dream to have a site made me start a blog. I was also inspired by TechCrunch blog, and since Mike is a good friend, he was very supportive and gave me the strength to carry on with blogging.
- What’s the greatest thing you’ve received from blogging?
The answer for that would have to be: exposure and recognition. If it wasn’t for my blog and site, there are lots of things I couldn’t imagine in my life that I am able to do. My entire life has been turned upside down from this blogging experience, and I’m very thankful for that. But I really have to say that I didn’t expect this, and for me, I’m still just a girl that likes to explore the Web and to get the word out to everyone who doesn’t have the time, or desire, to do that themselves.
- Of all the posts you’ve written, what has been your favorite?
That’s a tough question. OK, I can think of two right now:
The announcement on the launch of Go2web20 Directory
The post about web-based tools that you don’t need to sign-up for I REALLY worked hard on this one
- You write about Web 2.0 apps and services. What’s your favorite and/or the one you get the most use out of?
Since I really test lots of services, this list of favorites is changing every day. However, I do have some services that I’m currently using on a daily basis:
Google Docs – I can honestly say that I don’t use WORD or any other office software since I’ve started to use them.
Facebook – I guess I don’t need to explain why.
Twitter – Because if friends following you, it must be because you have something interesting to say. So for me, it’s one of the most real places on the web today.
Flickr – Using the service since May 2005, I think it will be very hard to move me from there (even if they close).
Blogger – What can I say, with all the problems that I had with this blogging platform, I stayed.
Bloglines – Because you need for at least one RSS reader…
Del.icio.us – My main search engine.
And these are only few from many that I’ve chosen to list.
- How has Lijit helped you as a blog publisher?
The reason I replaced the Google search engine with Lijit was the social results it gave while searching. I just love the way it not only searches my blog, it also searches my community as well. In this case, it is almost certain that people who search will get an answer to their need. Moreover, the stats that Lijit gives helps me to see what people are really interested in reading. Bottom-line, Lijit simply provides added value to bloggers.
Big thanks for Orli for her time, support and for understanding the value of Lijit. If you’re interested in finding out more about anything Web 2.0, make sure to check out her blog to get the full scoop!
BlogHer Business & New Lijit Publishers
Apr 7th
by Tara Anderson in Company, Lijit publishers, events
(This post was crossposted at I Quit for Lijit.)
The BlogHer Business conference consisted of information, smart women and lots of discussion surrounding marketing to bloggers. One of the (many) multi-talented people I met at the conference was Nichelle Stephens. We first started talking at the sk*rt meetup and then continued our conversation over the course of the next two days.
Besides being wicked smart, Nichelle is also busy. She maintains three blogs and is involved in many projects. In her spare time (??), she hosts a stand-up comedy show and offered to represent me if I should ever decide to schedule an East Coast tour. A mere eight hours after we finished talking, she had installed the Lijit wijit on two of her three blogs. (I told you she was smart!)
The first is Keeping Nickels, a blog about business, accounting and finance.With tax tips, business ideas and fun suggestions to improve your productivity, this blog is chock full o’ knowledge.
The second blog that Nichelle maintains is Ladies Who Launch. As the name suggests, this blog “provides content and community to help women start and expand their businesses and creative ventures”. Full of information for and about female entrepreneurs, you can’t help but be inspired after reading it. (Nichelle was very excited that Lijit came in pink!)
The third blog that Nichelle helps with is one of my favorites, Cupcakes Take The Cake. While she hasn’t installed Lijit on that one yet, once she does, you know I’ll be doing an indepth post about it. I mean, considering my ongoing love affair, could there be anything better than a Lijit cupcake blog?
