I Quit for LIJIT...

Some new Lijit BlogHer Business blogs...

The BlogHer Business conference consisted of information, smart women and lots of discussion around 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?

Nichelle is just one of the many wonderful women I met. Besides thanking her for the support and for understanding the value that Lijit offers, I simply can't wait to see what that girl has up her sleeve next.

    

Dev talk 101

Being that today is the start of the BlogHer Business Conference, I may not have much time to post anything. However, I planned for this sort of thing and asked Derek Greentree, one of our Senior Software Engineers, to do a guest post in my absence. (Of course, some teasing had to take place before this could actually happen, but what's new?) This will be the first in a series of posts that he writes about what exactly a developer does at Lijit. Enjoy the peek inside his mind and a big thank-you to him for doing this!

What users see when they come to Lijit is our website: it's where you interact with the service, maintain your account, introduce new sources of content into your Lijit world and your search results, and, most importantly, where you configure and pick up our wijit for installation onto your blog.

Of course, like any big application, there are lots of moving parts just under the surface that you don't see that keep what you do see running smoothly. For example, on your Lijit profile page, you'll see a nice display of your network, the things you've been searched about in a pretty tag cloud, and a few other goodies, like who includes you in their searches and how many times you've been searched.

Dig down into your stats page, and you'll see a lot more. Some of the benefits we want to provide to you when using our service are the tools you'll need to grow your online presence, and ultimately your readership and exposure. When Lijit helps you increase your readership, you in turn increase Lijit's exposure, which helps drive more stats to you, so that you can more efficiently increase your readership - and so on.

Now, keep in mind that we're maintaining those snapshots of networks, as well as detailed stats information, for many users. It's a lot of data to juggle and work with. And, the perennial problem with web applications traditionally is the "big cliff" - all but the most dedicated users will lose interest in clicking around your website if it takes what even feels like "too long". As soon as a user clicks, they're moving toward the edge of the cliff. Unless you serve them what they clicked very quickly, they'll fall off and go somewhere else - probably not where you want them to go. If you haven't already gotten them to create an account yet - for example, they're going through a signup flow - you've probably lost a user.

These are the sorts of problems that developer types like me think are fun.

Tagged by a Blogger Socialite...

This weekend, I'll be taking part in a large gathering of marketing bloggers in NYC. The event is called Blogger Social and I'm extremely excited to be participating. Not only am I going to be surrounded by the best minds in marketing, but I'll be able to engage them in conversation, ask questions and have many opportunities to learn.

I was tagged last week by Mark Goren, of Transmission Marketing, to tell the other attendees a little bit about myself. Since I've never been tagged before (and I'm probably the least-known of the group), I decided to take part in the 4x4 challenge. Thanks for thinking of me Mark and I hope this helps as a get-to-know-Tara primer.

4 jobs I've had:

• Starbuck's barista...This seems to be the new coming-of-age job. Once you've made coffee for other people, you'll either become a coffee snob (never leaving your house for a latte) or extremely empathetic towards those currently working as baristas (meaning that you are a big tipper and don't order the ridiculous drinks). I'm most definitely the latter.
• 7th grade Language Arts teacher...You have to be a little crazy to teach middle school.
• Tech support...I worked in a corporate call center, helping customers with web and phone conferencing issues. Most of the time it was a pop-up blocker or a fat-finger problem. Realized the importance of humor when dealing with angry customers.
• Pub manager...After this job, I learned that working with beer everyday isn't all it's cracked up to be. Realized the importance of humor when dealing with drunk customers.

4 places I've been that I absolutely loved:

• Barcelona, Spain...It was my first solo backpacking trip and at the age of 21, one of the best things I could have done for myself.
• John Muir Trail...Nothing like a 211-mile hike through the Sierra Nevada mountains, ending with a sunrise ascent of Mt. Whitney. (So this really constitutes many places, but I couldn't just pick one part of the trail!)
• Grand Gulch, Utah...My first time backpacking through canyons with primitive ruins. Amazing geology, history and energy.
• My bed...Seriously. Absolutely love it there.

4 music artists that I'm listening to now:

• Stars...This band was recommended by a Canadian friend and I can't wait to see them perform in Boulder at the end of April.
• LCD Soundsystem...These guys help me with my long-distance runs. I saw them open for Arcade Fire at Red Rocks last summer and it was one of the best live shows I've ever seen.
• Spoon...I haven't stopped listening since finding this band two years ago.
• These United States...A very recent discovery from a good friend who is promoting the band and got me on a few lists to see them perform at SXSW.

4 of my favorite foods:

• broccoli...doesn't matter how it's prepared or with what
• almonds...same deal as above
• blueberries...as often as possible
• dark chocolate...once again, the specifics aren't important

So there you have it. Not anything extremely deep or insightful but enough material to start a conversation, if you happen to find yourself in such a situation. I'm only tagging those people that I think will not respond because it will be that much funnier if they do...Leslie, Derek, Daniel and Walter, please feel free to prove me wrong and tell us a little more about yourselves.

(Also, just to be clear, you can pick any four topics that you like.)

BlogHer Business '08

Next week, I'll be speaking on a panel at the BlogHer Business Conference in New York City. The panel is part of the Social Media Outreach Best Practices track and the theme is centered around "Who you are, not what you do". I'm honored to be a part of the experience and, after an intriguing conference call the other day, cannot wait to meet the other panelists:

• Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, Chief Reputation Officer at Weber Shandwick
• Mary Clare Hunt, business developer for sustainable products
• Janet Eden-Harris, Umbria CEO and Boulder resident
• Elana Centor, a BlogHer contributing editor and moderator for our panel

We're going to be talking about a wide range of topics, including reputation management, how to measure outreach efforts and what it's like to be the public face of a company.

After my first BlogHer conference last summer, I knew that this group of women were ones I wanted to spend more time with and learn from. Fortunately, I'll be able to do both next week. Also, as my first time speaking in this sort of capacity, I'm excited to challenge myself and prove that I can hold my own.

If you're in the area (Midtown Manhattan, to be exact) or will be attending the conference, leave a comment, shoot me an email or come watch my panel. The conference is shaping up to be incredible and I owe a big thank-you to Elisa Camahort Page for giving me this chance!

Lijit Publisher Spotlight

As a community catalyst, I get asked frequently about what my job entails. In a nutshell, I'm here to make sure our current users are happy and to help acquire new users. The part of my job that I really love is the interaction I have with the publishers that use our wijit. I've been fortunate enough to meet a lot of Lijit publishers at conferences and trade shows, but there are many that I feel need some more Lijit loving. Therefore, I want to start spotlighting more of the fantastic bloggers that make up our Lijit community and thought this might be a good way to achieve that.

I'm starting with a very special Lijit publisher today...my mom.

She started blogging last April, about the same time she retired, and calls her blog Peace in Retirement.  In the pursuit of educating others, I thought I would ask her some questions about why she blogs and help in her mission to spread the word about social justice.

Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging because I've always loved to write and have always been a writer. When the chance to invade cyberspace came, it was a no brainer for me. [She also has a very patient daughter who helped her set up the blog and provides tech support on a regular basis.-Ed.]

What did you hope to accomplish with your blog?

My purpose for blogging is to start a dialogue about social justice issues. If we can become aware of injustice, and talk about it, then we can start taking action, and become voices to solve problems. We can join each other to form communities to stand up for justice. It's all about the community we create!

How has retirement played a part in your quest for social justice?

AH! Retirement is the freedom to have options, to make decisions about what to do with your time, your talent and your treasure. What a perfect place to be! As a public health nurse, I worked with social justice issues every day, on the front lines trying to find solutions for big-time problems clients had to live with.

Now I can look on a much broader level, not only locally, but nationally and globally. I can spend quality time learning about problems, discerning my response to them, and taking action to address them without having to go to work tomorrow at 8 am! I can even go to jail for a month to call awareness to a very important issue.

How has Lijit helped you and your blog?

If I had seen the word Lijit two years ago, I would have guessed it was the name of a newly-formed country in Eastern Europe! Now I know better. Thank God my daughter is employed by them because as a result, she is leading me into the 21st century fo communications and communities. It must be a huge endeavor for her, but after all, I am her mother!

Because of her exposure and through her, my exposure to Lijit, I have a blog that is a gathering place for ideas, expression and action. What is more important than that? My daughter can add another title to her growing resume: Seer, Advocate and Mentor to Old Folks! And that is what social justice is all about...

My mom was arrested last November for crossing a protest line onto a federal military base. She went on trial and was sentenced to 30 days in federal prison. Next week, she reports to SEATAC in Seattle to serve her time and like a good daughter, I've promised to update her blog for her.

(And just to legally cover Lijit's butt, let me state for the record that this blog post in no way represents the social or political views of any other Lijit employees. Especially with all the mom jokes we throw around the office.)

 

A sucker for the young evangelists...

Her name is Hala, she'll be three the end of this month and she put the sticker on her self. Being that her mom is the Queen of Spain, we're honored to have the princess of Spain as an up-and-coming Lijit evangelist.

 

SXSW Highlights...

Now that I've had a few days to catch up on sleep, I feel that I'm better able to write about the experience I just had in Austin at a little conference known as South by Southwest Interactive. Most people are familiar with the music and film portions of SXSW, but if you're a tech geek, then the Interactive portion of the conference is like Disneyland. But better because there's free booze everywhere. After some reflection, I present my favorite moments from South by (which is what all the cool kids call it):

• The Unicorn

He joined Andrew Hyde's panel about half way through and stole the show. Afterwards, the Unicorn was running around giving everyone high-fives. When I put my hand up in the air to receive, he refused to slap my hand. Ouch. Let me just say that getting dissed by a nonexistent, magical creature doesn't make it hurt any less.

• Bowling for Geeks

It's always fun bowling with your CEO but even better when you're talking trash and throwing strikes. Besides the neon balls, the best part of bowling was when the entire alley got Rick rolled by the guy playing the music videos. Only a bunch of geeks would truly appreciate that!

• Seeing Lijit publishers in action

Everywhere I looked at SXSW, I saw familiar names and URLs. Having the chance to thank users and speak with them firsthand about what they want from Lijit was priceless. I went to a session on building community and one of the speakers, Jake McKee, the Community Guy, was proudly wearing a Lijit t-shirt. Bestill my beating evangelistic heart!

• Blog Network Camp

Lijit was one of the sponsors for this event and there was a great turnout for it. I always get a kick watching Todd, our CEO, give a demo because it re-energizes me and makes me remember why I started working for the company in the first place. Mainly because he's very persuasive and we have a kick-ass search service. The response from the bloggers at the event was positive and we're looking forward to seeing how we can make network search even better!

• How to piss off a blogger

I attended this discussion on blogger relations and was pleased to find out that I don't do any of the things we listed as ways to piss off bloggers. I'm self-taught and it's taken me a year, but I feel that I'm finally in the position to lead one of these panels. As I've always said, if you treat a blogger like you'd like to be treated, you're probably doing the right thing. To read more about what we came up with, check out the post written by the session moderator.

• Hanging in da Bloghaus

This was the place to be to meet anyone who is anyone in the blogging world. Interviews were going on left and right, blog posts were frantically typed, free beer was consumed...and all with the energy and enthusiasm of a frat house. The Bloghaus is where I made the most connections, met the most Twitter friends and rubbed shoulders with the most A-listers. A very dangerous place for someone who freaks out around (very) minor celebrities!

• Cathedral of Junk

There was a Flickr meetup in South Austin in the backyard of a gentleman who has constructed a 20-foot high shrine completely out of junk. How could you say no to seeing that? It was awesome to meet some of the Flickr employees, hang with other geeky photo-types and get away from the convention center for a bit. Did I mention that you can climb the stairs in this temple of junk? And that the Austin City Council has been out to check it (at the request of some neighbors) and has found that the Cathedral of Junk meets all of the city's building codes?

• Learning more about the CEO

Trips like these allow me to see Todd dressed up as a pirate (for a panel he rocked, btw) and present me with the opportunity to learn that we have the same size feet. (No need to mention that I have humongous feet. It's common knowledge.) Good to know that if necessary, I will be able to fill the shoes of the CEO perfectly. Yarrrr....

• The people

Duh. Everywhere you went, there was potential for inspiration and connection. Something about the mellow Austin mood must have rubbed off, because I had no problem walking up to anyone (regardless of their page views) and starting a conversation. It was such an electric energy, matching avatars to faces and meeting new friends. You hear people say it all the time in the online world, but honestly, it really is all about the people. I'm just glad I got to experience it myself in a backdrop as cool as SXSW.

What about the parties, you ask? Well, they were good, but I didn't have my camera on me and I ended up shouting to be heard in those venues. The parties were indeed a good time (especially the one that we helped to sponsor!) but for someone who doesn't like staying out late, they just seemed to drain me of my mornings, my voice and my energy.

That's my wrap-up of what went down at SXSW. If you went, I'd love to hear the stories and pictures that you have to share. And if I promised you a t-shirt and didn't have the right size, shoot me an email and I'll be sure to amend that situation.

(Last photo courtesy of Gwen Bell)

A Lijit contest?

In case you need more motivation to install the Lijit search wijit on your blog (you mean besides the value we provide to both you and your readers?), one of our publishers has taken matters into her own hands and is running a contest.

Anne-Marie, a  mighty blog network on her own, writes and maintains many blogs including This Mama Cooks!, A Mama's Rant, My Readable Feast, and The Write Spot, among others. I met Anne-Marie last summer at the BlogHer conference in Chicago and then saw her again at the DIA baggage claim. After approaching her and saying hi while we were waiting for our bags, she probably thought I was crazy. (Hey, I did have on overdose of estrogen that weekend!) However, after some time and some convincing from a good neighbor of hers, Anne-Marie slowly started installing the Lijit wijit on all of her blogs. And what happened after that? Well, as most do, Anne-Marie fell in love with the Lijit wijit.

This brings us to the present, where Anne-Marie is giving away a bunch of sweet prizes to any blog publisher that installs the Lijit wijit and leaves a comment on Anne-Marie's post telling her about it. You can find more details about the contest here. Without giving away too much, there are some prizes that make me consider starting another blog just so I can install the wijit again and be eligible to win something. (Although there is probably some small print about employees of Lijit not being allowed to enter...)

You only have until Wednesday, March 5th to enter! Get on it and win something good for me, huh?

The kid's Lijit....

Normally, I post pictures of Lijit publishers wearing our shirts. While this guy may not be a blogger yet, I love kids and I love Lijit, so this was really a no-brainer. How can you not want to install our wijit after seeing that face?

Big thanks to the genuine Jim Turner, of One by One Media, for providing me with this picture and pimping out his son. We appreciate the support!
 

 

Get to know Lijit

Yippie! There's a new guy, his name is Dave and I happen to sit right next to him, meaning that I get the chance to hear his jokes and see what he's up to at any given moment. So far, I can report that he's funny, looks younger than his age, and can put together his own office furniture.

Or can he?

 

I explained to Dave that I was going to be profiling him and in his efforts to impress, he answered the interview questions faster than anyone before him. He must really know the way to win us over around here. Let's see what Dave has to say for himself...

1.  What is your Lijit contribution?

   

I draw boxes and arrows that represent the user experience for publishers and advertisers.

2.  What is your least favorite word and why?

   

Meeting: So little gets done, and so much time is wasted.  More can be accomplished by 2-3 people in 15 minutes, than 10 people can accomplish in an hour.

 

3.  What sound or noise do you love and why?

    Water hitting land.  It can be big waves on the beach, or small ripples hitting the lake shore, or a river hitting the banks, the constant variable is easy on the brain.

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

   

Professional fishing guide.  Anything that allows you to be outdoors 90% of the time has to be a good thing. 

 

5.  Something you're guilty of...
   
    Define guilt.

Now that we all know a little more about the "new guy", I thought I would link to his newly-formed blog, which promises to shed some more light on what Dave is all about. He only has three posts so far, but he has installed the Lijit wijit, which is proof of his intelligence.

Dave also had a little help when he first started here...he had previously worked with another Lijit wizard, Manny. I caught the two of them heading out to lunch and you can see that Manny can barely contain his enthusiasm...

 

No matter what Manny thinks, we're glad to have Dave around. He's proven himself to be a great neighbor so far and he has a fun last name (Ferro). Plus, it seems like he knows what he's doing. Even better. As long as he keeps laughing at my jokes, there shouldn't be any problems.