I Quit for LIJIT...

Indie movies taking a tip from indie music

When your industry is out of the mainstream, why would you market in a mainstream way?

On today's sign-up report, I saw that a blog all about the making, and promoting, of an independent film was on there. The movie is called Not Forgotten and the blog is called Not Forgotten Movie. (Aptly named, I know.)

As a film major, I love independent films but know how hard it is for them to pick up widespread distribution. If they're lucky, they'll be shown in small theaters somewhere in L.A. or New York. If I'm lucky, I'll have the chance to catch the film on Netflix. However, with the advent of social media, indie films can increase their chances of hitting it big by connecting with audiences before the film even arrives in theaters.

When a film is made by a major studio, millions of dollars can go into promoting it. But with small films like Not Forgotten, the only chance they have at being shown nationwide is if the audiences express an interest for it. With free tools like blogs, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube, the producers of the movie can help spread the word at a much lower cost and prove that there is demand for the film to be shown.

In the case of Not Forgotten, in addition to a blog, they have a twitter account with almost 3600 followers. The producers promote the movie, interact with other film lovers on twitter, and give fans a glimpse at what it takes to actually get an independently-made movie into the theater. You can also watch videos of the movie's L.A. premiere and interviews with the stars on their YouTube channel. If all that weren't enough, Not Forgotten also has a Flickr account featuring still shots from the movie and promo pics of the stars.

Indie music has been doing this kind of online promotion successfully for years with a little service called MySpace. As much as I hate the obnoxious design of MySpace, I can see how the social network is useful for independent bands. You can get your music into the hands of people who want to hear it, build a fanbase and easily communicate tour dates. It's almost mandatory these days for an indie band to have their MySpace URL all over show flyers and concert announcements.

I expect to see more indie films doing what Not Forgotten has done with social media. Not only because the price of the marketing is in line with their budget, but because it gives me hope that some of these awesome movies might actually make it to Denver one day.

Names can be deceiving

Part of my daily morning routine is to check out the blogs who signed up with Lijit the day before. I love starting my day like this because you never know what kind of randomness you'll end up seeing. Sometimes it's a blog that impresses me with design or a blog in another language that leaves me confused. Like Gump was known to say about life, I say about our sign-up report..."you never know what you're going to get."

When I saw a URL with the words ear sucker in it this morning, I was intrigued to say the least. I'm not new to the slightly sexual sites, since we have quite a few that are using Lijit.* However, with this one, I had no idea what was going to greet me when I clicked on the link. Was my computer going to crash? Was I going to blush?

To my surprise (or is it disappointment?), Ear Sucker is a music blog. They feature information about upcoming tours, gossip about musicians, and must-see videos. I liked the content I saw on their blog, but honestly, they had me at their URL. With a name like that, you'd better not disappoint.

*Other Lijit publishers that have helped to increase my tolerance: Booted Up, Towleroad, and Christian Sings the Blues. Remember...you've been warned.

Chicks Who Click--Kansas City Style

Back in January, I was asked to take part in the first ever Chicks Who Click. It was a one-day conference happening a block from my office in downtown Boulder. I wrote about the event on the Lijit company blog and mentioned some of the many amazing women I met that day. It turned out to be a fantastic event and it was definitely a no-brainer for Lijit to be involved.

Flash forward two months. I receive an email from Denise, the mastermind behind the conference, telling me that Chicks Who Click is going on the road. And? They want me to join. A traveling road show of hands-on learning and the opportunity to meet even more cool chicks? Count me in. The tagline of the conference contains three of my favorite words starting with C...create, connect, & collaborate. (Fortunately, my other favorite word, chocolate, will also be available courtesy of Denise, who knows that everything is better with chocolate.)

In two weeks, I'll be heading to Kansas City to speak at the second Chicks Who Click. There are two main reasons I'm excited for this trip. First of all, the ladies are to die for. From Celeste Lindell, who I met at BlogHer 07, and Zena Weist, the pocket-sized social media nymph, to the Queen of them all, Erin Kotecki Vest, I can't wait to (re)connect with so many friends. And let's not forget that one of my writing heroes, Rita Arens, is going to be there as well. (I'm going to try not to salivate on her, but no promises, Rita.) Just like the first CWC, this conference will be chock full of inspiring women who will be sharing their knowledge and teaching me many things.

The second reason I'm excited? The food. I've never been to Kansas City but have heard many tales of the tempting BBQ to be found there. As a big fan of trying local cuisine, the above pic makes my mouth water. For those counting, that's the second reference to my saliva in this post, which might be a new record for me.

(And I almost forgot...I was recently interviewed for the Chicks who Click blog, and should you really not have anything better to do, you can check out my answers and see that I am really serious about this BBQ thing.)

If you're interested in attending this Chicks Who Click, you best get on it. Early-bird pricing ends today. Register here and leave a comment on this post to let me know that you're going. I guarantee* that it will be worth the time and money spent.

*This is not a legally binding guarantee, but a very truthful testimonial.

[photo credit: monkeysort ]

The Magic of Milestones

When I taught seventh graders, milestones were an important part of measuring a student's growth over the course of the school year. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the same holds true for gauging the success of a startup as well. (I promise that I will expound about other similarities between startups and seventh graders another time.)

During our first year, Todd was rather infamous for telling me, as often as he could, that wijit views were like air. The more wijit views we could get, the better our little startup would do. I started at Lijit towards the end of January in 2007 and, as you can see from the above graph, I actually had something of an impact on the numbers. The first milestone that we celebrated at Lijit took place on June 27th, when we first broke 100,000 daily wijit views.

Fast forward two years and here we are, celebrating another milestone...
 

That's right. On March 30th, Lijit broke the 4 million daily page view mark. Woot. We've come a long way from that day in June and it feels really good to know that, once again, I played a small part in making it happen. Milestones point the way towards where you're going and I can't wait to see what we accomplish next.

OMG...Liz Strauss knows my name...

When I first started working at Lijit, Stan James sent along a few sites that he thought would help me get started in "the space". The space being, of course, blogging and marketing a tech company. One of the blogs he sent me was that of the lovely Liz Strauss, creator of the highly-resourceful Successful Blog. With a name like that, how can you not learn something from her?

Over the years, I've kept Liz in my RSS reader, looking to her posts for writing inspiration and tips on how to be a better blogger. I finally had the chance to meet Liz at the Blissdom conference in early February, where I had the honor of speaking. Liz and I fell into an easy conversation and it was quite apparent that this woman simply drips knowledge. She likes to joke about her age, but all I could do was listen and soak up her wisdom.

Imagine my surprise when, a week after the conference, I was included in Liz's post about how to be a successful sponsor at a small conference. While I was taking part in sessions, talking to Lijit publishers, and meeting many new people, Liz was watching. She could tell, by my engagement with other conference attendees, that I was there not just to promote Lijit, but to learn. Along with John Andrews (he of Walmart fame), I was used as an example of sponsors that understand how to make a lasting impression. Here's the line that resonated most with me...

John and Tara were about building relationships with their customers — current and future.

I don't mean for this post to simply be a way to toot my own horn, although you can tell by the title that I am still in awe of the praise. It's just that when I go to conferences, it's not about being at the right party or name-dropping. For me, conferences provide an opportunity to have meaningful conversations, to learn from the people using Lijit on their blogs, to make new friends, and of course, to give away as many Lijit t-shirts as possible. :)

I've seen it all when it comes to sponsors. There are the people who act "too cool" to actually hang out with conference attendees and those who are so interested in promoting themselves, you almost forget what company they're representing. I like to think that the work I do at conferences is some of the most important that I can be doing for Lijit because, in this day and age, relationships do still matter.

Thanks again for the shout-out Liz. And for using Lijit on your blog.

How I love thee Boulder...

It's no surprise that I really enjoy where I live. Boulder is the number one search term on this blog (thank you Lijit stats) and I've posted before about how much I like this town. Even before I was chosen as a Boulder ambassador, I considered myself an outspoken evangelist for living here. So when my friend Elaine Ellis approached me about writing a post about why Boulder rocks for the Boulder.me project, it was a no-brainer. In true acrostic form, I present my ode to Boulder.

B is for beer. Seriously. We live in a microbrew heaven with more than 6 different local beers to enjoy. Granted I'm a former beer snob, but living in this town makes it easy to never drink crap beer. Not to mention that we always have fantastic sponsors for the different tech events!

 

O is for outdoor activities. There are so many to choose from, you have no excuse. Hiking, backpacking, skiing, running, ultimate frisbee and cycling are just some of my favorites and I can do them all, easily, because I live here. 

U is for unique weather. We live in an interesting meterological place, as my friend and favorite weatherman Josh Larson can attest. Both NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) are based here for a reason. Our winters are mild, the summers are warm, and the wind...well, let's just say when there is a wind "event", everyone knows it. 

L is for the laid-back lifestyle. My Denver friends joke about how Boulder people are in our own time zone...meaning that we're normally not rushed, often run late, and never get that dressed up for anything. All of this makes it extremely easy to take it easy.

D is for dining. Whether you're looking for organic, vegan or a good burger, Boulder has it all and does it well. I'm married to a foodie and it's made me realize how lucky we are to live in a place littered with other foodies because it means lots of good restaurants. And let's not forget Hosea, okay? If a Top Chef winner resides and works here, that's proof positive to me.

 
The Foodzie crew documenting lunch at Leaf.

E is for extreme dedication. Whether you're an athlete or an entrepreneur, there is always going to be someone faster, smarter or better than you. This may be true in any town, but here, the extreme dedication that people put into their passions is put on display daily. In my first triathlon, we had to write our age on the back of our calves. Nothing makes you want to work harder than getting passed by a seventy-year old...and knowing it. (My friend Andrew Hyde has a great post about this very topic.)

R is for real community. One of my 2008 resolutions was to get more involved in the Boulder tech scene. Fortunately, with so many events and so many welcoming smiles, that resolution was an easy one to accomplish. Whether it's meeting up for beers or events where we learn from each other, I've never felt as part of something as I do here in Boulder.

If you have any questions about living in Boulder, feel free to ask away! (And no, I won't be able to afford to buy a house here anytime soon...)

BioBeers and Startup Drinks happening tonight!

Okay, okay, so call me short notice Sally, but I wanted to be sure to help spread the word about a community event with promise. Or at the very least, with beer. Two of the local drinking groups with entrepreneurial problems, BioBeers and Boulder Startup Drinks, are joining forces tonight at the Foundry for a night of networking and commiseration. If you're interested, the festivities will start around 6:30ish.

Many of the attendees will actually be meeting up before heading to the bar to hear Jason Mendelson give a crash-course on raising venture capital at the Wolf Law building on the CU campus. To see more details about Jason's presentation, check out the Silicon Flatirons site for specifics.

Nerds + Geeks = BioBeers + Start-up Drinks

When: February 24th @ 6:30pm
Where: The Foundry, 1109 Walnut St. Boulder 80302

Also, just a quick note to prevent any awkward confusion--the drinking is happening at the The Foundry bar, not the VC firm. Although I guess that's one way to get your foot in the door.

Nashville bound

I'm heading out to Nashville today for the Blissdom Conference and am quite excited. So excited that I seem to have lost my sanity, hopefully just momentarily, and decided to share a video that has never seen the light of day. This was a fun little collaborative project that took place when some of the guys from the first TechStars group stopped by the old Lijit offices.

***Be warned that the video contains a lot of MC Hammer and white people dancing, so if you're sensitive to either of those things, it may not be in your best interest to watch it.***

However, if you want a good laugh, then have at it. You can thank me later. And for those ladies going to Blissdom who are stopping by to get a feel for what I'm bringing to the conference...yep, you guessed it...mad line-dancing skills.

2 Lijit 2 Quit from Tara Anderson on Vimeo.

Has it already been two years?

I guess you could say that I haven't been the new guy in quite some time. But today marks a most impressive milestone for anyone working within the startup sector...my two year anniversary of starting at Lijit. It's almost unbelievable in a way. Since joining Lijit as employee number seven, I've seen lots of changes happen. In that time, the number of people working for Lijit has almost quadrupled, we've received two rounds of funding, we've moved into a sweet office located in downtown Boulder, and we've launched new products.

In addition to Lijit's amazing growth, the lessons I've learned have been many...the importance of relationships, respect, authenticity, and community-building. I'm extremely grateful for the friends I've made and the places I've been able to travel while working for Lijit. And, if you had told me two years ago that I would one day have more blogs than I could maintain, I would have laughed at you. Now, I concentrate on Lijit's company blog, while leaving this one to fall by the wayside. (Sorry to all of my loyal readers!)

Far and away, the best thing that has come from the past two years is seeing the results of my hard work. I've been able to spread the word of Lijit, as a good evangelist should, and help to build the brand of the company from the ground up. We get many compliments about our customer service and I feel like I've been a major part in making that happen. Along the way, I've discovered that what I love about technology is what I love about life...learning new things, undertaking new challenges, and connecting with people.

While we're strolling down memory lane, I thought it would be entertaining to repost my very first blog entry, dated January 22, 2007...

Let it begin

 Today is my first day on the job. I was told that in order to get into a blogger's mind, I need to start a blog of my very own. So here goes. As a frequent reader of blogs, I know a bad blog when I see one. I'm not promising that mine will be good or funny or entertaining...at first. But as I learn, I plan on pimping out my blog and working hard to put out something of quality. Join me as I attempt to figure out this new medium, this new job (lijit.com), and how exactly a widget/wijit will rock my new world.

It's always good to remember where you came from...

and the people that helped get you to where you are today. Thanks to Todd, Leslie, and Stan for taking a chance on me! I can only hope the next two years are as awesome as the past two...

(Photo by Derek Greentree, taken a few months after I had started at Lijit. I was in my intense Post-it note stage, which replaced my "Oh my God...what exactly am I doing?" phase.)

6th Photo Meme

I'm going to start this meme post off with a disclaimer: I hate memes. In my almost two years of blogging, I've only been tagged one other time. While hesitant to take part in another, I was tagged by Grace, who works with me here at Lijit. This means that if I don't respond, I'll have to hear about it on an almost daily basis. Therefore, I'm participating, although begrudgingly. Bah humbug meme!

The 6th photo meme works like this:

• Go to sixth page of your Flickr account.
• Pick the sixth picture.
• Blog it.
• Tag six friends to join the meme.

Since I consider this my "work" blog, I thought it would be more appropriate to refer to the Lijit Flickr account for this meme. So here's the winning shot...

This picture is of Leslie and one of our Lijit publishers, Aaron, at the racetrack. I love this picture for so many different reasons, one of which is that I *rarely* see Leslie drink a beer and another being that you never know who you might run into at the racetrack. If you're interested, you can read an earlier post I wrote about the evangelism that occurs on the racetrack.


And now, I'm going to tag six other Lijit folk to join in the fun...

1. Todd (our fearless leader)
2. Aimee (a fantastic friend, photographer and Lijit publisher)
3. Daniel (I tagged him that first time too...)
4. The Communicatrix (because she was my first blog crush and you never know what will be in her Flickr photostream)
5. Caroline (a Lijit publisher I met at BlogHer '07 and one that I'll be seeing again in '09)
6. Derek (this should give him something to remember me by over the long holiday break)

Whew. So far, my average is one meme per year. Here's to hoping that doesn't increase in 2009!

And lastly, I hope you're happy Grace. Consider this an early Christmas gift since I didn't get you anything. ;)