I Quit for LIJIT...

toad the bwet sprocket**

Okay, once you get past the name (not just of the post, but of the group...and I blush about both), you'll find a remarkable thing happening. Women talking about creating media, companies and opportunities for themselves. Whatever you want to call it, it's pretty amazing.

Gwen Bell started the group (boulder women engaging tech) about six months ago as a way for women working in the Boulder tech scene to meet one another and have some girl talk. And boy have we. Some weeks there are many women, some just a few. But I always look forward to going because I can vent, share, get feedback on projects and listen to other women who work in jobs where there aren't always a lot of other women. Whether it's eating my baked goods, playing Scrabble or discussing new tools, it's community in action, baby. (It's also a lot of Macs.)

This Saturday, bwet is doing it up. Yep, a big event to discuss women in tech. The Houston chapter (hwet?) is flying in to join us and we want to be sure to show them a good time. Starting at 9:30 am at The Cup (a sponsor...which means free coffee), lots of ladies will be meeting for some conversation and some good times. Did I mention interactive activities are planned?

I'm honored to be one of the "speakers" for the event, but saying that makes it feel like it's something I should be nervous about. It's going to be very chill (read that as I'm not preparing anything) and I'll mainly be talking about what I do with Lijit. One of my favorite Texans, Laura Mayes, of Kirtsy will be telling her story and you don't want to miss that. It's a doozie.

So there you have it. I'm excited to meet some new friends and get inspired. Because that's what happens when estrogen, caffeine and techy girl talk come together.

Do join us.


And big thanks to those local businesses that are helping to make this happen: Metzger and The Cup


**It was either this title or "slippery when bwet".

My first podcast**

**Okay, so it's not really my podcast, but it's definitely the first time I've ever taken part in a podcast.

I met Dave Moyer last year at CSIA when he came by the Lijit booth. As one of only a few younger people (and when I say younger, I mean still a teenager) in attendance, he caught my eye. It also helped that he was a blogger who actually understood what Lijit was doing and was super-easy to talk to.

Flash forward to this year when I noticed that Dave had uninstalled the Lijit search widget. (Gasp!) I reached out to him and he shared his concerns about wanting the widget to match his site better. After pointing him to some of our customization options, Dave sent me an email thanking me and asking if I was interested in being a guest on his podcast. After the initial fear of hearing my voice recorded (who doesn't hate that?), I decided that I really had nothing to lose. I am a community catalyst after all. So why not try out different some different ways of reaching out to the people?

Last week, Dave and one of his co-hosts, Beth interviewed me for their Wordpress podcast, smartly entitled, Wordcast. Both Dave and Beth were incredibly nice and very patient with me. As a newbie, of course, Skype crashed a few times. Dave was good enough to edit most of the technical difficulties out of the show, but if you're interested, he left one in for good measure. (And for the possible comic potential...)

To hear me talk about Lijit, you can find the podcast here. My interview starts at about the 17:45 mark and among other things, I discuss the Lijit Wordpress plug-in (where I give a shout-out to Daniel Weiss, who never believes that I say nice things about him), talk about the benefits of using Lijit, and of course, give Dave a hard time about not reinstalling the widget.

Big thanks to Dave and Beth for having me on the show, for (finally) pronouncing my name correctly, and for being such wonderful hosts!

Why you want a cool logo...

 

I was checking out my official time from the Bolder Boulder last week. Imagine my surprise when I found a picture of myself from the 2007 race greeting me. Sure, the main focus is on the cow, but how many people also saw the Lijit logo on my shirt?

My friend Seth, of Trek Light Gear, noticed me on the BB homepage and commented that he viewed running the race in a Lijit shirt as an "unconventional evangelist technique". What he failed to realize is that once you become an evangelist for something, you begin taking your work home with you by default. I love to run, so getting the chance to do so in a Lijit shirt was actually the perfect blending of my worlds. While I didn't score many publisher sign-ups over the course of the race, I did have lots of eyes on our logo and sometimes that can be half the battle.

When you have a logo that is designed well, it's easy to spark conversation. Lijit has been fortunate enough to sponsor a few different gatherings and it's always amazing to me how our logo looks among other logos. At Gnomedex last year, our logo was the same size as the others and yet stood out in such a defining way. It not only caught the eye, it refused to go unnoticed. There was a moment at SXSW this year, when I was hanging out in the BlogHaus and looked around to see Lijit stickers on the majority of laptops in the room. The sight made this evangelist's heart swell with pride. And I've lost count of how many designers have complimented me on Lijit's logo, telling me how much they like and appreciate it. I had nothing to do with the design but love hearing the positive feedback surrounding it.

Another good reason to have a well-designed logo is that people want your swag. Granted, people want free stuff anyway, but when you have a logo like ours, the demand is through the roof. It makes my job easier when people are sincerely stoked about getting a shirt. (Additionally, it doesn't hurt that our t-shirts are incredibly soft and comfy!) Stickers are in no way a ground-breaking marketing idea but it's pretty easy to see the return on that investment when you see your logo all over the place.

And of course, in my mind, the absolute best reason to have a cool logo is that it facilitates the process of wearing the logo every chance you get. When at conferences, I like to have a handful of stickers on me at all times so that I can tag anyone when the chance arises. Don't believe me? You never know when you might want to slap a sticker on an internet celebrity if the photo opportunity presents itself...

All of this is not to say that you MUST have a cool logo. However, when you're in the trenches, it doesn't hurt the cause.

Thanks to Ross Carlson for the sweet snowboard shot and to Bryce Widom for the awesome logo design. If you're interested in more of Bryce's work, check out the chalk drawings behind the bars of the Mountain Sun and Southern Sun. Yep...even more of his genius on display.

The story changes direction...

First of all, patient readers, I must apologize for my leave of absence from this blog. Neglecting this blog was never my intent and yet, it somehow happened. Let me attempt to explain.

After I returned home from my trip to NYC in early April, there was some talk about revamping the Lijit company blog and what that entailed. Up until that point, the "official" Lijit blog was something that we updated every now and again, with no real rhyme or reason. After much deliberation, it was decided that I should focus more on improving the Lijit blog. I think this was a good decision since it was beginning to feel like I was simply using this blog to shill for Lijit and that was never meant to be my purpose here.

If you want to read specifically about Lijit, check out The Second Click, the place where I share new features, spotlight our publishers, introduce new Lijit employees and discuss the general state of our industry. Please feel free to subscribe and add the Lijit blog to your feed reader.

But what about this space? What's going to happen here?

That is where you come in. I was thinking that I should attempt to get back to my tagline and start writing about my experiences in the startup world. In rethinking my blog's focus, I need your help. What do you want to see here?

Some of my ideas include:

• the lessons I've learned since first starting a year and a half ago
• inspirational people I've met along my journey
• my thoughts on community-building, PR, marketing, evangelism and the like
• what's it like being a woman in the tech startup scene
• examples of effective marketing and outreach

Send me an email or leave a comment and tell me what you think. I'm asking for it. And in return, I give you my word that I won't let another two months pass without an update.

And in the words of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg...

"I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better."

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.

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.)

 

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.