Who knew March has so much to offer? (Of course, if you’re currently in Austin taking part in SXSW, then none of this applies to you.)

But for those of us not geeking out over music, films & the internet in Texas, you might be interested in knowing that in the course of one week, the following events all occur…

• Daylight Savings time. Spring forward by setting your clocks ahead one hour before you go to sleep on March 13th. Enjoy losing that hour of sleep.

• Pi Day. As your mathematical sensibilities should tell you, March 14th is when this one takes place. Be sure to bake your favorite pie or simply thank your favorite mathematician. Better yet…you should bake your favorite mathematician a pie and think back fondly on your favorite math teacher.
• Ides of March. This is March 15th and you should review your Shakespeare to fully understand this one. Let’s just say that you should be wary of close friends stabbing you in the back on this day. Literally. Perhaps we should all pay more attention to soothsayers?

• March Madness. If college basketball is your thing, then March Madness is probably your version of heaven. Or close to it. The opening round begins March 16th and you should most definitely have your teams picked by then.
• St. Patrick’s Day. On March 17th, have your green on and shamrocks ready for this special day. Even if you’re not Irish, this holiday is one that encourages celebration by all. Besides, how often do you get the chance to drink green beer?
• House vote on Senate healthcare bill. The White House’s goal is to have the vote done on March 18th and while this one may not seem like the traditional type of celebration, if the bill passes, then we’re one step closer to health care reform. And what’s not to like about that?

Hopefully, something on that list catches your eye and causes you to celebrate…even just a little. Let us know in the comments what other fantastic March occurrences we forgot and help your fellow man to see the goodness that is March.

In addition to being a new blogger using Lijit, Megan is also the co-founder of a Denver production company that helps clients tell their stories more effectively with video. If you’re looking for some help in the video arena, be sure to check out Alpine Light Pictures or follow Megan on Twitter.

And to see an example of her work, take a look at the following video she made for a series about TechStars founders. The video speaks for itself.

Many thanks to Megan for her support and fantastic evangelism! If you see her around Denver, be sure to give her a high-five for us.

This month-long observance isn’t one of those made-up commemorations that simply exist to make people feel better about themselves, although some of you may argue otherwise. National Women’s History Month’s roots go back to March 8, 1857, when women from New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. Leave it to the textile workers to start a movement.

Some interesting facts, pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau about the state of womanhood…

155.8 million
The number of females in the United States as of Oct. 1, 2009. The number of males was 151.8 million.

82.8 million
Estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States.

29.4 million
Number of women 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more education in 2008, higher than the corresponding number for men (28.4 million).

Nearly 6.5 million
The number of women-owned businesses in 2002.

66%
Percentage of female citizens 18 and older who reported voting in the 2008 Presidential election.

59%
In 2008, the percentage of females 16 and older who participated in the labor force, representing about 72 million women.

64.5 million
Number of married women 18 and older (including those who were separated or had an absent spouse) in 2008.

3.1 million
Number of girls who participated in high school athletic programs in the 2007-08 school year. In the 1979-80 school year, only 1.75 million girls were members of a high school athletic team.

Many thanks to all of our female publishers, just a few of which are linked to in this post, for their support and for the bravery in telling their stories.

And, if you haven’t yet this month, be sure to think fondly about all the special women in your life and how they’re currently making history.

Fortunately, Golf Tip Reviews isn’t charging by the hour for the vast amount of golfing knowledge they provide–in fact, they’re just giving it away over on the blog! Also lucky for us, the Editor at GTR agreed to answer a few questions about how he got started creating one of the best golf blogs around. Tee up!

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

I have been blogging for about one year. I started because I wanted to help the Occasional Golfer elevate their game. I love golf, but play only about ten times per year, as the opportunity arises. So I am an Occasional Golfer. Despite this, I have a 12 handicap and break 80 once in a while. I have a solid game, built on fundamentals, that I trust on the course.

Sadly, most of my playing partners cannot say the same. We would all have more fun on the course if they could. They need simple, straightforward, and sticky tips that actually work under pressure. But such things are hard to find.

Most golf tips that people see are published in popular magazines, often with a professional golfer or teaching pro demonstrating the fine points. These tips are certainly valid, and useful to some people, but they tend to be a bit too technical and esoteric for Occasional Golfers. Plus, they are written in a slightly pedantic or academic way, without much edge or passion. Finally, the tips are often offered in isolation, rather than in an interconnected or holistic way. These things prevent the relevant tips from “sticking” with you on the course, which is where you need them.

Golf Tip Reviews attempts to close those gaps and elevate the game of the Occasional Golfers everywhere.

What is something interesting that you’ve discovered through blogging?

That the technology and tools for blogging evolve very quickly. That a site with a lot of bells and whistles is no good if it can’t be read in all browsers, or loads too slowly. And that most other bloggers are very generous people, willing to help out a newcomer.

I know it’s a hard question, but what is your favorite golf course to play and why?

My favorite course is Willinger’s in Northfield, MN, about 30 miles south of downtown Minneapolis. The setting is pristine, the course layout is challenging, the greens are immaculate, and the price is right - under $50 for 18 holes with a cart. I have played there a couple of times on business and always look forward to getting back.

What are some of your golfing tips for those of us just getting started with the game?

Most Occasional Golfers have a tendency to slice on full shots. Here’s how to cure it: If you warm up properly, aim your club correctly, take an athletic stance, start your backswing correctly, begin your downswing smoothly, keep your lag on the downswing, hit the ball with a descending blow, and have a balanced finish, you will hit powerful, accurate shots and avoid the dreaded slice. Sound simple? It is, actually. But you still need to practice!

How has Lijit helped to make you a better blog publisher?

I have found Lijit to be a stable and reliable addition to Golf Tip Reviews, and it definitely has boosted my pageviews per visit. The Lijit widget combines a lot of very handy things into a stylish and small package. With Lijit, my visitors can do a complete site search, look at what others have searched for, see the most popular search terms in tag cloud format, search my network of linked sites, and follow me across my various social networks. I recommend Lijit to all site owners.

We appreciate the continued support of GTR and encourage all those Master’s champions in the making to follow GTR on Twitter for 140-character doses of golfing goodness. Now that you have no reason for those high scores, we’ll see you on the links! Fore!

(And if we missed out on any golf lingo, feel free to add your own in the comments…)

]]> http://www.lijit.com/blog/2010/03/02/publisher-spotlight-golf-tip-reviews/feed/ http://www.lijit.com/blog/2010/03/02/publisher-spotlight-golf-tip-reviews/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lijit/GbIC/~3/eEUceMW-Dy4/ http://www.lijit.com/blog/2010/02/25/blogging-for-small-businesses/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:43:51 +0000 Tarable http://www.lijit.com/blog/?p=800 It’s something that I do for my job and something that I enjoy talking about with others. And apparently, after three years of doing it, it seems I am now in a position to share a little of what I’ve learned.

A couple of weeks ago, I was interviewed on this topic by Vanessa, the community manager at Partnerpedia. You can find the podcast here, if you’re interested in hearing me spout off about blogging and what everyone should consider before jumping into the blogosphere waters.

Then, if that wasn’t enough, I wrote a guest post for the BlogWorld blog about…you guessed it…the importance of small businesses blogging. I respond to the most frequently asked questions and objections that I hear when it comes to the topic of getting a business blog started.

(Also? If you’re on the fence about attending the BlogWorld conference, our company has been there the past three years and consider it one of the most important things we do.)

So, if you’re still wondering why your business needs a blog, between these two pieces, I have plenty of reasons. And only one of them rhymes with ‘boogle’.

So what can we do to ready ourselves, and our bank accounts, for the worst?

Simply put, start saving. Whether you’ve set up your online bank account to automatically take money out of checking and put it into savings or you’re putting cash away into a piggy bank, the most important step is the first.

Additionally, that first step can also be the most difficult. For some people, saving money is more about living a frugal lifestyle than putting away a set amount each month. If you can shave a couple of dollars here and there on grocery bills, paying off credit card debt suddenly seems like a much more possible goal to achieve.

Fortunately, we have quite a few Lijit publishers who are currently blogging about how they’re saving money.

Take advantage of the wisdom of this group (Saving with Shellie, The Deal Fanatic, Canada Mom Deals, Bargain Hunting Moms, My Frugal Lifestyle, Saving in Akron, In Good Cents, BargainBriana, and Frugal Femina) by checking out the thrifty advice they offer.

And feel free to take advantage of the fact that all of the above publishers are using Lijit search to find even more money-saving tips.

Happy saving and here’s to your retirement!

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by the sex-related Lijit searches on my blog, and not just because I’m a sex columnist who recently penned a book about sex.

It seems there’s no shortage of folks searching for sex on the Internet. I can only imagine the disappointment when they click on the link for “sexy boobs” and find themselves at my mom blog.

But with Valentine’s day this weekend, the search for sex is pretty timely. Whether you’re a mom, dad, or a parent of pets, the “sexy” can still be pretty elusive thanks to busy schedules, lack of sleep, and well, life in general.

So why not use February 14th as a catalyst for change? It doesn’t matter if your battery is dead and needs a jumpstart or you need to trade-in your old junker of a libido for a newer model. Instead of the overprices flower fest and cheesy card exchange, invest in something that will sustain you way after you’ve eaten that entire box of Whitman’s chocolates.

And then save your searches for something more important, like mysterious body ailments and politician sex tapes.

**GIVEAWAY RULES**

To win an autographed copy of Kristen’s book, just share your funniest (and/or sexiest) Lijit search term in the comments and Kristen will pick her favorite. We’ll be running this giveaway until February 18th, at which time a winner will be announced. Only Lijit users are welcome to enter. So if you’re not using Lijit, get on it.

For tips, tricks and a little libido butt-kicking, check out “The Mominatrix’s Guide to Sex”, Kristen Chase’s frank and funny new advice book. You can also read her bi-monthly sex column and listen to her weekly podcast “Morning Sex with the Mominatrix”. Or just search “Brad Pitt pubic hair”.

Enter SurveyGizmo. And yes, they are another company here in Boulder that we love.

Founded in 2006, SurveyGizmo emerged to fill a gap in the survey software market between high-priced market research software and online tools that did not include the required flexibility or features to conduct complex surveys. They quickly found their niche and have been growing ever since.

But how can SurveyGizmo help you as a blogger? Simply put, you can use their software to understand your audience further by gathering data about your readers with surveys, polls and forms.

SurveyGizmo can act as a dynamic contact form for your site. For example, this embedded contact form on the SurveyGizmo site is an example of a super easy way to collect detailed contact information that you might be interested in. If you notice, as you click on each radio button, you can see how the contact form changes to accomodate each request type, and generally helps SurveyGizmo users gather more useful information about the people visiting your site.

Also, bloggers can choose to poll their readers about what content they’d like to see more of, such as this example…

The best part of all is that SurveyGizmo gives you a free trial so that you can test out their software on your own. With a variety of different plans available, from the most basic to the enterprise and dedicated levels, there’s sure to be something there to suit your surveying needs. And, should you run into trouble, SurveyGizmo’s customer service and support are top-notch.

Check out what our friends at SurveyGizmo have to offer and let them help you to understand your readers better!

Crumple It Up has been creating amazing content designed to help motivate and encourage a healthy lifestyle. From their posts about corporate wellness to their suggestions of apps that can assist you in reaching your fitness goals, it’s obvious that Crumple It Up is on to something. We just wonder how a health insurance company went so long without having a blog.

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

Crumple It Up was established in November of 2008 as a way to showcase the projects and people of Humana’s Innovation Center. We’re a small part of a large organization focused on finding ways to make fun things healthy, and we wanted to establish a presence on the social web to make it easier for like-minded folks to connect with us.

What is the mission of Crumple It Up?

Humana’s vision is to become the most trusted name in health. Crumple It Up’s mission is to help the larger organization achieve that vision, sooner rather than later. We think that there are a lot of exciting things going on in the world of health.

Innovation, technology, and well-being (both personal and community) are all converging, and we want to be the resource people turn to for those things.

Blogging for a large health insurance company sounds intriguing. What are some of the challenges and benefits that you’ve found?

This sounds trite, but one of the benefits of being there - out where conversations are happening - is being there. It’s impossible to engage in a conversation if you’re not in the places conversations happen. And while we do blog at Crumple It Up, the site is really a hub that spokes out to where our content really lives - all over the social web. Incidentally, that’s one of the reasons that we are so pleased with Lijit’s ability to pull all of that together for our readers.

In terms of challenges, I think that ours are probably the same as everyone else’s…being interesting every day, for one thing! But having a blog has helped the rest of our company to realize what’s possible. Since we joined the “social web” in 2008, nine other Humana departments have now started using social media to make their work more effective. That makes it all worthwhile.

What are your recommendations for “health creation” in 2010?

Health isn’t just the absence of illness. Your psychological and emotional health is just as important as your physical health. That’s what’s so exciting about where we’re going. We’re all about finding ways to make fun healthy, and that can be either an individual or a group solution. Whether it’s riding a bike, or challenging your friends and family in a game that gets you moving, or connecting with people around something that interests you, the bottom line is that activity creates health - and health enables broader well-being.

How has Lijit helped to make you a better blog publisher?

We’re just beginning to tap into the power of Lijit with all of our social outposts, and the early results have been great. The search and analytics capabilities of Lijit have been extremely valuable in the content creation process, and it’s been really helpful to our readers to be able to tie our growing number of social properties, from around the company, together into a single, searchable place.

We love knowing that our search is helping people to become more active, if only in a very small way. And if health care is on your radar this year (and when isn’t it?), you should dig into all of the resources available at Crumple It Up. You can find and follow them on Twitter. Here’s to the success of Crumple It Up and to health creation all around!

Lijit Ad Tags are an easy to install option for displaying targeted ads on your website or blog. In this video I’ll show you how to do it.

We’re excited to congratulate her on not only the culmination of all of her hard (but happy) work but also? She’s number one on the New York Times bestseller list for Hardcover Advice books. Nice job Gretchen!

(And if that doesn’t help with her happiness, I don’t know what would!)

I’d like to think I helped Gretchen with her spot on the bestseller list because, as you can see above, I purchased my copy of the book this past weekend and can’t wait to dig in. And, although she may not mention us by name in the book, I’m confident that Lijit has only brought her, and her blog, much happiness.

If you’re looking for a little more happiness in your life (and who isn’t really?), I suggest you invest in Gretchen’s book as well.

Finally, if you’re looking for a quick fix, you can follow Gretchen on Twitter for bite-size morsels of happiness or check out her blog and use her Lijit search to find out even more of what you’re seeking. We love celebrating with our publishers and thank Gretchen for her Lijit support!

Our dreams have come true because Greg is now Lijit’s VP of Product Management and regularly rocks our world (or at least our office) with his passion, enthusiasm and spot-on impressions. When he’s not racing bikes, talking bikes or watching bike races, he leads the Product team with his vision for what Lijit should be. Read on for his answers to the usual questions…

What is your Lijit contribution?

Bomb hair. Or so my kids call it. Ha! But seriously, I think a lot of the core thing I may have contributed to the company over the last 5 months or so is to start a cultural shift in thinking categorically about the ‘products’ (plural) the company has put/is putting forth to the market and more importantly, helping to elevate the understanding of them by the now multiple constituencies we serve (publishers and advertisers primarily). We’re right at this exciting point of the company’s evolution. The work we’ve done in introducing ’social search’ to bloggers in a meaningful and impactful way has proven itself and that won’t stop.

Now, what we’ve learned by capturing and analyzing data about the reader audiences and their intent (e.g. search patterns) has led us to sit on one of the largest datasets in the industry. This information can help us assist brands with better precision in matching their campaigns with the right readers through our advertising services. Elevating this understanding vis-a-vis the products we prioritize and release and the marketing surrounding them are core to the group I’m establishing here at Lijit.

What is your favorite word and why?

Freedom. My wife consistently reminds me that ‘my cage door is open…’ This means so much to me and allows me to think without constraints or fear. It’s an abstract term really, but freedom strips away so much ’static’ life can throw at you when you focus on it and know you truly have it. I should probably  tattoo that in reverse across my forehead so I can remind myself of that fact when I look in the mirror every morning. You have to remind yourself of this occasionally is my point or have a wife like I do that knows when to slap me up the back side of my head to reinforce it.

What turns you off, emotionally, spiritually or creatively and why?

Deceit. Subversive agendas make me sort of insane. I say exactly what I mean and mean no harm at any time. I’ve seen deceit blow up great marriages, see friends diverge after years of friendship and businesses suffer when deceit enters the equation. Not so fun. Moving to Boulder was an amazing journey on precluding a lot of the deceitful knob-heads I knew in the past. This town and its people generally wear their hearts on their sleeves. I like that. No, love that.

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

I’d run a cycling team. I love making cyclists feel invincible and get them to achieve higher levels…all by believing they can do it. That is an indescribable feeling. Teaching clinics, seeing progress and re-enforcing how the athlete is going to crush it.

Something you’re guilty of…

Obsessing over Dutch-made cycling tires. That, or maybe my all-white Joe-Namath-style Italian cycling shoes. Either of those put me in a camp of obsessive compulsive ‘consumers’ not unlike Sarah Jessica Parker and her shoe fetish. But I can’t live without them. And now I digress…

If you haven’t checked out his blog and you’re into Cyclocross, you’re missing out. He’s also on Twitter, where he is a source of all things bicycle-related. Greg has been a fantastic addition to the Lijit team and we can’t wait to see what else he has up his cute spandex biking sleeves. And when in doubt, hup hup, buttercup!

My point on the panel was this:

There is no such thing as real time search.

Ooooh. “Controversial.” (Yeah, right). Truthfully, I wanted to make it clear that I felt the industry was getting all caught up in a scrum over a term and nothing was really being understood about the “situation”. And the situation is what needs to be understood fundamentally so we can effectively act on it.

I think about it all in this way…

In the days before “user generated content”, life was good. It was simple. The web was a collection of sites with content growing quickly, but consistently and all in a fairly familiar structure (think HTML, image files and text primarily). Moreover, the path to ‘discover’ these sites was perfectly tuned to progressive search algorithms of the time like Google’s Page Rank. Content ‘consumption’ amounted to ‘surfing’ the web on your terms and leveraging search results to isolate items of interest to view and ‘book mark’.

Fast forward to the mid ‘00’s and the era of blogging took off simultaneously with other user-generated forms of content such as videos, photos, etc…all utilizing growing trends to quickly share and syndicate for others to consume. The USB cable and ‘embed’ code changed it all. Faster uploads. Faster syndication. But alas, we were happy to watch idiots do stupid human tricks on YouTube. Content ‘consumption’ at this period revolved around the ‘RSS feed’ and aggregators helped us evolve past the ‘bookmark’ as it simply couldn’t effectively scale. Literally, bookmark features on browsers required search portals to find ‘that old bookmark’!

Now fast forward to today. Everyone is an author. Those that never hit the blogging bandwagon are now provided the weaponry to transcend from one side of the monitor’s glass to the other…from reader to author. The age of ‘micro blogging’ has come in strong and provided an ability to broadcast your ‘status’ to your trusted group of friends that you just sneezed, OMG! WTF! and every hashtag-driven commentary we can manufacture in 140 characters. Content consumption now is just….well it’s just too much as it comes too fast.

So back to my point of ‘there is no such thing as real time search’:

Content is content. I don’t care what form it is (text, video, photo, et al) or by whom it is created. Content is merely DATA. It is how this data is sourced, consumed and synthesized (and at what frequency) by the reader that it can have the hope of becoming relevant INFORMATION to the reader. And therein lies the major problem. The most problematic of all of this is the escalation in data being generated….the majority now of which is 140 characters of garbage.

I personally believe what is meant by marketers who invented the term ‘real time search’ is simply “the ability to search for and aggregate content spilling out of user-generated tools” (primarily twitter). In my view, you are either searching with intent to source content….or being notified in real time of ‘events’ through other forms of content(e.g. tweets, etc). The gross volume of data now requires that people REALLY do a rethink about their social graph…e.g. not being so impulsed to hit the ‘Friend’ button every time and prune those that aren’t true analog friends.

That level of restraint aside (we must assume people will be people and measure their importance by how ‘long’ their follower list is…), tools to synthesize data into information must evolve…and evolve quickly. Search systems need to embrace aspects such as scanning a trusted social graph first (like Lijit and now Google Social Search Beta as a feature of Google Search) before opening up the query to the web (and non trusted sources). Real time notification systems should take a page out of the chapter of financial institutions who have been required to synthesize minute bits of data (trades) on sub-second intervals. A re-think of this being in the browser or as a traditional thick client tool on your non-mobile devices also needs careful examination to ensure the best productivity in consuming the data without friction to your work flow.

OK, rant done. Time to tweet this article.

Food Loves Writing shares the recipe for the best cookies she eats, which also happen to be oatmeal chocolate-chip. If the picture doesn’t do it for you, take into consideration that she bakes a lot of cookies…and these are the best she eats. That says a lot about oatmeal. And these cookies.

Perhaps you’re in the mood for a cookie and for oatmeal, but you want something that might be a *bit* healthier than the cookie pictured above. EcoSalon has a yummy recipe for Oatmeal Harvest cookies, which substitute dried fruit for chocolate chips. So maybe you feel a little less guilty eating ten of them?

Then, there’s the Brown Eyed Baker, who eats oatmeal in the mornings, but enjoys it in a different form. She has a delicious-looking recipe for Maple-Oatmeal Scones. Although not as healthy as a bowl of oatmeal, they seem to be much shinier. And quite possibly tastier.

If you’re in Chicago, one of our publishers highly recommends going to the Protein Bar, a healthy cafe where you can get a bowl of oatmeal that tastes like a pancake. But much better for you. In my opinion, this is one Foodie Wannabe that dishes out good recommendations.

Joining in on the oatmeal party is another of our publishers, Whisk, who proudly shares an old family recipe with an awesome name…the Rickety Uncles. Seriously. But judging from the picture, these are probably much tastier than anyone’s real rickety uncles. I’m guessing.

If you’re looking to go a completely different direction in celebrating this fine food, one of our local Colorado publishers, Crunchy Domestic Goddess, has a very interesting idea: oatmeal burgers. She says that they’re a great alternative to veggie burgers and since I’ve met her in real life, I’m thinking she’s not totally crazy when she claims such things. Plus, she makes them look good.

Perhaps healthy isn’t what you’re looking for with your oatmeal. If so, might I suggest some oatmeal stout ice cream? It’s featured on one of our most favorite sites, Drink of the Week, and it looks dangerous. And while you’re over there, be careful searching for new drinks…you never know what kind of trouble you’re going to find.

And speaking of drinks, in case you were curious, this is the official drink of the month. (Unfortunately, we don’t have any beer bloggers using Lijit, but it’s a vertical that I plan to go after. Soon.)

Many thanks to our Lijit publishers, who continually teach us about new recipes and make our mouths water with their pictures. No matter what means you choose to observe National Oatmeal Month, be sure to enjoy it. And in the famous words of Wilford Brimley…

If you’re unsure about how to interpret some of our stats, I’m breaking it down for you over there. Check it out and if you have questions, be sure to leave a comment on Barb’s blog!

It’s no surprise that we dig what PostRank is doing with their analytics around blog engagement. They let blog publishers know how readers are interacting with blog content, from commenting to bookmarking to writing a blog post in response. This is valuable information for getting to know what your audience likes and can help you to create better content.

These kind of stats are right up our alley. In fact, we use a piece of their data to show our publishers what posts readers are especially enjoying. You can see for yourself by clicking on the ‘Readers’ tab within your Lijit stats…

So, when we heard that PostRank was coming out with a 2009 Best of Blog list, culled from the data they collect, we were excited. PostRank did all the hard work of analyzing over two billion engagement activities on twenty different social services to rank blogs in fourteen vertical categories, everything from art to religion to technology. And to keep the rankings fair, the PostRank team decided to award bloggers in three areas of accomplishment: Most Engagement, Most Influential and Biggest Movers & Shakers.

Imagine our pleasant surprise when we saw the number of Lijit publishers who were in the top spots. Nicely done folks!

If you want to see your blog on the list next year and are interested in checking out PostRank, they’ve generously offered Lijit users a special deal: one month free to see what their analytics are all about. Use the coupon code lijit109 when signing up and have fun discovering (even) more about your readers!

Yep. He really is that awesome.

But just in case, you need further proof, check out what John has to say when asked some hard-hitting questions.

What is your Lijit contribution?

I’m on the team that is developing the coolest business intelligence system on the planet. Right now I’m building the processes that will load the data. When it is done, Lijit will rule the universe. No really, it will.

What is your least favorite sound and why?

Gasoline engines. They just don’t have the calming rumble of a diesel. Crying is a close second.

What turns you on emotionally, spiritually or creatively and why?

Hiking in Colorado, especially near streams does it for me. Instrumental music really helps me in the creative category.

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

I’d like to be a professional fishing and hunting guide. Then I would know where all the secret spots are and have a great excuse to go more often.

Something you’re guilty of…

Nothing - I was acquitted, thank you. I will admit that I have no problem stealing candy from my kids’ Halloween stash, or desks of co-workers.

Now that we know that none of the candy in the office is safe, John suddenly seems much more dangerous. Or perhaps that’s just how all top-notch database architects talk?

Either way, welcome aboard John. We’re glad to have you joining us in the mission of total domination. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Web:

Our homepage is getting a little bit of a facelift. We want to be sure that when people come to our site, they know what we do. Crazy, I know. With this release, we’ll be doing a more effective job of explaining our value to both blog publishers and advertisers. In fact, with a simple click, you can find out why using Lijit can help both you and your blog readers.

This release also brings an enhancement to how you can build out your network within Lijit. When creating your network, you can now add the blogs of your Twitter friends and make those searchable. To see this feature in action, simply log into your Lijit account and click on ‘Network’ at the top. You’ll see a shiny, new Twitter tab. For now, this feature is an all-or-nothing add, which means that you can either add all the sites of your friends on Twitter or none.

Ads:

There is a new zone size available to the publishers using our Ad Services. This new zone size is an IAB standard 728×90 leaderboard. If you’re interested in running this size ad on your blog, simply log into your Lijit account and click on the ‘Ad Wijit’ tab to change existing zones.

Search Results:

In case thumbnail images weren’t enough bling in your search results, we’re now doing more with video thumbnails. We previously supported YouTube and Vimeo thumbnails on your Content tab, but as of today, Viddler has been added into the mix as well. And as before, you can play those videos from within your search results.

This means that if you do a search for ‘cage’ on our CEO’s blog, you’ll now see a Viddler video listed in the search results.

AND? Even cooler is that we are slowly rolling out the ability to see video thumbnails from your blog posts. If you embed videos from Youtube, Viddler, or Vimeo in your blog posts, we’ll show thumbnails for those videos in your blog search results.

Told you this was an awesome release. If you have any questions or feedback about the new stuff, feel free to leave a comment. We love hearing from our users!

(This is Court, from Points in Case, and his first ever Christmas tree!)

To all of our Lijit publishers…

We hope your searches are successful this holiday season and into 2010!

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