Lijit Search and Other New Things at Bleeding Espresso
Have you poked around my sidebars lately? Especially for those of you reading in feedreaders, you need to come on over and have a look because there are some exciting new things at Bleeding Espresso including:
1. Lijit Search
Have you heard of this yet? If you have a blog and other places you “appear” online (including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), I highly recommend becoming Lijit.
My Lijit Search is the middle column if you scroll down a bit.
So what is Lijit? Lijit is a fabulous new search feature that pulls together everything you’ve contributed to the web and makes it searchable.
A quick example? If you type “Italy” into my search box (go ahead!), you’ll get results not only from my blog but also from my tweets on Twitter, my photos on Flickr, and more.
I really love this new feature, and I hope you’ll give it a try. If you want to sign up yourself, go to Lijit.com; if you have any questions, contact Grace Boyle at gboyle@lijit.com, who has been *extremely* kind and helpful as I became Lijit.
2. Recently Published Elsewhere List
Also in the center column near the top, I’ve added a list of my published articles around the web. Now, if you are so inclined, you can keep up with me without waiting for me to post about what I’ve written recently. Your support and comments are always greatly appreciated!
At any given time, you should be able to find something about Italy, travel, the law, and law school over there…and who knows what else? Be sure to check back frequently to see what I’ve been writing.
3. Ciao Google Ads!
I’ve finally cut the cord on Google advertisements. They’ve done next to nothing for me this past year, so I waited until I got enough for a payment and now I’ve removed them altogether.
I will, of course, keep BlogHer and Amazon over there on the far right, and I’ve also accepted other paid advertisements, which you can find in the center and far right columns. Feel free to click and see what they’re all about!
Feedback on these changes and suggestions for more are welcome in the comments! What’s new at your place?
16 Beans of Wisdom to “Lijit Search and Other New Things at Bleeding Espresso”
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
Recipes
Funny about Google as I was going to ask you if you would benefit if I put your Google search link in my tool bar and used it exclusively. I tried to go to your site and use Google from there as I remember someone saying that if I clicked on the Google thing on their site they would get some monetary remuneration from Google. Don’t you bloggers ever rest?
Rest? What’s that? 😉
Me again, sorry. Is using your recently published column the easiest way to find out that you have published something new on Italy Mag? I wish I could edit my last comment rather than clog up your site with this.
No need to apologize Gil…all comments are welcome! Yes, I will definitely post my newest Italy Mag pieces there in the sidebar as they are published 🙂
Michelle I love these new features, especially the one letting us know about your published articles. Woot!
nyc/caribbean ragazza’s last blog post..Good-bye Domino Magazine
I figure it’s easier than posting about them every now and again. Glad you like ’em!
I really need to get my act together and put some doodads on my blog to get it out there. I’ve been too busy to even write sometimes, let alone trying to understand how all these social networks work. Do they help? Does it take up a lot of time to keep track of them all? Anyway, thanks for the wake up call!
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I found that once I sat down and did some things, each successive “tune up” got easier…it’s much easier to work with a rough draft than nothing, right? Just do a bit at a time and you’ll be surprised how quickly your doodads add up and you have to start cutting 😉
Nice! I just “met” Grace, too, via Twitter. (I Love Twitter!) I’m looking forward to checking out Lijit, too.
I love the latest articles section! Cool!
Google Ads have actually started picking up for me, finally. Not sure what swung it that direction.
Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy’s last blog post..Lemon French Macarons with Limoncello White Chocolate Ganache Recipe
Maybe I needed to give Google ads a bit more time but I’m already making more with private ads so I’m going to just leave them off for a while…I haven’t closed my account though, just in case 😉
lijit seems a bit like cocomment that I use already, but will take a look.
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Thanks for your comment, sky! I hope you see Grace’s response below? She’s the expert!
M- I noticed that google was a goner and figured you did just what you did. I know we talked about that- I am in the same boat! Need to earn just enough to get the payment – then I am outta there!
I will look into legit and remove the google search! I have to leave at least a few google ads up and running to hit the magic number. Even if it takes me until 2015! SHould I encourage you to come over and click away??
I am feeling the need for a redesign myself- spring is coming!
I was thinking of adding some links to my work, adding icons for everyplace to find me on the web and getting rid of all my little community buttons of every blessed blog catalog I belong to- getting too cluttered!
Was considering going wordpress, but still can’t seem to WANT total control and my own hosting, back up, HTML etc. etc.
I’ll keep ya posted 🙂
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Well I personally *love* WordPress so if you need pointers, do keep me in mind 🙂 It’s definitely a challenge not to get thing too cluttered…I hate clutter!
I like the changes. You are so great at this stuff!! I feel like I am stuck in blog purgatory. I love to blog, am getting better at finessing my concept, but don’t have enough tech understanding to move me to the next level–so I stay stuck!
Holly at one of my favorite design blogs, Decor8, is putting together an online workshop to help design bloggers improve their communication with eachother and with the larger world. It is an interesting idea, giving an online workshop, and one that you would probably be great at, Michelle!!
Diana Strinati Baur’s last blog post..Use What You Have
Ooh that sounds like a great workshop! Thanks for the news (and for your kind words) 🙂
Michelle, I really admire you and I’ve learned so much from you as you really are up on all things technical in addition to being a fabulous cook, a wonderful ambassador for Italy and a resident of my favorite town!
I’m so fledgling in all of this …I missed the boat on getting Blogher ads and I guess I wouldn’t have enough blog traffic to make money on other types of ads. I didn’t start a blog to make money, as it was more of an exercise for myself to learn new things and appreciate more of my travels and where I live in New York City, and keep a visual record of special things I cook, but along the way I found so many interesting and amazing people such as yourself who have enriched my life. I just wish I had more time in the day to network and make something out of it all as you and others do so I could justify spending more time with it.
I’ll definitely check out your links! Thanks!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Pat; it’s definitely a commitment to get involved with the social networking and publicizing aspects of blogging, but, at least for me, it feeds off itself…and feels a lot less like work than it used to even though I make more money through it now. Score! As for BlogHer, they accept applications periodically, so keep checking! Even a few dollars a month is better than nothing, right? 😉
I really like the list of your articles on other sites. Do you add them manually, or are you using an RSS feed to get them in automatically? Either way, great feature! 🙂
Google Ads are actually working for me recently, and I have been leaning more towards getting rid of BlogHer because they are paying less and not running ads as often due to the down economy.
Ideally though, we would all just sell our own ad spots and have total control over all the content we allow on our site. At least, that is my goal.
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I’m just adding them manually; since none of them are really “my” sites, the feeds would come through with all different articles by different people, so it’s easier to just do it myself. I’ve only sold a few ads so far, but it definitely would be great to have the ability to sell all of my own, indeed….
@Michelle We’re so happy you’re Lijit and it has been a pleasure working with you. You succinctly described Lijit’s search so well! I will mention that as you’ve taken away Google’s Ad Sense, we allow you to monetize your Lijit search through our revenue share and advertising network. This presents a great way to make some blogging money through search advertising. I also agree with everyone else, the ‘recent articles elsewhere’ is a great way to make it easier to peruse your writing and share with your readers. Great addition to your blog, as is Lijit 😉 Thanks again, Michelle. Ciao. A presto!
@Sara again here we find each other, we’ve already begun to cross paths. I would be happy to talk more about Lijit’s search and services with you!
@Sky coComment tracks your conversations online, but it’s focused around the comments you make on any blog or online site. Lijit is focused around search. We index all of your online content such as Flickr photos, tweets, links you bookmark on Delicious and what your blogroll has to say — all of which are then searchable with your customized Lijit search.
@My Melange Let me know if you have any additional questions trying out Lijit’s search, I would be happy to help.
Thanks again Michelle for the post. As Michelle mentioned, feel free to e-mail me with any questions, comments or feedback on Lijit. I’m gboyle at lijit dot com Happy blogging!
Thanks so much for all your help Grace! Hope lots more people will become Lijit soon…and I’ll be in touch about possible revenue 😉
That Lijit sounds pretty cool but I only really use blog and twitter out of the ones you said. I use facebook but only with people I know face to face, not with internet friends.
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If you use Twitter quite a bit, it still might be worth a play around…and for those who have multiple blogs, it’s great!
@Callista the beauty of Lijit is that we can customize your search to include as many social networks as you choose or as little. We have a lot of users that just want us to index their blog, then receive the stats that we send them once a week. You’re already ahead of the group by using Twitter. Let me know if you have any questions, I would be happy to clarify and chat more 🙂
I have to stress how great the Lijit stats are…and they’re even delivered to your inbox so you don’t have to remember to go looking for them!
Since I’ve got very little on the web at the moment I won’t be looking into this now, but you’d better believe that this post is bookmarked for later research. You are an awesome source!
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Glad to share what I learn along the way 🙂
I LOVE the “recently published elsewhere” link. I am very interested in what you write elsewhere (usually I always read your Guarda! article when you post that it’s up and ready) but for other stuff, I’ve found myself Googling your name to see if anything else has popped up. Thanks for saving me the time!!
Hah, well thanks for Googling…I think 😉
Adsense is gone but you’ve got blogher. Is that better in your opinion. I’ve got adsense on my site and not getting much out of it.
I didn’t get much from AdSense either; BlogHer is OK, but it definitely works better for some people rather than others…I’m not sure how much longer I’ll keep it on there. We’ll see. I may actually bring AdSense back…it’s a lot of trial and error with ads, I think 🙂