Yahoo’s Ian Kennedy Keeps His Eye on the Surprise

Ian Kennedy, one of our resident eggheads and a senior project manager here at Yahoo! Publisher Network, cast his roving eye on the South by South West confab this week and lived to blog about it. Highlights from his stream-of-consciousness postings include:

• The future of online magazines (interesting lessons for the publisher here)
• Topix’s talk about moderating online communities
• A case study on Lonelygirl15 (the Milli Vanilli-esque faux reality show that debuted on YouTube)
• The panel featuring our own Cody Simms on online publishing and ad networks
• Bridging the online culture gap

Plus lots more detail you’re not likely to find anywhere else. View Ian’s SXSW report: Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four.

Also, check out Yahoo! Marc Levin’s SXSW 2007 photo album on Flickr.

—Michael Mattis

Her business is everyone’s

BlogHer.org is the savvy guide to the women’s blogosphere. It’s an interactive social media community that helps women bloggers get exposure and develop audiences. It also shows you what’s hot in women’s blogging, making Blogher a trend-spotter’s dream.

So naturally, we’re pretty jazzed here at Yahoo! Publisher Network to be a premium sponsor of the Blogher Business Summit ‘07 in New York City, March 22 and 23. The slogan of the conference, which is open to both women and the… er… “less fairer” sex (i.e., us chaps) is “How to Succeed in a Social Media World.” There’ll be lots of hands-on workshops on everything from technical details like working with blogging software and online video, to more advanced topics like building audience and measuring your social media success, plus a whole lot more.

What time is it? Cocktail time!

You’ll want to be there on Day One, March 22, because the real deal-closer is that we’re hosting a little mix-and-mingle on opening night from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., complete with Yahootinis.

What: BlogHer Business Summit ‘07
When: March 21 to 23
Where: Affinia Manhattan Hotel, New York City

—Michael Mattis, Head YPN Blogster 

Working the a-list at the best little trade show in Texas

Hipster. Scenester. A-lister. In-crowd. Cognoscenti.

These words can’t describe me, because unlike a groovester like you, I’m not going to this year’s South by South West Interactive show in Austin, Texas, March 9 to 13.

What?! You’re not going? Get out! Well, here’s a list of just some of the other trend-setters who will be ignoring the PowerPoint presentations in favor of conversation, crackberries and cocktails:

• Phil Torrone of Make:
• Limor Fried from Eyebeam Technology (she’s so hip that she’s got a ring in her lip!)
• Old-media maven Dan Rather
• Federated Media’s John Batelle, author of “The Search“
• Ze Frank, star of “The Show”
• Film Threat creator Chris Gore
• Dogster’s Ted Rheingold
• Eric Steuer of Creative Commons
• Mediabristro’s Laurel Touby
• A-list Yahoos on the docket include Jeff Bonforte, Simon King, Robert Nashak, Kent Brewster, George Oates, Daniel Catt, Aaron Cope, as well as the inimitable Heather Champ from Flickr
• And, the piece de resistance, from Yahoo! Publisher Network, Cody Simms [APPLAUSE], our own resident scenester, manning a panel on “Online Publishers & Ad Networks”

…and about a zillion others. Still not convinced? To boot, the drinks will on us at a special party we’re co-sponsoring (with our friends from Flickr, del.icio.us, Upcoming.org, MyBlogLog and Pipes) the evening of March 12 at the Light Bar in the heart of the Texas state capital. Don’t forget to sign up on Upcoming or risk getting left out in the cold.

Help keep Austin weird—and wired—by networking and air-kissing along with your friends from the Yahoo! Publisher Network.

Oh, and be sure to send me a postcard of you shaking hands with Dan Rather. Bonus points if you call him “Kenneth” and ask him what the frequency is.

—Michael Mattis

Because Retail is Detail

A long time ago I worked as an assistant manager in a clothing store. The colorful owner, Mark, would wax eloquent whenever the subject of merchandizing and retailing would come up, pointing out examples of brilliant cabinet lay-outs and compelling point-of-sale displays he’d seen on his buying trips to London and Paris. He’d always end his soliloquies with a flourish and the refrain, “…because retail is detail!”

Indeed it is. And it’s no less true now, in the online world, than it was back then, in the brick-and-mortar world.

Whether you’re a long-time online retailer, a beginner, or just thinking about getting into the business, there’s a lot of details to learn, so many, in fact, that no one knows them all. That’s why the folks from Internet Retailer magazine started the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition so that internet retailers—prospective, neophyte and expert—could get together and learn the top techniques that move product.

The conference will be held June 4 to 7 at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, California.

To encourage you to flush the devil out of online retailing’s details, Yahoo! Small Business is offering $100 off the lowest published registration fee. Those registering by March 31 can take advantage of the added Early Bird discount. To register for the conference and claim your discount, click here. Register through this link using promotion code EC7334, and we’ll have a $25 Starbucks Gift Card waiting in booth 1109 with your name on it.

—Michael Mattis, Blog Guy

The Yahoo! Searchlight Awards and more

If you happen to be in Manhattan on Thursday, February 22, be sure and drop by the Yahoo! Searchlight Award show, which will be held on the 8th floor of the Time-Life Building, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. The entertaining and interactive show will celebrate the best and brightest in search advertising over the past year. A panel of industry experts will evaluate four agency search advertising campaigns and the audience will vote for the winner. While this isn’t exactly a publisher-centric event, it is a good chance to meet and greet successful folks in the search marketing field, get marketing ideas that you might be able to employ in your own business, be a part of the Yahoo! community, and have a good time. For more info, click here. 

More Upcoming Yahoo! Events
Yahoo! Publisher Network will be on-hand for these events over the coming weeks and months. Check back for more detail as the date of each draws near.

Lunch 2.0
When: February 21
Where: Yahoo! Mission College campus, Building 1, Training Rooms 3 &4
What: Meet us for sandwiches and lively conversation about what’s going on inside Yahoo! In addition to the Yahoo! Publisher Network, folks from Mail and MyBlogLog will also be on hand. Expect announcements!

South by Southwest Interactive
When: March 9 to 13
Where: Austin Convention Center, Austin, Texas
What: One of the best interactive meet-and-greets around, this year’s SXSW Interactive Festival will feature some of technology’s heaviest hitters. Yahoo! will be sponsoring a special party the evening of March 12, open to all registered SXSW Interactive attendees, and our own Cody Simms will be manning the panel “Online Publishers & Ad Networks” on March 10. 

Web BlogHer Business Summit ‘07
When: March 21 to 23
Where: Affinia Manhattan Hotel, New York City
What: A business summit for both women and men—web publishers, small business owners, media mavens, entrepreneurs and executives. Yahoo! Publisher Network will be welcoming all conference-goers with a cocktail party on opening night.

Web 2.0
When: April 15 to 18
Where: Moscone West Convention Center, San Francisco
What: The first event specifically designed to help teach Web 2.0 techniques and best practices to people in the trenches who are directly involved in the design, development, engineering, marketing and business of second-generation internet technology. We’ll be manning a booth, so look for us on the floor. (What’s web 2.0?)

EconSM
When: April 26
Where: Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles
What: We’re co-sponsoring The Economics of Social Media conference, which will focus on the business, financial and economic aspects arising out of the disruption being caused by the rise of social media, emerging business models, and how all this is changing the dynamics of many industries.

—Michael Mattis, Head Blogster

Harmonizing and monetizing

I’m always a fan of the un-conference conference, and Noah Kagan’s Community Next did not disappoint. It was complete with a Hawaiian lunch luau, Bong Vodka giveaways (good luck getting that through airport security), looking down on money-focused ventures (”do it for the love or go home”) and engaging speakers who left their sales pitches and boring Powerpoint slides at home (with just a few exceptions).

Stand-outs included interesting demos of Say Now from Nikhyl Singhai (MySpace’s most popular resident, Tila Tequila, leaving you a voicemail) and loopt, from “gray-haired” Mark Jacobstein (want to know how many of your friends are within a five-mile radius of your local watering hole via GPS-enabled cell-phones? No problem!); and entertaining presentations from the Threadless dynamic duo, Jeffrey Kaimikoff and Jake Nickell. (Their mantra: “Your Project is not Good Enough!”)

Indieclick’s Heather Luttrell was afforded a “full 15 minutes” of the one-day conference to discuss the four-letter word of all un-conferences—monetization.   Heather did a nice overview of the top-ten myths and misconceptions about growing and monetizing the web. “Number 5: Our audience won’t accept advertising.” I for one, am sold on monetizing the web.

She also encouraged adding links around ads that encouraged visitors to sign-up to premium memberships…thus eliminating ads and driving revenue through a subscriptions channel. (Better than the links that say, “click on me and support my site.”)

The team from Dogster, the dog-lover’s community site, shared its “Impact Horizon” approach to corporate development. The strategy included all facets of the business, from Human Resources down to the product itself. During the infancy of your company, you want to think small. You should expect to see results (or impact) from your efforts in weeks, not months, when you’re first starting out. Lesson: Don’t take on a project that won’t give you returns in the short term.

Think small to get projects off the ground and make contact; don’t swing for the fences, at least not early on.

Community Next seemed to attract an equal mix of attendees who had the next niche community site brewing in their minds and hearts (”It’s like Facebook, but for church-goers”) or products that community sites can use to keep themselves “sticky” (Say Now and loopt.)

Next year, let’s do it for two days and give monetization even more love.
 

Other Community Next coverage:

• Somewhat Frank
• Laughing Squid
• Listen Out Loud
• POP PR Jots

—Marc Levin, Senior Marketing Maven

Yahoo @ Search Engine Strategies, Chicago 2006

If you are attending the Search Engine Strategies 2006 conference in Chicago this week, be sure to drop by and see us at booth 313. On Tuesday, December 5, we are hosting a special lunchtime session to discuss the new search advertising platform, plus some of our recent research, social search and multimedia initiatives.

—The Team

“None of us is as smart as all of us.”—Japanese proverb 

Nature gravitates towards equilibrium and the online world is no exception to this rule. Just as a search engine gives you organic results on the left hand side of the page, you will also find useful information on the right hand sponsored results.  Both results are important, relevant and getting better everyday and a good user experience balances the two.

Attending two conferences over the past few weeks presented two approaches to successful online publishing; one focused on audience and community, the other on commerce and monetization.

Meetings of minds
I was at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco to talk with new startups that have drawn significant attention (and traffic) and are trying to figure out how to keep their servers from melting down, desperate to cover their hosting bills. Next, I was at the annual WebmasterWorld gathering in Las Vegas called PubCon, where I listened to site owners sharing tips on how to tune their well-oiled monetization machines but are peering over the wall trying to figure out how to get some of the traffic pounding down the doors on the latest and greatest social network site.

There is an opportunity to bring these groups together to learn from each other. As before, balance is important. The most successful sites will balance community and monetization and I hope that the Yahoo! Publisher Network can help make that happen for its members.

As one of the largest community destinations on the Web, Yahoo! is home to many communities and most of them have some kind of badge or feed that you can take advantage of and integrate into your site. We’ve listed many of these tools on our Publisher Services tab in your secure publisher interface as well as on the publicly available Enhance Your Site page. As new services come online we will be updating these sections for you.

The Yahoo! Publisher Network is unique because it focuses on site owners who are integrating Yahoo! services into their sites. They are not only consuming Yahoo! as regular viewers but are also partnered with us to re-distribute our content and services to their audiences.

Tell us what you want
We’ve been thinking about an area where the audience aggregators and the site monetizers can meet, share best practices, and help each other out. As we think through what this area will look like, I’d love to hear your ideas. Would a peer-ranked directory of flash programmers be useful? How about a forum discussing community building guidelines? Please leave a comment below and share your thoughts. As a virtual village well, I hope the Yahoo! Publisher Network will not only be a place to get work done but also be a place for its members to meet each other and share their collective expertise.

—Ian Kennedy, Sr. Product Manager, Yahoo! Publisher Network

Look for us at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in Chicago, December 4 through 7

Chicago is a great location for the Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference, which takes place December 4 through 7 at the Chicago Hilton Hotel. “The City of the Big Shoulders” is ideal for two reasons, one practical, the other historical.

Practically speaking, Chicago is almost smack-dab in the middle of the country, making getting to it from both coasts, the south or the north, a breeze. Historically, Chicago is where America’s industrial revolution really began to build steam and is the birthplace of the skyscraper. It’s the perfect place for search technology’s most innovative minds to gather and share ideas.

And this SES isn’t just for SEMs and SEOs. There will plenty there for the publisher as well. It’s a great place to network and connect with potential partners. And Yahoo! Publisher Network will be there to answer your questions. Just drop by our booth, number 313.

Here’s just a small sampling from the more than 70 panels, workshops and forums that you can benefit from:

Introduction to Search Engine Marketing
A must-attend session for beginners that provides an overview of key concepts.

Search Advertising 101
Learn the basics of paid placement to help drive more users to your site.

Search Engine-Friendly Design
Learn how can you build (from the ground up) a web site that pleases both crawler-based search engines and your visitors.

Link-Building Basics
Learn how to increase traffic to your site by building quality links in an appropriate manner.

Writing For Search Engines
Find out how to write so as to please both search engines and human visitors.

Be our guest
Also, we’re throwing a bash during the show, and if you’re attending SES we want you to drop by. It’ll be on Monday, December 4 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The Enclave, 213 W. Institute Place. Transportation will be available from the Hilton, cocktails and light appetizers will be served, and we’ll have a live band. Be sure to bring your SES badge for admittance.

Come network with us in the city where modernity in the U.S. began.

—Michael Mattis, Blog Editor

Come network with us in the city by the bay

David Filo, Barry Diller, Vint Cerf, Jeff Bezos, John Battelle, Stewart Butterfield, Caterina Fake, Jason Calacanis. Those are just a few of the big guns who will be speaking at this week’s Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, November 7 through 9 at the Palace Hotel. This conference promises be a veritable who’s who of the intellects creating the next generation Internet.

So in between your obligatory cable car ride and your bay cruise to Alcatraz, look for our “pod,” or mini-booth, at the show and come say hello. In addition, we’ve got a special panel just for you, featuring our own Josh Meyers, Sr. Director of Yahoo! Publisher Network and GM of Domain Match, and Valla Vakili, Creative Director of Yahoo! Studios. They’ll be talking about the recent product launches, enhancements and acquisitions that can help you be a better publisher.

Party, ‘Frisco-style
Plus, if you’re a registered attendee of Web 2.0, we cordially welcome you to the Tuesday evening cocktail reception where the Yahootinis are on us. 

If you’re not going to be there, let us now what you want to hear about in the comments section.

—Michael Mattis, Blog Editor