Category Archives: Zemanta
Why Large Publishers Should be Using Zemanta Related Posts
“Native advertising” was one of the biggest buzzwords of 2012. Where a lot of native advertising goes wrong is when publishers (or the service that the publisher uses) go overboard with the advertising part of it. The moment publishers begin to exchange the value of recommendations for the value they are offering their readers is exactly when users begin to notice. And when they continue to notice, they get annoyed – and you don’t want that.
The best test I’ve seen when it comes to this kind of advertising is “Will my readers naturally share this content?” If the answer is yes, then congrats, you have found a great form of advertising that your readers will appreciate. If the answer is no, then you risk annoying your users and generating a negative sentiment. And for large publishers that have millions of readers, that is a lot of annoyed people.
Why you should use Zemanta Related Posts plugin
Relevance
Because relevance is key, it is our primary goal.
The plugin is based on our award-winning semantic algorithm. We have built a network of over 300,000 publishers and we have over five years of experience; there is no denying that we are trusted for delivering only the most relevant related posts. If you want to get your content in our recommendation engine, you have to get past our dedicated spam-kill team that blacklists hundreds of sites daily – and they will certainly tell you, there are a lot of spammy sites on the Web.
Editorial Control
If you aren’t convinced that we will recommend only the most relevant content, then we have a solution for that too. If you are not satisfied with a certain recommendation (or all of them, and we sincerely apologize if this is the case!), then feel free to take complete control. Simply click “Edit Related Posts” from the reader side and add or remove any posts that you either love or hate. If there is a site in particular that you find that we continue to recommend to you despite your continuous removal, then we also offer the ability to blacklist the site from your recommendations. And yes, this applies to both organic and promoted recommendations. As we’ve mentioned before, as it is your site, you should have complete control over what goes on it.
If you are curious about the process of adding and removing related posts that are displayed, check out a screen shot of the window that appears when you choose to edit your related posts.
Focus on Mobile
One of the other major components where many other related posts plugins fall flat is mobile optimization. Google is signaling loud and clear that mobile is only going to become more and more important; so your related posts must perform as well on mobile devices as they do on any desktop. With that in mind, we’ve made mobile a priority and have fully optimized it, giving you, the publisher several options to customize it on your side. Want to see our mobile related posts in action? Whip out your phone and check out any one of our blog posts!
Revenue and Traffic Options
Of course, it may be difficult to sell you on quality recommendations and mobile optimization alone. Like most things, the real incentive comes in the numbers and with Zemanta you’re getting two different kinds – both in revenue and analytics.
In addition to earning revenue from any promoted recommendations on your site, there is also the opportunity to enroll in our Reader Exchange network. It connects you with other websites and publishers in your niche and allows you to exchange relevant traffic. You will only receive traffic from a site where your post was a relevant recommendation and for every click you give out, you get one in return. Therefore, it’s not just about giving you a chance to increase your revenue, but also grow your audience – which of course may increase your revenue as well.
What is Zemanta Related Posts & Why You Need It On Your Site
We have been in the business of delivering semantically matched related posts for over five years now, and with a network of over 300,000 publishers, there is no denying that many find our tools useful and beneficial to their site. But first, why would anyone want to add related posts to their site? And more importantly, why should you choose us?
There are several reasons why it is beneficial to have related posts on your site. There is a reason why nearly every major publisher is using them. With the advent of content marketing and how important it has become in any digital marketing strategy, I would actually be impressed to find a blog that isn’t using it. After all, why wouldn’t a publisher do anything that they can to keep you reading?
Increased Engagement
One of the most frequently stated benefits of having related posts is the increased engagement and readership that you earn from having them on your site. This is important whether you are a publisher or a brand engaged in content marketing. Even a small boost engagement can go a long way.
Think of how much more likely a reader is to click through to one of your posts that he sees if every time he is on your site he reads two or three articles rather than just reading one and then bouncing. That site recognition goes a long way, especially if you are a beginner blogger battling major news sources, big brands, and tenured publishers.
Less Bounce, More Views
That brings me to two other frequently stated benefits of having related posts: a lower bounce rate and more pageviews.
If more engagement didn’t get your attention, then a boost in traffic most certainly will. I think it’s pretty safe to say that most, if not all, bloggers would love to have more traffic – the search term “how to increase traffic” is searched on Google over 60,000 times a month alone!
According to Search Engine Journal, “Many studies have shown that after a web visitor has finished reading your post, they are in action mode – they want to do something.” This makes sense.
Personally, I know that if I reach the end of a post while I am a visitor of another site and a related post catches my eye, I am very likely to click through. I can actually think of several occasions when I catch myself realizing that I just spent the last 20 minutes reading through posts on a site all because I kept on seeing related, interesting content. And if this happens, not only am I likely to trust the site and recognize it at a later date, but if I really liked the content, then I am likely to subscribe to it – either through social media, email, or RSS.
The Available Options
So now that I have convinced you that you need some kind of related posts on your site, you have two options: either manually insert and format your own related posts, or use an existing, established plugin.
Let’s explore the first option. Sure, it sounds enticing at first, you have full control, you don’t have to rely on a third party service, you have the freedom to make it however you want. While all of these things may be true, there is also a lot of work there. You have to comb through your posts and posts around the web, you have to add them using the proper formatting and CSS, you will need to find, and possibly edit, the featured images that you will use as the thumbnails, and then you need to make sure that it displays correctly in all browsers. Of course, this is all on top of all the research, writing, image searching, and any other work you might do for the blog post itself!
Luckily, we have a solution to all of this, and that comes in a fancy new plugin called Zemanta Related Posts.
Why You Need Zemanta Related Posts
We would like to think that Zemanta Related Posts is the best related posts plugin you’ll find and of course, we have many reasons for that.
More Traffic
I’m going to start with the one that everyone wants to hear, more traffic. And we don’t just do that by keeping users on your site. Nope, we also bring in traffic from other sites that are also using our plugin. This is quality traffic too, because of our semantic technology, all posts to and from your site are going to be related to what you are writing about – increasing the likelihood of the visitor engaging with your post and finding other related articles on your site.
In fact, many users of our plugin experience an internal traffic increase of up to 10%. Not only does this increase your reach and readership of people who otherwise may have never seen your blog, but it places you in a network of similar bloggers that will appreciate the exchange of traffic just as much as you do. Oh, and if you want to check to see how many visitors Zemanta brought you, you can check that directly through the plugin dashboard.
Real-Time Analytics
One thing that many related posts plugins are lacking are analytics. Most people would like to see how many users who make it to the end of your post actually click through to a related post. For that reason, we decided to include real-time analytics directly in the plugin dashboard. Check out a screenshot of our statistics for the past 30 days.
Mobile Optimization
With the rapid adoption and use of mobile browsing, it is more important now than ever to optimize your site for both desktop and mobile use. Thankfully, Zemanta Related Posts are customizable and fully optimized for mobile use, and as you can see above, we even offer you mobile analytics.
Complete Customization
Another benefit of using Zemanta Related Posts is the complete customization that we offer you through the plugin dashboard. It is on your site so we believe that you should have full control of how it looks on your site. That is why we offer seven different designs and, if you really have something special in mind, an option to customize the plain design via CSS.
Check out all six of our awesome designs:
Complete Editorial Control
Last, and certainly not least, is the full editorial control that you get with Zemanta Related Posts. One of the biggest complaints about related posts plugins is that you do not have any control over which posts are actually displayed. We think that it is very important that you, the owner of the site, should have complete control over what is shown on your site. So we made it simple to add or remove any of the related posts that we suggested to you using our semantic engine.
Simply click “Edit Related Posts” in the right corner of the related posts and drag and drop whatever you want. And if you would also like to restrict the posts that we recommend to a certain date range (for example, only posts from the last 3 months), you can do that from the plugin dashboard.
So, what do you think?
By now, I hope I have convinced you that not only are related posts a necessity on your site, but Zemanta Related Posts are the best option. We offer you the ability to get more traffic from our network of over 300,000 bloggers with analytics to prove it, we offer you mobile optimization and full customization, and most importantly we offer you full control to truly make Zemanta yours.
Zemanta Hires Todd Sawicki as President
I am very happy to be joining Zemanta because it is at the intersection of three massively important trends for online publishers and advertisers: the increasing use of content marketing, the rise and importance of native advertising and the rise of mobile (and it’s monetization challenges). With the recent launch of Zemanta’s Content Discovery Network, I am incredibly excited about it’s ability to help publishers and advertisers better promote and monetize online content.
Some Background
Andraz and Bostjan, Founders
My relationship with Zemanta goes back to 2008 Seedcamp in London. Zemanta’s co-founders, Bostjan, Andraz and I were all mentors for the startups competing for that year’s competition and kept in touch ever since. It seemed whenever Bostjan had a question about the business of online advertising he would ask me. He must have been a fan of my take on the history of online advertising from an Ignite NYC presentation. Then when Bostjan heard that I had left Cheezburger last fall, he recruited me to help advise Zemanta on the development and launch of their Content Discovery Network.
The Link is an original Native Ad Format
Early on I had a key realization about Zemanta and the future of Content Discovery Networks. Zemanta’s VP of Engineering Dusan Omercevic and I were talking about how Related Posts by Zemanta (the product powered by the Content Discovery Network) performed on mobile. It turns out that Zemanta’s mobile content recommendations had CTR’s as high as 6%. Yes, that is a CTR for essentially an ad unit. My reaction:
A 6% CTR definitely made me stop and think. And then it came together – links are as native to the Internet as LOLcat photos. They are such an expected part of the content experience that content without links looks and feels odd to readers. And in mobile where navigation requires a long scroll and swipe to the top of the web page, links even begin to represent navigation. Related Content becomes something so much more than just something readers expect to find at the end of each article they read online.
Native Advertising and Mobile Made for Each Other
For anyone not familiar with the current state of mobile monetization for publishers – mobile banner ads are running at a huge – 1/3rd to 2/3rds lower CPM’s then their desktop counterparts. And given publishers can show only 10% as many ads per session as they can on the traditional web that means publishers are only making 5-10% the amount of money they used to. In my view, banners are DOA on mobile (except for maybe cross-promoting app installs).
As James Slavet of Greylock recently wrote – something will solve mobile monetization for publishers. Personally, I think native advertising will solve it. As I have said before, there’s just not enough screen real estate for banners to work they way did in traditional PCs. Native advertising – in the stream – should work and when you see and hear about 6% CTR’s that mean it can and does. So my bet is that Zemanta is one of the those companies that does figure mobile advertising out.
So Why Zemanta?
When looking at either starting a startup or joining one – you need to look at the product/vision, the team and the investors. I’ve just explained why I am big believer in the product and vision. Zemanta currently counts about 300,000 active publishers using its tools. Content Discovery Network launched with a reach of 1 billion page views. These guys have a lot of wind at their sails.
Add on top of that the fact that Zemanta has one of the top product engineering teams for any startup across Europe and founders who I have gotten to know very well and respect over the last 4.5 years and I think it’s easy to say they check that box. And finally, the track records of their primary investors – Fred Wilson of USV, Peter Jones of Eden Ventures and Robin Klein of TAG (the Ron Conway of early stage investing for Europe) – speak for themselves. Zemanta has all three – great product/vision, fantastic team and top notch investors. 3 for 3.
So Why Me?
It’s not everyday that a company gets to hire a Bravo TV reality star as President. (OK I’m as far as a star as anyone) More seriously though, I was the guy who was responsible for making millions of dollars from silly cat photos. As you can see on my CV, I was the CRO for Cheezburger where I was responsible for developing and promoting the rise of native advertising. I’ve worked and co-founded a number of startups in the digital media space from Lookery, a social advertising pioneer, to Loudeye, one of the first commercial platforms for distributing music online. I am active advisor and investor in startups with a focus on digital media.
Todd with a Cat (Of Course)
So What’s Next
I am joining Zemanta in the role of President. Bostjan and Andraz are at the core the product and technical leaders of the company. I’m here to help them develop a great company to work at across the globe, a company that provides a powerful native advertising solution to hundreds of thousands of publishers and advertisers and company that help solves the puzzle of mobile monetization.
5 Most Popular Zemanta Posts from February You Should Read
1. Strategy: Zemanta Launches Content Discovery Network
No surprise here. At the beginning of February, Zemanta launched a new content recommendation network. It was really well received by you. Here Bostjan gives an overview of the new product.
2. Creating Your First Business Model Prototype: 3 Major Tips
Marko Savic in his debut post for this blog gives 3 major tips for generating your first business model prototype. Moreover, the post includes a wonderful story of a blogger who… Well, just read it. You won’t regret it.
3. 3 Types of Online Business Models
It looks like we should publish more on business models. Sara Bozanic describes three most commonly used business models on the Web: made for the Web, brand extension, and the transmedia model.
4. Content Marketing Strategy: You’re Asking Wrong Questions
I think you’re asking yourself wrong questions when it comes to developing your content marketing strategy. What should you be asking instead?
5. Content Delivery: Introducing a Simple Way to Get More Subscribers
Julien Genestoux introduces a new project – SubToMe. It is specifically designed for publishers. Check it out.
Zemanta Hangout with Google: How The Editorial Assistant Helps Publishers
So, you’ve written a great piece of text. Congratulations! But to publish a great blog post you need to do much more.
You need to provide context:
- Find images to make it visually appealing
- Create links to relevant sites to provide further explanations
- Tag the post with appropriate keywords to make it easy to find
- Provide further reading to establish authority
These are the daunting tasks every publisher must do to get ahead. But you are not alone. Zemanta editorial assistant is with you.
Let Andraz and Kris tell you more about it.
Zemanta Related Posts Is a Top 50 WordPress Plugin
Yes, you made Zemanta the 42nd most downloaded plugin out of over 23,000. Millions of websites and blogs are powered by these plugins. And we’re proud to assist 100,000s of yours.
The Plugintable explained
The periodic table is organized on the basis of their atomic numbers, electron configurations, and recurring chemical properties. Elements are presented in order of increasing atomic number (number of protons).
The plugintable, on the other hand, is ranked by the number of downloads. Zemanta Related Posts has been downloaded over 630,000 times. Now that’s what we like to hear. And we’re fast approaching the coveted Top 40. Then, we’ll be a bona fide hit.
Be careful and thorough
Part of the reason for the success of WordPress is the power of its plugins. You can find multiple plugins for virtually anything you want. However, when you install a plugin, it’s a commitment and risk. You grant it full access to your website, so it makes sense to be careful and thorough when choosing them.
Hence, tomorrow at the WordPress NYC Meetup, I am going to introduce a new project that is designed to make this easier.
Let me thank you, Zemanta users and fans, for your support and feedback in the past 6 years. You help Zemanta assist you better!
Strategy: Zemanta Launches Content Discovery Network
This is what you’ve been used to and cherished: Zemanta dynamically scans the web during the writing process to ensure that your content is optimized, linked to by others and shared on social media. Our network of 300,000 publishers represents 1 billion pageviews; on average you’ve got a 5% increase in readership and a 10% increase in pageviews.
Check Out the Dashboard
What is new? Well, it is a natural complement to what you’ve been used to. Zemanta’s new content discovery network presents a selection of recommended articles from the publisher itself, from around the web, and from advertisers. You can select content manually, blacklist unwanted sites or simply rely on Zemanta’s automated and award-winning semantic algorithms.
With newly released WordPress plug-in (called Related Posts) you can leave it to Zemanta to select related posts automatically or exercise editorial control. Just click “Edit related posts” at the bottom of the widget after you publish!
Simply drag suggested related posts. You can decide which ones, either from your network or from the web, you can rank them or simply leave it to Zemanta to select them for you (based on reliable algorithms) – all or just some of them.
It gets even better! Publishers can now choose a theme for related posts, whatever you think suits your blog the best. Even more, you have an option to customize the theme.
Mobile features
Zemanta now offers publishers mobile phone and tablet native recommendation formats that are optimized for faster load times and smaller display sizes of mobile web browsers.
You can choose the theme of related posts on a mobile, too.
“Our testing confirmed that users behave very differently on mobile platforms,” said Andraz Tori, CTO, Zemanta. “We included mobile optimized formats and algorithms that achieve dramatically better click-through and engagement rates than traditional ad units like banners.”
Awesome Analytics in Real Time
Acquiring and retaining users/readers is a core function of every publisher. There is more and more content and you are fighting with millions of others for readers’ attention. You can win this battle only with relevant and high-quality content that is credible to your target audience.
Hence, Zemanta now offers great analytics. You can follow the success of related posts and consequently the impact of your posts. And analytics display real-time data!
Earn Money
Publishers use content discovery networks to acquire and engage users/readers through content recommendations. Advertisers can promote their own content directly to users through Zemanta’s content discovery network.
If you choose a “promoted” related post, you earn money. When you surpass $50.00, you’ll be paid.
But don’t forget! You want to increase the traffic to your website, become/remain a credible and trusted source in your niche; therefore choosing only promoted related posts will only lead you in the opposite way.
5 Most Popular Zemanta Posts from January You Should Read Too
1. What is Valuable Content? The Key to Producing Valuable Content That Sticks.
The most popular post of the month discusses what exactly valuable content is. Sharon Tanton, Valuable Content, argues that “the key to producing valuable content is a deep understanding of your client and customer base”, and she gives a detailed explanation what this means.
2. How to Use Google Alerts for Content Marketing: Collect & Store Content Ideas
One of the most shared Zemanta posts on social media in January is an awesome step-by-step tutorial how to use Google Alerts for content marketing. Ann Smarty, Internet Marketing Ninjas, believes that Google Alerts “provides the most useful features you could hope for, and sets the hook for gathering data you can use to adapt your content”.
3.Blogger Outreach: Free eBook
Based on Zach Eberhart’s popular blog series, here’s a free eBook you can download now. It gives detailed tips on how to find, contact and develop relationships with other bloggers to improve your brand/blog. Highly recommended.
4. 8 Proven Sources for Your Blog Post Ideas, So You’re Never Out of Ideas
The title says it all. I give you 8 suggestions how to find ideas for your future posts. It seems that a lot of us find ourselves in a situation when we have no clue what to write about. We should avoid such as much as possible.
5. 10 European Content Marketing Blogs You Should Read
A list of great European content marketing blogs in English that you should follow to further broaden your horizons no matter where you are.
Related articles
Launching Zemanta Resident Blogger Program: An Interview
“When Zemanta moved into our own office in NYC, we were finally able to share our office with friends who needed a space for a day or two,” says Tin Dizdarevic, Head of Marketing at Zemanta. He continues, “In that same light, we decided to share the space more permanently with a blogger who is doing something interesting and particularly something good. So this month we are launching our resident blogger program. Every three months, we will bring in a new exciting blogger and let him/her use our office space so that they focus on creating awesome content.”
Who can apply for the program? Tin says that in order to be selected, the bloggers need to have a non-profit slant, either helping out a greater cause or spending their time covering and/or creating arts and documenting that in a blog.
Tiffany Crawford is happy to be the first ever Zemanta resident blogger. Tin explains how she came to Zemanta, “Tiffany was our neighbor in our previous office and we followed her progress with Venus Meets Isis program. It seemed a natural fit to invite her to be our inaugural resident blogger.”
Tiffany Crawford describes herself: “I am passionate. I am driven, committed, focused. I can be charming at times. I am a Dancer. I am highly Intuitive and very sensitive.” No wonder she’s Zemanta’s first resident blogger; she cares deeply about people, social issues, and has a deep gratitude for life.
“I am reading Deepak Chopra’s book The Soul of Leadership, which I’m basing our student leadership curricula off of. The beginning has a life purpose exercise and I got clear that my purpose is to ignite,” she says.
Tiffany, you were quite successful in your twenties already. How did you cope with business success at such a young age?
I didn’t think much about it. I’ve always felt rushed. To where? I don’t know, but I felt this pressure to achieve a lot in my twenties. So I never saw it as a lot of success, just as more to achieve.
I did have a lot of fun. I travelled a lot, and did pretty much whatever I wanted to. It was fun, a tad reckless in terms of building for my future. I chose not to buy a house, and in hindsight I probably could’ve made some great investments had I planned differently.
Can you tell us more about your background in engineering? How did you get drawn to it?
Hmm, engineering. Yes I did (EE) Electrical Engineering undergrad and then EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) in grad school. My emphasis was Digital Signal Processing; I was interested, and still am, in the mind-heart connection. When applying, I figured the body is an electrochemical signaling system and was interested in researching the connection. Specifically how the research could help humans leverage our ‘vibration’ to create more joy, focus when desired, and decreased fear and worry. HeartMath stuff.
It was fun, hard, and created great opportunities. I’m happy I did it. Sometimes I think of finishing my Ph.D.
Let’s move from strictly business to your Corporate Goddess blog. I’m glad I’ve been introduced to it. This may be such a male question, but why do you think women still need mags and blogs that address “their” issues?
I don’t necessarily think women “need magazines or blogs about “their” issues”. I think we benefit from community, reminders, and others to relate to. Women, we love community and we love collaboration. Inside of that I’m committed to creating a community of women and men that have a sense of grounding, connection, and inner knowing in everything we do. I think this is sometimes lost in a busy world with lots of distractions.
I just want to be the reminder to say hey, “I know you have that proposal or that presentation. Know that you’re always taken care of; bring that into all you do and that will have you flourish.”
Do you remember what made you start this blog?
Yes, I was jogging one day, a few months after I did the LA marathon. I was working on a project with a client that was stressful. I thought about how I personally at times cut off my knowing, grounded-ness, and inner connection when in certain environments. I wanted to be able to bring this to the table and not shut down, especially the trusting, knowing part of me, when in environments that have traditionally been stressful and competitive. I wondered how could I bring that to these situations and have that inner peace, even then.
How did you come up with the name?
It just came to me. It was somewhat of a dichotomy, the corporate tending to be very masculine, and the goddess being the divine feminine. It represented seemingly competing concepts that actually serve each other. I was curious as to what it looked like, as women, to leverage our femininity in traditionally masculine environments.
I mean collaboration instead of competition, trust instead of angst, intuition and creativity coupled with strategy and planning. It was a thought that stuck and never went away. It has been pervasive since, with refinements of course. It’s definitely been an evolution.
What goals did you achieve with the blog? What’s in the future for this blog?
This year I hope to grow the community in size and level of connection. I want it to arrive at a place where women are connecting online and offline in real time. I want it to become a space women come to for inspiration and grounding in moments of stress or worry. A reminder to stay grounded in their inner power not a forced, draining one.
In terms of the future, I’m actually excited about what’s on the horizon. I’m interested in ways to leverage mobile as a media outlet that offers unique capabilities.
Why do you like blogging so much?
Interesting. I don’t see it solely as blogging as much as I see it as sharing and creating a community. I guess when you look at it, that’s what blogging is. It’s an opportunity to share you and be a source of other people sharing themselves and creating community.
That’s why I love it. The opportunity to connect with others in a way I wouldn’t have otherwise, and to foster the connections of others.
Do you ever sleep?! I mean, blogging alone can be tiring: planning, creating, writing, communicating… How do you find energy and strength for everything?
That’s a great question. It will be a topic of a blog series I am planning this year.
I’ll give you a tip I learned it grad school. As an EECS major especially in DSP (digital signal processing) there were always problem sets, and one could easily take 10+ hours. This was in addition to research, meetings, coding (for research), being the events coordinator for Berkeley’s Graduate Assembly, leading an after-school project for 8th graders, and any fun on the side.
I was overwhelmed and flustered, and often pulled all nighters. Then a senior student in my lab told me, “You know your mind is always thinking about things and processing things even when you are not actively working on it. You should leverage it. That’s the only way I get things done.” I will never forget that moment, we were on a bus going up Hearst towards Cory Hall.
I leverage the power of the subconscious and essentially the Universe on a spiritual tip. I review things, I pose questions, then walk away from it; the answer, the right person, or situation then comes.
And passion truly drives it. With passion and commitment to a purpose, the energy and strength are always present. It’s like you’re carried.
Venus Meets Isis – it is a really awesome project. Can you tell us a bit more about it?
Venus Meets Isis (VXI) is something I dream about all of the time. It’s constantly growing and evolving. The mission is to create a pipeline of women (and people of color, though we’re currently focused on girls), who have a stake in media and technology. Two fields which are closely intertwined.
The core belief of VXI is that if girls are provided the access to technology in an empowering and relatable context, with the right mentors, it will ignite their inherent contribution and involvement in industries where they are underrepresented and often misrepresented.
Can you reveal any inspiring stories related to VXI?
We piloted our program last August. It’s been amazing seeing our young ladies blossom. I would say the most inspiring story for me was seeing 12 young ladies from three different boroughs and 8 different schools become a family over the course of one month.
By the end when I asked for highlights they loved everything they learned, and one young lady put it best. “We’ve created something special. It’s like we’ve become a family.”
It’s been amazing the way they have supported and encouraged each other, sharing tips and tools. Eleven of our twelve girls are seniors this year, and have been busy applying to college. Just before Christmas, one who just confirmed admission and a full scholarship to her top choice sent me an email saying, “My next order of business includes the fact that we need a winter trip with the girls. Whether that is to a museum again, skating, or even to a dance class…”
One mom shared with me, “Ashley really found herself in her class. Even her teachers have commented. She’s more outspoken and speaks her mind. Before she didn’t know what she wanted to do, she would jump around. Now she’s so clear and I think she’s found her niche.”
So, you’re at Zemanta now? How did you get here?
That’s a good question. Well I’ve been a fan of Zemanta for some time. I loved the concept of suggesting related articles and pics. It was something I spent lots of time doing; searching for pics especially. It instantly became one of my favorite tech tools and I wanted to meet you all.
Then, a couple of months later I noticed the Zemanta office was the floor above mine at We Work on Grand. A few months after that, I changed offices to We Work Labs on Varick. They were in there too. I decided to introduce myself and share some user feedback. I met Bostjan, Greg, and Tin that day. Then, through being in the space I met Kris and Patrick, as well.
When they moved to the new space over by Union Square, I came to a meet-up to say hi and learn the cool tips and tricks they always share. Tin and I started chatting about how Zemanta could be involved with Venus Meets Isis, we had a meeting, and here I am. I guess it was in the making for some time. First I was a floor below, then down the hall, now in the office 🙂
What do you expect from this experience?
I think you guys are super smart, innovative, and so far I love the company culture. It seems like a community environment is supported here. I love how everyone claps when they make a sale. A transparent, supportive, and encouraging environment is apparent. Even down to some of the quotes and sayings on the walls and the fact that the office listens to music that everyone chooses collectively on the main speaker.
In saying yes to Tin, in accepting the Blogger in Residence post, I was saying yes to being in the environment of a successful start up with funding, active users, and a great community. It’s something that I am creating and intend to lead myself, one day soon. I intend to soak it up and learn as much as I can.
In that case, my intention is not necessarily expectation, it is to learn as much as I can and make new friends. 🙂
What can Zemanta learn from you?
That’s funny because after sitting in here for a little over a month, I have some thoughts and comments. The way you do things is great, I just see opportunity. My business mind is always on, so from a strategy perspective I always see possibility. I may share with Greg at some point. 🙂
Beyond that, on a simpler level, which I think you guys may know; a bit of diversity in the office would bring great perspective and value to the company culture, various stakeholders, and sales.
If you are interested in helping Tiffany with mentoring the girls in the program, please reach out to her.
Related articles
Zemanta's Lovely Test Blog 