I have started and stopped this post several times.

Each time I get about a paragraph in, I start to think about what to write, and the only word that comes to my brain, is “wow.”

What am I talking about? SXSW, of course. But not only the conference itself, which was wonderful, but also the people I met, and the reception Lijit got.

The conference:

Hundreds of sessions and speakers on all kinds of topics. I went to a few sessions that were on specific topics that I spend my days thinking about. Sessions on topics like monetizing social media, managing startups, and the like. But given the diversity of talent at the conference, I also attended sessions on mobile gaming and other subjects that I have little to no knowledge, and boy did I learn a ton. There are some monster thinkers out there, and its always humbling to be around them.

The sessions werent the only thing going on at the conferences. There were parties, parties and more parties. Even Lijit got into the party mood, co-sponsoring the Colorado Interactive Party. It was wonderful to see people having so much fun at the various parties after spending all day inside the convention center.

But the parties werent the only thing that we were involved in at SXSW. There was the BlogNetworkCamp where some of the top blog networks, such as b5media and 451Press, shared great ideas about how to improve their industry. Its great to be a fly on the wall with the very people you are trying to service with your product. The take aways from that event are priceless in Lijit’s evolution.

The People:

But, for me, the best part of the conference was the Blog Haus. It was here that I would steal a couple of hours and listen to all the bloggers around me discuss things that they had seen, heard or been involved with. Not a single person in the Blog Haus was unapproachable and I spent most of my time there meeting bloggers and Lijit users such as Robert Scoble, Erin Kotecki Vest, Aaron Brazell, Guy Kawasaki and Chris Brogan. I did do a bit of pitching Lijit as well, to folks like Christina Warren, Gary Vaynerchuk and Loren Feldman.

I spent a lot of time talking about what bloggers want and what bloggers need. Blogging, as a profession has become mature in many ways, with bloggers truly understanding what they want and dont want. I asked tons of questions about the functionality of Lijit, and how I could personally do a better job blogging. And, most surprising to me was the reception that Lijit received from bloggers.

The Reception Lijit Received:

It was amazing how many bloggers “got it.” They understood how Lijit could both drive reader engagement through increased horizontal page views (our Re-Search feature provides information on related trusted content), thereby capturing more of the “Second Click” revenue. Bloggers understood how Lijit helps readers discover content, both by having their content appear within the search results on a trusted blog, and having trusted results appear in their search results, increasing the relevance of the results.

I was expecting at least some luke warm response, and it never really happened. Either people are really, really nice, or we have the start of a really interesting product for bloggers.

Here is a great example of how great the Blog Haus was. I sat next to Shawn Morton, one of the founders of Profilactic, a social aggregation site, run by three guys in Louisville, Kentucky. When I got back to Boulder, this blog post was waiting for me. Shawn had integrated Lijit into the more than 150 sources that Profilactic aggregates. How awesome is that?

Given the more than 30% increase in our daily sign ups, it appears that SXSW was great for Lijit on many levels. I certainly know that I plan on going every year. Of course, this year will be the only year I get the greatest Rock Band band‘s name tattooed on my arm…

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