Blog World Expo Startups and Superstars from A to Z

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Here’s a round-up of companies I encountered at Blog World Expo. Most were exhibitors, but a few others came up in random or not so random interactions throughout the show.
It’s possible some members of these companies will see this and think I totally botched their description. That’s quite possible; these are my impressions, which I don’t guarantee to be fully accurate. You can go to their websites for more official info. If I’m off or you want to clarify further, comment away or email me at marketersstudio@gmail.com.
Lastly, this is not a comprehensive list. I talked to most exhibitors, but not all. For example, I didn’t get to GodblogCon ’08, which their site calls “a gathering of Christians to advance the kingdom through blogging + internet technologies”. (I think they should call it “Coming 2.0”).
On that note, here are some companies that made an appearance at the show, were memorable in some way, and were smart enough to give me a business card or schwag (maybe in future posts I’ll add pink hearts to the schwag givers to encourage more bribery).
Apture: Here’s a blogging tool for editing posts once you create them, making it easy to add multimedia and links.
b5media: This blog network is launching new vertical sites, and new ad opportunities. See info on their launch of Starked, an entertainment site.
Blog Talk Radio: I had a good time joining their Blog World show on Saturday. I’ll post the link soon, but they’re doing great work, and it was one of the more fun interviews I’ve had, especially since I was able to talk about some things I actually know about.
BlogCatalog: I forgot what’s new with them (sorry!), but as a long-time BC member, it was fun meeting the owner.
BuzzLogic: An old favorite blog monitoring tool, they had a great, kitchy but fun booth presentation, and they’re doing a lot more with the blogger ad network.
Divacafes: Toby Bloomberg is launching this site for “women over forty flying solo.” Toby’s one of the most beloved people I’ve met anywhere, and for her karma alone, I think this site will catch on.
Get Elastic: I forgot how good this e-commerce blog was. Fortunately blogger Linda Bustos reminded me. (Okay, she just reminded me to revisit it; I made the quality judgment on my own.)
gooseGrade: Add their widget to encourage anyone to submit edits to your blog as a way to promote accuracy. You aim for a score of 100, and you don’t always have to agree with the changes. I think the end result’s admirable, but I’m not sure bloggers want to draw readers’ attention to inaccuracies, and I’m not sure many people want to be the editors. On this blog, at least, comments and email have been fairly efficient, and for any mistakes I’ve made, I think the readership’s been mercifully forgiving.
International Blogging and New Media Association (IBNMA): Why might you join this group? Here are two reasons I did: I’m an association whore, and it’s only $25 so I didn’t have to try to expense it. Maybe one day I’ll get a free t-shirt out of it. Really, though, they are advocating important things, like blogging, and new media,
Lijit: It’s an awesome blog search engine that I really will put back on my blog soon. They rank very high among my favorite naggers.
MarketLeverage: It’s a lifetime referral program for publishers (even if publishers aren’t in it) and a pay for performance ad network. Full disclosure: I won $6 in their cash grabbing booth.
Mindtouch: They make it easy to make more multimedia-friendly wikis rather than your plain old Wikipedia-style layout that you see everywhere.
Network Solutions: They have a Solutions are Power blog for small businesses. Well thought out and a good resource.
Pajamas TV: Because Tuxedo TV felt too stodgy. Really though, I forgot what they cover. But the whole free t-shirt thing…
Regator: They call themselves a mix of Alltop and digg.
Soldiers Angels: From the military blogger pavilion (okay, a group of tables), Angels is a non-profit to help care for soldiers, especially the wounded.
SodaHead: A destination site in its own right, they now offer free polling widgets, including customizable branded options. At first I thought that was where I’d find the Jones Soda at the show. No free drinks, but the widgets look fun.
Technorati: I didn’t get to find out too much that’s new with them, but I want to dig in to their channels more to check out some other blogs by topic.
TechSmith: I’ve used their products off an on for years. One of their latest is Jing, a screencasting tool, which I had a little trouble with when I first tried it, but it looks much better now. They also make SnagIt.
Triggit: It’s in-text ads (think Vibrant or Kontera) with a big focus on targeting, and very competitive pricing.
ViewBug: Share your photos and make a few bucks if you’re judged as one of the week’s top 50. There you go, start getting paid for all the time you spend throwing stuff on Flickr and Facebook.
Widgetbox: They’re about to roll out some new options for advertisers (and thus monetization options for developers). With 4.5 billion widgets served so far, scale should not be the problem.
Widgetbucks: They’ve got a massive ad network of their own. I met the CEO on my panel on widget monetization. Note that Widgetbox and Widgetbucks can sound exactly alike depending on the speaker’s accent, or if your hearing’s shot from the Vegas party scene.
YardBarker: It’s a massive sports blog network, with about 60 pro athlete blogs, if you can call Donovan Mcnabb a pro.
Yovia: Join communities or sponsor them and request posts. I need to take a little more time to see how they differ from the PayPerPost/SocialSpark model.
Zannel: I’ve been a big fan of this mobile publishing tool/site/platform – whatever it is, it works well for sharing and viewing content. (I’m there as dberkowitz.)
Zemanta: I’m using this plug-in to recommend links, images, tags, and other good content as I blog away. Perhaps this and Apture will make the blog more engaging; we’ll see…