Everything Typepad

Communicating beyond the blog

Here at TypePad HQ we believe blogging is a great way to keep in touch with with friends, family, customers or people who share your passion. But we obviously recognize that sometimes you need to get outside the blog to connect with your audience, no matter how large or small.  That's why we're pleased that we have two new Widgets that can help you do that: Meebo Me and VerticalResponse.

If you're an instant messaging user and you haven't heard of Meebo, we highly recommend giving it a try. Meebo is a web-based, cross-platform instant messaging client.  Which means that when you're away from your primary PC (when you're, say, traveling over the holidays) you can log on to Meebo from any modern browser and sign in to AIM, Yahoo IM, Google Talk and ICQ from one account.  With the Meebo Me Widget, you can now drop an embeddable IM window on to your blog to let your visitors chat with you in real time.  It's great for answering real time comments and questions from your readers.

VerticalResponse, on the other hand, is a great way to extend your marketing efforts from your blog to the inbox. VerticalResponse is an easy-to-use, web-based opt-in email marketing system that helps you collect email addresses and other information from your readers, format and deliver email newsletters and even produce and deliver postcards to your customers.  VerticalResponse -- whose CEO, Janine Popick is a proud TypePad blogger -- has built a Sign-Up Form Widget for TypePad that streamlines the process of putting a customized opt-in form on your blog.

And if IM and email weren't enough for you, we're proud to "announce" that here at Six Apart we're expanding our offerings to include a "Blogs by Phone" service, just in time for the holidays.  Our intrepid co-founders, Ben and Mena Trott, explain just how the service works in this exclusive "behind the scenes" video.

From all of us at Six Apart, happy holidays!

Pennies (or more!) for your thoughts

TypePad members make some of the best and most popular blogs on the web, and we think you deserve to be rewarded for the work you put into your blog. As a TypePad blogger, there are a bunch of ways you can make money from your site, from Google AdSense and eBay listings, to the built-in PayPal Tip Jar, Amazon affiliate links, and Kanoodle text ad features in TypePad. There are even a few TypePad Widgets that are dedicated to helping your blog pay you back, like CafePress TopicAds, the Tumri Corner Store and the Zazzle.com zPanel.

Which is why we're especially excited to announce that there's another new way to make money with your TypePad blog: Qumana's Q-Ads system for TypePad.

The Q-Ads tool is a browser extension that works as a plugin for Internet Explorer or Firefox, and enables users to insert keyword- and topic-based advertising where you want it, when you want it. And we know TypePad users like having total control of their sites, so Qumana's designed the tool to let you choose when you want to add advertising to one or more of your posts.

You might already be familiar with the name "Qumana": They also make one of the best offline blog editors available for Windows and Mac.  So if you find yourself needing to blog from trains, planes, automobiles or other likely offline locations, give the Qumana blog editor a try.