Special thanks to Israelnewsletter.com for submitting this post.

Israelnewsletter.com had the opportunity to sit down with serial entrepreneur Yaron Galai, Co-Founder and CEO of Outbrain, who sold his last company to AOL, to talk about his newest venture.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I’ve been an entrepreneur since I can remember myself working… Actually realized recently that I have never in my life sent my resume applying for a job. I am now working on my 4th company called Outbrain. My first company, in which I was more or less the only employee…, was called NetWorks. It was one of the first web design shops in Israel. I started doing that around 1995 or 96 when the first Netscape browsers just came out. I ended up developing about 30 or 40 websites for companies in Israel. Doing this alone, I had to figure out all aspects of launching a website – HTML, hosting, design, SEO, etc. In retrospect I guess that was slightly insane, but it did give me some decent insight into the whole internet thing, as well as into running a business. I ran NetWorks for about 3 years, and all while studying product design at the Holon Institute of TEchnology (www.hit.ac.il), so it was pretty much all done on a moonlighting/weekend basis. This might have been part of the reason that I had failed to graduate and have never received an academic degree…http://www.outbrain.com/get/

After NetWorks I co-founded another company called Ad4ever which was a rich media ad serving platform. That company was later sold to Atlas, which was later acquired by Microsoft, but that sale happened way after I left the company so I can claim 0 credit for that happening.

I left Ad4ever because I had this idea for serving people on the web with interesting and contextually relevant links. I joined forces with my co-founder – Oded Itzhak – and we merged both of our ideas to one company which we called Quigo. After a couple of years of iterations, our product evolved into a contextual ad network. We ended up serving contextually relevant text ads on top-tier publishers, such as ESPN, ABC, FOX News, etc. That business grew quite nicely and we eventually sold it in 2007 to AOL.

Tell us about Outbrain?
Outbrain’s goal is very simple – To serve readers of blogs and news sites with interesting and relevant links to other stories. I love reading blogs, magazines and newspapers, but I always feel overwhelmed with the amount of content that’s available. Blogs specifically create this massive flooding of content that’s impossible to sift through today. With Outbrain we wanted to help readers to easily find great articles or blog posts in an easy, quick and automated way. We offer bloggers and publishers a free service that they can place under each story they publish. Our system then automatically places highly interesting and contextually relevant links to other stories on each of those pages. For the blogger/publisher, this service provides a great user experience, it generates more traffic for them, and it gives some feedback on the content they produce. Again – the service is completely free, and can be installed in less than 2 minute on all major blogging platforms such as Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, etc:

We believe that good recommended links have to be personalized for each individual reader, and so over time, as our algorithm learns of the reader’s reading taste, our recommendations become increasingly personalized.

Have companies using Outbrain, seen an increase in traffic?
Yes – all bloggers/publishers who install Outbrain see an increase in traffic. And as our service is completely free to the blogger, that increased traffic can be fully monetized by them with ads.

But that’s not the only way we let bloggers/publishers make money. We’ve also recently introduced an advertising program which we call Sponsored, But Good™. The idea here is to apply our same principals of serving interesting stories to our advertising. Advertisers pay us to drive traffic to interesting stories, reviews and blog posts written about their company. We put a lot of emphasis on ensuring that the stories submitted by advertisers are both authentic and interesting. We then share the revenue generated with the bigger bloggers/publishers, and let the smaller ones donate some of the revenues to a charity of their choice. More information about our Sponsored, But Good™ program is available here: http://blog.outbrain.com/2009/02/sponsored-but-good.html

So when a blogger installs our service, they don’t only improve their site and user experience, but can also make money in two ways – increased traffic that they can monetize via ads, and revenues from our sponsored link service.

What are the risks to your business? Is there any competition?
Yes – there are quite a few companies that provide related link functionality to publishers and bloggers. Some charge money for the service, some offer contextual links without personalization, etc. We like keeping an eye open on competition, but don’t pay too much attention to it as we found it is much more important to listen to our customers (bloggers specifically). We’re pretty obsessive about supporting our bloggers and helping them be successful using the Outbrain service.

As far as risks go – I think our biggest risk is of losing focus on what we do best – serving readers with highly interesting, relevant links to other stories. As a startup it is very easy to get tempted with “opportunities” and spend lots of resources on things that seem important for the company for a moment, but don’t really matter to the customer. That is the silent killer of most startups. We put a lot of effort to remind everyone on our team that we have to focus on providing our bloggers a great widget and terrific customer support, and provide the readers with great links. Losing that focus is likely our #1 risk.  

Thanks.

Hoping to attend Blogher, the passes sold out before I could even save enough pennies for a trip to Chicago.  So, when I heard about a Tampa Blogher Meetup, I jumped on the chance to attend the event Saturday evening at Channelside.

Despite the numerous times I’ve arranged to meet cyber strangers through my moms group, this particular meeting made me a nervous wreck.  Perhaps I thought I would appear too new to this whole blogging thing or maybe I would come across too desperate or chatty.  Would they like the real life Run DMT or would they prefer the blogger better?  I decided to swallow my insecurities and set out to search for them in a sea of people at Channelside.

When I first arrived, I had difficulty finding the group.  Hooters was the selected meeting place and I anxiously scoured the restaurant looking for a group of bloggers.  But, without their laptops, how do you find a group of bloggers?  In my attempt to find the meetup, I randomly walked up to strangers asking them if they were with Blogher.  Of course, they had no idea what I was taking about.  I even confused the Hooter’s hostess.

Starting to feel sorry for myself and like a butt of a cruel joke, I stumbled upon a group sitting on a bench just outside Hooters.  Texting like fiends on their cell phones, I knew I had found the right group of people. 

Thankfully, the evening offered exactly what I had hoped for: an opportunity to connect and network with other bloggers.  Over dinner and drinks at Stumps, we talked about Twitter and other happenings in the blogosphere.  Noreen of Don’t Put Lizards in Your Ear (@DontPutLizards) shared some great tips to help me on my road to become published.  

Christina of The Green Mom Review (@TheCaffeinatrix) mentioned how she has been searching for genuine and witty product reviews for her site.  Upon hearing this news, my ears perked up for I knew I could deliver such a piece!  I was all over it like green on Kermit!   

I enjoyed putting a face to the tweeps I have been following on Twitter, such as @missbritt and @MommyMelee.  I also met some great new tweets: @AnissaMayhew, @CheekySweetie and @karlerikson. 

Mostly importantly, I learned that I was the only person at the table not attending Blogher in Chicago next month.  After meeting such knowledgeable and interesting people, it only made me long to be at Blogher even more. 

A lot of bloggers are more proficient in words than in person, so it’s not surprising that many haven’t taken the leap to video blogging. But they should. Video posts provide a great, unique way to connect with your readership. I’m still learning, but here are six tips that helped me get started:

1. Watch a lot of videos.
Write down what you find appealing and what you don’t like. I tend to like short videos with lots of personality. Pay attention to the video content, length, and the format.

Check out these places to start: Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine, Marketing),  Ill Doctrine (Hip-Hop, Political), Startup Lucky (Entrepreneurship),  Design for Mankind’s Dialogue (Art/Design), Momversation (Lifestyle & Mom Blogging), Brazen Careerist (Contest Announcements), Sam Davidson (Social Change & Motivation), and Shama TV (New Media Marketing).

There are many more out there, so feel free to share your own favorites in the comments as well.

2. Stop procrastinating on the technical stuff.
A big barrier is researching the right methods to use. Like, what camera should I buy? How do I transfer video to computer? What program do I use to edit with? What site do I upload it to? How do I embed it?

But these things are remarkably easy. Just trust me on this. If you can use blogging software to write, you can use a video camera to talk. I use a Flip Mino, Windows Movie Maker and Vimeo. You don’t need anything more to start. Even big media companies like Momversation have their contributors use Flip cameras. Fancy schmancy is out.

3. Create relevant content.
Video and written content is not the same. The content you present on video should be a better fit than if you wrote about it. Videos make it easier to be self-involved, so ask yourself, are viewers gaining value from watching?

I generally use videos to clarify or expand on previous posts, instead of presenting new information. This is because the medium is so different from writing that it’s sometimes difficult to present big ideas concisely.

Another good way to use video might be to start dialogue with your readers. Present a quick problem and ask your readers for input on the solution. Or use video to respond to comments in a more personal manner.

Whatever you do, make sure that your videos are good enough to stand on their own, whether they’re complementing the rest of your blog or are the main spotlight on your video-only blog.

4. You still have to write.
Your video should have a point if you want viewers to watch the whole thing. While a conversational tone is great, it’s good to either:

a) Write down two to three bullet points that you want to cover, and/or
b) Write your entire spiel out as if it were a speech

Don’t just ramble. I tend to jot down what I want to say (a page worth is usually one to two minutes in length), and then highlight the key points I want to remember. And okay, sometimes I just practice what I want to convey in the shower. Spontaneity is good too.

5. Practice in front of the camera.
Pay specific attention to your body language and how you present yourself. Video is, after all, a visual experience and viewers want to watch someone who is both authentic and engaging.

Take up space with your arms to project confidence (good for speeches as well), or frame the shot close to your face for a more intimate conversation. Emphasize your points and exaggerate your personality with your facial expressions for an energetic video, or keep your movements tight and slow if you’re trying to show authority.

Watch yourself, experiment and then re-record until you’re happy with the result. You don’t have anything to lose. No one is watching yet.

6. Post a video that’s not perfect.
Don’t worry about getting it right your first video. It will probably be too long, you’ll look like a huge dork, and the guys building a hotel next door will probably take the exact moment you’re recording to use their jackhammer. Whatever.

Look at one of Gary Vaynerchuk’s original videos and then look at one from last week. Big difference. HUGE. You’ll improve with time and confidence too.

Video Talk.

I am not a Techie but I do love technology and more than that, I love to network.  When I can combine the two together I am really happy.  Twitter has allowed me to do that!  One of the keys to nurturing your network is to stay in communication.  Communication also allows you to develop relationships that you can add to your network.  Twitter allows me to  maintain visibility and create credibility with my network.  Recently it has allowed me to create some profitability.

Here are some tips for those of you who want to use Twitter in your networking strategy.  These are a few things that you should know, beyond that have fun.

Important Things to Remember When Using Twitter

• Be Authentic- Be you
• Read Others Profiles and Tweets
• Find Local People to Follow – Use Search for your town or city
• Follow those who follow you – after you read their profile
• Send a Personal Direct Message (DM)  to those who follow you
• Do more than post your Blog or your website to the tweet stream
• Retweet Others- Retweeting is key, when you read a good tweet, RT
• Try to keep your follow/followers about even
• Read and Comment on others Tweets/Blogs
• Recommend others to follow
• Keep it positive
• Engage and again be Authentic
• Go to some Local Tweetups & meet the people you have been tweeting with.
• Follow your Network Members, you are able to communicate more frequently with them.
• Lean more by following links that your followers will often provide.

Most of all, have fun, don’t become addicted, but be consistent in your tweets. You will find that you are starting to build relationships with some of the people you do not know and enriching those that you do.

Hazel M Walker, owns three award winning franchise’s. She is a 10 year owner of two BNI Franchises where she teaches members how to leverage their time and network to build each others businesses. She is also a Referral Institute franchise owner and teaches Business Owners how to harness the Science of Referrals to develop Referrals for Life. Hazel is a published author in New York Times best sellers Masters of Networking and Masters of Sales. As a member of the National Speakers Association she travels the world speaking to businesses and women’s organizations on the topics of networking to create a life you love.

I’ve noticed some of my friends lately protect / privatize their Twitter accounts. I suppose when you hear stories like “Twitter Gets You Fired in 140 characters or less” it’s the natural Gen Y / college student reaction to think “Oh shoot, I should privatize everything I post online so no one can read the silly things I say and get me in trouble!”

There are so many flaws in this logic. I’ll point out just a couple.

1. Nothing on the internet is private. Nothing. Ever. It can always be found, no matter how many privacy settings you try to use. Online privacy is DEAD.

2. If you think the things you post online could potentially get you in trouble, why post them online in the first place? And another question, if said things you are posting online are really troublesome, are you sure you’re making smart decisions in your personal life?

3. If you privatize your Twitter, you are essentially saying: “I am shutting myself off completely from making new connections. I do not want to make any new connections or network.” Twitter is not like Facebook. In a conversation with Ryan Healy the other day I heard the best description of the difference between FB and Twitter: Facebook was about taking your offline community and bringing it online. Twitter is about building community online and taking it offline. So if you’re not willing to meet new people, what’s the point?

My thoughts are this: this isn’t 2004, where you could privatize your Facebook and make your blog anonymous, and still post whatever crap you wanted online and have no one find it.

So instead of posting something with potentially disastrous consequences for your job or reputation and making a futile effort to keep it private, go the other route: embrace the fact that anyone can find you online with a simple search, and post things that you are proud of rather than ashamed. Use your inner common sense meter and don’t post things that would get you in trouble in the first place.

You can’t hide anything once it’s online, so don’t try. Just post things you would be proud of online instead.

Do you think privatizing Twitter is a dumb idea? Do you think online privacy is dead?

Nisha Chittal is a writer and journalist who currently serves as Associate Editor of CitizenJanePolitics.com and is a political columnist for UniversityChic.com. Her personal blog is Politicoholic, where she offers commentary on a range of topics, including but not limited to politics, technology, and the changing role of women and Generation Y in politics today.