LeapFish Heads to SXSW Interactive 2010
Posted by: Lena Shaw on: March 9, 2010
The LeapFish team is very excited to attend South by SouthWest (SXSW) , the leading interactive media & emerging technologies conference in the world. The SXSW® Interactive Festival brings together the world’s most creative web developers, designers, bloggers, wireless innovators, content producers, programmers, widget inventors and new media entrepreneurs.
Attending SXSW will give the LeapFish Team an opportunity to interact with social media thought leaders and early adopters in the online community. The Team has already scheduled meetings with Robert Scoble, tech-enthusiast, & Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable.com.
SXSW has been known to increase organic adoption of emerging technologies, for example in 2007 Twitter was unknown to the masses prior to thier appearance at SXSW. Twitter was up against a site called “Dodgeball”,a location based check-in service, as a breakout hit at the conference. Twitter went on to win several awards and shocked the online community with a new way to network. Surprisingly, Dodgeball was not adopted and fell off, now this year the spotlight is now on the creators of Dodgeball, for their latest creation Foursquare, a new location based social application with a gaming twist.
Geo-Locating technology was ahead of it’s time in 2007 but this shows how trends in the online community can shift based on needs and interests. LeapFish was described as an alternative to Google and Bing, recently coming out of Beta in 2009. As the web evolves LeapFish continues to work with the social media community, applying innovations based on needs and interests. This year the talk of the town is real-time search and geo-locating technologies, two areas that LeapFish is currently developing and innovating.
If you would like to meet with a member of the LeapFish team please send a @ reply to @LenaShaw or @LeapFishMedia.
If you’re attending SXSW, visit The Plancast List of Events for event details.
See you there!
How Small Business Can Harness the Power of Social Media
Posted by: Lena Shaw on: March 5, 2010
There was once a time where social media was primarily used by large corporations or brands. Over the past year the web has seen exponential growth in the adoption of social media practices by small business owners.
The University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business recently conducted a study on the relationship between social media and small business. The study showed that nearly one in five small business owners are integrating social media into their business practices, and 75% have a profile or fanpage on Linkedin or Facebook.
The study also goes on to show that small business owners realize the unparalleled access to potential customers through the power of social media. For example, local businesses with a storefront can use social media resources like Yelp to engage with potential customers. Search combined with social media has provided a new realm of marketing and lead generation. Say you plan a trip to San Francisco and you want to find a good Thai food restaurant. You can simply type in “Thai Food San Francisco, CA” on LeapFish, and you will see the top 3 recommended Thai food restaurants in San Francisco.
The evolution of the real-time web has also added a new vehicle for free targeted promotion. Twitter enables small businesses to engage with potential consumers in real-time. Small business owners use Twitter to create brand loyalty by providing value and a face to the product. You can also engage with small business professionals that share similar experiences; SmallBusinessTrends.com provides a list that acts as a directory for all small businesses Ultimate Small Business Twitter List . Joining a community of Small Business owners provides a space to discuss strategy and share incite as changes occur in your industry.
Small business owners can also capitalize on the power of free promotion by setting up a blog or content page. They now have the power to join the conversation by providing meaningful incite. “The two primary reasons people use the web are to find solutions to their problems and to be entertained” said Denise Wickman. Simply follow the three E’s: Educate, entertain and engage, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a thought leader in your industry.
However, not all small business owners have the time to blog. Setting up a content page or social hub provides another form of free promotion. On LeapFish you can set up a profile page to include your Twitter stream, profile information from Facebook and Linkedin, blog roll, images, and videos all in one page, consider it a convenient and optimized snapshot of your business at no charge.
With minimal effort you can turn your business into a living breathing brand online. LeapFish makes it easy for your potential customers to find all of your social media content in one destination.
LeapFish Sponsors Bay Area Green Business Super Mixer
Posted by: Lena Shaw on: March 2, 2010
As the world becomes more aware of our failing ecosystem, many individuals, communities and businesses are concerned about protecting the environment and creating a better place for future generations. Last week the Bay Area Business Link hosted a networking event dedicated to Green Business in the Bay Area. LeapFish was proud to be a sponsor and part of such a dedicated group. Each company at the mixer has taken a stance against Global Warming by applying practices on a corporate level to better the infrastructure, products & materials, and business processes that could potentially have an adverse affect on the environment.
The Super Mixer brought local talent, business, and non-profits together with well over 350 guests in attendance. People were excited to discuss LeapFish’s growth, job opportunities and the innovative ways LeapFish is improving search on the new web.
LeapFish would like to thank the team at Bay Area Business Link for putting on another successful event and encourages all companies to take the time to research ways to become a green company. Green companies will play an integral part in the preservation of our environment moving forward, the time is now & the environment will not wait.
Please see below for a list of resources.
Natural Resource Defense Council
TreeHugger Green Business & Politics
Green Business Articles from AllBusiness.com
LeapFish & Topsy Team up for Smarter Real-Time Search
Posted by: Lena Shaw on: February 26, 2010
Did you know you can refine your real-time search while accessing the most relevant, freshest real-time content on the web?
LeapFish recently integrated Topsy.com, a search engine that finds the most talked about links on Twitter and organizes them by popularity and influence. Users now have the most popular and influential links on Twitter identified for them.
For example, during the Winter Olympics thousands of conversations are occurring, hundreds of articles & blogs are being written, and millions of URL’s are being tweeted in real-time. Users want to know what’s happening now, who’s winning, the medal count, and injury reports as they occur. People want news now, not tomorrow. However this content must be accurate, the most accurate content is what users will share and that is how Topsy adds a new level of relevancy to LeapFish real-time search.
On LeapFish if you do a search for Winter Olympics, you will see breaking news, recently dugg articles , recent photos, recent videos, real time tweets , and the most popular content being tweeted in real-time on the web (shown below). Since we post photos & videos from sites like YouTube and Flickr live in real -time, you might even find content from fans live at the games, content you wouldn’t have found anywhere else – streamed to you automatically in real-time. 
Traditional search engines provide a different perspective on real-time search, displaying content within search results. For example if you do a search on Google for “Winter Olympics” you may see breaking news at the top of the page, then if you scroll down 4-5 links you will see a space for streaming real time content (shown below). LeapFish displays real-time content separate of traditional content in an easy to use interface, this interface provides a simple of way of determining relevancy and gives users the choice of searching traditional or real-time content. 
As the web evolves, LeapFish will continue to innovate real-time search making the new web easier and convenient.
LeapFish Integrates Topsy Into Real-Time Search Results
Posted by: LeapFish Media Team on: February 25, 2010
- In: Announcements| Media| News| Press
- 2 Comments
Silicon Valley search innovator brings users the most popular real time search results by integrating Topsy
PLEASANTON, CA – (February 25, 2010) – LeapFish, an evolved search engine, announced today the integration of Topsy into its real-time search results. Consumers can now identify the most popular, relevant and influential results on the real-time web.
Topsy is a search engine that finds the most talked about links on Twitter and organizes them by popularity and influence. Topsy’s index is available via its extensive open API called Otter, which powers LeapFish’s integration.
LeapFish’s real-time search empowers consumers with immediate access to live news, video and imagery for any real time topic. Now through the integration of Topsy, LeapFish curates the Twitter stream into a powerful list of the most popular and influential links being shared in the real-time web.
“Real-time search just became a lot better,” said LeapFish CEO, Behnam Behrouzi. “With Topsy’s aggregation intelligence, LeapFish users now have the most popular and influential links on Twitter identified for them,” said Behrouzi.
“LeapFish’s integration of Topsy’s ranked results provides a great example of the power and potential of the Otter API,” said Vipul Ved Prakash, CEO of Topsy. “Topsy is excited to support LeapFish’s innovative approach to providing users access to the hottest and best content,” said Prakash.
To learn more about the newest additions to the site, visit http://www.leapfish.com.
About LeapFish:
LeapFish is an evolved search engine that captures the traditional, multi-media and real-time Web, through a single, connected search platform for both searching and sharing content. LeapFish is a privately held corporation headquartered out of CARR America Corporate Center in Pleasanton, California. For more information, visit blog.leapfish.com.
About Topsy:
Topsy is a next-generation search platform powered by the social web. Based in San Francisco, Topsy is a privately held company founded by Vipul Ved Prakash, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, and Gary Iwatani. For more information, visit labs.topsy.com/about/.
LeapFish Hits 10,000 Alexa as Traffic Continues to Climb
Posted by: LeapFish Media Team on: February 11, 2010
- In: Announcements| News| Press
- 1 Comment
Search Engine Anticipates 20 Million Plus Searches in 2010
PLEASANTON, CA (February 11, 2009) – LeapFish announced today that its multimedia search engine continues to grow in user base and that it anticipates more than 20 million searches in 2010. The company reported strong early adopter growth in 2009 having reached a 10,000 Alexa rank in one year.
“We are seeing a great growth trajectory in the number of users setting their homepage to LeapFish,” said David Bruggeman, Vice President of Marketing. “LeapFish’s versatile homepage and its deep search results are serving as a great tool for searching the new multimedia web.”
The company reported that at its current growth rate and with its new partnerships, the search engine anticipates more than 20 million searches to be performed in 2010. “Through search engine optimization, our growing affiliate network, partnerships with strategic software vendors and our continued organic adoption we are growing user base by large multiples this year,” said Behnam Behrouzi, president and CEO. “Our product advancements in 2009 have helped gear the engine for an even bigger year in 2010,” he said.
In 2009 the company made substantial advancements and innovations to its growing search engine including; real time search, deeper search results, personalized homepages, content sharing features and proprietary Twitter and Facebook applications, that have helped grow the engine from an Alexa traffic ranking of 150,000 to 10,000 in less than one year. “We are the only search platform searching all that users care about in the new web with over fifty providers including Google, Yelp, Twitter, Youtube, Mashable, Topsy, Wikipedia, and many others,” said Bruggeman. “The innovations and data integrations from 2009 have set LeapFish apart and are clearly reflected in our Alexa traffic ranking,” he said.
The company also reported growing success with its unique ad model that boasts zero cost per click fees. “Thousands of advertisers are securing high demand keywords that can deliver ROI in just a short period of time,” said Bruggeman. “Over 80% of our advertisers renew their sponsorship for one year or more,” he said.
“My experience with LeapFish has been unbelievable. Since purchasing two key words from LeapFish, our website is getting quite a bit of viewing. Sales are getting much better and the exposure is larger than I ever expected,” said advertiser Chad Levinger, of Temecula California.
LeapFish plans to release a secondary ad program to advertisers this spring. For more information visit www.leapfish.com
About LeapFish
LeapFish is an evolved search engine that captures the traditional, multi-media and real-time Web, through a single, connected search platform for both searching and sharing content. LeapFish is a privately held corporation headquartered out of CARR America Corporate Center in Pleasanton, California. For more information, visit blog.leapfish.com.
Search 2010: A New Decade Demands Better Search
Posted by: Lena Shaw on: February 9, 2010
Several trends emerged in 2009 that effected how users search the web, these defining moments have acted as a precursor to search innovations that will be seen this year. A previous post recapped several trends seen in 2009 and this post will expand on several enhancements we will most likely see heading into 2010.
The web is no longer a set of blue links, the web has evolved into a living breathing information source and users now demand a deeper search experience, throwing away the archaic way of searching the web. Users expect an all encompassing on-demand search experience, this has lead to developments in real-time search, social search and the aggregation of social media content providers.
User generated content and social networking has changed the DNA of the web, a web that now belongs to the users. As we all know time is scarce; videos, media, and images will add a certain level of convenience, becoming a primary source of gathering information moving forward. LeapFish started this trend in 2008 when it introduced it’s roll-over video functionality and then expanded on that technology by integrating videos and images into the real-time search stream. Users no longer need to click on a link seen tweeted in real time, the video or image will be displayed in your search results.
The iPhone has created a frenzy enabling users to customize their own mobile experience. A different medium but the same concept applies as apps are beginning to cross over into our browsers, users now demand that same degree of customization online. Applications continue to spring up online providing a certain level of convenience when accessing the social media world around us. LeapFish recognized this as trend before it’s fruition as it is already equipping users with a personalized homepage that harnesses the most popular websites and social networking sites online.
The increasing adoption of real time tactics for socially driven search engines means that tools are hoping to bring the power of social networking and social bookmarking to the search scene, this level of integration will power immediate gratification for our information needs. LeapFish has already begun to integrate said functionality and allows users to share as they search, every piece of content found on LeapFish can be shared on popular social sites with one click of a button, adding another layer of convenience.
Lastly, search will see a stronger emphasis on geo locating technology. As users provide recommendations in real time, it will make further sense to see when and where said recommendations are being made. LeapFish has already integrated business reviews into it’s search experience via Yelp however LeapFish will be integrating check-ins and foursquare functionality in the near future.
The world of search will eventually need to provide a deeper integrated search experience as new information sources become relevant online. Right now we continue to see a back- n- forth between real-time search engines, traditional search engines and social search engines. LeapFish believes that all 3 provide a relevant searching experience and will continue to develop the integration of all three methods of searching the web. This is only the beginning and LeapFish will continue to be at the forefront of this evolution.
LeapFish: Real Customers, Real Results
Posted by: LeapFish Media Team on: February 4, 2010
As LeapFish continues on it’s growth trajectory, we strive to make each experience as pleasurable and memorable as possible. Here at LeapFish we measure our success by user experience and would like to acknowledge those that have made the success and growth of LeapFish possible, our users and our advertisers.
Users and clients continue to send in testimonials, comment on Alexa and comment within social networking sites, please see real LeapFish experiences below:
“What a pleasure it has been to work with Leapfish, a company I recently learned about and then signed up. Every time I have had a question their response was quick and helpful, friendly and filled with ideas to make my marketing work better. Rather than just answer my question, their client services specialist, Paul, asked if I would be interested in hearing some ways to improve my campaigns. Of course I would! And his ideas were great.”
Hazel W., PHD
“I have worked closely with Leapfish in order to maximize my target words. Before Leapfish I was faced with the choice of spending outrageous amounts of money to have my website hopefully visible; and in the forefront of search pages. Leapfish has given me the ability to market my company for an inexpensive amount; and puts my website in a designated place on each and every page my target words are used. One of my favorite attributes of Leapfish is I can see exactly where and what target words are being used. My second favorite attribute is that Leapfish makes searching so easy, as they gather their information from a variety of sources. I feel they want my business to succeed; therefore, Leapfish makes it easy to contact their offices and always are willing to help. Leapfish is user and business friendly.”
Candy L., Motivational Speaker
“My experience with Leapfish has been unbelievable. Since purchasing two key words from Leapfish, our website is getting quite a bit of viewing. Sales are getting much better and the exposure is larger than I ever expected. The website is extremely user friendly and the service is second to none. We are very thankful for the opportunity to work with Leapfish and would suggest your services to anyone. I honestly don’t know what we would do without Cathleen Mann and Leapfish, Thank You for everything you do!”
Chad L., Entrepreneur
“I only used Leapfish a few times basically fell in love with it today. Love the Facebook integration! #Leapfish rocks!”
Gabriel C., Philanthropist
Do you have an experience to share? Please get in touch!
Search Experience Improved
Posted by: LeapFish Media Team on: February 2, 2010
Executive Post by Behzad Behrouzi VP, Technology
Late last year we released a new evolved search experience, LeapFish. The objective behind the project was to make search more personal, increase social engagement, and most importantly improve content relevancy across a variety of data types. This meant returning content that not only provides the most value, but also displays content in an organized fashion allowing users to quickly obtain information requested without feeling overwhelmed.
As we all know the internet is rapidly changing however search has remained stagnant and fails to evolve at the rate we all need it to. The idea of customizing/personalizing web pages has been around for years (far before LeapFish even existed). Unfortunately, very few if any have been successful at it. Take for example Google with their iGoogle product. It allows registered users to select from hundreds of thousands of “Gadgets” that have largely been created (but not maintained) by 3rd party developers. Users can select to add to their iGoogle start page what seems to be an unlimited number of “Gadgets” that load as independent iframed pages. So where’s the problem and how does it fail?
Since the majority of the “Gadgets” are developed by 3rd parties there’s no single source for support, nor does any standard exists with regard to design and layout. In addition, from a technical standpoint iframes are expensive when it comes to web page performance. Since it doesn’t appear like any restrictions exist with regard to the number of “Gadgets” a user can add, a poor un-scalable environment is created that’s slow, heavy, and unstable , ultimately leading to a poor user experience.
With LeapFish we considered performance and organization to be important factors when giving the ability to customize. We internally developed all the customizable homepage “widgets” (LeapFish’s version of Google’s Gadgets) without the use of any iframes. This in turn allowed us to maintain the integrity of the product both at the organizational and performance level. “Widgets” would no longer look grossly different from one another, and support on any issues/bugs is always provided by us. The development of homepage “widgets” is an ongoing project that may one day be opened to 3rd party developers.
Another concept that held great importance was the idea of socializing content. Blogging platforms and news sites seem to have this concept mastered however its use was rarely if ever implemented at the search portal level. We made the conscious choice to make every piece of collateral on both the LeapFish homepage and search results pages “Sociable”. If your search query returns an interesting piece of content, you can share it with a single click to a variety of sites including Twitter and Facebook.
This leaves us to content relevancy. As many of you have experienced, search engines today focus on providing a single “type” of result to search queries. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing do a great job at finding and delivering relevant pieces of content in the form of web results (hence this is their default search type). However suppose a user searches “how to lose weight” on Yahoo.com. According to Yahoo’s algorithm today, Yahoo will return results in the form of type text media. Unfortunately, given the various forms of media that exist today web/text results most likely aren’t going to be the most relevant or the most valuable. Now if we do that same exact search on LeapFish.com we are immediately provided top news regarding the topic of losing weight. LeapFish also provides shopping results that lists books available for sale regarding that topic, and most importantly the results page provides user generated content in the form of Wikihow, Twitter, and Videos. These “other” data types are certainly valuable if not more valuable than results provided by traditional search engines.
In the end, the variety of data found online is a privilege and a tool. Users now expect to obtain the best and most relevant pieces of content from a single click of a button from a single search. Search is far from where it started and still has far to go in its evolution. LeapFish will continue to build off these goals and focuses to maintain scalability and agility as the internet evolves, providing a tool that harnesses the variety of the web as it becomes readily available.
LeapFish: There’s no place like Home
Posted by: Lena Shaw on: January 28, 2010
- In: General| Media
- 2 Comments
With rapid growth of information sources, real time content and conversation streams, users struggle to keep track of multiple friends and interests. LeapFish is providing a solution by aggregating multiple widgets from popular websites into a single interface serving as an internet dashboard for social media content, news, tools and social networking applications.
Your search homepage is no longer just a simple search bar staring up at you, waiting for text to be entered. It’s your start page, your home on the web, the place to go when you want to find what’s going on in the world and in your world, online and off. With Leapfish customizable homepages, users can add and organize their experience on the web in just minutes with a dynamic and efficient interface.
LeapFish was carefully designed with your personal search and browsing needs in mind, with Facebook connect you can easily set up a profile in minutes, once registered users can add and organize widgets with the unique drag n’ drop functionality. 
Click on “Customize Homepage” in the upper-right of LeapFish.com to set your homepage layout to match your specific interests. If you prefer celebrity news, select the US Weekly News widget. If you prefer up-to-the-minute tech news, add the Wired News, TechCrunch and Mashable widgets. Sports fanatics even have a home at LeapFish and can track top sports stories with the Yahoo Sports Widget. For the social media fanatics, users can stay connected to their social web with Yelp Search, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter widgets. The Twitter and Facebook applications provide a single interface to interact with friends and followers simultaneously from one page. Both applications allow users to search and follow friends on specific topics and you can easily tweet or update your Facebook status.
To fully customize your LeapFish experience, set up a LeapFish homepage. It’s an easy way to connect your social web and search. There’s no place like LeapFish.com, your new home on the web.
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LeapFish joined forces with the Make-a-Wish foundation to grant the wish of an ill child. With the help of everyone who tweeted, LeapFish helped send Jacob and his family to Disneyland for a week.
LeapFish is working with the San Francisco Chapter of St. Jude’s Research Hospital to develop several Sponsorship opportunities to give back to Children and the Community.