Best of 09: Startup

December 22nd. Startup. What's a business that you found this year that you love? Who thought it up? What makes it special?

I'm not just saying this because I've been doing some social media magic for them, but I've gotta give props to Zwaggle.

If you're a parent, you need to join this site. It's an online marketplace for parents to swap their gently used kids' gear, for free. It's a green, free, awesome way to get the stuff you need, and share the stuff you don't.

Another company that I found this year? Lijit is a local Boulder business that offers an awesome search engine for your blog. I met their social media mastermind, Tara, at Blissdom, and she has been an awesome mentor and friend to me ever since. I think that every blog should have a search engine, and with Lijit you get that along with awesome statistics about who's visiting your site on a weekly basis.

On top of that, they have amazing customer service. Recently, I was having trouble with my search results. I told Tara about it through the Lijit twitter account, and she sent it to their support department. Within a few hours I received a very nice email telling me exactly what was wrong and how it's being fixed.

(In fact, I just got another email confirming that my search results are working! Love it...)

Finally, I discovered Etsy this year. Etsy is a site that allows users to post their handmade goods to sell. It has an amazing amount of cool stuff, and by buying from there, your supporting actual people making their own products, rather than corporations.