How do you get started with Listly What is a social list? Why and how do you begin creating social lists This is a simple guide to getting going with the basics of Listly

1. Getting started
with Listly (v3)

2. First things first
• Create Your Account (via http://list.ly/ )
• Pick one network to signup for Listly
• Connect your other Social Networks
• To save you mislaying your lists (duplicate
accounts are confusing)
• Connecting all your networks also gives
your account more social presence /
social proof.
• Connecting Facebook is valuable people
will see your activity & then be more
likely to contribute to your lists
• Bookmark Listly
• Also install our Bookmarklet (more on that
soon)
• Install the Chrome Extension

3. EXPLORE the culture
• Lists are like Blogs. Listmakers are like Bloggers
• The first thing you should do on Listly is observe
other people’s content
• See what lists people make
• Follow other people & their lists
• Vote on lists that are on topics you care about
• Contribute & share other people’s lists
• If blog, consider embedding other people’s lists on
blog posts. Lists make great blog content
• This is standard blogging / social networking advice
• Listly is a social content network just like Slideshare /
Youtube. Each platform has its own culture
• Embrace & support the community in a way you’d
like them to embrace you & your lists
• There is no anonymity - all votes & contribution are
traceable - this is not Reddit

4. Lists for WORK&PLAY
• Listly is a social crowdsourcing platform
• It’s about people & their passions
• Collect & list stuff you find useful, funny or
informative
• Let other people help. Think collaboration
• Lists can be personal or for a business/brand/
blog or publisher.
• Ultimately lists are made & consumed by people
• People find Listly because of a list someone made
• First people read & share lists
• Then people return to create their own content
for things they are passionate about
• We don’t suggest duplicating lists on the same topic
• If someone has already made a great list,
contribute to that list. This is not Pinterest
• Teamwork lets us all get more from less effort

5. Share: Lists & Items
• We don’t Tweet anything automatically
• You are always in control
• Smart URLS
• Each list/item has a unique short URL
• Embedded list have unique list / item urls, so
when your share, people will find the
highlighted context inside a blog post or list
• Sharing via Share icons
1. In the header for the list
2. Next to each item

6. Invite Friends
• List Making is Social
• Your friends like the
stuff you like , that’s
why they are your
friends (most of them
anyway)
• So invite them to Listly
& ask for their help
• http://list.ly/settings/
invitations
• Get 100 friends to join
Listly & you’ll get a free
year’s subscription to
Listly Premium

7. Searching & Being found
• Discoverability is big part of Listly
• 60% of Listly traffic is via organic search
• 50% of our traffic is from embedded lists
• People find you via your lists
• So make it easy for them.
• Name your lists based on questions people
ask when searching
• Make your list title descriptive
• Make your list interesting, fun or useful
• Number your lists = Top !0… , 17 Best …
• Sharing via Facebook, Twitter, G+ & LinkedIn
will help your lists get found in the future

8. Desktops,phones & Tablets
• Responsive Design
• Listly is built to offer what’s called
“responsive design”
• This means the content & layout adjust
dynamically to works on
• Desktops
• Smartphones
• Tablets
!
• Content does not determine layout
• With Listly there are multiple possible layouts

9. Listy: Built to Embed
• Listly was built to be embeddable
• We make it easy both on Wordpress & blogs
supporting Javascript (which is most)
• If you get stuck search for help here
• https://listly.tenderapp.com/kb
• If you embed lists on a platform we haven’t
documented we’d love to hear from you, so we can
extend our documentation
• Lists are Responsive
• List layout / content adjust to available space, so you
can easily embed a list on the sidebar or in a post
• Pick a unique layout for each embedded a list
• When the list changes, so does the embedded content
• Your lists keep evolving over time, which makes them
more valuable
• Where to Grab the Embed Code
• Every lists has an embed icon

10. ONe Lists - Many Layouts
• Customize Your Embeds
• It’s very simple to control how your lists looks

11. ONe Lists - Many Layouts
• Just Grab Your Code
• You can grab the short code if you have a
self hosted Wordpress blog or Javascript if
you have a different blogging platform

12. Got A WORDPRESS BLOG?
• Is it Self Hosted?
• Great, so you can use our Wordpress Plugin
• This makes it even easier to paste short embed
codes into your posts
• http://wordpress.org/plugins/listly/
• Lots of people use it (11k downloads)

13. GETTING HELP FROM LISTLY
• Our Help / Support Site
• https://listly.tenderapp.com/kb
• This is the best place to contact us as
multiple people see & read emails sent to our
support system
• You can ping us on Twitter. That’s great. You
may even find other Listly users jumping in to
help
• We love the social dialog
• Do share your lists & your blog posts
• Add the hashtag #listagrams if you’d like us
to feature your list on our weekly Listagram

14. Making Lists #1
• What Make a Great List
• We believe lists become great over time
• We thing the best list are made my many
people.
• Listly is a crowdsourcing platform, but you
still need to entice people to help with your
lists
• Start with
• A great descriptive intriguing title
• A description of what you are looking for &
why
• A headline image
• 3-4 items on a list (people need examples)

15. Making Lists #2
• To Begin
• Login to Listly
• Click on New List
• Basics
• Give your list a
name & pick a Type
of List
• Twitter Lists have
special powers &
map to an existing
Twitter list
• Fill in the
description & gives
your list Tags to aid
discovery

16. Making Lists #3
• Managing Twitter Lists
• Twitter Lists on Listly can
manage your Twitter lists
• Curate list from Listly
• Consume the list feed via
any Twitter app
• People can contribute
Anyone can embed your list
• Twitter list become
searchable
• Your Twitter lists become
more findable
• More info on
• https://
listly.tenderapp.com/kb/
twitter-lists-managed-by-listly-
invite-only-beta/
twitter-lists-now-generally-
available
A Twitter List button takes
you to your list on Twitter

17. Making Lists #4
• List URLS
• Each list has a unique URL
• The title can change as it is not needed to
uniquely identify your list
• The title helps your list URL in search results
• eg
• Here’s a list of Doctors on Twitter
• These are all equivalent URLS
• http://list.ly/list/4V1-doctors-on-twitter
• http://list.ly/list/4V1
• http://list.ly/4V1

18. Great titles matter
• List Titles
• See how other people write their blog post titles
• See Jon Morrow > Headline Hacks
• http://boostblogtraffic.com/headline-hacks/
• Watch Buzzfeed at work
• Create compelling numbered list titles if you want
people to find and contribute to your lists
• Item Titles
• Item titles matter too
• They should contain key works, but also ask
yourself - Would anyone share this
• Write List and Item titles that are share worthy
• You can change your title over time, so don’t be
afraid to go back and improve the titles for your
old lists
• Titles can change even on embedded lists

19. Customizing your lists #1
• To Edit a List
• Make sure you are logged in
• Find the list on Listly
• Click on “Settings”

20. Customizing your lists #2
• 3 Tabs When you Edit
• Basic, Advanced &
Premium

21. headline images
• Changing Your Headline Image
• Place key elements to the top of the image
as title & description float & rise over the
image, depending on copy length
• Images bigger than 600x250 are cropped
• There are many ways to find a headline
image

22. 4 Ways to Add to Lists
• You
1. Bookmarklet
2. Add Item
• On Listly or a
blog post
(embedded list)
3. Bulk Import
• Import up to 25
URLs
4. Quick Add
• Simple speedy
data entry
!
!
• Other People
• People can
contribute to your
list using the
bookmarklet if
they follow your
list
• They can add to
your list via Add
Item on Listly or
via a blog
• Premium Teams
• Members can bulk
import & quick add
to your lists

23. Bookmarking
• What is a BookMarklet?
• A Bookmarklet works via
the browser menu bar so
you can bookmark as
you surf (no need to visit
Listly to add to your list)
• Installing the Bookmarklet
• Follow the instructions
• http://list.ly/about/
bookmarklet
• Also install on phones &
tablets
• Adding to other people’s
list
• Like any lists to make it
visible via your
bookmarklet

24. Premium Lists
• Go Premium
• In which case all your lists
are premium lists
• https://secure.list.ly/
upgrade
• Or, You Can Make 3 Free
Premium Lists
• Go to your list page
• eg http://list.ly/
NickKellet
• Choose Lists from your
menu when logged in
• Hover over a list and
you’ll see a “Make This
Premium” button.
• Pick carefully! Just 3
wishes

25. asking for help
• Asking for help is a big part of Listly culture
• Ask early & often. Catch people when they have
time to act
• Don’t be afraid to ask again
• Leave room for the first people to help. Leave
obvious gaps in the list
• Getting the first few people to help takes effort
• Once people can see social contributions other
people will be more willing to participate
• Ask friend & request help via Twitter & other
social networks - don’t forget to use hashtags &
keywords so people will find your content
• For people to contribute they need to care
about the topic & your list content
• Tell people why you need. Ask for one thing
• Voting or Contributing

26. moderating your lists
• By default all additions are visible on the list
• You can turn on moderation in list settings in
the advanced tab > Moderate Items
• If you turn on Moderation you need to
approve each item to your list.
• Moderation
• New items are sent to the list queue
• If you want to hide the moderation queue
you need to upgrade to premium Listly
• Best Practice
• Thank people who contribute to your lists

27. Searching & TAGGING LISTS
• Searching
• You can
search inside
a list both on
Listly & on
embedded
lists
!
• Tagging
• You can also
filter a list
based on its
tags

28. ORDERING YOUR LISt
• Default Order
• Crowdsourced
• You can change this
via the advanced
list settings
• Curated Order
• You can curate
your list’s order,
but remember to
set curated order
as the default order
for the list
• You must curate the
order for new items

29. More RESOURCES
• Tips List
• http://list.ly/list/Enp-listly-tips-and-tricks-list?
feature=search
• NewsLetters & Blog
• Explore our newsletters & blog for the latest
• http://blog.list.ly/newsletters/
• http://blog.list.ly/
• http://blog.list.ly/listly-slidedecks/

30. Final Thoughts
• Any Questions
• What’s missing from this getting started
guide?
• Leave comments & we’ll iterate
• Image Credits
• Hopscotch via Ian Muttoo
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/imuttoo/
4504392318/sizes/l/