Our cluster network is undergoing maintenance. As a result SlideShare will be down. We expect it to be back in maximum 1 hour. Follow twitter.com/slideshare for latest updates.

UPDATE (0215 CST): We’re back up. Fully loaded.

We just unwrapped a new section of the site called Channels. If you go there, you will see channels or communities with content from Microsoft, Adobe, Razorfish and EPA among others.

SlideShare channels are branded spaces for businesses and brands. They provide an extra bit of oomph for companies with great content.

This means, you have a new way to find great content on Slideshare. If you are looking to feel inspired, then go to the Channels section to find interesting channels. The channels range in variety of content and organizations. Some example ones are listed below

• Microsoft has a sponsored community focused on parenting topics with content from Microsoft and from users (done in partnership with Federated Media)
• Ogilvy has setup a concept channel for Pharma
• Razorfish Marketing has a set of great presentations from Razorfish.
• Adobe Acrobat has a community encouraging uploads of Adobe Acrobat 9 (done in partnership with Federated Media)
• Pew Internet has shared a lot of their research reports
• Whitehouse is sharing almost 1000 presentations and documents

Coverage: ReadWriteWeb: SlideShare launches Custom Channels for Business

Continue reading »

Many of you have been asking us – what is the best way to use LeadShare? Well, it depends on your business problem, but there are some simple things you can do to get more qualified leads with LeadShare

1) My content does the qualification
Look at your content – does it good job of qualifying the users, i.e., is it focused enough that if a viewer has reached the end of the presentation, then he / she is likely to be qualified. The people for whom this method works have spent a lot of time thinking about their content and progression of the slides so that by the time people view their lead form and fill it out, it could mean only one thing (that they are qualified and interested).

2) Turn off download
If you are getting many unqualified qualified leads, then try turning off leads coming through download (users can still download the file, they just won’t get the lead form). A lot of times, users are downloading because they have some general interest in the presentation/topic, but no specific interest in your product / service.

3) Add Custom Questions
Something else you can try is to add more custom questions to the form. Ask what the relevant question is for your business. While we suggest not asking too many questions, it might make sense to add in a relevant question or two to get more qualified leads.

4) Try different calls to action
Pay attention to what the call to action on the lead form is. Its probably the most important determinant to who fills out the form. Try different calls to action to see what performs best.

Finally, be experimental. Try different options. You can try creating different campaigns with different

The SlideShare community responded with lot of care and empathy, in the wake of the recent unfortunate events that ensued in Haiti. Many a presentations from our users, have tried to capture the plight of the Haitians, and make the people of the world aware of the goings on.

Prayers, support and condolences have poured in from our readers. Many of them provide a lot of useful information, so that help can reach the needy unabated.

We at SlideShare share the feelings of our community and too join in support, in praying for victims and their family. We make an appeal to all, to help in any which way they can.

It seems that SEO has gone to the cats and dogs, but in a neat cool way!
The sure seem to know their basics and how do go about getting the right things in place.

Apparently the kittens are the experts on Onsite SEO…

The puppies too are the SEO gurus and the masters of link building.

I’m sorry to say that there has been an issue with the PayPal payment system. PayPal is no longer notifying us about transactions which is leading to a delay or failure of crediting SlideShare for Business accounts on our site.

We’re very sorry about this and are working to fix it ASAP. In the meantime I’m manually crediting people’s accounts. If your account hasn’t been credited yet, please contact us via http://www.slideshare.net/business/feedback

Best,
Daniel

—Update—

This has been fixed. However, if you still have any issues, please still use the feedback form.

Wednesday 9 PM PST: SlideShare will be inaccessible for an hour, as we are performing some db upgrades. Be right back. Promise

The Holiday Spirit Contest 2009 saw a month long run and a lot of spirited participation. It was different from the usual contests in a way that there were no judges and we left it to the users to determine the winners.

The winners are:

1st Prize:
‘Calling For The Real Santa’ by abhishekshah

2nd Prize:
‘Happy Holiday’ by vili48

3rd Prize:
‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’ by doina

Congratulations to all the prize winners! A big thanx to all the people who participated in the contest.

P.S: We received a few complaints about vote rigging; we have taken every possible step to ensure that the final vote-counts were fair and based on legitimate votes.