Minekey Help/FAQ





General


What is Minekey's Recommendations Widget?

Minekey's Recommendation Widget is a piece of code that you put on your blog or website that display personalized to your readers in a window.The recommendations are based on what your reader has viewed in the past and what they are currently reading.You can choose whether to display content from your own blog/site or add feed from third-party sites. You can also customize the shape and colour of the widget to match your blog page layout.


Why should I use Minekey's Recommendations Widget?

Well,it's free for starters.And your readers will love it and keep coming back for more! The Minekey Widget will also increase Page views and stickiness on your blog or website by providing your readers with the most interesting and relevant content based on what they have read in the past. Because it provides personalized recommendations,it is superior to generic solutions relying upon categorization,popularity or tagging.


What is special about Minekey's Recommendations technology?

The Minekey recommendations engine continuously analyzes what the reader is viewing, what they have read in the past and the collective behaviour of all readers and experts visiting a specific blog or website. It filters the content to derive "themes of interests." These are then matched against the content available to provide the most personally relevant recommendations. For more information, please visit our Technology page.


Does the Minekey Recommendations Widget work on non-English blogs/websites?

No, we currently only support English.We do plan to add other languages in the future.


How do I integrate Minekey's Recommendations Widget into my blog?

Integration is a three-step process. First, we'll ask you to pick how you'd like your widget to look. Second, we'll ask for the feeds you want to display on your widget. And third, you grab the snippet of code we give you and post it on your site. If you're using Blogger or Typepad, you can add the Widget automatically.


Can I use Minekey's Recommendations Widget if I don't have a blog?

Right now you can post it on any blog or website. In the near future, we will enable posting of the widget on social network personal pages as well (Facebok, MySpace, etc).


How much time does the Minekey Widget take to load on my blog? Will it slow down my blog?

Minekey has a very robust server backend and is continuously expanding its capabilities. You should see no noticeable lag time in page loading.


How much does it cost to use Minekey's Recommendationss Widget?

It doesn't cost anything to use our widget. It's absolutely FREE. Large publishers may want to work directly with Minekey to create a custom integrated solution and we have various pricing models for this.


Will I be able to add custom skins and my branding to the Recommendations Widget?

Not currently, but we hope to add this functionality soon.


Does Minekey use cookies to enable personalization?

Minekey observes and records your browsing behavior through a cookie. The Minekey recommendations engine then acquires the click stream data and relevant metadata of the content to extract "themes of interest." If you delete your cookies, it is not the end of the world. But Minekey will have to relearn your preferences. If you are logged in and we are saving your history, this will not be an issue. Visit our Technology page for more information.


How does Minekey protect user privacy?

Here at Minekey, we do everything we can to protect our users' privacy. We do not collect and store any data without your permission and will not share this with third parties. Read our Privacy Policy for more information.


Accounts


How do I sign up?

Signing up is easy! And it's free. Just go to our sign up page here.


How do I retrieve my password?

Lost your password? Don't worry! We'll help you get it in seconds. Just go to our Lost Password page.


How do I delete my Minekey account?

We here at Minekey don't acknowledge users who want to delete their accounts. Okay, we do. Just make sure to let us know why, and we'll do everything we can to make it better for the rest of our users.


Dashboard


What is Minekey Dashboard? What all can I do with it?

The Minekey Dashboard gives you a snapshot of the millions of widgets you've created and are using, browsing history through the Minekey Network, and reports on how your widgets have been performing.


How do I change my Password?

You can change your password by visiting "My Profile" link on the homepage.


Profile


Why should I submit my profile information?

Feel free to remain anonymous. But if you'd like to fully participate in the Minekey network community and receive the full accolades that are your due, you will likely want to fill out your profile.


Can I see the profiles of other bloggers using the Minekey widget and network with them?

Not yet, but you'll see that feature coming very soon.


Adding Feeds


What is an RSS/ Atom feed?

RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication, is a web format to update newly published web content. RSS formats are specified in XML (a generic specification for data formats). RSS delivers its information as an XML file called an RSS feed, web feed, RSS stream or RSS channel. Most sites include a link to access their RSS feeds, typically at the bottom of the page.


What if I don't have an RSS/ Atom feed?

Services such as Feedburner provide custom RSS feeds to bloggers and other web-based content publishers. Or you can easily create a widget by grabbing feeds from our extensive list of publishers during the sign up process.


What are the benefits of adding third-party feeds in addition to my own?

It all depends on what kind of experience you want your readers to have. If you want to just point them to your own content, fine. If you want to offer them a window on the rest of the web, then add some relevant, interesting third-party feeds to expand the scope of recommended content they will see.


Should I select from the publishers' list in Feeds or should I add my own feed?

It's not necessarily an either or situation. You can add both if you like. It all depends on what kind of experience you want your readers to have. Adding relevant, interesting third-party feeds expands the scope of recommended content they will see.


If I add third-party feeds, won't I be driving traffic away from my blog or website?

Not necessarily. If you can offer your readers a broader choice of articles that are highly relevant to them, whether it's from content within your publication or from a third party, the reader will find value in the relevant content and will come back for more.


Are feeds that I add visible to others in the system?

Readers will be able to see where specific articles are coming from but not all the feeds you have included.


I have several feeds that I would like to add. Is there a way to import the list of feeds through OPML?

That's a great idea. We're working hard to make this happen


Widget Customization


How do I customize the Minekey widget?

Just go to your Dashboard after logging in. Minekey offers you the chance to choose the shape and color of your widget as well as which feeds you want us to pull recommendations from.


How do I change my widget width?

You can change the shape, color or number of feeds by logging into your account.


The Widget looks really bad on my blog. How do I fix that?

You can change the shape, color or number of feeds by customizing your widget from your Dashboard.


I want to put my Widget on two separate blogs and would like it to look different on each blog. Can I do that?

You can create to different widgets with the same feeds and customize the look and feel to each of your blogs.


Adding a Widget


How can I integrate the Minekey widget into my blog/website?

Just follow our simple three-step process. Go to our widget customization page to integrate it today!


I don't have Blogger or Typepad in my Widgets page, I only see buttons to automatically add to Blogger and Typepad. What about other blogging platforms?

We are currently working with several leading blogging platforms and websites to seamlessly integrate the Minekey widget with single-click integration. If there is a particular blogging site that you would like to see the widget integrated into, please send an email to: support@minekey.com.


When I click the "Add to Blogger" button, Blogger is asking me upgrade my blog. Why do I need to do this?

Minekey only works with the most recent version of Blogger.You will likely want to upgrade anyway to take advantage of all of their new features.


What are the known restrictions with Typepad?

Typepad: The automated mechanism cannot be used to install widgets in weblogs that utilize Advanced Templates or Mixed Media Layouts.


History


How does my history affect my recommendations?

Our fantastically powerful algorithms examine what you are currently reading and what you have read in the past to provide you with the most interesting and relevant recommendations. The more history there is, the more personalized and relevant the content you will see.


How does deleting individual records in my browsing history effect Minekey's future recommendations for me?

Minekey makes recommendations based on what you have read before and what you are currently reading. If you've read content that you don't want to have influence over future recommendations, delete those records here and your Minekey profile will be adjusted accordingly.


Minekey Network


When I go to my friend's blog, why does the Recommendations Widget recognize my name?

Once you've signed into the Minekey Network, you'll always see your name and your personalized recommendations no matter where you're.


Is there a benefit to staying logged in to the Minekey Network?

Yes, you will be able to have a record of your browsing history and will be assured of the most personally relevant and interesting recommendations.


Troubleshooting


After hitting the "back" button, sometimes I see the previously shown Minekey Recommendations Widget?

It's possible your browser is caching the page. If you hit "refresh" in the browser tool bar you should see new recommendations.




How do I create and post a widget to the Widgets Gallery?

Creating a widget is easy. You can click here to create one. All widgets get put into our Widget Gallery.


How do I find out which blogs and websites have syndicated my widget?

Check your My Reports page for all the latest analytics to all the Minekey widgets you're using.


If I change RSS feeds in my widget, but preserve it's topical focus, will my popularity ranking be effected?

Popularity is the number of times your widget is grabbed. If you change your feeds, it may be more or less relevant to existing users.


Can I make money posting a widget to the Widget Gallery?

Currently, there is no direct way to monetize your widget through Minekey. However, adding the widget will increase your page views for unique user, thus possible increasing the chance of your user clicking on advertising, if such exists.



Publisher Network


Can I see who has grabbed my widget?

You can see the aggregate statistics of everyone who's grabbed your widget.


How can I get my Profile featured on the Minekey home page?

Easy! Click Edit on the My Profile page. At the bottom you'll see a choice to be featured on the Minekey Homepage.


Can I make the analytics and reports for my widget visible on my profile?

No, currently we are not supporting this feature.