Yup, its exactly what is sounds like, a blog and a wiki all in one magical place. A bliki allows you to write in a blog setting but provides community to go with it. Your readers can blog along with you, respond, edit, change, link… its all there in one place. I think a bliki really reminds me of a forum (remember those?) with a blog-twist.

Some of the above graphic may look a little daunting but overall it shows that you can have blogs, user pages, wiki-type definitions, and more. Its a neat little tool that for some people will be very useful. If you like a lot of feedback and get motivated by discussion, a bliki may be the answer for you.

Cynthia Wunsch, classical musician and voice-teacher extraordinaire, has a bliki: the Unlikely Entrepeneur, that I have had the opportunity to collaborate on. This is a great example of a bliki just starting. Check her out, not only does she have some great content, but she is an awesome example of a business that isn’t usually associated with technology stepping out and making the internet work for them.

Side Note: A bliki is also something great to get involved with, even if you aren’t the owner of one. A bliki can give you an opportunity to promote your website (if it is applicable to the theme of the bliki), as well as linking to your site through a userpage. Just like commenting on a blog, being actively involved in a bliki may bring you traffic if you are making thoughtful and appropriate comments.

You know exactly the kind of site I’m talking about: 5 minute intro, loud repetitive music, no where to click through to the information you are doing a quick web search for: Flasher sites. Over all, there is nothing wrong with flash, it can be a beautiful addition to a website but like all things, moderation is the key.

Flash is one of those things many businesses want on their site because “it looks cool”. But flash has reputation for being inappropriate to the website’s content and annoying to its viewers. Also, flash was impossible to optimize. So if you had any text built into your website that you wanted search engines to find, it was a nightmare to program.

However, in July, Adobe released a product that should make Flash websites searchable. This is good news for Flashers but many web designers are less than thrilled. So my small warning is, Flash is the spice of a website but its your content and overall presentation that make your sale. Keep this in mind when you’re designing your site and remember, no one likes a Flasher.

The number one thing I hear from business owners when I talk about blogs and social media is: I don’t have time. Like most excuses, this one has a simple solution… its just not one that most people like to hear: If its important, you will make time. That may sound harsh or even impossible but it really is the bottom line.

I do want to talk about some things that can make finding time easier if you are willing to put some extra effort in. These suggestions are not a quick fix, nor for the faint of heart. But if you have a serious desire to increase your web traffic with a blog, take a month and try some of these techniques.

Listen to Your Muse. In the past I was clinically diagnosed with insomnia. This means some nights I sit awake for hours, just trying to sleep. Often I’ll think about business and get a blog idea. For me, it just seems like 3 am is the magic time. I will make myself get up and be able to pump out two or three posts at a time. If at all possible, write when the idea comes, even if its on a napkin, or its just a few scattered ideas. It may be on your lunch break, it may be right after dinner, but if at all possible, go with it. Calliope may only sing once.

Create Time. Lots of people talk about creating time. They say get up one hour early or shave off five minutes here and there. Well, that never worked for me, and if you read the last hint you’ll know I need all the sleep I can get! Instead, try to make your time work more efficiently. For example, my phone (and its a really old, lame Nokia, not the iphone) has a recording option. If you get stuck in traffic on the way home, why not just record your post and then type it in? Ever get stuck in line or have to sit for a doctor’s appointment? Carry and pen and pencil or make a note in your pda.

Deadlines. We all hate them, but they exist for a reason. Set goals, achievable ones, and write them somewhere in ink. It doesn’t matter if you procrastinate til the last minute, just complete the deadline. (Rewards are a good way to trick yourself into doing it, if you need the extra motivation.)

No step too small. A blog is a creative outlet. This is not a high school paper; there are no rules about length, format or content. Even if you write down three quick tips, its still a post! Even if you can only manage to post once every two weeks it is still progress! There is nothing too small you can do for your blog.

Stop—Banana Time. I think a lot of people get caught up in how much “work” a blog is. Think of blogging as your chance to talk about the things you love most. that should be fun, right? I love the internet and all its potential for business owners, and I love reading blogs from other people who are just as passionate about what they do. This does not mean you have to put a dancing banana in your blog post but if you get hit with writers block, go back to what is fun and write about it!

I hope these few simple hints can help you break through the cop-out of “not enough time”. Like everything else, blogging is an investment in your business. You are the one who makes the choice to do it or not.

Since there has been microblogging there has been the Microblogwars.

The original war was between Twitter and a service called Jaiku, which launched a few month before Twitter but has since been closed to the public by Google. A number of social sites also include microblogging as part of their service. These are often called status updates and can be found on Facebook and MySpace.

Pownce, created by Digg founder Kevin Rose, also joined the fray just recently. Along with Spoink which includes all forms of multimedia blogging. Even Plurk is considered a contender for the Microblog Crown.

One of the most recent additions has been Identi.ca. Identi.ca is an open-source service, which means that not only is it free, it also makes all its code public. However, the look and feel of Identi.ca is almost indetical to Twitter which made it a huge competitor during Twitter’s down time. Identi.ca had record sign-up in its first 24-hours. Many disgruntled Tweeple at least tested the service, many more simply reserved their name and waited to see what would happen.

Since Indenti.ca’s opening it has stayed mostly under the radar. Little buzz has continued about Identi.ca “replacing” Twitter. This may be due to a number of small glitches from Identi.ca.

But why is there a need to compete? Is one service really better than the other? MySpace and Facebook really offer two different services yet they are always lumped together and compared? The same thing happened when Plurk got hot. Die-hard Twitter fans raged that Plurk was a copy-cat out to ride on Twitter’s famous coat-tails. Are they really offering the same service? I think not. Identi.ca has a lot of similarities with its cousin Twitter, but if they begin to offer something extra (as foretold in the wondrous FAQ), they will have earned their place among the Microblogging Nobles.

Though the true colors of Identi.ca have not yet been revealed. Whether Identi.ca’s extreme replication of Twitter’s interface will help or hurt has yet to be seen. But, I think the one of the joys of the internet is being able to access and experiment with numerous social sites. Then you can test and try them and find a personal fit. Plus, a little healthy competition never hurt anyone.

Today I want to chat a little bit about why “non-techie” people should blog more. As my example I want to spotlight a new client of ours, Sharon Jones who owns Guardian Pet Sitters and has just started her own blog for pet lovers.

I chose this blog because it has nothing to do with programming, technology or the internet. Right now its hard to tell how many tech blogs are out there but the percentages are high. Personal blogs, news blogs and tech seem to take up the largest chunk of the 78,703,197 blogs identified by statistical websites (source from blogpulse).

In the past two months here are the percentage of posts that Blogpulse has tracked with the keyword “Internet” compared to the keyword “Pets”.

But let’s compare that to the number of people in America who own pets. The National Pet Owners Survey 2007-2008 cites 63% of U. S. Households own pets (source: APPMA). So the number of people who might be interested in tips on pet care far out weighs the number of blogs marketed towards them.

Many businesses have something unique to offer the blogging community. They offer a service or information about something that not many other people are blogging about. Even less cuddly businesses like lawyers, technicians, or CPAs have plenty of worthwhile information and very little competition. In fact I would subscribe to an interesting blog on any of the above topics because they meet a need in my life. Check out Sharon’s blog and consider what unique perspective your business could bring to the table.

I’ve reviewed almost a dozen social media sites for you. I’ve listed all their pros and cons, but why bother with social media?

Social media is not traditional media and many business have trouble figuring out exactly what to do with it because they can’t label it. Mack Collier talks about this in his article Why is Social Media so Hard for Businesses?

“The problem that I think many businesses have, is how they view
social media. I believe many businesses (of all sizes) see social
media sites and tools as new channels to publishmarketing channels.

Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Its true. Social media is its own unique genre of marketing. It is a new way to interact with customers and clients. It is an invaluable tool for feedback, polling and reviews. Did you know even the Pope uses social media to get his message across?

So why aren’t more businesses taking advantage of this free marketing tool?

Time: Businesses think social media is a waste of time. They don’t see an instant result so they aren’t willing to pursue it (despite the fact that many forms of advertising have a time lapse). Or they are unwilling to devote the time. I’m of the opinion you either make time or you hire someone to do it for you, internally or externally because the return on investment is huge.

Fear: We fear what we don’t understand. Many business, even mainstream ones don’t feel like they are up-to-date with technology. Smaller companies are worried about the time and energy it will take to get involved.

Knowledge: Too many business just don’t know these avenues exist or–worse!–they don’t think their clients aren’t using them.

Pride: I read a study on SEO once that said that in 2006 NIKE had not optimized their website and when you searched for NIKE tennis shoes, they weren’t even in the first page of links. I’m not sure if that is the case now, but imagine not even bothering because “you don’t need more business” or “your brand is built offline”. Social media is a way to gain more SEO and if you think your company just doesn’t need it, you should really evaluate your marketing stategy and see what else is out of date.

So why do it? Check out this article about how Firefox used social media to break a world record. And if that doesn’t hit you, go to a site like eMarkerter and start researching your target audience. Then decide how useful social media can be.

Get Started: It doesn’t matter where you start, just do it. Read some of my recent reviews, find a media that matches your style and go for it. Social media will only grow your traffic, so what can it hurt?

The past few posts I’ve been focusing my research and attention on the phenomenon of social media. I have to admit it fascinates me, but the goal of course is to make it work, from a business stand point. How can online social networking help your business? And how do you choose from the hundreds of sites that make this available?

I’m going to deal with a number of well-known sites, each one I have reviewed in the last few weeks. Now I’m going to list out each service’s pros and cons so they can all be compared.

Pros:

• Networking Intensive
• Open and chatty community
• real time answers.

Cons:

• Time intensive
• Navigation not intuitive
• Leans towards the internet savvy

Pros:

• Great way to “poll”
• Close to Real Time but simple to use
• Ability to automatically feed blog posts

Cons:

• Too much down time
• Often Tweeple are more interested in getting follower than networking
• Superfluous information

Pros:

• Community Opportunity
• Clean Profile look - user friendly
• Ability to create applications, events and blog posts

Cons:

• Audience not “marketing” friendly
• Networking more social
• Ability to be tagged in notes and images that may not be work appropriate

Pros:

• Massive Audience
• Forum opportunity
• Widely-Accepting to advertising

Cons:

• Spammy
• “Bathroom wall of the internet” - reputation isn’t great
• Friend Collectors instead of clients

Pros:

• Simple, Clean, Business-friendly
• Opportunity to get business feedback
• Chance to get reviewed by clients

Cons:

• People may “reject” your link because they don’t remember you
• Many users don’t check-up on their profile regularly
• Not all people network with others they actually know

Pros:

• Viral effect for blogs
• Simple way to get noticed
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Many people “digg” things because their friends do, not because they like it
• Hitting the front page of Digg has been known to crash websites from too much traffic
• Millions of submission to compete with

Pros:

• Easy for any website
• Allows for site indexing
• Allows for reviews and keywords

Cons:

• Takes a little more time
• Can be bad for niche sites with advertising
• Allows the opportunity for people to rate you negatively

Pros:

• One of the longest standing Social Bookmarking sites
• Allows you to import bookmarks
• Ability to share of keep private based on user needs

Cons:

• Usefulness is merely just an extra link without good user connections
• A hassle without a toolbar extension
• Format is not instinctive

Are there any other social media sites you’d like to see reviewed and added to this list? Let me know what business tools you use.

The last social bookmarking site I think is important to mention is del.icio.us. That’s right, the one with the weird punctuation. If you’ve been following the last few posts, del.icio.us works like the other social bookmarking site though its origins are a little different.

del.icio.us started as a way to keep track of your bookmarks from computer to computer. In a world where many of us have a desktop, a laptop, an office computer and a cell phone with internet access, getting to your favorite website can often end up as an exercise in text recall. del.icio.us solved that problem, letting you put all your bookmarks in one place.

Of course the social aspect soon developed. People shared links, used del.icio.us to promote other websites and their own. The truth is, humans are social creatures. We love to share and learn from each other. We like to offer up knowledge to other people. Use these social tools to get in on the online networking! Most business owners spend hours networking offline, but imagine a network that is running constantly. Again, del.icio.us is a must for you to submit to and also put as a widget on your blog.

del.icio.us is not just like a browser bookmark. So the interface may take some time adjusting to. Everything works with tags instead of being sorted into files. However, if you bookmark your own site you can also find out who else is bookmarking your site as well!

Get del.icio.us links from Veribatim.

Not only is StumbleUpon a great way to use up your free time, its also another essential tool for anyone with a website. In my last post I talked about Digg and how every blogger should use it, StumbleUpon is a great one for any level of website.

StumbleUpon falls in the social bookmarking category and again is a great widget to install on your blog. You can add an website to your Stumbleupon porfile and even write reviews for your own and others’ website. You can also stumble every page on your site, so for example I can stumble my homepage, profile and every blog post. Again, the goal is to create a viral effect, more stumbles mean you are more likely to show up on the stumble website or show up for a “random” stumble. That’s right, users can click the stumble button (if it is installed in their browser, or go to the StumbleUpon site) and automatically be taken to a website that matches their interests. What StumbleUpon sends you to is based on interests you’ve listed and other websites you’ve ranked.

Problogger talks about paid advertising through StumbleUpon. I personally don’t promote paying for online marketing, (why? when there are so many ways to do it for free!) however, if you are interested, check out his some of his posts. Also remember to find other people you network with who stumble, this always increases your ranking and traffic.

Stumble through the web with us.

If you are a blogger you should be on Digg. Its not a question of usefulness, its fact. Of course I’m going to sound a little hypocritical here because I don’t have a Digg button on my blog (but we are working on it). Anyhow, you should. Digg is to blogging what YouTube is to video, its the tool to take you viral. All you need is a few readers to Digg you and it can start a mass trend that will increase your visibility.

If you don’t know what Digg is, here’s how it works. Digg is a social bookmarking tool. People create profiles then digg blogs and articles they enjoyed. They have a friend network who can then read things they’ve dugg and decide to digg then as well. Then those diggs are posted on their profile and so and so one. Diggs that are in the couple hundred end up on Digg’s first page. And lots of people read those. Digg also allows for comments and discussion about submissions. Right now I manually submit every post I write and digg lots of others. Its a great way to promote people who you read and subscribe to as well.

There are lots of sites out there about how to use Digg for SEO, here is a review I like at imediaconnection.com.

Its not hard to download a widget that you can put at the bottom of your blog. Then your readers can easily click and add you. Trust me, I digg far more often when there is a link. Most humans are simple creatures with short attention spans, they need a little easy reminder if they are going to digg your article.

Also find your friends on digg. If you are already using other social media post that you want to add people. Of course let me remind you of my soap box: the Golden Rule. Read and digg other people. This does not mean just digg whatever your friends post. Take some time to read articles and give feedback. Digg it forward and create your online word of net trend!

Digg what Veribatim thinks is hot here.