From the very beginning, the fwicki application was a concept that was built around the notion of creating useful tools for site and blog owners. Being site owners and bloggers ourselves, we formulated the idea for fwicki based upon a tool set that we wished to have.
We wanted to give our blog audiences a carefully selected recipe of news and information that created a river of news that would make our blogs "sticky". Of course we would carefully select the feeds that were contained in the mashup and make our best effort to create a recipe so unique that our audiences would bookmark the blog. We approached it from the standpoint of a user and realized that by creating a unique and useful news stream our visitors would be more likely to bookmark the blog or site. We realized when creating a proprietary feed of this sort that we would have a better chance of gaining additional subscribers.
Once the fwicki application was operational, we set out to prove our theory and found that our suspicions were in fact correct. Our audiences did find our "rivers of news" very useful and began to bookmark the blogs and subscribe to the new fwicki feeds. Obviously, this did not happen overnight (nothing based in true value, compliance and vertical content happens quickly on the web) but over the last 9 months or so, we have seen benefits while offering the fwicki mashups to our site and blog users. We have included our own site and blog feeds in the mashups and boosted our syndication coverage as the fwicki feeds have been snapped-up and redistributed on the web. There is value and merit in using the toolset the fwicki application offers for RSS management. Don't expect an overnight sensation or explosion on your site when you use the fwicki application to enhance your project.. leave the hocus-pocus snake oil approach to the "Stompers" (scammers) on the web. Do expect added value and content at your site or blog by utilizing the toolset offered by fwicki. Over time, you can also expect growth in the form of high quality referrals that can occur as a result of understanding and leveraging the complete toolset available with the fwicki application.
The RSS management tools offered at fwicki will bring real benefit to your site or blog. Most of that benefit will be for the user who loves your site or blog for what it is to them.. a valuable resource for top-level information in your particular category. The rest of the benefit will be passed to your site or blog in the form of traffic and the sites' recognized authority in it's category. Use your savvy to create a unique custom fwicki page, tag the page and get quality organic traffic over time that you can direct to your site or blog.
Just keep in mind that these benefits assume that you are somewhat skilled and savvy in the ways of "white-hat" Internet practices. Using fwicki effectively assumes that you understand enough about your blog and it's audience to be able to figure out how to leverage the application for the benefit of your blog and your audience. If you are a spammer or splogger, forget it.. We monitor the fwickis that are created.. very closely. If we see a splog or spam site that attempts to harness the power of the application, we will shut down the account and block the IP of the offender. The community at fwicki also actively participates and reports potential spammers which helps keep the community vertical.
If you are interested in learning more about the tools at fwicki, be sure to visit the following links:
The growth at fwicki is steady and sure. The members who use the application with the greatest success are folks who really "get it" when it comes to RSS, SEO, and "Vertical Content" blogs & web sites. They understand the advantage that can be gained by leveraging the power of the application. However, bloggers on any level can add value and merit to their blog by offering the toolset to their audience. IF you are savvy enough to understand the application toolset as a whole, we encourage you to leverage every phase of the application and give it 7 to 9 months. Take the fwicki challenge! Contact us in the summer of 2008 and tell us your success story!
