Do We Need A Free Wetpaint Website As Well? Online Writing Buzz - January 12th 2009
Today's online writing buzz concerns the newish free website opportunity 'Wetpaint.' A little bird mentioned some buzz about a new site called 'Wetpaint' the other day - said it was worth keeping an eye on, so of course I ran over to have a look! I took a ten minute whistlestop tour, deciding if that couldn't answer my queries - too bad - as that's all I have time for nowadays! These are the questions I wanted answers to: 1. Do I really need another site or online presence to add to Squidoo,Hub Pages,Ehow,Associated Content and all the other sites I have pages on? 2. If so, why? What is different, better, more lucrative, edgier than these? 3. Will it provide more online prominence? 4. Will it add revenue? 5. Will it add relevance and SEO ranking 'clout' to my pages?
The concept behind Wetpaint seems to be to create an easy space for clubs or circles of friends to share news, images, information and life-experiences by building social networks around hobbies or things they have in common. People can create a Wetpaint website through collaboration, mixing the idea of Squidoo lenses,wikis, Hub Pages, blogs, social networking sites and forums into a user-generated online club based on hobbies, shared interests or friendship groups. The Wetpaint Pro's And Cons - the 'againsts' for me, first. 1. The whole concept/site seems very new, and as yet, has an empty feel about it. (Ps the word 'cons' alludes to a figure of 2. Nowhere on the Wetpaint Homepage Info Site did it say anything about monetizing or being paid for content on the Wiki. 3. Learning about how to create a link on Wetpaint was not easy. Navigating around to find the above info was time-consuming and I didn't get my questions answered. 4. It didn't seem as user-friendly, or remunerative as Squidoo. 5. Trying to create a link on Wetpaint using the profile pages was a bit time-consuming the first time, and the second time, as the images would not load at first. 6. The Wetpaint free website idea seems to be mainly based around the idea of social networking at the moment, but may be re-inventing the wheel - many people are already totally happy with their Facebook,Myspace, or Twitter spaces and the only added incentive to tempt them away, might be if they could make money out of it! Not clear if this would be feasible on the site. However, this might change in the future. 7. The create a profile area where it is possible to add friends; seemed a bit lonely in there! There only seemed to be one other writer when I looked. He had only posted once - and he worked there1 8. The useful Web 2.0 content-adding interactivity features for Website owners are chargeable. Link On Wetpaint - The Pros: 1. The site is very new, and just might be 'the next thing' so might be worth keeping an eye on - just in case. 2. If it has the backing of a big web presence, it might be worth joining early - if anyone has the time! 3. The Web 2.0 interactivity might be an easy-to-use facility for website owners who want to build this content-building feature into their site. However..... yes, these useful features are subject to charge! Both the wetpaint 'Inject' and 'Attach' features have a pricing structure - AND - a big mistake in website design - the details are not made clear. There are just more clicks to 'find out more.' (I didn't!) 4. So it's yet another new development that might be 'one to watch.' 5. And as to Wikis in general.... well, that whole 'let's all edit it together' thing isn't for me! As a social networking hobby it might be fun for kids or for others with a lot of leisure time to invest, it might be fine - but from a business revenue point of view I think I'll stick to my nice SBI website here... where the traffic/revenue comes in by itself and I don't have to nanny-nurse it all day to get traffic or see who has messed what up! So what did I decide to do about Wetpaint? Well, I created a profile - just in case! Must remember to 'keep my finger on the pulse' to pick up any news of how the sites are growing - or not!One day I'd like to add interactive features to this site so that readers and writers can share, ask questions and get in touch - maybe posting links to their articles. So, I'll keep my eye on the 'Inject' and 'Attach' features - and on how much they cost! WHAT IS A WIKI ANYWAY? - SHORT SHARP VIDEO BELOW! Wetpaint And List Of Social Networking Sites Which Encourage Sharing Of Online WritingBut SBI Is The Best! We Social Network In Our Forum!
What Is A Wiki...... Actually? Lee's Short, Sharp Video Explains Here:
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