Biznik Blog

It’s really no big surprise, you get out of this community what you put in.

I recently took some photos of Biznik members for a new about page that we are creating. Madhu Singh gave me this nugget of a quote, “Biznik truly promotes relationships with the person and not just the company. If you respect the community by participating and promoting your peers you will gain the same respect back X 10!”

We see this concept proven over and over again. Members that participate by commenting on articles, lending their perspectives and expertise are the ones that foster relationships that lead, eventually, to business.

Alas, there is no model yet to prove the ROI of business networking. But really, does there need to be? Can’t you just tell that when you get yourself out there in one way or another, that results come your way? Sure, you could think about it like this: business=participation/time.

But why bother?

What is important is that you connect with other real business owners that are just as serious about their business as you are, find out what they need, try to fill that need with someone that you know; making good in this world for two of your peers.

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I got a call from a member who was upset that only three people had gone to his event.

He was mad at me, and Biznik for not promoting the event.

I can understand that. It is frustrating going through the trouble of creating an event and then not having anyone show up.

The same holds true for writing an article that get no comments. It’s kind of like hosting an online event that no one shows up for.

So, I talked him down.

I told him that he needed to be consistent. I told him that he couldn’t give up. He was an unknown! He came out of no where and the first thing he did was host an event.

This community prizes the member who is a regular contributor in the events or in the articles section.

Plug at it, maybe one event a month, or one article a month. When you think about it like that – it is not so daunting.

The community will begin to see your face more often and you will begin to foster trust.

(Fast forward a year later, same guy is hosting the same event almost once a month with great success, 20+ people at every event.)

Biznik is fortunate with the number of article submissions we get each day. Some days, the number of submissions is as high as 50!

What do we do with them all? To start with… we read and review every single one.*

*(Every single one that comes from authors with a photo of themselves on their profile. Afterall, if we’re not going to publish an article from an author without a photo, there’s no sense reviewing it.)

Then, our editors select the articles relevant to business for circulation in the main Articles section, and feature the ones that they believe the community will get the most benefit out of.

A perk of ProVIP membership is gold star treatment. ProVIP articles go to the top of the editorial queue. ProVIP articles also include a linked bio of the author (SEO mojo) and post signatures on their comments (more SEO mojo) — something that occurs throughout the site, not just on articles. (It’s the post signatures that yield a ton of traffic to the authors’ own business websites.) And then I tweet the shining nuggets from ProVIP articles and put them on the Facebook wall.

To round it out, a weekly Hot Sheet of the articles circulated that week getting the most views and comments.

I try to space out articles by authors so that their best articles are not stacked on top of each other – but when an author is as successful as Carolyn Higgins, there is not much I can do.

Every once and a while this happens:

It’s not that Carolyn publishes too much – it’s just that when she does, she knocks it out of the park. And when an article does well, it continues to do so.

Here’s a peek at what Carolyn does well:

1. Her articles have snappy – but not too cute – titles

2. She is succinct and has a focused audience

3. Her formatting is easy to read

4. Most important of all: her writing is easy to understand and is packed with valuable content.

Congratulations on your success here, Carolyn – and thank you for your dedication to small business success and this community. With articles this popular, it’s obvious that they are helping a lot of people.

We wanted to take a moment to thank the Biznik members who hosted the most Biznik events this year, and also the members who attended the most events.

It isn’t easy to get your calendar cleared and do all the legwork to put together a great event – even if it is just a meet and greet mixer.

Here are a few Biznik members who made a serious effort to host events; this is am impressive list when you think about  how much knowledge was shared – not to mention the potential for introductions made and referrals passed.

Deborah Drake: 66 hosted events // 1038 attendees in 2011
Richard Whitaker :  33 hosted events // 213 attendees in 2011
Karen Wehrman:  30 hosted events // 189 attendees in 2011
Bob Dunn:  24 hosted events // 440 attendees in 2011
Tshombe Brown:  20 hosted events // 83 attendees in 2011
Angel True:  19 hosted events // 65 attendees in 2011
Elias Melas: 18 hosted events // 82 attendees in 2011
Kate Phillips: 17 hosted events // 252 attendees in 2011
Brad Rodgers: 15 hosted events // 70 attendees in 2011
Mélanie Hope: 15 hosted events // 79 attendees in 2011
Sloan Coleman:  14 hosted events // 45 attendees in 2011
Steven Sieden:  14 hosted events // 213 attendees in 2011
Allen Snook : 13 hosted events // 100 attendees in 2011
Pete DiSantis:  11 hosted events // 66 attendees in 2011
Kaya Singer: 10 hosted events // 103 attendees in 2011

Nor is it easy to go to a networking event when your cozy couch is waiting for you at home. Here are some of the Biznik members who made the biggest effort to get out and meet the community in 2011

What is a forum post without anyone commenting on it. Here are some of the most engaged members in the forum.

Thanks gang for keeping the ball rolling!