Ziki is a mixture of a RSS aggregator and a social network site. It aggregates the feeds of your websites and your other profiles on other networks, such as Myspace, Flickr, Tribe and so on.
I was aboard of Ziki from day one. There was not much going on in the beginning. Ziki had only few members, and the interaction between those was somehow limited. But now as time passes by, and they keep adding stuff, I begin to grow fond of it. Ziki has changed a lot over the last couple of months, and their service package has improved.
A short while ago I subscribed to one of their offers to buy a Google link for me. A Google link sponsors your website, by putting your link at the top of a search containing the keywords you defined. Anyone searching those keywords will see your link atop in a list. Ziki enters your first and your last name as a search pattern by default. You can’t change that.
Now, when you do a search for Henning von Vogelsang in Google, you will get the Ziki link first, on top of the search list. It will also show up at the right side on each following page, if you go to the next page of your Google search results.
Of course, this also helps Ziki to promote themselves as a service. But it’s a clever, two-directional way to market yourself too. Because if you add your other online profiles to Ziki, everything becomes accessible under one roof.
I think, if someone hears your name and is looking you up at Google, this is a good way to cover their interest in you. Sure, it will first lead them to your Ziki account, and not necessarily to your business website in a next step. But it works like a portal, in a way doing a job like Facebook or LinkedIn. It may not be as advanced as those, but acquiring new contacts in your network is mainly about getting in touch, and getting a feeling for the person you are looking for. In this sense, I think Ziki is doing it right.
It’s an interesting concept that Ziki is spending money to promote you. They give you something and get something in return: traffic and exposition, which will lead to more members. It is a typical example of a marketing strategy of the 21st century.
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