How To Create a Powerful Knol Profile
Google Knol is a community like any other. Your profile gives you the chance to introduce yourself and tell people why they should pay attention to your words. Think about it. If you take eBay for example, your profile there tells people why they should spend their money buying from you. On Knol, the currency is time, and your profile allows you to grab the attention of your readers.
Here is how to give a good first impression to your users:
- Tell them who you are: tell people who you are. You don’t have to talk about your hobbies or interests, but things that show your authority on the topic(s) that you will be writing about. If you have a doctorate in math, tell them. That will help people decide whether your math Knols are worth reading.
- Show them you are real: add a picture to your profile to show people you are a real person. I can’t tell you how important it is to have a picture on your profile. A profile without a picture is a driver’s license without a picture. Don’t forget to verify your name. You can do it by phone or e-mail, but it is necessary to show people that you are who you say you are (see image below).
- Show them your credentials: going back to the first point, make sure you talk about your studies, the articles you have written, the books you have authored, and your work experience. Once again, it’s all about showing people you know what you are talking about.
- Do link to your website: if you have an authority website on the topic you will be writing a Knol on, don’t forget to share that with the community. You can link to it from your profile to give your potential readers a chance to examine your prior work. Remember, it’s all about making a good first impression, so your Spring Break blog does not work here.
- Don’t lie on your profile: it’s easy to lie on your profile to make yourself look more impressive, but just don’t do it. It will definitely show once you write a couple of Knols. Do point to your LinkedIn profile if possible to make yourself look more credible.
Writing a profile is not rocket science, but a lot of people just don’t do it. Maybe they are being lazy or shy. By writing an impressive profile today, you can set yourself apart from those who don’t have a profile. Having a good Knol profile alone will not buy you readers, but combined with quality Knols, you can achieve a better standing in the Knol community.
Anatomy of a Successful Knol
Google Knol has been around for a while now. Knol junkies have wasted no time by putting excellent articles about various topics on Knol. But what is it exactly that sets apart a successful Knol from other? This post covers he anatomy of a successful Knol based on information gathered about the most popular articles currently hosted on Google Knol.
How To Write a Popular Google Knol Article
1. Content: the quality of content goes a long way towards determining how successful your Knol will be. Essentially, you want to write about a topic that intrigues people (see an example here). You also want to avoid the “quick hit” syndrome. In other words, you don’t want to write a Knol that is only 100 words long and doesn’t truly provide any valuable information to readers. You don’t necessarily have to write an extremely long Knol to be successful. But you want to convey information that is verifiable and leave the door open for your readers to explore your topic more after they are done reading your Knol.
2. Research: the best way to burn a Knol down to the ground is by skipping the research process. If you want to be successful in the Knol community, you need to research your topics rigorously. You don’t have to be an absolute expert in the topic of your choosing. But it is important to be right. Don’t make statements that you are not absolutely sure about or you’ll lose your credibility.
3. Start: your introduction piece is extremely important to your Knol’s success. With your introduction piece, you get the chance to write an elevator speech to help potential readers decide if the would want to invest time reading your Knol.
4. Engage: engage your readers and you are half-way through making your Knol successful. Knol is not a blog post, so I am not suggesting that you should specifically ask your readers for comments, but you can engage them and make them want to comment by setting the right tone for your Knol. If the topic that you choose is controversial or leaves the door open for argument, then you can expect your readers to comment on your work. Engaging your users and getting their feedback not only will help to get votes, it will help you to improve your work in the future.
5. Presentation: everyone likes an article that is brilliantly presented. So don’t forget to cite your work, and add graphics and visual aids to your work to give your audience the chance to better understand and appreciate your work. Tip: use bullet points to drive your point(s) home.
6. Finish: your Knol’s finish is almost as important as your start. Your finale should not only summarize what you have talked about in your Knol but also leave the door open for argument. I am not suggesting that you should have a cliffhanger, but don’t cover your topic from A to Z. Leave some space for your readers to participate and contribute with their comments.
7. Reputation: once you start writing Knols, you are going to get rated by the community. The better your Knols are, the better reputation you will have in the community. If you are a marketer and you have spammed Digg or other sites to push your message, keep in mind that the strategy won’t work on Knol. You will need to provide value to your readers, and if you don’t, your reputation takes a hit. If you drop the ball enough times, your articles may get ignored or even voted down by the community so make sure you behave properly.
Google Knol – A Review – Part I
Knol is Google’s aim to become a one stop shop for people who are searching for authoritative articles on various topics. In essence, you can think of Knol as a user-generated dictionary or encyclopedia that covers everything from health to technology topics. Here is why Knol matters:
- Quality Content: Since we are talking about Google essentially challenging Wikipedia here, you can be sure that they will try their hardest to offer the highest quality Knols to their readers. Google mentions that they do not bless any articles on Knol, but authors who are writing on Knol essentially put their reputations on the line which gets us to the second point.
- Community Rating: Google Knol allows you to rate other author’s articles. They use a 5 star system which makes it easy for readers to show their approval or lack there of for a Knol. Readers can also review Knols (similar to Amazon reviews) which allows them to express their thoughts with more than just a couple of stars.
- Collaboration: Not only you get to share your article with authors, you can allow them to make edits to your article (similar to Wikipedia). If you keep your article open for public, then you can expect other authors to make minor or major changes to your articles. The Community collaboration and feedback system creates a content ecosystem where content gets refined and perfected with the passage of time.
- Content Licensing: One cool feature with Knol is the ability to license your articles. The default is creative commons, but an author can reserve all rights on each Knol.
- Monetization: Making money writing Knols may not be a big deal to some, but it is something that Wikipedia lacks. In essence, once you write an article, you can edit the HTML code and ad Google adsense advertisement to your articles. While this could be encouraging to authors who provide quality content, there could be a few who take the shortcut and focus on the money than on value to the Knol community. But the Knol community will most definitely punish such authors with negative reviews and feedback.
Few Things You Should Know Before Getting Started With Google Knol:
- Identity: You are required to provide your true identity to Knol. While there maybe ways around that, Google Knol strongly encourages users to share their identity with the community to give credibility to their articles and feedback.
- Verification: You can verify your account by phone or by credit card. You are not required to do so, but Google strongly suggests you verify your information.
- Profile: The first time you log on to Knol, you’ll be presented with the opportunity to write your profile. This page will be the page that people are redirected to when they click on your name. Make sure you don’t write an article in your profile as it could happen easily. You can also change your displayed name, your occupation, and add a photo, or add links to your profile.
- Access: You can access Knol using any Google accounts username/password. Google will automatically fill out your name for you if you have it on file in your Google account. If you are using a fake name in your Google account, you may want to change that in your Knol account.
Knol is not really hard to work with. The most important task that you perform on Knol is writing articles and leaving feedback for others. Obviously you want your feedback to be useful for the community so pay extra attention to article that you are reading before leaving a 5 star for it.
Why Should You Use Knol:
You make ask yourself know, “why should I use Knol?” It’s very simple. You should use Knol to:
- Share knowledge and learn from the Knol community: If you know something valuable, share it with the community. These days sharing something you know can open doors for you. You can get paid too but that should be secondary. You can also learn a lot from the Knol community members and great article on Knol. And unlike Wikipedia, reading Knol feels like reading a blog and not an encyclopedia.
- Network with Knol Members: By sharing and participating in the community activities, you can find people who share the same passions as you do, and you can do a whole lot of networking on Knol. Think of Knol as another FaceBook, but one that you actually do more learning and less playing with Apps.
- Establish your Authority on a Topic: You maybe the best diet expert on the planet, but if you don’t promote yourself and people don’t know your work, then there is a good chance that you are not going to get the recognition that you deserve for all your hard work and passion for your subject. Share your great articles with others to show your authority on a topic. Who knows. You may get a blogging/consulting gig out of it.
- Help make the Web a better place: The social community is the most important aspect of Knol. Make sure you take time to review and rate articles in order to help the cream rise to the top. If you have used Google, you know how tough it is sometimes to find a good article about what you are searching for. Knol provides all of us with the opportunity to help make Web a better place.
What’s Next:
In the next post, we will get down and dirty with Knol and go over how you can create a profile and start writing and playing with articles on Knol. So stay tuned for the part II of Introduction to Google Knol.
