Bellingham Community

<span class="basic_member_name">John Greer</span>
John Greer
Web Designer
Bainbridge Island, Washington
Posted by John Greer, Bainbridge Island, Washington | Feb 27, 2009

Subscribe to About Biznik Member's Biznik pages appearing on Google

I was recently contacted by a Biznik staff representative and told my account would be unpublished in 5 days, if I failed to change my member name from John Greer - Web Shui LLC, to just my real name. Initially I included my company's name for greater exposure, and the result was fantastic. Unfortunately, this may no longer be the case, because of Biznik's policy.

An interesting thing happened with regard to my Biznik page appearing on Google, so I'd like to share my experience with everyone, in the hope that Biznik might see the logic of including a name, and if applicable, the individual's opt-in employer's name, as well.

Clearly, we're all joining networking sites to promote ourselves and our professional interests, so it only seems logical that more than just an individual's name appears on their Biznik Pages when listed on Google and other search engines.

Thanks in advance to Biznik, for their clarification regarding this issue and their Real Name Policies.

Biznik wrote me the following:

Hi John,

Thank you for your participation in Biznik! One of the things that sets Biznik apart from other online networks is that it helps individuals support one another in strengthening their business reputations, relationships, and visibility (as opposed to simply providing an online directory of business listings).

Personal names foster Biznik's environment of trust and collaboration. Our Real Names Policy, stated in Section 2 of the Terms of Service, covers profile-naming requirements. We understand that not everyone reads the Terms of Service all the way through when they sign up for Biznik, so we give the chance for members in violation of the Real Names Policy to correct the violations before we unpublish their profiles. In your name fields, please use only your first and last names. (An initial is okay in one of the fields.) If you widely use a stage name or a professionally assumed name in public, that works as well.

Please update your name within 5 business days; otherwise, your profile will be unpublished until the change is made. If your profile is unpublished, though, don't worry--simply reply to this message to let me know you've made the change, and we'll gladly republish it for you.

Thank you for your support. Please let us know if you have any questions or feedback.

Kindly, Jessica Biznik Administrative Assistant

..............................

Immediately thereafter, I complied with their request, and submitted the following reply:

Thanks for bring this concern to my attention. For the record, I've complied with your request.

However, as you may be aware, in the short time I've been on Biznik, I noticed how Google quickly rated my Biznik page, based on my keyword name (John Greer - Web Shui LLC) and my company's name being included in the name field. As a self-employed individual, this is a big step up from having just my name shown as my title.

It will be unfortunate if this Google status reflecting my Biznik page's names/keywords becomes adversely effected as result of my compliance with your policy. If so, perhaps there's a way your service can improve upon the submission features, so self employed members, including non-paying subscribers, can get the benefit of having both their name and their self employed business's name appear in the name field.


2 Bizniks have posted replies

  • John Greer
    Posted by John Greer, Bainbridge Island, Washington | Feb 27, 2009

    oops.. Nevermind.... I just found the place where you can post your own description tag for the Biznik page listing that appears on Google and Yahoo.

  • John Greer
    Posted by John Greer, Bainbridge Island, Washington | Feb 28, 2009

    All my network contacts are gone now. That sucks.

This forum is unmoderated, but please keep discussion courteous and not too far off topic.

Members posting in this topic

  • John Greer
    Web Designer
    Bainbridge Island, Washington

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