FAQ / Profile Questions
- How do I edit my profile?
- How do I change my email address, login and password?
- I want to embed a video in my profile.
- How do I change the display of the map on my profile?
- Some members have a "Referral Network" under the Network tab. How did they get that?
- Can I add keywords to my profile?
- How can I optimize my profile for placement in Google?
- What is Biznik's Real Names Policy?
- Can I share an account with my spouse or business partner?
- Biznik's position on participation by content farms and reputation management companies
- I don't want to close my account, but I'd like to hide my profile
- What happens to my profile, if I downgrade to Biznik Lite?
How do I edit my profile?
You can edit the content in your profile directly in place. Look for a grey 'EDIT' link next to each area of content. If you do not see the 'EDIT' links, you are not logged in.
Adding a photo, placing an echo of your blog, editing a category all occur using the grey 'EDIT' link inline in your profile.
Navigate through your profile by using the secondary profile tabs. The 'Account' tab houses your membership level, personal information, privacy settings, and message preferences.
How do I change my email address, login and password?
Your personal information may be updated under the 'Account' tab on your profile. When you're logged in, you can access your personal, account, and profile information by clicking the 'Your Profile' tab in the green menu bar at the top of every page.
Your 'Account' tab is the far most right tab of your profile's secondary tabs. Grey 'EDIT' links can be found throughout these pages inline.
IMPORTANT: Your email address is your Log In username. So if you update your email address, you will use this new address each time you login.
I want to embed a video in my profile.
Embedding a video in your profile is a benefit of Biznik Pro. If you're not a Pro, check out the membership benefits and upgrade now. If you are a Pro, log in to Biznik, scroll half-way down your profile, and look for the grey 'EDIT' link next to the "Video Profile" heading.
Biznik does not host the video files, you must host them on a video-sharing site like YouTube. Once you have a url or embed code for your video, you can title the video and add the ID, URL or embed tag in the field provided. Biznik supports the following video-hosting sites: CNONtv, Facebook, Viddler, Vimeo, Wistia, YouTube, blip.tv.
How do I change the display of the map on my profile?
The default view of the map on your profile is set to your zipcode. You can change the view to show your pin on your street, or located in the epicenter of your city.
To change this preference, login to your account and click the 'Your Profile' tab in the green menu bar at the top of each page. Look in the left column above the map for the grey 'EDIT' link.
NOTE: selecting "Map to your street address" will display your street address in the middle section of your profile under your business name and job title.
Some members have a "Referral Network" under the Network tab. How did they get that?
Members' Referral Networks are leftovers from a previous version of Biznik. In the spring of 2012 Biznik developed a new networking application for passing and managing referrals. As a result the tool for passing a referral inside the Biznik social networking platform was removed. Those who used the tool to pass referrals prior to 2012, had a Referral Network. Those network connections have not been lost.
If you're looking at others in a member's Referral Network an assumption can be made. It's likely that some kind of business was passed, therefore if you contact that member seeking a reference about someone you see in their Referral Network, it's likely they can provide one for you.
Can I add keywords to my profile?
Yes! Half-way down on the 'About' tab of your profile, is a place to enter "tags". Tags are keywords that others may use in searches that you want to appear in, that do not appear in your profile. Variations of your words to describe your profession or terms you know others use, go well here. This is also a great place for an alternate spelling of your name. Is your name "Lara" but most people looking for you type "Laura"? Add the alternate spelling to your tags and you'll appear in searches for Laura too.
How can I optimize my profile for placement in Google?
Search Engine Optimization is an art, not a science, but there are some basic things you do and pay attention to, to optimize your profile for search engines.
1. Start by filling out your profile completely. Be sure to fill every field possible with text rich in keywords and descriptions others will use in their searches.
Remember that there are two audiences reading your profile -- robots and humans. If your profile is too marketing-focused, it won't attract the SEO-bots; but if it's too SEO-focused; it will turn off the humans!
Find a happy medium by using your keywords in the first sentence of your 'About you' fields, while keeping them conversational. (E.g. "I have been a photographer in Seattle for 15 years. As a portrait photographer, I specialize in wedding photography and engagement photography, as well as making portraits in a photo studio."
Use one of your primary keywords in your Job Title field. If you're a photographer, and you put the word "owner" in your Job Title, you will miss out on a large number of the searches for photographers.
2. Pay attention to the hidden meta data in your profile, such as tags (explained above) and your Job Title field (which is your profile's H1 tag). But don't mess with your Google Summary if you don't know what you're doing. If you leave out a critical keyword like your location, it could discount all the other places in the profile where those exist, and undo a lot of great SEO work in the rest of your profile. We auto-fill the best content for your Google Summary based on the keywords and information you provide in the rest of the profile.
3. Participate! Attend or host events. Publish and discuss articles. Show in the Biz Talk forums. The more you participate in Biznik, the more visible you'll be on the site. Our most active members rank higher than those who are dormant. How recently has your name/profile link appeared throughout Biznik site? Every comment in Biz Talk and the Articles, event RSVP, and promotion includes a link to your profile with your name and photo. Google sees each of those links at the top of our highly ranked pages, as most relevant. The fastest way to rise to the top is to participate.
If you want to learn even more about this topic, read the article Biznik cofounder & CEO, 7 and a Half Most Common SEO Mistakes Made on Biznik
What is Biznik's Real Names Policy?
Biznik is a community of people, not a static directory of business listings. It's one of the things that sets Biznik apart other networking sites and we're very proud of it. We provide mechanisms for members to establish their professional reputation and build relationships with their business peers. While some may think a business networking group is a place to promote your business, Biznik’s unique offering is that this is a place where you can share resources, advice, education, opportunities for collaboration, insights AND referrals – to curb the isolation of self-employment.
Trust is paramount. So Biznik’s policy from day one has been to require every member to use his or her real name on their profile.
For this reason, we cannot permit you to list your business name in the personal name fields. Initials are permitted in one but not both fields. Stage or professionally assumed names, are permitted when it’s clear that the assumed name identifies a *real person* and not a business title or business entity, and that the name is widely used in public, and not simply being used on Biznik to mask a member’s real identity.
If you have a need (such as a personal security issue) that requires you to partially mask your identity, you may use an initial in one of the name fields. Perhaps you operate two separate businesses. While there’s no rule against creating multiple profiles with the same name associated with different businesses, we recommend that each member maintain one account – this community is about the people who run the businesses afterall. Upgrade to Pro to add a second category and website url to your profile. Take it up to ProVIP and you can add your profile to four categories, and include three different urls.
Can I share an account with my spouse or business partner?
In terms of adding two names to a profile, afraid not! Biznik is a community of people, not business listings. Comments are made by people, RSVPs count the number of people who will be in attendance. It makes sense in logistical terms. If there's an event open to 6 people and both you and your partner want to attend, you each need an account to register the RSVP from.
If you and your partner are comfortable with only one of you participating fully in Biznik, the person without the membership can use Biznik Lite for free. You can RSVP for events, and comment in articles as a Lite user. The Lite user will not get a profile or the SEO benefit, and will be unable to participate in BizTalk, groups, or messaging.Biznik's position on participation by content farms and reputation management companies
Biznik does not permit third party organizations to create profiles on behalf of others. As a community of small business professionals, it is imperative that the profiles on Biznik represent real individuals and organizations that are interested in engaging directly with our community. We are not a content farm nor do we exist solely for the search engine benefit of our members. We welcome independent business people to create profiles using their real email addresses and engage with our community sharing their expertise authentically. When everyone plays by these rules everyone can be assured that if you reach out to someone there's a good chance they'll respond and engage with you personally.
I don't want to close my account, but I'd like to hide my profile
You can do that! Hiding your profile (referred to as "unpublishing") is a good choice if you want to take a break from Biznik but leave the option to return later. Some choose to hide their profile until they've finished filling in the fields and are ready to show it to the world. The ability to unpublish your profile or webcard can be found by clicking the 'Your Profile' tab in the green menu bar at the top of each page, going to the 'Account' tab, and following the link to your 'Preferences'.
IMPORTANT: Unpublishing a profile does NOT suspend membership benefits or stop recurring billing. If you are enrolled in a monthly or annual membership plan, you will continue to be billed on each renewal billing date even if your profile is hidden from view.
Unpublishing your profile does not affect your ability to participate in the community by RSVPing, hosting events, publishing articles or commenting in a forum. However, be aware that events and articles published by members with unpublished profiles, will not be considered for circulation in the main areas of the site. And unpublished accounts cannot receive messages from others.
To discontinue receiving messages from Biznik, set your preferences setting to "unsubscribe" from general communication from Biznik. These settings can be reset to "published" an "subscribed" by setting the preference to YES.
What happens to my profile, if I downgrade to Biznik Lite?
Biznik Lite is a placeholder and is free. When you downgrade to Lite, your profile and all the content is saved for you until you're ready to rejoin Biznik as a member. Lite comes with a webcard with limited information about you. Webcards are void of all the SEO-advantage members enjoy. When you downgrade to Lite, your compliments, your network, your map, and all the SEO advantage of your About fields and keywords disappear. But no worries! It's all safe. We'll hold onto your information and when you're ready to reengage, all the content will magically reappear.
It's easy to reclaim a public profile fully optimized for search engines like Google when you join Biznik for $79/year.
When you're ready to message others and create content, bump up to Pro. Premium membership starts at $14/month and includes the power to message, leave comments, start conversations, host events and publish articles.
We are here for you!
Biznik Customers Service is part of your membership. Drop us a line and let us know how we can help you get the most from your participation here: info@biznik.com
