Your Business and Wikipedia

Your Business and Wikipedia is a forthcoming e-book to be published in the Spring 2010, by Gregory Kohs. With over four years of experience as a Wikipedia editor -- both above ground and underground, volunteer editing and paid contributions -- Kohs knows the ins and outs of creating, modifying, and manipulating Wikipedia content to better serve the needs of your business. And soon, he'll be sharing his astounding and provocative secrets with you.

Chapters of the book

The nature of Wikipedia

You may think you know Wikipedia, but until you peel back the layers of the friendly facade, you don't know what's really underneath in the gears of the machine.

Wikipedia tends not to present the reader with only the “general” pieces of knowledge necessary to get a background on a topic. Instead, Wikipedia presents the reader not only with general knowledge, but also with every available bit of trivia and ephemera that passes the fancy of the content contributor. Just as it has an article about Vlad the Impaler, Wikipedia also has an article about the physical and supernatural characteristics of different vampires (including the famous vampires Count Chocula and Sesame Street’s Count von Count).

When the representative of a business unwittingly begins editing Wikipedia about his or her company (thinking it's at least as important as the physical capabilities of Count Chocula), more often than not they will be breaking no less than three different Wikipedia rules or guidelines, and the article may be speedily deleted. But, it doesn't have to be that way, if you know the insider's secrets.

PR blunders

Your Business and Wikipedia will review several case studies of marketers and public relations professionals who, frankly, messed up their interaction with Wikipedia and paid the price. We'll retrace their steps, so that you can see where they went wrong, so that you avoid the same mistakes.

What will a Wikipedia article do for you?

Bringing all kinds of interesting statistics to bear, Kohs outlines what you should expect once you have a stable, appropriately-linked Wikipedia article published in place.

Business and enterprise-related articles on Wikipedia are not typically among the most popular. The most popular articles on Wikipedia relate to sex, masturbation, TV shows, and video games. The article about the TV show American Idol will grab over 500,000 page views in a month. On the other hand, Wikipedia’s article about America’s biggest company, ExxonMobil, only receives about 28,000 page views per month.

Your game plan

So, this is what you'll buy the book for. How to get what you need to get done on Wikipedia... done.

...if you elect to work in broad daylight and abide Wikipedia’s rules about reliable sources, verifiability, consensus, and neutral point of view, you will only bring misery upon yourself and unwarranted grief to your business. Honesty and disclosure goes punished on Wikipedia. There are too many Wikipedians whose primary mission on the project is not to build a comprehensive encyclopedia, but to bring shame and embarrassment to any corporation that might think it can participate in the Wikipedia process.

Gregory Kohs unlocks his treasure chest of tools, tips, and tricks that will let you bypass Wikipedia's anti-enterprise robots and administrators. Why is the Google Toolbar your worst enemy on Wikipedia? Kohs knows. Why is your user name one of the most important decisions you'll make on Wikipedia? Kohs knows. What's the best way to make your edits on Wikipedia stick? Kohs knows, and he will tell you.

Why an e-book?

The book is not slated for paper/print publication but rather, because of the many essential hyperlinks embedded in the text, it will be issued as a copyrighted PDF file with active links. This more dynamic format is perfect for getting acquainted directly with the subject matter.

Retail price and pre-order discount

When Your Business and Wikipedia is released later in the Spring of 2010, the retail price will be $12.95. However, if you wish to pre-order a copy at the reduced rate of $8.95, all you need to do is contact the author at ResearchBiz @ gmail.com.