Funny name, useful application

We spend a lot of time at Hammock trying out different web applications and related software. Some of us are geeks, so we think that’s fun. But we also want to stay on top of the latest trends for our clients.
We’re long-time wiki fans, but we know that this kind of content management system isn’t as popular as it ought to be. A number of prominent wiki sites (like, say, Wikipedia) don’t make it as easy to contribute as they could, so we suspect a lot of people dismiss wikis out of hand.
But, wikis don’t have to be hard. (And I’ll throw in on a personal note, they don’t have to be ugly, either.) If you’re in one of the situations below, you should be considering a wiki:

• You have a lot of information to share. It’s a cliche to say people don’t read anymore, and we don’t think that’s actually true. But what most people do want these days is quick, easy access to the information they need, without a lot of clutter. Wikis make it easy to build lots of pages, so that each page can hold just the relevant info, and then link to related, but not as relevant, pages.
• You like top-notch SEO results. Partly because of the linking that’s inherent to wikis, and partly because they are usually well received by customers, wikis give you SEO mojo. If you want your info used, linked to, and noticed, a wiki is the way to go.
• You want to enable contributions from lots of people. Wikis can make it easy for your customers or members to contribute their information, too. You don’t have to enable wide access with a wiki, though. You can keep the editing privileges to yourself. But if you want a community built around mutual information sharing, a wiki makes a lot of sense.

One site where we’ve used a wiki successfully for several years is visible at SmallBusiness.com. We’re always trying new things there — check it out.