What is a Swicki?
Eurekster Swickis are "search engines
tailored to you and your community. They learn from your users and show what's hot with
your people." You, as the creator of the Swicki, have complete and utter control of the
search results since YOU are the one who figures out what searches are most relevant to your site,
what sites these searches should be pulled from, and how the search engine looks.
What does Swicki mean?
It's basically a play on words - "wikis" are collaborative sites that allow users to contribute
(
Wikipedia is probably the most famous
example of a wiki). Swickis are "search wikis"-Eurekster uses its technology to target search
results based on your site visitors' behaviors, and both the site visitors and the creator
of the search engine Swicki (that would be you) get to " actively collaborate to modify and focus the results of the search engine."
Why Should I Make A Swicki?
For one thing, it's free. It's also kind of a neat looking widget to put on your site or blog,
and it serves users' needs because it creates an extremely targeted focus of information
on your site. Eventually, you also might start making some money on these Swickis since
Eurekster does plan to "add paid search elements to the results pages for swickis." I'll update
as that information becomes available; remember, right now the Swickis are in beta mode, so
as soon as they get all the bugs out, revenue information will most likely become available.
How Do I Make A Swicki?
It's easy. Just Customize, Train, and Release. Right now, Eurekster Swickis are in beta mode,
and they still have a couple of bugs to work out, but I was able to get a very nice swicki up and
running within about 15 minutes, and I love the way it looks. Here's my
step by step screenshot
tutorial on my very own Swicki - follow the steps I've outlined to make your very own Swicki.
