When Ward Cunningham and his peer created a wiki system back in 1995, their primary aim was to develop a tool that would make it easier to write a web page. What they didn’t know is that what seemed to them like a simple solution would become one of the most revered web models of the digital era.
Today, the wiki system is used by thousands of businesses with sites like Wikipedia leading with whopping 18 billion visits every month.
Nevertheless, the popularity of the wiki website model doesn’t come as a surprise as it packs plenty of benefits. For instance, hosting your own wiki in Ireland is a way to give visitors a range of information without confusing or intimidating them. Here’s how you can create your platform.
When people hear the word wiki for the first time, they automatically think of websites like Wikipedia, Wikileaks, and Wikihow. Most casual users perceive these websites as informative and only use them when in need of info.
What they don’t know is that there’s more than meets the eye. To help you understand what wikis are, here is a brief overview of their history.
Wiki is a Hawaiian word meaning quick. As noted at the beginning, the wiki website model was developed by Ward Cunningham and his peers back in 1995. Back in the 90s, the digital era was still in its baby steps, which meant creative minds like that of Ward Cunningham had to work overtime.
For instance, even though web pages existed in 1995, they had to be handwritten in HTML first. While HTML remains an integral part of the internet today, writing it in hand was not only hectic but also hard. This meant many mistakes were made along the way.
As a way to put the problem to rest, Ward and his team began creating a tool that would make web page writing both fast and easier. This is where the Hawaiian word wiki came in, marking the beginning of a website model that would last decades to come even as the internet age continued to take on new shapes.
Before we address wiki hosting, it’s essential that you first understand some of the benefits that you get when you use Wiki in Ireland.
Every employee in your team is uniquely skilled. This means that the contributions made by each staff member are valuable and instrumental to the success of the team. By having a wiki web page for your business, you’re subconsciously creating a database of knowledge.
This is because every team member gets a chance to share what they know and learn what they don’t know from other employees. Also, knowledge remains within even when one team member resigns.
In turn, this enhances the success of your business because the more knowledgeable staff members are, the better they become in playing their roles. This results in better teamwork and better services, thereby enhancing clientele satisfaction.
Other than being a knowledge hub, a wiki can also act as your entity’s central storage location for business information. Meeting notes, essential events and agendas, workplace policies, and other important pieces of data can be stored in a wiki. This gifts your business with a digital storage system at relatively low costs.
A wiki is an excellent alternative to your current project management tools. It makes it easier to organize data and distribute tasks so that every employee can know what is expected of them. Also, by putting up upcoming events and agendas, every staff member remains well-informed, which in turn improves coordination among employees.
On top of that, it can be accessed remotely and in real-time. This further enhances business operations as each team member, including those who are on leave or off-days remain updated about what is happening at the workplace. This not only gifts your business with a digital storage system but also creates a portable file archive that can be accessed and edited remotely by your employees.
For most businesses, customer satisfaction comes first. On the surface, achieving customer satisfaction might seem easy, but when you scratch beneath the surface, it’s harder than you might have imagined. While there’re many ways to enhance this vital aspect such as improved services, a wiki website is yet another sure bet.
Why? Well, wikis are different from other website models in that users can collaboratively edit a web page. Therefore, other than your employees, you can also allow public contributions. Since you’re in control of the information placed on the wiki, you don’t have to worry about clients creating content that is not in line with your business’s ethics and cultures.
Thereby this means you can allow your clients to participate in developing your website’s content. As a result, you end up with a site that isn’t only functional but also appealing to the community as some of the clients had a hand in developing it. This enhances customer satisfaction in that; potential clients are more likely to do business with you if they know you care about their input.
Also, you can allow clients to create a FAQS section in which they incorporate all the concerns they feel need to be addressed. Since it’s coming from them, you’ll be able to know some of the areas you need to improve on as well as those that you need to add to make your entity customer-friendly.
A wiki also makes a great digital notebook where you can collect and save useful links for reference, brainstorm, and generate great ideas on an individual basis. You don’t need to have a team of employees to have a wiki web page for your business. You can also create one even if you’re a still a one-person business where you can create your private workspace and do all of the mentioned activities.
While it packs a lot of perks, a wiki web page also has a few disadvantages. However, it’s vital to note that the benefits outweigh the benefits. This means you can overlook them and enjoy what wikis have to offer.
Since wikis are collaboratively editable, anyone can impersonate one of your employees or clients with access and edit the available information. Even though you can handle this problem by regulating access and using it wisely, it remains accessible. Therefore, while wikis make great digital storages, it’s vital that you don’t store any sensitive files or information as this puts your business at risk.
Wikis are incredibly easy and resourceful to the casual users who only visit them to look for information. They nevertheless present a challenge to first time users who are supposed to create content.
For instance, your employees and clients might find it a bit hard to use it. Therefore, you’re left with no option but to invest in training if you’re to set up your self-hosted wiki in Ireland.
Now that you know the origin of wiki websites and the benefits, here is how you can host one in Ireland:
You can’t have a wiki without a name. By now, you’ve already heard and probably even used wiki sites such as Wikipedia, WikiLeaks, Wikibooks, Wiktionary, wiki data, and wikihow. Therefore, choosing a name for your wiki site shouldn’t be that hard.
Also, if you want your wiki to be remotely accessed by employees or the public, then you’ll also need a web domain. Therefore, once you choose a name for your wiki, ensure you purchase a domain name as well. You can, however, skip buying one if you plan on allowing access only to users who are logged on your local network.
With your wiki name and domain ready, the next step to host a wiki is to find a good web host. If you already have an onsite server, then good for you as you can always host your wiki on it and cut on costs. However, if you don’t, then you need to find a web host.
The good bit about this part is that there’re plenty of positively reviewed cloud companies such as Irish centric host that offer online server space tailored to accommodate wiki software. Once you get this up and running, the next most critical step is shown below.
This is an essential part of hosting a wiki. The software you use determines how smooth-sailing your wiki operates. On that note, it’s vital to note that there are two types of wiki-hosting software, namely; publicly and privately hosted.
Publicly hosted, also known as open end are wikis that you create using a server and software that is controlled by someone else. Open-end wikis are great as you don’t have to pay for a web host and also software.
Nevertheless, you’ll have to deal with the owner of the server being in control of what you post. You and other users will also have to deal with the pain of dealing with tons of ads as well.
Private wikis, on the other hand, are the complete opposite. This is because they operate on your server, and run on the software you paid for; thus, you have full control of everything. Therefore, it’s advisable that you opt for a private software to use wiki in Ireland.
However, don’t just go for any software you come across. Go for a software that offers you the best customization options as this will enable you to create a wiki page that suits your business. While choosing a software, it’s essential that you also consider the editing capabilities.
Also, don’t forget to analyze the collaboration options it packs as you want a software that enhances your website’s functionality.
If you have no idea where to start, ask your IT department for recommendations. Web hosting companies like Irish Centric Host also offer tips and suggestions to their customers on the best software to use.
A good web host and software are the staples to wiki hosting in Ireland. Now that you already have them, the next step is to build your wiki. This step heavily relies on the software you’ve chosen as you’ll have to customize your wiki based on the add-ons available.
However, the good news is that you don’t need to have web design skills. Most private wiki software usually has plenty of CSS templates that you can use to format your wiki page. Also, software providers will offer a manual to make the configuration process more manageable.
Now that you’ve configured your wiki, you’re all set to go. However, even though you’re aware of how a wiki page works, your employees might have no idea what it’s, and how it will benefit them. Therefore, it’s vital that you invest in training so you can enjoy the benefits of having a wiki for your business.
In this case, hands-on training is the best. Bring in your IT staff and ask them to guide their colleagues in other departments on how to operate a wiki page. If you’re still a small business, then create time to train the few employees on your team yourself.
As noted earlier, wikis offer an excellent platform to share ideas and relevant info with your employees. Maximize on your self-hosted wiki by encouraging employees to keep it updated.
You can do so by coming up with a system to reward those who contribute to the wiki. For instance, you can set up an extension in the wiki software that rewards any team member who inputs info on the wiki with redeemable points.
Other than facilitating communication within the organization, hosting your own wiki is a great way to digitalize documentation in your business. Hit our page for more tips on how to get the most out of your wiki, web hosting and many other interesting topics.
