Internet and Businesses Articles

MySpace is the biggest friend networking site in existence today. Millions of members have set up profiles to connect with friends, family, interest groups and so on. I won't get into the history of MySpace right now, but I will share some information with you that will change your life, and perhaps your wallet size.

The biggest obstacle with owning a site today is getting traffic to it. It can take a lot of time, effort and money to market your site and gain valued visitors.

With MySpace however, the visitors are already there... they just need to see your message.
I set up an account with MySpace a few months ago and joined various marketing, internet and ecommerce groups. I also added "friends" who belong to these groups. Currently I have around 27,000 people on my contact list who share the same interest as me - making money online.

At any given time, I can post a bulletin, send a message, post to my blog or update my profile with a link to my latest venture. The more friends you have on your list; the better. The reason for this is because if you have 27,000 available people to market to, you're also marketing to their friends and friends of theirs and so on once they view the others' profile.

Now for the challenging part - adding thousands of friends. Manually searching for and adding people in your target audience can take days or even months. Fortunately I've found a program that claims to be the Official MySpace Friend Adder. This program has been my most valuable marketing tool to use. You can easily add thousands of contacts within just a couple of minutes.

See you on MySpace!

Chris Jacobson is an Internet entrepreneur and freelance author who writes on various topics. His official website is http://www.MoneyMakingScoop.com.

Do you use the internet on a regular basis? If you do, there is a good chance that you have heard of websites such as FriendFinder, MySpace, Orkut, Classmates, or Yahoo! 360.
What do all of these websites have in common? They are all social networking websites. Social networking websites, over the past few years, have rapidly increased in popularity but until you have used one it is likely that you are left wondering why.
If you have used a social networking website before, probably you are already fully aware of their popularity and the reasons why they have become so for popular. There is just something about these sites that draws in millions of internet users. With a wide choice of different social networking websites available there is also a wide variety of different reasons for their popularity. One those reasons being the ease with which people can make themselves known on the internet.

Social networking websites are, for the most part, easy to use. Most are easy to navigate. In fact, many require little knowledge of the internet. In addition to being easy to navigate, social networking websites also make it easier to meet new people online. There are millions of internet users who would love to be able to make new friends online; however, that can sometimes be difficult do. Without social networking websites, you would have to connect with internet users, often in chat rooms, and learn about their interests before deciding if you would like to consider them your “buddy.” Social networking sites allow you to learn information about another internet user before ever having to make contact with them, users choose who they associate with, not strangers interrupting one's life.

Another one of the many reasons why social networking sites are popular is because many are free to use. In fact, the majority of social networking sites, such as MySpace and Yahoo! 360, are free to use. Despite being free to use, many websites require that you register with them. This registration will not only allow you to create your own profile or online webpage, but it will also allow you to contact other networking members and can provide a measure of security.
Although most social networking websites are free to use, there are some that are not. Classmates is one of those websites. Many of these subscription sites give you a free trial period or a free membership. That membership can be used to help you determine whether or not the website is worth paying for. What is nice about paid online social networking websites is that many can be considered exclusive. Since most internet users would not want to pay for something that they can get for free, most paid social networking sites are limited on the number of members they have. This may work out to your advantage because it tends to eliminate those who create fake and multiple accounts or aim to cause problems online.

Social networking websites are also popular because they come in a wide variety of different formats. Websites like Yahoo! 360 and MySpace focus on a wide variety of different topics. This means that just about anyone can join in. However, there are other social networking sites out there that are designed for smaller, special interest groups. The focus may be on a particular hobby, religion or political following. Most specialty social networking sites restrict the people that can join their network; thus, making your experience more enjoyable.
Finally, social networking websites focus on meeting new people, especially online, but over recent months, many have started including additional features only available to their online members. Many social networking members can now have their own free webpage, get free access to music videos, free blogs, and so on. Although social networking websites are popular enough to bring in members on their own, these additional features are, in a way, providing internet users with an incentive to join.

Mentioned above were a few of the most popular social networks that could be found online. Those networks included MySpace, Yahoo! 360, and Classmates. If you are looking for additional social networking websites, you should easily be able to find some by performing a standard internet search.

You can get free information about Social Networking from: http://socialnetworks.knowhow-now.com for articles, resources and information about MySpace, Orkut, FriendFinder and others.

MySpace friend adders have become a great tool in maximizing the MySpace experience. Since MySpace has become popular, so has the importance of having tons of MySpace friends. This can benefit the causal MySpace user, the MySpace Music artist, and even the web publishers and marketers that use MySpace as a stepping stone toward success. Now MySpace friend adders have gone even further by adding other MySpace abilities to their programming. The possibilities are endless with a MySpace friend adder. But you have to make sure you choose the right one.

Most casual MySpace users find that having a lot of friends can help boost their social life or even their fun on the internet. But we all know how tedious and boring adding friends can be. This is where the right MySpace friend adder can be helpful. Overnight you can have 500 new friends to get to know. Not only are they on your friend list, but with the new technology in MySpace friend adders, you can message, comment, or even send a bulletin to all of them automatically. This technology is so helpful everyone, especially the MySpace Music artist and the web publisher.

The ability to mass communicate is essential to being successful through the public. What better than being able to add 500 potential sales or potential fans every day automatically? By the end of the week, you can have almost 4000 new people to communicate with, and we all know that that number can almost double by just word of mouth. Imagine turning just ¼ of these people into sales each week. This can be some incredible marketing if done properly. The best part that is that it's all automatic, so instead of taking your time doing all of the leg work adding friends, get yourself a automatic MySpace friend adder.

MySpace automatic friend adding technology is making MySpace better and better each day. Don't be left behind with a handful of friends, let everyone know who you are with just a push of a button and make your MySpace experience the best it can be.

Now before you jump on Google and start searching for one, you have to make sure you know what you are looking for. Adders like FriendAdder and FriendBlaster are the best there is right now, but they each have their advantages.

FriendAdder is a great program that allows you to market your product, service, event, or band. Marketing with FriendBlasterPro through MySpace accounts is the cutting edge way to advertise to a large audience and being cost effective at the same time.

FriendBlaster This program actually sends real friend requests to real users. No more entering captcha security codes! This programs bypasses all of that hassle! The built in browser lets you navigate wherever you want and import the friends on that page. This allows full range of myspace search functions.

If you are a MySpace junkie like myself, your profile is one of the most important things in your life. You may have worked months to build up a friend list and have tons of comments. But have you ever visited a friends profile, and saw that they had over 1000 more friends than you? Even more, they have 20 new comments every day? You probably wonder how they became so popular so quickly. Well it's much easier than you think.

Today's new status symbol isn't your car, your clothes, or even your home. Today's new status symbol is having tons of friends on MySpace. Building this friend list can be tedious and boring, especially if you don't have many friends in real life that are on MySpace. But the fun part of MySpace is making new friends, or even just showing off your profile.

Having a huge friend list allows you access to tons of people at one time. You can post bulletins to tell everyone at once what's going on in your life. You even can invite all these people to your gig or party. Better yet, you can post comments on their profile and let people that aren't even on your friend list see what you have to say. This friend list becomes very important if you are a social person, so why not make it as huge as possible.

You can start by spending a day surfing and browsing for people that meet a certain criteria. Then adding them manually as a friend and waiting for the response. Now if you are adding friends for the purpose of just being able to send bulletins of comments, this can get very boring. This is how I discovered MySpace friend adding programs.

There are tons of programs out there like Friend Blaster that will automatically add up to 500 friends per day, send comments, send messages, and search throughout the MySpace world for keywords that you choose. Programs like these have made making friends so effective and easy.

Along with friend adding programs, there is new software that will add you to friend trains automatically like Friend Train Adder. The benefit of friend trains are very different to friend adding software. Friend trains allow you to join 3rd party websites that have groups of other members. You have an opportunity to become featured on these sites allowing for MANY MORE MySpace pageviews than with a conventional MySpace Friend Adder. However, the quality of these views is not as good.

This is also great for web promotions as well. Create a profile about what you are promoting. Then use an automatic friend adder to bring people to your profile. This is such a great way to increase traffic to your profile and potentially gain new fans or customers.

So instead of adding friend the old fashion way, why not automate it? This has made my MySpace experience so much better, and has allowed tons of people worldwide to see what I have to say at a push of a button.

Add up to 500 MySpace friends per day, leave tons of comments and messages, and gain traffic to your MySpace profile by checking out FriendBlaster Try it out for free! http://www.famousmyspace.com/friendgf.php

Are you a business franchise owner, becoming stagnant in your profession? Would you like to see your business grow and meet the potential goals that you desire? Are you unsure on how to meet others that can increase your circle of influence? Social network marketing is a new, upcoming and popular means of doing all of these things. It is used as an invaluable tool. You can build a business franchise through networking in various areas and groups.

Networking is a gathering together of entrepreneurs who want to build relationships with other business franchise owners. In doing so, they gain a friendship and trust that can lead to very successful business transactions. The attitude is "what can I do for you," rather than "what can you do for me"?

Social networking groups have become so popular, they are nationwide. Let me give you an example how prevalent networking groups are:

1. Chamber of Commerce groups are using this effective tool to help new and existing companies build relationships in local areas.

2. Insightful business professionals have jumped on board and created lucrative companies, by forming groups of entrepreneurs. Various events are planned to ensure a professional, yet relaxed atmosphere. The desired goal is to induce an environment of relationship building. Sometimes this can even become an elitist group.

3. More non profit type groups exist throughout the nation. Usually a small fee is charged to cover basic costs. The main goal is to give opportunity rather than build a profit yielding business.

Often social networking meetings are held at luncheons. This provides a time that is both convenient and relaxing. A small fee is charged to cover costs of room rental. Before ordering your meal and after the meal, is when the heart of social networking is done. During the luncheon, each person takes a 30 second time frame to bullet point their business. It is extremely important that you make the 30 seconds count. How well you do this will determine whether or not others will be enticed to approach you after the luncheon.

Plan to take up to 50 of your business cards with you at each event. Social networking groups can have anywhere from 20 to 50 or more business franchise owners. A professional brochure
or flyer is also appropriate. Make sure your contact information is on everything that you hand out. The most valuable tool that you have however, is YOU! How you present yourself and your company will make the difference. If you are open, relaxed, friendly and sincerely interested in others, you will succeed. Remember, these groups are based on relationships, not hard sells.

Social networking is not only a fantastic way to build your business franchise but, it is fun and rewarding. Through social networking you will not only make wonderful friendships that will last for years but, you will more than likely end up doing business together as well. These are the people who will think of you first in various business situations. Why, because they know they can trust you and are confident in your business capabilities. Find networking groups in your area and watch you business franchise grow.

La Donna Jensen is an expert in marketing and sales for over 15 years. Marketing consultant for a radio and magazine. Successful owner of own business and Internet entrepreneur. For more free articles go to http://www.aaronsonlineboutique.com

If you have been trying to get traffic to your site without paying for it, you must know by now that participating in online communities is one of the best ways. There are many different types of online communities that you can join and most will help you get a certain amount of traffic to your site. For this article, I will focus on only three types. Most commonly, new webmasters try to promote their website by subscribing to an online forum or a news site such as Slashdot or Digg. In addition, there are two other overlooked communities that can help you drive lots of traffic to your website and that includes social search engines and social bookmarking sites.

When it comes to using an online forum or news site as part of your marketing campaign it is important that you remember the most essential rule and that is, do not spam. Make sure that you are actively participating in the discussion and that you are not there just to promote your website. Many of these forums such as Slashdot and Digg use a moderation system that allows other users to give your posting such a low score that the vast majority of people will never see it. This is what will happen to you if you spam the forum other than of course getting banned all together. If you ad meaningful comments to a discussion, other users will become interested in what else you have to say and they will visit your website either via your signature or your profile.

In addition, social search engines have, recently, been gaining popularity. The internet consists of billions of websites and dishonest webmasters have been busy keyword optimizing their sites just to profit from Adsense. It has become very difficult for surfers to find the most relevant sites to their queries. Even Google’s results even though the best compared to other search engines often are not the most relevant. In an effort to avoid this clutter, web users are coming together in social search engines such as Rollyo.com to create a searchable collection of websites with useful content. If you are a webmaster and you want to promote your content rich site and your search engine optimization is not working then you might want to consider submitting your website to one of these social search engines.

Finally, social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us are becoming very popular and you can definitely use them to promote your site. In social bookmarking, you store links to your favorite websites online so you can access them from any computer that you are using. Most importantly, you can make your collection of links public so that others can also use them. In addition, you specify a set of tags for each link that you submit. You and other web surfers can use these tags to search for links of similar interest to their own. This is how you can promote your site. Simply bookmark your site and tag it with the most relevant keywords. Then, when other people search using these keywords, your site will come up and they might pay you a visit. If people enjoy your website, they might bookmark it themselves increasing the chances that others will come across it.

Peter E. is the creator of The Dollar Factory, a portal for webmasters with articles, news items, website spotlight and forum. If you are a new or old webmaster, join our growing community at The Dollar Factory (http://www.TheDollarFactory.com)

MySpace topped Nielson//NetRatings' April Top 10 with 38.4 million visitors and a year-over-year growth rate of 367 percent. The reason online social networks like Myspace, Facebook, and Orkut are becoming hugely popular in a quick way is because they harness the power of word of mouth advertising in it's rawest form.

I like to explain the power of word of mouth advertising to my friends by asking, "Well, how did you find out about Myspace?" The answer is always the same: A relative/friend.

Word of mouth advertising is not only effective, it's absolutely free! Check out this list of popular social networking websites that you can join for free.

In order for you to successfully market on a social networking website you need 3 key components:

A good message. - Not only well written, but it should contain a graphic or two, if possible. Images will keep people looking at and click on what you have to say.

Lots of friends! - I recommend at least 1,000 or more. The more friends you have, the more profile views you will get over time. Your friend count also represents how deep you are in the social networking 'web'...so spend the time to add lots of friends!

Lots of messages! - After you have all the friends - send the messages!

All of this may take time, but you can't beat the price! In the end, the reward is worth the effort.

Lord Treasure Trooper
lordtreasuretrooper@yahoo.com
http://www.MoneyMakingReview.tk
http://www.Referrals101.tk

Combine the power of the Internet with the evolution of digital media, apply the principles of “Social Networking” and you have the main ingredients for the recipe that is revolutionizing how business is being conducted today. All you have to do is look at the tremendously successful companies that have been built upon the platform of social networking (MySpace, Ecademy, Linked-In, Flickr, Facebook etc.) or the unprecedented growth of the Blogosphere and you will quickly recognize that social networking is here to stay.

While social networking is clearly allowing major corporations to be more productive by extending their brand and having better communication throughout the entire value chain, it is its impact on small business that is perhaps most impressive. The ability of social networking to level the playing field for the individual practitioner and the small or medium enterprise is truly awesome. It was the Internet that established the global economy, but it is social networking that is making it a reality.

A bit of background…The term “Social Networking” in its most classic sense is best defined as the study of how people interact with one another. It studies the dynamics between nodes (people) and links (their relationships). Since the term was coined in 1954 by J.A. Barnes its significance has leapt from the halls of academia to gain visibility in the boardrooms of global corporations. It has evolved from the study of human relations in sociological, anthropological and psychological settings to the study of professional relationships and organizational theory in business environments.

When all the buzzwords and techno-jargon are removed social networking is about aligning interests and motivations to create influence. There are intelligent and well established business people with virtually non-existent networks and little true influence, and there are what would on the surface appear to be obscure individuals with huge networks who wield tremendous amounts of influence.

Social networking analysis has shown that the greatest amounts of power and influence inside the corporation don’t necessarily reside at the top of the org chart as one might think. Studies have concluded that the individuals who possess the most influence in a company are the most trusted people with the broadest base of connections, and not necessarily the person that has the highest rank or biggest title. Likewise, the same holds true for external networks…It is about the quality (are the people in your network significant?), character (do the people in your network trust you and do you trust them?) and relevance (are the people in your network capable of wielding influence that is aligned with your needs?) of the people in your network that matter.

The last and most important ingredient in the construction of your network is that you must be a contributor…The old axioms “you’ll reap what you sew” or “give and you shall receive” have never been truer than when applied to social networking. If you are truly motivated to provide value and benefit to those in your network then you will receive value in return. However if you are a user and abuser of your network, only taking from others and giving nothing in return, you will bleed your network dry only to watch it crumble before your eyes.

With proper motivation, careful construction and active management of your network there is no reason to assume that it won’t be a success. Focus on leveraging the most important spheres of influence for the mutual benefit of those in your network. If you adopt the suggestions contained in this article your network will grow with geometric progression while spanning industries, geographies and cultures.

Mike Myatt is the Chief Strategy Officer at N2growth. N2growth is a leading venture growth consultancy providing a unique array of professional services to high growth companies on a venture based business model. The rare combination of branding and corporate identity services, capital formation assistance, market research and business intelligence, sales and product engineering, leadership development and talent management, as well as marketing, advertising and public relations services make N2growth the industry leader in strategic growth consulting. More information about the company can be found at http://www.N2growth.com

Recently, a lot of people have been feeling the pain that is social networking. By pain, I am referring to losing many freedoms that come with having a social networking profile.

Let's take for instance the average social networking website, you signup, make a profile, add some friends (people you may or may not even know), and then you are connected to this huge community (schools, cities, sometimes the entire network).

This information is all logged in most social networking websites, thanks to web crawlers, advertisers, and many other spammers. Your own social being is threatened, and your privacy is threatened as well. Can you escape the grasp of a social network after you leave it? In most cases, it is more difficult than you think.

Not to mention the flaws of identity theft in social networking, picture stealing, and all kinds of other serious flaws with social networking.

I too have had a less than pleasant experience involving social networking involving people stalking me, and the deletion of an account that never actually really got deleted, also, the constant influx of seriously disturbing messages and random rants of people you care less about.

I have been involved with several social networking sites personally, as a user, and I have to admit that most of them are less than par.

What should social networking be? I have worked to try and figure out a system that would be an optimum system of social networking, and it does fall quite a bit away from the current spectrum of social networking.

Social Networks: In the past they have always been developer created. You were either forced into a group, that may not fit your best interests or you were placed in a network that wasn't verifiably something that you wanted to be part of.

I mean do you really care that you can chat with a million people that you will never be involved in? I didn't think so.

What they should have been? A complete user defined network, where the person creates/joins a network of their friends/acquaintances, and your friends will invite their friends, and it would grow from there, so you would mainly be talking with/communicating with 'trusted' individuals that are friends of friends, or people with some relation to you through friends.

Meeting random people off the internet is not what many people are about, and if people are looking to do that, then there are thousands of other sites were you can do exactly that.

The following is a great example of what I am talking about: http://epicka.com/how.html

Preferences: Most current dating/networking sites leave a lot of security unaccounted for. They let your profile visible to be logged by bots (record everything about you for search/advertising purposes) logged by advertisers, logged by spammers, and in many cases: direct spam directly through your profile. This isn't good. Having to worry about possibly getting spammed and your privacy threatened. This wasn't what I signed up for when I signed up for social networking.

This is your life we are talking about and the security of your profile and everything to do with the profile should be completely in regards to you. You shouldn't be told what you can/can't share, what you can/can't add, and it should be as completely open or closed as you want it to be.

It is your social network, so you should be able to make it your network.

Features: Right now there are quite a few strict things that you can do on a social networking, and it is pretty much limited to a few things. You can do the following on almost every social network:

* mail people

* post comments

* post pictures

* chat in forums

* chat

That's basically the most that I have found of use on social networking, all other features: blogging, playing games, posting bulletins, posting in classifieds.

I have found much better places that I can do all of these things, but the thing is when I social network, I can't really 'share' what I am looking to share with my friends because too many random people will have access to the things that I want to keep private from others.

After researching and doing a lot of digging, I have been developing a site that implements all these features that I have found that are really significantly needed in a social networking site. I am working to develop not only these things, but a ton of other things that you can do with your social network, which includes just a hint of what I am thinking of developing:

* File sharing with friends.

* Your music sharing with friends. Your music. Your movies. (Think video sharing on a closed network for just you and your friends, and also having your bands music posted for your friends)

* Info Exchange, working on projects for high school, college, university, work, life, and want your friends input on what you should do, they can help you and you can help them through the network to conspire and get amazing grades.

* Global and your network news aggregation, got some amazing news that you want to tell just your friends, or the entire world? You can post it.

* User defined search engine, users submit the sites, vote on the sites, and the sites are adjusted for your preferences.

* Personal preferences that let you keep your words private, just for your network, or the entire world? You can pick them.

This is only a short list of some of the projects that we are, and will be working on. There will be lots of new projects that we will be adding in the coming months.

Please visit us at http://www.epicka.com and signup for a free account.

http://www.epicka.com

The top online article submission sites on the Internet have hundreds of thousands of articles online and they range in a variety of topics across the spectrum of human interests and endeavors.

One of the most popular topics and subjects for online writers and readers is the Internet, which makes sense because that is the medium in which these online amateur authors and professional writers post their articles. Sure, some of the articles make their way into print mediums and trade journals and that goes without saying, yet most are indeed used in Ezines and as Internet Content.

The articles written about the Internet span a broad spectrum of topics. There are articles about business on the Internet such as; Web Hosting, Design, Development, E-Commerce, Online Auctions, SEO Writing, Domain Names, Selling E-Books and Internet Marketing.

There are articles on how to get the customers there and make money while they are and thus topics on; Affiliate Revenue, Site Promotion, RSS, Traffic Building and PPC Advertising.

Then security is an issue so there are Internet Security Topics and there are bandwidth issues and thus categories of Audio and Video Streaming and even Podcasting. Internet viewers may not be satisfied with this alone and so there are articles on Bloggin and Internet Forums.

Email marketing is also a way to make money on the Internet and yet it has been abused by some so there are articles on; Email Marketing, Spam Blocking, Spyware, Autoresponders, Ezine Publishing and proper etiquette in email list building.

Yet in all of this not one; including the number one online article submission site with over 28,000 authors and almost 300,000 articles has a special category of the hottest new trend on the Internet; Internet Social Networks. So if someone was truly progressive and on the ball out there then their website would include a sub-category of Online or Internet Social Networks. Consider all this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is an online writer in retirement.

Social bookmarking sites are a fairly new phenomenon on the internet. The idea of social bookmarking is that you can add a webpage that you found interesting, this makes the page public to all others using the site and they can then add this page to their favorites.

There are many advantages to using social bookmark sites over using your favorites or bookmarks in Internet Explorer or Firefox but at this point I myself only use them some and they are far from replacing my favorites on my PC or laptop so they will still take a little getting used to. The advantages of these bookmarks is access, you save these websites from your local computer and then no matter where you go, what browser you use and what operating system you have you can still get to these sites with any internet connection.

As a marketer you can put up information on the internet that is very interesting to you and your customers and then bookmark the page and let others see if they find it interesting or not. If others do find this interesting then you can potentially get an avalanche of traffic to your site. The most important thing at this time is to have a good subject and some kind of technological bent to your article to make it interesting to all of us geeks out there.

One extension of this concept is the new Web 2.0 style news sites such as Digg, Reddit, and Shoutwire and these post may be picked up by newsvine or tailrank, just add a .com to the end of these names to reach the site. With these new news sites you can post the address and maybe some info about your page and then the whole group of people will recommend up or down the page and this can send you traffic instantly over a few hours or not if people do not like the content.

I need to be very clear as I write this that there is no way that you can abuse the concept of content with this new style of social bookmarking sites as your article will be banned and people will immediately moderate your post down so that it is never seen. The most important thing on these sites is quality of content. Another thing to know about these social bookmarking sites is that the people that frequent these sites can be a very fickle crowd. In the past I have put up high quality and not so high quality articles about many different subjects and sometimes people visit in droves while with other articles you can sometimes be completely ignored.

Be assured that if you need a good web host using these programs as things move very quickly and can bring you great traffic but if you do not have a good host then you can easily be taken down by a storm of traffic. With my best articles I have had 6,000 to 10,000 visitors in a single day.

These are my top tips to get people interested in reading your article

1. Make a list like a top 7 or top 10 or top 20 type list. People like lists and this system goes a long way to getting people interested in taking the time to click the link.

2. Make your title interesting to readers. How does this benefit them? Will this information make them feel better, smarter or soothe their ego? Is this an article that may change their lives? It is critical to make sure the title is good as on a site like Reddit this is all people have to see to decide to visit.

3. If you can have a description like with Digg then make sure you make the most out of two or three sentences. You may be able to use more space but remember people at this site are scanning through 50 or so stories and will just glaze over after they read the first sentence.

Now you would probably like to check these sites out for yourself and you will find that with almost all of these sites you can sign up and start to use them instantly and have to give them only a username, password and an email address. To start with you can try the following popular sites. For purely bookmarking services you can try delicious and delirious and for news type sites my favorites are Digg, Reddit and Shoutwire.

Bill Nadraszky is a Systems Analyst and runs several websites. For more information you can visit http://internet-marketing.calputer.com/. For Realtor Marketing you can visit the best Realtor marketing weblog: http://realtorweblog.xptechsupport.com/

These days, if you want to make sure that your getting, holding, and retaining website visitors that are hungry for whatever it is that you might have to offer then you will want to make sure that you keep up with the new trend of social networking.

Having the best computer systems or the new how to book that will revolutionize some industry or an awesome recipe that makes spam into a tasty treat is just not enough to entice internet shoppers to purchase your product anymore.

With all of the research tools such as the amazons, and google search enabled, price comparing websites, shoppers are only going to become returning loyal shoppers when they feel that they know you and can trust you and that you offer some distinct content that they can identify with.

Net savvy consumers are not going to trust strangers with their money anymore regardless how good a product or service might actually be.

Social networking sites are seeing strong growth and have developed a unique online presence that is continually refreshed by user generated content, and this promotes ongoing consumer interest and visitor loyalty.

So where are the visitors that you want and need at your web- site gathering and more importantly, returning and staying?

According to Nielsen//NetRatings,

MySpace.com heads the list with with 38.4 million unique visitors and a year over year growth rate of 367 percent. Blogger takes the Next position at number 2, garnering 18.5 million unique visitors and growing 80 percent year over year, followed by Classmates Online with 12.9 million unique visitors and a 10 percent year-over-year increase. Rounding out the top five social networks is the New on the scene "YouTube" and the old guard and standby "MSN Groups" with 12.5 million and 10.6 million unique visitors, respectively.

Although it's not certain yet how strong these social sites will become given the youthful nature of most of their clientele, it is certain that they will not be going anywhere soon.

Those youthful members of such online communities Buy, and when they do, they also tell their friends, "a lot of friends" about that cool new widget that they just bought from a great website that they found from their network.

Repeat visitors are up to 8 times more likely to make a purchase than a new visitor according to a study by " study by WebSideStory".

The normal conversion rate of between 1.5% and 3% for new visitors has never been much to get excited about, but with an estimated 45% of all internet users spending more and more of their time at MySpace, MSN Groups, and elsewhere, website trade is also growing at a tremendous pace with up to 23% conversion rates not uncommon.

In my book, those figures are enough to convince this old grand-paw that it's time to pay attention to the youth of our society and to follow their lead.

Have you hugged your teenager today?

Rich Carter is the CEO of Rapid Enterprises and is an expert affiliate marketer and consultant. His main site The Master Affiliate is geared towards two tier affiliate programs to build multiple income streams: http://www.themasteraffiliate.com Rich also provides affiliate marketers and authors an online networking home at his "Affiliate Solutions" blog. Expert advice as well as reprintable articles are readily available there: http://themasteraffiliate.com/serendipity/

Although social networking is the buzzword, yet there are the five reasons why social networking really does not work. There is word on the street that social networking is in deep trouble. Friendster's CEO, Scott Sassa recently walked away in the face of a rapidly diminishing user base.

Friendster has also introduced its own Blogging tool as a part of a moneymaking scheme. On the other hand, business-networking site LinkedIn used it is innovativeness by charging for listing jobs.

Meanwhile, people have started speculating over the death of the pioneer in its field, Friendster. This is due to the launch of the Yahoo 360 beta. There is a good article in this month’s issue of Business 2.0 and it talks about the pros and cons of the indie music-networking site called MySpace. As of now, it is the most successful site with more than $20 million earned through ad sales this year. It has a long list of subscribers too.

Social Networking - Going Nowhere

Social networking is seems to be reeling under the inescapable weight of the dot-com curse. The curse led to a dot-com bust and now online social networking is getting ready to die a premature death. Your ideas may be very cool but it is pronounced dead on arrival without an elaborate business or strategic plan.

You are probably wondering that if this is the case then how is a little company like Trillian still going strong? Does that mean that free services cannot be effective business plans? Alternatively, maybe the truth is that social networking is not really worth so much after all. Let us check out the five problems with social networking websites that led to their downfall.

1. Nothing-great here: The visit to most social networking sites is like being invited to a party where you find the coolest kids but there are no drinks, no food, and no entertainment.

2. It is time consuming: Most of these sites require you to update your personal stats, which can be quite time consuming and boring at times. Websites like Friendster can be interesting to a certain point but they are not information rich at all. Moreover, personal blogs definitely win over social networking due to their being more personal and focused.

3. Web Traffic is important but not enough: This is the reality you can never get millions of visitors on your website even if you want it that way. Today even the advertisers have become smarter and sophisticated. They are now looking at rich-content messages.

4. No Strangers Please: Most of these websites are notorious for the fact that if you have become a member, there is a high possibility that you mail box will be bombarded by mails from absolute strangers.

5. The Internet is already there: The only good thing about social networking is that these networks are a valuable information resource. However, the truth is that you would probably find the information required faster on Google.

Despite of the problem areas listed above, social networking is a novel concept and you can make good use of it by using proper safeguards.

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MySpace is great because of the huge amount of freedom you have to change your MySpace profile. Using the profile tools and methods below you can trick out your profile to make it interesting and keep people coming back.

Some of the cool features you are able to put on your MySpace profile are games, cursors, layouts, clocks, surveys, and graphics. It's easy to get carried away and really go wild.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the different MySpace codes available and what they do:

Games: You can easily brighten things up by adding games to your profile. Practically anything you can think of from Pacman, Golf, Simon Says, Mario Brothers, Asteroids, Frogger and many more can be easily pasted on to your MySpace profile. These can be changed whenever you like and are a great way to keep people coming back to check you out.

Cursors: I'm sure you've seen these around, they're everywhere. The sky's the limit when it comes to cursors Anything you can think of is available, from animal cursors, flashing words, mermaids and unicorns, you get the idea. This is probably one of the most popular MySpace tools and can start a whole collection and change them whenever you like to spice things up.

Layouts: Also known as skins, layouts make up the basic theme of your profile. There are a wide variety of themes available and it might take a bit of searching to find the one that is best for you. Just remember to select a layout that suits your uniqueness and is pleasing to look at. If your goal is to make peoples eyeballs bleed, there are themes that can do that too.

Clocks: There are many different clock styles to choose from. You can pick from clocks that have a modern design, classic style, and roman numerals, digital and with or without the date. If you want you can even find layouts with matching themes. When installing a clock on your page be careful that your clock does not get in the way of your text.

Surveys: Adding fun surveys and quizzes to your site can make your profile a little more interesting. MySpaceReviews.com has many interactive surveys currently in development. Make sure to check back here so you can share some fun surveys with your friends.

Graphics: Glitter graphics, celebrity pictures, music lyrics and cool icons are just a few of what's possible. Check out the links below to get some really great graphics for your site.

Navigational Tools/Codes: These are html codes you can add to your site to change it's appearance. You can change how your text is displayed, change the color scheme, and manipulate images or change border codes and styles.

You can easily spend hours pimping out your MySpace profile. Just be careful that your new graphics don't obscure your postings, and remember that your profile is an extension of you.

For more information about how you can use MySpace marketing to increase your online exposure visit http://www.CashMachineBook.com For information on the best MySpace tools visit: http://www.paidinsider.com

Social networking and music go almost hand in hand and Myspace puts it together in the same package. Music is all about raging hormones and the famous rock stars of yesteryears will nod their head in agreement.

In a community like the one provided by Myspace, a music fan can have a whole new community experience. It is larger than life experience where he/she can get to connect with more people than they can ever think of. This type of social networking will change people's perceptions and the way music is marketed and sold. It not just about US but this change will take place globally. It seems like Internet community has finally come of age.

The New Age of Internet Community

Now that the Internet community has come of age, let us take a peep into how it emerged. It is through a simple process of communication. One fan, say of Metallica will hear a song and if he/she likes it then they will tell others about the song on chat or email. There are fans who also talk about the song on the message-board, so that everyone gets to know about it. One fan passes to 10 others, each one of them passes it forward to ten more, and the cycle just goes on.

This is the fastest, free and the most reliable mode of communication. You would probably ask now whether this process could get any revenue for the artist. Not really, but then this promotes the artist and his/her album globally. This kind of a promotion will further lead to sales of cd's, dvd's or cassettes.

This is a major paradigm shift where music marketing is concerned. This means that now the brick-and-mortar distribution can be bypassed, and at the same time, severely curtail the illegal forms of "promotion" through radio. This has been made possible owing to a variety of online communication through music forums, music websites, blogs (web logs), and many more. What MySpace.com has really done is that they have all of it together under one umbrella. Myspace is one of the fastest growing information destinations for bands, fans, filmmakers, writers, artists, and record industry professionals.

Myspace has been created by Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson and has been a roaring success so far. It is climbing fast on the popularity charts and has caught many industry people by surprise. The main Myspace site is dedicated to pure social networking, but a special section called Myspace Music is a different world altogether. It is probably one of the most innovative ways to reach out to the web audience of two million users in the network. Myspace Music is also a very useful tool and can be used to launch unsigned and budding artists.

Music articles and a deep musical reservoir of information to be found at: http://www.articlesofnote.com/ludwig-van-beethoven-von-beethoven-.php

"Social network is broken", now that sounds quite vague, doesn’t it? Social network is the most happening thing today over the Internet. There are hundreds of websites who are trying harder each day to bring millions of people in touch with each other.

The most generic options of socializing are through Myspace, blogs, forums, IM / e-mail, phone and even real meetings. They provide the opportunity for both virtual and real meetings.
Many people say that after 18 months of experimenting with websites like RYZE, it is back to square one. You are back to where you initially began.

It is quite disheartening at times and that is how networks really get broken. The general question that people have started asking is that how broken is the networking? There are so many websites like Myspace and RYZE that you have to pinch yourself and ask which one to use to contact someone. The next most obvious question is that If there are more than one such website, then which would be the best messaging system? Confusion galore!

The Black Book Guidelines

You might get a glimpse of similar websites if you do a search on Google. And you can also go in and register at some of them. The latest news is that most people who have done so probably don’t remember at the end of the day, which ones they are in and which was the last one they left. So the absolute facts are that most of the time none of these social networks are going to be there on your desktop, unless you happen to have their page open. And then there are the exceptions in the form of Ecademy, Tribe and Flickr.

In either of the three, you will not get to know whether any of my friends are online or not. That is as distasteful as it can get. There are many people who have actually quit and more are on the way. These websites have failed miserably in providing the basic need of socializing and communicating by building networks.

So it's high time to refocus and try to bring in new functionalities and capabilities to the existing ones. The other option would be to come up with something very innovative and yet subtle. If you cannot communicate then the meaning is lost. There's a program, which is in the pipeline and is called Pmatch. It will be taken out for Nokia 3650 handset. Pmatch is innovative and groundbreaking. It allows 3650 users to find out about other people with similar interests without revealing their own personal information. Now that’s technology at it’s best.

Learn where to socially network with other publishers and authors at: http://www.articlesneeded.com/

A lot of people are jumping on the Myspace bandwagon by creating their own social networking websites to appeal to different niches within different demographics. Myspace is a place for everyone, now web programmers and developers are narrowing their focus because they know a niche can make them rich.

Due to this increase in social networking websites a lot of people are calling this another internet boom. People are creating social networking websites for a few hundred dollars and getting big offers from venture capitalists to sell their websites for millions of dollars. The main reason venture capitalists want to purchase these companies is because they know the advertising revenue from these companies can be very high. The under thirty market is a difficult market to reach but social networking websites put a lot of people all in one place, making it easier for advertisers.

Even though people are making social networking websites, and others are willing to buy them, the bad publicity that they get for being unsafe, as well as a future saturation of the market, from too many people starting social networking websites, is going to leave some people that try to jump in on this new internet bubble in the cold.

Andre Bias is the owner of http://www.kidfriendlyentertainment.com, and online source for top notch DVD’s for children 10 years old and younger. He is also the owner of the websites http://www.pokergreed.com, and http://www.myjobislame.com.

I've got a theory. I think that most people feel uncomfortable taking money from someone else where there has not been a fair value exchange.

Note, fair value exchange.

Affiliate or referral programs are most commonly used to incentivise and encourage existing members of an organisation to bring in new, fee paying, members. The more you bring in, the more money you make. So what's the difference in social networks? Well, let's say I introduce you to a networking website (ecademy, SoFlow & OpenBC are good examples) where for a certain level of membership there is a fee. You decide to join up and pay the fee, fair enough. Now, would you feel any differently if you knew that 10% of what you've just paid is going in my pocket. Maybe you would, maybe not. My theory is that you would and it's based on the fact that you won't feel that you've got value for your 10% "simply" through me mentioning the name of a website to you. That's one side of the story.
The other side is how do I feel about taking the 10%. Of course there will be many who are always happy to take money, from anyone, regardless of circumstance. Let's cast those aside. My personal view is that if I have mentioned a website to you I am not expecting any kind of compensation for that - whatever the method. Whilst there may be value in me introducing you to the site, it's not something I would either want or expect to make money on. It's analogous to helping someone in the street who wants directions. Just before you give them the final turn in the directions you interject with "That'll be a tenner please"! (I must try that ;)
Now to throw in a final dimension. In the absence of any referral program I would introduce you to a particular site for a particular reason. One has to wonder how some are influenced if they know there is money in it for them. Would you favour one, of two similar sites, it you were an affiliate of it?

So this is my theory, affiliate programs can't work in social networks. This said though, in the words of the actor Matt LeBlanc in his character Joey from Friends, "...a lot of theories didn't pan out. The lone gunman. Communism. Geometry..."

Who am I? Why choose to work with me?

My background and experience is mainly project management within diverse environments such as large corporate financial institutions, medium-sized technology consultancies and smaller start-ups. Having held positions including Operations Director (COO) and Head of Process Management, I recently decided that the time is right to take a calculated risk and leave corporate life for good…the entrepreneurial side of my character is prevailing.

My focus is on becoming an “Un-natural Entrepreneur”. I want to work with people and companies that have vision. I can offer key values and skills to help bring your ideas to fruition. If you are a “starter”, then I am your “finisher”. My approach to a challenge is to clarify, understand, problem-solve, develop and deliver.

To take an idea or concept through from its inception to its execution requires a consultative approach - a partnership. I am a rational and pragmatic thinker and can work within an existing management structure, or create a new management team through my extensive network

Social networks are getting a lot of attention these days including Wikipedia, del.icio.us and MySpace. Along with the buzz, these sites are also generating a lot of traffic! How can you integrate links for these types of social network sites into your search engine marketing program? While there are an increasing number of social networks, this article will stick to the above as they are kings of their domains so to speak.

I recently had the opportunity to attend Search Engine Strategies in New York City this past February, 2006. While attending a session in regards to community marketing tactics using both Wikipedia and tagging, the panel asked the audience, “Who here knows what Wikipedia and tagging are?” less than half the room raised their hands.

Let me give you an overview of these concepts.

Wikipedia is a free community content driven encyclopedia. I have included an excerpt about Wikipedia from their about section:

“Begun in 2001, Wikipedia has rapidly grown into the largest reference website on the Internet. The content of Wikipedia is free, written collaboratively by people from all around the world. This website is a wiki, which means that anyone with access to an Internet-connected computer can edit, correct, or improve information throughout the encyclopedia, simply by clicking the edit this page link (with a few minor exceptions such as protected articles).”

Your benefits of using Wikipedia as an online marketing strategy are various. To begin with, your submitted content about your product or company may be very short and simple to begin with. As your content ages and more members view and contribute to your content with edit revisions, your content submission will grow and grow. For example, your submission may start out as a forty word brief that may turn into a multi-page article. Additionally, Wikipedia has a good Google Page Rank of 9 which will help boost your website’s PR with a quality backlink from your submitted content. Finally, using keywords that relate to your site in your contribution will assist you in controlling more space within the search engine results’ pages for your particular brand, product or name. For example, doing a Google Search for the term “Microsoft” returns a Wikipedia content entry about Microsoft in the tenth position of the Google SERP for “Microsoft”.

You should only submit content about a famous person, a patented product your company invented, a trademarked brand, famous places, etc. When you write your content you will want to write from an extremely neutral viewpoint. Don’t write all sorts of features and benefits; write more factual based information related to your subject. Your focus needs to be the community and not your subject. Tread lightly, the community is helpful to assist you in producing additional content, but be careful of keyword spamming and link spamming.

Although there are many benefits to using Wikipedia for SEM, there are also just as many caveats to using it. Submitting content to Wikipedia is a double-edged sword. You will only want to contribute to Wikipedia if your product or service is of relevance to the community. Using spammy techniques in your content or submitting an entry that has no real value such as “another affiliate website” could have the opposite of desired effect by producing negative feedback about your brand or product from the community.

Tagging on the other hand doesn’t have quite the negative drawbacks as posting to Wikipedia.

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site where members contribute links based on tags that anyone can search. I have included their about page found at del.icio.us/about below:

“What is del.icio.us?

del.icio.us is a collection of favorites - yours and everyone else's. Use del.icio.us to:

• Keep links to your favorite articles, blogs, music, restaurant reviews, and more on del.icio.us and access them from any computer on the web.

• Share favorites with friends, family, and colleagues.

• Discover new things. Everything on del.icio.us is someone's favorite - they've already done the work of finding it. Explore and enjoy.”

There are a few simple techniques for commercial tagging through community type sites such as del.icio.us: create bookmark worthy content or link bait, get your tags in front of the right people or choose the right category, give your created tags only one self generated bump in del.icio.us, rinse and repeat about once a month. Below is an excerpt from del.icio.us to help you answer what various parts of tags are:

Posts

When a user saves an item on del.icio.us, it is posted to the front page as well as the tag page for each chosen tag. A sample is below explaining the various information pieces:

Here is a del.icio.us example listing under the tag “web 2.0”
O'Reilly -- What Is Web 2.0 save this
by Scottcard to web2.0 oreilly article reference ... saved by 2938 other people.

You will first notice the title with the link to the site, next is an option to save the link to your tags. Secondly, you see a Username Scottcard. Here you can click the username to see Scottcard’s tags. Next you can click on the next links to see other related-sites within those tags. Lastly, you will see a highlighted link where you can view the members who have saved this site.

The good and the bad of tagging is that you will receive good quality backlinks to your site and increase visibility. The bad is that the majority of the time your tags will be removed from community members because the members are technically savvy and intolerant of any type of commercial push. Choose your keywords wisely and make sure your tag is in the right place and contributes to the community. Other tagging sites to consider are: Technorati and Digg. There are many others, but these are the ones that matter.

I see tagging or social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us gaining in popularity within the next three years as blogs did two years ago. Yahoo has already taken notice by purchasing del.icio.us and flickr. Digg and Furl are also making headway. Other sources to consider are the social network sites for developing a web2.0 SEM strategy.

MySpace is the current king of social networks, as it is literally a social-space network with 2.5 times more daily users than Google (psst, this is a huge untapped market). The domain dates back to 1999 where it was originally an online hard-drive of sorts. The current rendition took hold in 2003 making MySpace barely three years old. The main demographic is made up of teens to 20-somethings. The music industry is currently using MySpace as a marketing tool, not the labels themselves, but the bands. For example, Pearl Jam is announcing their upcoming release for May with sample songs and concert date announcements. One of their sample songs from their upcoming albums is one of the most played songs across the entire MySpace network. Independent film makers have also taken notice. In February 2006, amateur filmmaker David Lehre released a short film called MySpace: The Movie. This short film has quickly become a hit, registering over six million views following its release.

Benefiting from MySpace traffic is pretty straight forward. You will want to create a user profile and post links to your company or websites such as blogs, feeds, etc. Profile note, you can post html code in any field regarding your profile. Next, create your social pipeline of users and keep the demographic inline with any product or link you wish to shamelessly promote in the future. You don’t want to get spammy here either. The downside would be getting your user profile terminated from MySpace or members posting negative comments within your profile. Again, tread lightly by thinking neutral and keep the benefit of the community in mind.

The opportunity costs associated with community based SEM are very high. However, tagging in particular may be time prohibitive for most organizations as it requires a lot of trial and error. Tagging can seem like a waste of time as most tagging submissions will be removed by community members who find your submission “spammy”. Time spent on tagging isn’t a problem for most sole proprietors, but can be costly to your employer who is left with little equitable return to show for your time spent.

Utilizing Web2.0 sites such as Wikipedia, del.icio.us and MySpace, will prove effective for your business if done properly. Remember to tread lightly, don’t use “spammy” techniques and stay neutral keeping the benefit of the community at heart in your content development. Doing so will help your business to avoid a negative backlash toward your brand from the community you are developing content for.

Bill Younger writes for Elixir Systems, a full service search engine marketing company specializing in organic search engine optimization services, online public relations management and paid search or PPC management. For more information visit http://www.elixirsystems.com

Now more than ever "who you know" is as important as "what you know". Small businesses can realize huge results by leveraging the power of the owner's social network. Most people don't realize how many people they are actually connected to and how valuable those connections can be. Here are some thoughts on leveraging your social network for success as a small business.

Let your friends know you are open for business. Many small businesses owners miss out on opportunities because they don't want to "impose upon their friends" and ask them to patronize their business. While I agree that doing business with friends can sometimes be a little sensitive, you probably have a large network of friends and "friends of friends" who could potentially be using your services and telling others how great you are. Think of it this way: You are providing great value. You have put your heart and soul into your business. You are proud of what you do. Your friends deserve to benefit from all of those things. Let them know what you do and how you can help them.

Ask for referrals. People need to know how valuable referrals are to your business. My doctor, dentist, accountant and real estate agent all came to me through referrals. Let everyone know that your business grows because people endorse your services.

Hand out business cards. Don't be afraid to give out your business card to anyone and everyone. That's why you have them. Your business contact information should not be a secret. Give your cards to friends and acquaintance. When you do, say something like "give me a call if there is ever something I can help you with". This makes a personal connection and people are more likely to remember you.

Get on the Internet. If you don't have a web site (or if your web site stinks) you are missing out on an opportunity. Many people will want to "check you out" before they do business with you. Give them the opportunity to do so. Develop a site with some good information on your business and the services you provide. This will enhance your credibility and it will also reinforce your brand in the minds of potential customers.

Friendships are valuable. The people you know should be your greatest asset as you develop your business. Give them every opportunity to help you. As long as you are providing great value, don't be afraid to leverage your social network for the benefits it can provide.

Dave Lorenzo is an Ivy-League educated business strategist with the street smarts to help you build a million dollar law firm or professional practice quickly.

Visit his blog: http://www.RainmakerLawyer.com