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MySpace is a powerful online community which can take members virtually anywhere they want to go. MySpace was designed to allow members the opportunity to meet friends, reconnect with old friends, network and even meet potential romantic partners. MySpace may have started as a small project but has ballooned into a huge community with members from around the world. These members represent a variety of different races, regions, sexual orientations and occupations and can lead to all of the members learning so much more about the world around them.

Friends from Around the World on MySpace

MySpace is an expansive community and there are members from all over the world. This gives members the ability to meet and connect with members from different countries. Although these friendships may remain online and never turn into face to face meetings they can give an individual a greater understanding of the world around them. Through MySpace friendships with members from other countries, individuals can learn about the struggles experienced in other countries as well as the benefits of living in other countries.

Learn about Different Cultures on MySpace

Many people were raised with limited knowledge of other cultures. They may have had parents who were different races or another relative who was a different race or religion but for the most part they might have only learned in depth about a handful of other religions and cultures while they were growing up. This does not necessarily foster hate but it can lead to problems which relate to ignorance.

Members of MySpace come in contact with those of other races, religions and cultures all the time. In fact MySpace members may spend a great deal of time getting to know another member before they even know the race, religion or ethnicity of the other individual. This ability to get to know each other first and then learn more about cultural backgrounds can lead to more tolerance of others.

Making Connections Offline

We have already discussed how MySpace can help members to make friends around the world and learn more about different cultures but MySpace doesn’t have to take you miles and miles away. The fact that there are MySpace members around the world may give you the opportunity to make friends in other countries but it also means you have the opportunity to make new friends in your geographic area. Even those people who live in the smallest towns may find there are other MySpace members who live in their town. Getting to know these members creates the opportunity for MySpace members to take their online friendships offline and meet in person.

Meeting online friends in person can be a wonderful experience which can give the members the opportunity to really get to know each other better. Some members of MySpace may have joined the community just to speak to others online and may have no desire to meet others offline but for some, the opportunity to meet others offline after fostering an online relationship may be very appealing.

However, those who plan to meet online friends in person should exercise a certain amount of caution. Initial meetings should take place in a busy, public location that is well lit as opposed to a secluded location. Additionally, those who are meeting an online friend for the first time might bring along another trusted friend for security.

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Social Networking MySpace, Online Communities, Social Networking

It’s no secret. Social Networking sites have seen an explosion of popularity over the last year.

Again, there is nothing new about networking as a means to grow your business. This is exactly why people join the local Chamber of Commerce and similar organizations.

Image via Wikipedia

But the fact that the practice is now becoming so popular on the Web is really exciting. It represents a shifting in the way Internet users think, and a change in the way people are going to be finding what they are looking for in the years ahead.

When is the last time you searched for something on one of the major search engines and ended up extremely frustrated with all of the irrelevant results? It happens to me a lot.

But with some of the Web 2.0 sites – social bookmarking sites for instance – a user can search a topic and find results based on how many other members have tagged (or voted for) a particular website. So instead of relying on faulty software algorithms to return search results, Web 2.0 interfaces are now giving us a glimpse of what it would be like if our Web searches were based more on the human element.

Also, social networking sites are easy to use and understand, even for people who are not highly web savvy. Anyone can join MySpace and set up a profile. For this reason the number of people who flock to sites like MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, etc. is only going to increase.

As more and more people become involved with the Web 2.0 systems, the number of people you can market to through these systems obviously grows. And you will be able to find an audience for any niche within these cyber communities.

Due to the well established profile system used by Social Networking sites, you can learn a little bit about a prospect before you ever make contact with them. If somebody looks like a good fit for the kind of information or products you are selling, you can simply invite them to be on your friends list so they can get a look at your profile and even follow links back to your website or blog.

Without social networking websites, you would have to find and connect with Internet users one at a time, often in chat rooms, and learn about their interests before deciding if they are a good fit for you. So social networking sites allow you to be more efficient by learning about another Internet user before ever having to make contact with them.

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 completely free.

Even if a Web 2.0 site is fee, they will require that you register your name and contact info (standard account creation protocol) with them. This registration will not only allow you to create your own profile page, but it will also allow you to contact other networking members.

There are a few sites that charge a small fee to join, or offer upgrade options that give more benefits to paying members. If you like a site and believe there is value being offered you should invest in a paid membership, as doing so will encourage the growth of the community.

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 accounts just for the purpose of spamming or flaming other members.

Social networking websites focus on meeting new people. It’s worth pointing out again that networking has been an integral part of business for centuries; the idea of meeting people and forming mutually beneficial relationships did not start with the World Wide Web, but thanks to the immense popularity of Web 2.0 concepts in the mainstream we are entering an era where we can really take our networking to the next level and well beyond.

So What’s In This For You? Why Should You Bother With Web 2.0 Marketing?

Because of the enormous potential audience you can reach through sites like MySpace and Squidoo! It doesn’t matter what your business sells, you will find people who have an interest in your product or service through social networking sites.

The key, of course, is not to come on too strong and start blazing away with your ads right out of the gates. What you should strive to do is:

1. Join some good social sites with large or targeted memberships
2. Set up your profile to let people know exactly who you are and what you’re about
3. Begin to make contacts by joining groups, inviting friends, making posts on the message boards, sending private messages, etc. Get involved and start meeting people who might have an interest in what you have to offer!
4. Build keyword anchored links from high ranked social sites back to your domains and blogs. This is an awesome free way to add punch to your SEO campaigns

Popular Social Networking Websites

While all social networking websites have their own rules and restrictions, many websites operate in a similar way, with the same goals in mind.

Their goals are to allow Internet users to connect with other Internet users, often from all around the world.

There are many websites that are considered “general,” websites. These websites do not really have any particular focus, but there are social networking websites that do have a particular focus. Those focuses often include dating, religion, business, and school.

Here are a couple of suggestions I urge you to bear in mind when creating an account with a social networking site:

Always use your real name!

Think about it. Would you want to buy something from a person you know only as coolguy77?

Not likely. We’re talking about real business networking in this report so please act like a professional when you get out there and you’re results will be far greater.

Always Add Your Photo!

People like to have an image of the person they are meeting and talking with in their minds and a picture is the obvious best way to help with this. And it adds credibility to your cause.

Don’t be one of the people who are too self-conscious or just plain scared to display their picture on the Web. A clear photo of you on your profile page tells the world you are confident about who you are, and it will encourage others to have confidence in you as well.

About the author

Alex Perez-Prat is the webmaster and owner of Resale Rights Kingdom Dot Com. To find out more e-marketing tips, resources and tools go to Resale Rights Kingdom

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Social Networking Networking, Social Networking, Social Networks

Are you using social networks to build your reputation online? Whether you already are or you are just getting started with sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Ning, building your online reputation is your biggest responsibility.

Here are five ways to make sure you do it right.

#1: Be Proud Of Being You

The first thing is, you have to be yourself. You have to be who you are. Because although you can get away with being fake for a little while, as soon as one person realizes that you’re not who you say you are, your reputation is destroyed almost instantly because of the power of social networking.

So be yourself. And don’t be afraid of being yourself. Realize that you have some gifts and some knowledge that people need to know about, and those that want to learn from you are going to gravitate towards you. Those that don’t think you’re worth listening to are basically going to ignore you. And it’s at their peril, so don’t worry about them.

#2: Transparency – Never Hide From Your Audience

The second thing about your reputation is you should try to be transparent at all times. This means you keep everything real with your audience.

For example, over the last year, I used social media to show you my move from Maryland to North Carolina, including drama with the movers, picking the house, and getting it set up. I also pulled back the curtain to show what it takes to run a product launch.

When I did my last product launch, I was Twittering every day what I was doing to get ready for this site. Most of the gurus out there would keep everything under lock and key, and I was being very clear, saying, “This is what I’m doing to get ready for this launch.” It actually helped me have a better launch, even though I told everybody exactly what I was going to be doing.

They didn’t think that they had some surprise or whatever like most people teach; they just were excited to be part of it and part of the story. So be transparent. Let people know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, and they’re going to learn how to trust you.

#3: Be Positive For Positive Results

The third way to build your reputation is to be positive.

There are folks out there who generally can do a good job of being negative. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find that to be a very long-term profitable strategy.

It may get you some attention at first and spark some controversy, but that’s not the way to go. Be looking forward to the optimistic of your industry, of your business and what the results are going to be.

It would be easy for you to go onto Twitter or onto Facebook and talk about how you’re having a bad day or this product sucks or this week sucks or this relationship sucks. But you’re not really there for a support network, per se.

You’ll find some of that. If you have something bad happen in your life, sharing it with your followers will be very therapeutic for you and you will get a lot of support back. But when you’re just blasting negative things out, you’re going to get negative things in return, usually.

So try to be positive as much as possible and look for the opportunities that are out there and look at them from that positive perspective.

#4: Build Your Reputation And They Will Come

The fourth thing you must do is to be patient. This is because, initially, your reputation is going to be built only by yourself and the first initial people who get to know you. But as time goes on and you get more followers and you build a larger network of friends and peers, your reputation will solidify to allow your business to grow.

Once it hits a tipping point, your reputation and business accelerates at a very quick pace.

So be patient and let it happen. Don’t try this stuff out for a week and then come back to me next week and say, “Well, it didn’t really work. I didn’t really get any results yet.” You’ve got to let social networking play out over a few weeks and then a couple months and so on. A year from now your business is going to be tremendously different compared to where it is right now.

#5: Contribute To The Conversation – Every Day!

The fifth thing about your reputation is you need to be someone that people look to as a contributor, not as a leech, not as a mooch, as a contributor.

You have to be willing to be involved in the conversation, and you have to be willing to give as much or even more than what you’re going to get in return. The people who do that are growing so fast it makes my head spin.

I feel that I’m a pretty giving person but I see some other folks out there that just keep on giving, giving, giving and they just build up a huge following and that social capital is a real asset to your business. So you need to make sure that you’re contributing as much as possible to the conversation.

I don’t mean that as just go around randomly and try to help people. Within your specific task, your specific industry, the things you know well, you need to be at the forefront of letting people know how to do what you know how to do without charging them money at first.

They’ll come and find your site and your products and they’ll pay you for that as time goes on and their needs grow. With social networking you need to be building your reputation up first.

If somebody has a question, you should be one of the first people who answers and you need to answer without reservation not just, “Oh, I answered that in my eBook; go buy it”. They’re going to find your eBook if you just talk to them and give them solutions to the problem they are struggling with at that moment.

Give people your input, your encouragement for them to get better at what they are trying to do.

Any little quick free advice you can give, give it.

Actively Build Your Reputation With Social Networking And Reap The Rewards

You’ve got to be in this for the reason of having fun and really building that relationship. Dollars will come, there’s no doubt about that. But first, connect with people and really help them out. Understand that they’ll become loyal followers of what you do and see you for who you are.

Follow these 5 steps to building your reputation online and you’ll not only beat your competition, you’ll have more fun doing it!

Bob Jenkins teaches business owners how to use internet marketing strategies effectively to attract more customers and get more sales – without spending a fortune on advertising. Discover more ways to power your business with social networking at www.DiscoverSocialNetworking.com.

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Social Networking Online Reputation, Social Networking, Social Networks

Image by JasonRogers via Flickr

MySpace is an online community where members can meet to share photos, journals and interests with an extensive network of friends. The MySpace mission statement describes the MySpace network as being for everyone including:

* Friends who want to talk Online
* Single people who want to meet other Singles
* Matchmakers who want to connect their friends with other friends
* Families who want to keep in touch–map your Family Tree
* Business people and co-workers interested in networking
* Classmates and study partners
* Anyone looking for long lost friends!

From this description it is clear that MySpace is an excellent place for online networking. This article will take a look at how to find the people you want to network with on MySpace and will examine whether or not the networking should remain online.

Who Do You Want to Meet?

When using MySpace to network it is important to consider who you want to meet in your networking endeavor. There is a misconception that MySpace is just for kids but many are finding there are all types of people using MySpace. Before making a decision about whether or not you want to network on MySpace it is wise to spend some time searching around MySpace to find out whether or not there is a large amount of individuals who share your interests. Spending some time doing research before beginning your own MySpace website is helpful because otherwise you might invest time and energy into designing your website only to find there are not many members with which you want to network.

Where Can You Find Those You Want to Meet?

Now that you have identified who you are looking to meet online through MySpace it is time to start finding these individuals. The search feature can be very helpful for this purpose. Compile a list of keywords which are likely to be used on the MySpace websites of members you would like to meet. Searching for these keywords can help you to locate those who share your interests.

Visiting the MySpace websites of your friends’ friends can also help you to meet more interesting individuals on MySpace. Those who you already consider to be friends likely share some of your interests. Likewise many of their existing friends may share these interests as well. Investigating websites of those who are friends of your friends can put you in contact with many more people who might be potential friends for you.

Do You Want to Take Your Networking Offline?

After networking online the natural progression is to determine whether or not you want to expand on your network to include face to face meetings as a part of this networking. Care should be taken when making this decision to ensure you are not putting yourself, or others, at unnecessary risk by arranging these networking meetings.

The most important aspect in arranging offline networking meetings with those who you meet online is choosing a safe location for these meetings. A well lit, busy, public location is ideal for these types of meetings. These types of locations not only minimize the chance that any participants in the meeting will attempt to harm others but also helps to make those who are planning to attend feel safer. You might think a house belonging to your friend is an excellent location because you are familiar with the location and will have friends with you but it is important to note those you are meeting may be just as suspicious of you as you are of them. They are more likely to be interested in attending your meeting if it takes place in a public location because they will feel more comfortable.

Another aspect to consider when deciding whether or not to take virtual networking opportunities offline is whether or not you think the friendships will be the same offline as they are online. Many Internet users feel freer to express their opinions online than they do in face to face meetings. Friends who have wonderful relationships through MySpace may find their relationship falters when they actually meet in person.

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Social Networking MySpace, Online Communities, Social Networking

There are many ways to increase traffic to your blog. But some of course are more effective than others. Today we’ll look at the five most effective ways.

1. Link Exchanges: Link exchanging is exactly how it sounds. Exchanging of links with another website. Now there is a great caution in doing this. While search engines are not “smart” they are particular about which links to count as valid link or just another link to trick them.

That is why I always tell people that you want to exchange links with related sites rather than the first site that is available. If you have a political blog you would not want to do a link exchange with a car blog or vise versa. A backlink is much better (since it is a one way link) but two way links (such as link exchanges) only work when the websites are related.

There are many websites one can join to find people who are interested in link exchanges but the two most popular ones on the Internet are www.sitepoint.com/forum and http://forums.digitalpoint.com.

2. Backlinks: Basically speaking a backlink is a link from another website to yours. The more of these links you have is the more your popularity will increase with the search engines.

Developing a good backlink campaign is essential for this to work as three or four backlinks will not cut it. I would suggest make a target of at least 1,000 backlinks in three months.

This will require dedication but it is a surefire way to build the SEO of your website will inevitably lead to more organic traffic.

3. Networking: The whole idea of blogging was started around the idea of people exchanging vital information. Unfortunately this idea has almost been lost in the blogging world. But it still stands true. One of the best ways to increase traffic to your blog is to develop a network of bloggers.

Try and find bloggers whose content is related to yours and offer to start a network with them. Basically those in this blog network would share ideas, offer trackbacks to interesting things on each other’s blog etc.

This will not only help to increase the traffic but when a Google or Live.com bot comes along they will take notice of the links in the network and use this as a reason to increase your SE rankings.

4. Social Networking: Social networking has picked up where blogs left off. While a lot of the features in social networks are exciting most of the concepts have been in the blogging world for years. So it is very essential to build a good presence on social networks.

I would say start off with social bookmarking sites first and then move on. One of the best sites to gain considerable traffic from is a website like www.stumbleupon.com. While the service has been exploited in the recent months (especially with mindless stumbling) it’s still a very good way to find related sites and thus drive traffic to your blog.

5. Ad Campaigns: This one will call for more money than time. But its payoff is great. While its unrealistic to think about getting ads on sites such as MSN, Facebook, MySpace, MSNBC etc finding smaller sites that are getting lots of traffic will greatly help.

I would suggest joining a couple webmaster forums and checking out some of the listings of those who are selling ad spots. But pay close attention to how many unique visitors they get a day, the CTR (rate at which most visitors click on an advertisement), total page views a day etc.

Generally expect to pay between $80-140/month for a good ad spot on a website that is receiving decent/excellent traffic.

Many other ways exist but these are some of the most tried and proven techniques to increase traffic. One last word of advice, the field of blogging is a trial and error processes. Looking for success in a couple days or weeks is not going to cut it. But developing a good plan and sticking with it is the best solution.

Source : General Marketing Blog

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Traffics Ad Campaigns, Backlinks, Link Exchanges, Networking, Social Networking, Traffic