Recently, I have noticed that the more the economy has changed the more people are selecting the Internet as a way to supplement their income. In this article, I wanted to discuss a few steps that are key for beginners to the internet business. One of the biggest issues, is how to use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and My Space and many other networking sites to market their businesses online.

One of the biggest complaints is that these sites aren’t bringing them enough real traffic to their business for them to make sales. In essence, these sites were a waste of time to market on because they didn’t produce any immediate marketing results. I know this to be true because I was once in their shoes with the same results.

As someone who uses Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, as well as several other networking sites to market my business, I believe that these marketers missed the point. Blatant marketing on these sites won’t work. Your approach has to be far more subtle.

Your goal should be something different; building an internet presence, building backlinks from major traffic sites and blogs, and building your brand so that your potential customers find you.

1. Building an Internet Presence

This is especially important if you are new to marketing your products and services on the internet. You have to build a presence, and a big one, if you want to be found by your market. Building an internet site and just letting it sit doesn’t work! You have to put your egos aside and get out there and promote yourself if you want to sell your products and services. The Successful marketers know this to be true because social networking sites are a source for high traffic; and you have a better chance of being found if you take the time to build a presence.

2. Building Backlinks

I mentioned briefly in my previous articles on how backlinking to other blogs is important. Well a similar principle applies with backlinking from a social media site. The search engines are constantly spidering these sites. Getting your site spidered is what you want? Then building a profile on these sites will help the search engines find you and then ultimately, your customers can find you.

Remember not to sell your products directly to the customers on these sites. Believe me I’ve tried and I received lousy results. Therefore, create a profile that tells everyone about you and your products or services. Include links to your website, or if you have more than one site to all of your sites. Make your profile keyword rich with keywords from your topic.

3. Branding Yourself as a Leader

When you use the social media sites branding is key to your success. Whether you are a writer, or you are simply selling your own products and services, you will need to resort to shameless promotion if you want to make the sale. Like I mentioned before in my earlier videos; when you brand yourself, you have to decided what is going to be your area of focus and then become an expert in that area. Writing articles and making videos and then posting them on your own personal blog or on the social networking sites can help others become aware of your products and services.

It has been well documented that if you follow the steps mentioned above, this will help you in building value; In other words, by contributing to these sites, you are not only building value for them, you are building value for yourself. This will go a long way in establishing your credibility and expertise. If you get others to trust you and believe in your products, you just have made the sell! Congratulations!

We live in such an amazing time right now, technology is drastically changing the way we communicate. We are more informed, up-to-date, connected, plugged-in than we ever have. There are products and apps that help us do everything imaginable…so what’s the problem?
There’s too much noise that’s what! We have information coming at us from every direction and in huge quantities. Social media marketing for small companies  involves blogs, RSS feeds, Facebook updates, LinkedIn updates, LinkedIn group messages,  and so on…and this doesn’t even include our normal communication from our jobs. Also, lately it seems everyone is redistributing all the info they’re receiving…like forwarding RSS feeds to their Twitter account so there’s this endless stream of information being pumped into our lives…it’s way too much to absorb.

I’m not sure where all of this is leading but I do believe there’s going to be an industry that doesn nothing but curate our information. Most of us are going to be willing to pay someone or a service to filter out only the stories, updates etc. we want. It’s great that there’s so much frre info out on the internet but we need a way to filter it to a consumable amount. Inbound marketing techniques consist of putting out a ton of information so that when people go looking for answers to their questions, they’ll find your content and come to your website or blog.

Here are some forms of curation:

• Twitter. You can use Twitter to curate your information by creating “lists” and follow only the people you want information from.
• Facebook: Your friends are a good way of filtering out some of the noise. For the most part we all are more interested in what our friends are doing, buying or reading.
• RSS Feeds: These are feeds that send us data from chosen soures.

As an inbound marketing consultantI feel like I’m contributing to all the noise by blogging, tweeting, retweeting etc. My new web 2.0 start-up www.propadoo.com www.propadoo.com helps companies generate testimonials and then stream them in real-time to Twitter and Facebook…just more data pumped into the sytem. However, instead of creating less content I think I’ll just continue to help my clients find ways to filter content in order to receive ONLY the info they want to receive.

We get questions from bloggers all the time… One of the most persistant ones is “How do I back up the content on MySpace?”.  So being the web heads we are, we took note some documentation about a little plugin for Firefox named ScrapBook.  We read, downloaded, installed, and used it hard. And you know what? This works for every social website we surfed!

ScrapBook is a good way to keep all that content you have on any number of sites organized with a local copy that your backup to internet can automatically archive for you. With one program! No fancy command lines, dealing with widgits, it saves it for you so if any of the sites go bad, you’ve got your content.

How you ask? We did it like this.

A First, go to the ScrapBook download page (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/427). Click the Install Now button (green) and restart Firefox when instructed.

B Once Firefox has restarted, you’re ready to use ScrapBook.

C Click onto one of your social websites you’d like to save with ScrapBook. Once you’re there, on the menu, select Capture Page As.

D Use “Capture Page As” to set the depth of links you want to copy. This is a important! This backs up all the links on your page automatically. If you had the depth set to 0 (zero), you wouldn’t be able to copy those extra pages. Set it to 1 and you’d be able to. But if it is set to 2, you will save all the linked pages and so on.

E After picking the options you want, click Capture. A copy is now saved! Now, go to the ScrapBook menu and click Show in Sidebar. You’ll see the pages you’ve captured listed.

So this is what we’ve got so far? You now have a local copy of all the content on your LinkedIn, etc. page. So if anything goes south, your covered. But just like Ron Popiel says… “But Not only this, we have more”.

If you have a internet backup product like OPENRSM on your computer just make sure that it’s configuration has your personal files selected for backup. That way you can have all your social websites backed up and preserved with the rest of your computers essential data. And Firefox runs on windows, Mac, and Linux all the same.  Not only will your computer have a full internet backup, but your social websites will be too.

LinkedIn or Left Out?

Power Workshop on
Using Online Networking to Get a Job

How to Maximize Your Use of LinkedIn, and Twitter and Facebook to Stand Out in the Crowd

Heard the buzz about online social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook?

Did you know many people are using these networks to get jobs? Yes, even Facebook!

Online Social Networking was ranked by recent hires as the #1 job-getting strategy, beating in-person networking by a wide margin!

Attend this Power Workshop and learn how you can use Web-based social networks to build professional relationships – even if you don’t know the first thing about them – and learn how to use these relationships to find your next job.

This fast-paced three-hour comprehensive workshop will teach you:

• How to improve your job search using LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook
• How to use the Three Power P’s™ of Social Networks: Profiles People, and Probing
• How to connect with prospective employers
• How to get others to talk about, and recommend you
• How to manage your online reputation
• Do’s and Don’ts of using social networks
• Power tools that expert networkers use to find and manage connections
• How low-cost Web advertising can raise your profile and get you job leads

BONUS! Each participant will receive the free Google CheatSheet, a Networking CheatSheet, a List of Twin Cities Networking Groups, and a copy of Linked InSolutions’ LinkedIn CheatSheet, a $30 value! This is a hands-on workshop and we encourage you to bring your laptop computer (if you have one) and use what you learn right away. If you don’t have a laptop, we are providing 10 workstations on a first-come, first-served basis. Or, attend online from the comfort of your home or business!

We have two upcoming sessions at 2 pm and 5:30 pm on Thursday, May 28^th. Sessions are held online, and in person at:

The Commerce Building, 2^nd Floor Conference Room
8200 Humboldt Avenue So.
Bloomington, MN 55431

Who Should Attend

·          If you’re out of work, facing a layoff, or just looking, you can benefit from this power workshop

·          If you’re a social networking newbie, or if you’re an experienced user, this workshop can help you build your skills

·          If you’ve been wondering what all the fuss is about social networking, come and find out

·          And even if you’ve taken the introductory sessions available elsewhere, you need the Power Workshop to get the real skinny on the tips, tools, and techniques that can make you successful

Why Attend the Power Workshop?

·          Cover all three major job-seeking social networks in one power session

·          Get the in-depth insight, the strategy, and the intimate knowledge of online job seeking techniques

Your Instructor

Mike Ellsworth is an entrepreneur, trainer, and speaker with 15 years experience on the Web, whose day job is running a huge, national career information Web site. 

Mike has been a LinkedIn user since 2003, a Facebook user since before old folks could join, and an active Twitter user for the last year. You’ll gain the benefit of Mike’s 24 years in IT, 5 years as a trainer for the Nielsen Company, 6 years as an IT strategy consultant, and 3 years running a massive Web site that helps job seekers.

Logistics

·          Each Power Workshop session is limited to 25 attendees to enable personal attention

·          Attend the simultaneous Virtual Power Session over the Web – unlimited number can attend

Classroom rate: $125
Webinar rate: $65

Sign up at www.LinkedInSolutions.com  

For more information – contact register@LinkedInSolutions.com

Employers and groups:

Customized private versions of this workshop are available at your site. Contact custom@LinkedInSolutions.com.

Many people are now aware that the power of web 2.0 exists but are unsure of the following issues one two make commercial gain and two if some aspects of Web 2.0 provide opportunities for criminals to gain access to our personal data.

Many sites have sprung up under the banner of Web 2.0 two that I belong to are Facebook and Linkedin these two sites are termed as social book marking sites and have many features for you to help promote your self and your business. These sites are also having to guard against internet marketers who use the site to spam out various bad techniques to entice sales of a particular affiliate product.

The Web 2.0 sites are now very much against this use and have drastically taken action to limit the use of there traffic potential so as not to allow internet marketers to gain advantage. Most internet businesses that want to survive have got to learn the power of web 2.0 but use it in a sensible manner and adhere to the policies of the social book marking sites this way they will benefit from a much better customer response and feel the power to begin to tap the rich traffic market they provide.

I find on Linkedin this has been a great source of advice from fellow professionals in the groups I have joined and only a few times have I come across blatant spamming for an affiliate product. The way forward for business is to be honest in all aspects, set your stall out carefully.

You want to use the power of Web 2.0 then let people know who you are, where you are, what you are good at and back it up with real testimonials then you will gain credible customers and respect. Business will be very tough in the next few years and these sources of traffic may make the difference between success and failure.

The reputation I have online is very good with the people I have worked with giving me recommendations on the services I provide. By using web 2.0 I have been able to promote myself and my services across a number of social networks. The key to the success is down to honesty and giving a service that your customer wants and then going the extra mile.

Being on the internet and saying this is what I do I can help you with the following making sure your customer understands what you stand for the terms and conditions that apply. Make sure that if you are selling a product or service and promoting via Web 2.0 that you provide a bonus something that is not expected in the original contract.

Many people who search the market bank for a product or service will look harder for the best deal, what am I getting for my money does it cover my requirement, what if it goes wrong, how many people have bought from him before.

Some businesses just slap up a product or service hoping that the passing traffic will take notice. No they won’t today’s traffic want to hear a good review, see the proof of a product or service. Try to contact the original supplier of a service if possible as this can save you money.

I have been doing both Internet websites and racketeering as well as the day job for over four years now and although I don’t make my entire living online I can give up the day job. It is important though that it has taken an incredible amount of learning to get to this level and it is not something I would recommend for most people.

There are short cuts but they don’t last long so If your business is online and you want to be successful then getting the power of Web 2.0 behind you is an essential resource but more importantly if you use social networking sites to promote business or service remember you are only on there as a guest so obey the rules and a secure amount traffic and profit will head your way.

Business needs to be honest with the way they use social networks and handle customers by not doing so they will get banned by such Web 2.0 sites and lose out in the business race. Web 2.0 can be very powerful tool but also can be very bad weapon if your customers spread the word that you can not deliver the goods or services you promise to provide.

Eyebrows have been raised recently with the news that Schools are looking to replace ‘traditional’ subjects such as history with those teaching children how to use the online web applications and networking sites such as Twitter.

These alarmist reactions are in no small part due to the predictably sensationalised press in the media giving a distorted view of these new educational proposals.These measures are part of a much wider scope project that is needed to keep our children abreast of technological developments and are entirely necessary in the face of a digital industry that is gathering pace and leaving the average user behind.

The plans drawn up by Ofsted chief, Sir Jim Rose will be officially unveiled next month and will apparently see 13 core subjects reduced to 6.  Some have seen this streamlining of subjects as a sign of the apparent dumbing down of the education system, however it could also be perceived in the wider sense as a push to embrace IT in schools and educate children the technology that is currently used by today’s captains of industry.

Just as those who work in web and digital today were no doubt educated with computers such as the BBC Micro or one of Acorn's many computers, it was in those simpler times where it the done thing to be educated in the ways of simple word processing, graphics and desktop publishing.  But now the internet has opened various new channels of communication with their own interfaces.  

It is right that this technology should be tought to children - why shouldn't it have a positive impact on their education?  After all, if a child can master something like Twitter or Facebook at a very young age (applications that many adults seem struggle to grasp) then this will educate them in the skills and principles that will help them to grasp tomorrow’s dizzy heights of computing and IT solutions.

If there was an advertising guide that could tell you exactly what to do to make money off of using Facebook, then no doubt there would be millions of copies sold. People want to make money and Facebook wants a portion of that revenue for using their website; it is more than just a social networking site. Sure you can find friends and such but for some people Facebook is all about business.

Facebook is a social networking website devoted to promoting interaction between its members. You can use the Facebook application as a way to share stories, find friends or if you are trying to make money blogging, use it as part of your internet marketing strategy. You do this through blogging and through bulletins found on the Wall within Facebook. You can post networking news for the world to read through your profile. Again, if you are trying to build a passive income stream and wish to display blogs products from an online store, then simply upload photos into albums so that visitors and friends can see your merchandise. Clicking on these pictures will lead them into your online store and hopefully to a sale, all without doing nothing more than a few posts in your Facebook account.

The best advertising guide or advice you can use will come from business experts. The key is getting an ad that attracts attention and makes people want to visit your website. If you have ever been on Facebook or MySpace, then you have seen the ads that are strewn across the top of the profiles or to the sides. These are designed to catch your attention and hopefully make a purchase. Haven’t you always wanted to win a free ringtone?

Often times, we hear about merger news about Facebook being acquired by a large company, such as Google or Yahoo. As of yet this has not occurred and if founder Mike Zuckerberg has anything to say about it, it will not be happening anytime soon. This means that for now your advertising services are still in need. When you advertise through a banner ad, Facebook gets a portion of the sale. It is this portion that allows Facebook to remain free to the public. It will stay free as long as there is daily advertising by companies and businesses that want to put their banner ads onto the site.

Media facts should not be written down in stone. Every other social networking site posts the failings of Facebook and point out that their membership is not high enough to generate a lot of money. Perhaps their advertising guide is one that the rest of the public is not aware of. As of now, advertising services are put to good use through the website. It is possible to be affiliated with the huge entity that is Facebook.