Online Internet Marketing Strategies

One of the great advantages of being a member to some remarkable sites, like Entrecard, is the ease at which you find out about really cool “other sites” going live on the net. Websites designed to help you promote your blog and your business.

Tonight I found one such website while approving an advertiser for our blog in Entrecard. Yes, it was that easy

The website is 125 Exchange.

When you click through you’ll notice the “affiliate looking” url (ours), but at the moment there is no indication that we get anything other than the great satisfaction of helping you find yet another spot to promote your blog.

Before I tell you about the set up, I did want to make mention of the look and load of this service. Wow! We like green, and the animation is super easy on the eyes. You’ll like it, too.

Okay, you sign up in two seconds, check your inbox and confirm, and then head inside where the inner workings are really easy to follow. Start by listing your own ad, you’ll need a 125 x 125 banner (just like Entrecard) and a tiny bit more information including the average daily amount of visitors your blog gets (check your cpanel stats). You will also be able to pick what categories you would like your banner to show up on, as well as indicate what types of sites should be allowed on yours.

To the right, in our Highly Recommended sidebar box, you’ll notice the current 125Exchange card showing. Go ahead, click on it! It will open in a new window and you won’t lose your place here at OIMS.

Well that’s it for tonight, we thought you’d enjoy finding another spot to do more free advertising for yourself and your blog.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is not our article, but the information is well worth your time.

by Gary Smith

The Web 2.0 social media revolution is in full steam. Are people finding your website?

As an entrepreneur, how do you make your business website stand out amongst 435 million other websites and more than 1 million blogs competing for your audience’s attention?

It’s not as hard as you might think.

To begin, let’s look at the demographics of Web 2.0 social networking sites, Myspace.com, Facebook and YouTube.com. This will give you an idea on how to position your message in the Web 2.0 World.

The Web 2.0 Social Networking Revolution

Web 2.0 is a real revolution on the Internet. And these aren’t just college kids…

- 62% of MySpace visitors are older than 25 (40% are 35+), and 83% are making over $30,000 a year. Nineteen percent (19%) are making $100,000 and up…

- On Facebook.com 46% are over 25 and 34% are 35+, but they’ve got deep pockets. Eighty-eight percent (88%) make more than $30,000 and twenty-three percent (23%) make $100,000 or more.

In the years ahead these numbers will get ridiculous…

- Social media giant Facebook is currently ADDING a million 25+ (non-student) adults per week to their rosters. That’s 52 million new users a year.

- YouTube.com gets over 50 million unique visitors per month. That equals over half a billion a year.

- Facebook and MySpace have the equal daily traffic of Google. Experts predict within the next year they will DOUBLE the daily traffic of Google search.

So your prospects are there. The traffic is there. The spending power is there. So NOW is the time you want to establish your presence on the social networking websites.

Web 2.0 Strategy: Why You Should Be a Maven, Not a Marketer

As a website owner, how should you position your message in the Web 2.0 world?

The increasingly savvy buying public will quickly shun marketers. Internet readers want information from the Internet. They don’t want advertising, marketing, or a “pitch”.

According to Schefren in his Attention Age Doctrine, the solution is to become a social media “Maven”.

A Maven is a trusted authority, like a friend, on the social media websites. As you gain their trust, your audience will return to you over and over again wanting to invest in your advice.

Five Steps to Becoming a Social Media Maven

Social Media Maven Step 1: Get in the Game

Begin blogging immediately. Create a video explaining how to solve a problem and put it on YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook with links back to your main website. Just those two things alone will establish more Web 2.0 presence than 90% of your competition.

Social Media Maven Step 2: Share your passion

Build your Web 2.0 website around your passions. Thirty-two year old Gary Vaynerchuk transformed his wine knowledge to his video blog, http://Tv.Winelibrary.com. It now has thousands of subscribers and does $50 million dollars a year in wine sales.

Social Media Maven Step 3: Be Controversial

Your audience will remember you more when you challenge the status quo. Controversy sells. Think like the tabloids and the local news channels here. For example, Web 2.0 Business Coach Rich Schefren challenges traditional marketing wisdom in each release of his Attention Age Doctrine special reports at www.attentionage.net/doctrine

Social Media Maven Step 4: Create World Class Content

You will drive repeat traffic to your website by offering top notch “how to” information. Gary’s wine tastings are highly educational on the benefits of wine, how to cook with wine, and how to choose a wine for your special occasion. Rich’s reports teach Web 2.0 marketing principles.

Remember, as soon as your audience feels that you are “pitching” them, you’ve lost them. So provide content not advertising.

Social Media Maven Step 5: Engage in the Conversation

Web 2.0 is a dialogue not a monologue. Internet businesses profit more when they observe and listen to their communities first before they broadcast their messages. Savvy mavens such as Gary and Rich encourage their audience to ask questions. The answers to these questions then become part of their user-generated content.

How Marketing in a Web 2.0 Social Media Environment Is Exciting

Visualize it like a big radio or television station or movie screen where you’re the star. You’re building a fan base so you need to entertain, inform, and deliver consistently for your audience.

You have more publishing power at your fingertips right now than at any time in history.

So use it.

Share your passions.

Reveal your trials and tribulations

Tell your story.

And, watch how quickly your audience builds.

=======================================

Master Copywriter, Gary Smith (www.rightbraincopy.com) has taught thousands of entrepreneurs how to write copy that persuades, motivates and inspires prospects to buy. He strongly suggests using Web 2.0 Internet Marketing Strategies revealed in Richard Schefren’s Attention Age Doctrine. Get it now for FREE at: http://www.attentionage.com/doctrine & discover never-before-revealed Web 2.0 tools and techniques to win in the Attention Age

Simply put, WhamX is a Web 2.0 Social Bookmarking news and article site that allows you to vote on your favorites. (That is a direct quote from their website.)

WhamX.com would like to become (don’t they all) bigger and better than Digg over time. It can be done, if you make enough people aware that you exist.

So how do you use WhamX?

First, you create your account. Update your profile with whatever information you would like others to see, including an Avatar for yourself or use theirs.

Then you click on the Submitted button and at the bottom of the page (still in the white text area), you will see the bookmarklet to grab. Either store it in your favorites, or if you are using Firefox, draw it up to the Bookmarks level and let go.

The other thing to remember is with this and just about every other service like this, in order to submit something (or vote or do anything) you have to be LOGGED IN beforehand.

Our suggestion is to pick the ones you want to be active with on any given day. Say you want to be able to hop in and out of BlogCatalog, Digg, WhamX, and Entrecard (just a few or you’ll drive yourself crazy). First thing in the morning (or after logging on and getting ready to start working), go to each of these sites and log yourself in. Then stay logged in. Usually that means leaving the browser window open down (at least) on your start bar or using the Tabs in IE 7 or Firefox to leave the web sites open.

Then as you go about your day posting your own stuff and reading and commenting and creating back links to others about theirs, you’ll already be logged into your chosen few and good to go

Below you’ll see a screenshot of the WhamX social bookmarking site, and it is good to note that (according to my Firefox browser with its plugin for checking this sort of thing), WhamX is prepared to give you full credit and full backlinks for your time and effort.

Enjoy!

We’ve talked about social bookmarking in earlier posts, but this evening in quite a roundabout fashion, I arrived at the Socialmatic website.

To be 100% honest, anything that could make some of the aspects to being online and growing a new (or existing) website or blog easier… hey I’m all for it.

Unfortunately, our own experience to date has been Onlywire, and we’re sorry to say it ain’t been good (or worth the effort)

However, that aside, we are aware of the pros and cons of using “automated methods” to post to social bookmarking sites. In a contest of mastery, doing things the good old fashion manual way most likely would win hands down. Primarily for the fact that you know it gets done, and also nothing ever really takes the place of real human interaction.

That said, we’ll be gearing up to run an experiment of sorts with this “newly re-discovered” social bookmarking tool.

There is also another factor to consider prior to bookmarking anything, and that is should it really BE bookmarked? Social bookmarking for the sake of doing it is (in our opinion) a complete waste of time - you could be out there doing so many other things really. Also, just because it’s marked doesn’t mean it will be found, there’s no guarantee.

The exception to this rule would be a site that indexes their submission quickly. Getting a good, solid backlink is worth the time and trouble

But all in all, be honest with yourself and think … should I or shouldn’t I, is this worth it or not…

I digress… Back to the experiment at hand. We’ll be taking selective posts we stumble across out online, and testing this service (maybe throwing in a link or two of our own to check the backlink thing in say Google or Yahoo!, too).

On the plus side, if you’re going to use a service like this, Socialmatic isn’t a mass submitter per se. When you find something worth bookmarking, and log into the SocialIt area, their engine is suppose to randomly select five spots (not all 30) and do its thing. This also sounds more like a winner.

It will be interesting to test, and if you’ve already tried it and like it or hate it, please do let us know (might save us some shoe leather LOL!).

PLEASE DO LEAVE YOUR FEEDBACK - We Follow and CommentLuv back, too!

Today I stumbled across a website that is really very cool and very useful:

Digg Friend Finder SEO Tool

(Suggestion: Using the Firefox browser loads the page much faster, IE can hang up sometimes.)

The search results (where they show up) had me confused at first - (okay it’s Sunday and Easter so maybe that’s my excuse) - but once I understood where to look, well - it’s amazing! The results show right on their webpage (or the entire thing requires no download to do your searches).

Just enter a phrase - I tried “marketing” and “blogcatalog” (without the quotes) and search for either Profiles or Submissions posted in Digg that match your term.

Then DOWN BELOW the couple paragraphs of explanation, after you click on the “Show Friends” button, you’ll get a list out to everyone who’s either put the term in their profile or made a post using the term.

Now I put in terms related to what I’m interested in, but if you have a website about “dogs” or “knitting” or whatever, this will also work for you!

Enjoy and Happy Easter to All!

Here’s another great way to handle much of your website social media marketing all from one central spot.

The Bloggers Choice Awards website allows you to enter your own blog (or get someone to do it for you) into their voting system. It also is a great one-stop spot for visiting other bloggers and leaving your comments and more (for backlinking where allowed or just building your standing in a social community by participating).

Visiting others and establishing relationships is what it’s all about

There are numerous categories and you can enter your blog into more than one. Choosing the best categories, of course, makes the most sense.

Then, after the approval process, you can log into your account, click on your blog, and “Get Code.”

You’ll notice in our right-hand side bar, in the same box as our Entrecard drop box, we’ve got a “please vote for us!” button.

For BloggersChoiceAwards, and most all websites like this, you do need to create an account. You can create an account even if you don’t have a blog you want to enter. Sign up just for the fun of it, and, of course, use it as a community to meet and greet others!

So… your assignment for today (lol!), please vote for us!

Yes, it’s all about numbers. The more votes you get the higher your information goes in their system.

But again, there is more here than meets the eye. Comment and voila! you’re getting traffic!

And, it doesn’t end there…

In fact, our blog was entered on March 18th. Yesterday, March 19th (!) for our website url return results in Google, the BloggersChoiceAwards link is already showing (with an indent to boot!).

Screenshot Showing Our YouTube In A Box, BloggersChoiceAwards, and BlogCatalog All Make the Front Page For Our Domain

List your blog at Bloggers Choice Awards! And please take the time to vote for us

Enjoy!

Today, while reading my horoscope in a really oddball local magazine, I was struck by how much this particular one makes sense. Here’s what it said:

“The composer Stravinsky had written a new piece with a difficult violin passage,” writes Thomas Powers, quoted in the book Sunbeams. “After it had been in rehearsal several weeks, the solo violinist came to Stravinsky and said he was sorry, he had tried his best, the passage was too difficult, no violinist could play it. Stravinsky said, ‘I understand that. What I am after is the sound of someone trying to play it!’”

It goes on to inform me to keep this message close to the heart in the coming week in order to have “the proper perspective as you go about the work of doing the best you can, at a task that is virtually impossible to perfect.”

Now doesn’t that sound exactly like internet marketing?!

We each do our very best with the methodology at hand, but never do any of us truly “perfect the art” because the art of being online is so fluid.

However, it’s not in the getting it perfect where we succeed, it is in the trying and applying where we shine.

We’ve known our share of online entrepreneurs who take a direct course of action and willingly try their hand at all new proposals (or revisit “old” ones to fine tune them). Conversely, we’re also familiar with some would-be online business people who seem too shy to get out there and give it a go.

Maybe what holds some back is that feeling of “I won’t get it right.” There is no getting it wrong (other than blatant spamming of course). The beauty is in the doing!

Keep this message in mind as you go about your week (each week!) and put yourself out there! Meet other people in the social communities, write that article you’ve been putting off and post it in Hubpages and article directories! You can do it!

Here’s to sweet music to you in all your endeavors!

Sometimes the perfect things land in your inbox that you just have to pass along quickly

You know by now how important viral marketing is and the money that can be made from it.

We have a special gift for you today and this one is going to blow you away.

We’re about to hand you all the tools you need to quickly create (and we’re talking pushbutton) your very own branded ebooks stuffed with your own cash producing affiliate links.

This is the most powerful viral marketing tool you’ll find online and it’s yours… For Free

Free Viral Marketing Tool Signup Now

With Viral Ebook Explosion you are handed professionally created ebooks to brand - and all you have to do is simply fill in your affiliate links and press a button.

It’s as simple as that!

Here’s just a small fraction of what you’ll be able to do with your own Viral Ebooks:

==> Generate easy-cash when people click your affiliate links and purchase.

==> Upload your branded ebooks into free ebook directories and have them distributed all over the web with your affiliate links.

==> Build a name in the Internet Marketing community by participating in giveaways with your branded ebooks.

==> Give out your branded ebooks for * free * to build your own enormous list.

==> Sell these professionally created high quality ebooks for 100%-profit.

==> Use the ebooks as bonuses to give to your customers and profit like mad on the back end.

And we have barely scratched the surface!

You really have to see this unique system to believe it:

Free Viral Marketing Tool Signup Now

Sign up now to gain instant (and FREE) access to the Viral Ebook Explosion member’s area and start making your own profitable viral branded ebooks in seconds…

Free Viral Marketing Tool Signup Now

P.S. We would suggest you head over there right now so you don’t miss out because these available spots are going fast.

Free Viral Marketing Tool Signup Now

Enjoy These Other Viral Marketing Posts On the Net:

• Viral Marketing 101 - Not Using It Could Kill Your Business!
• The Power of Viral Marketing
• Viral Marketing
• Viral Marketing Techniques

Not that long ago, Scott and I signed up for the famous Entrecard. This is a spot where you can freely advertise your blog assuming you have the credits earned on hand to advertise.

It’s a simple process really, and if you look at our right hand column, at the top you’ll see our Entrecard widget.

These cards you are seeing are other people’s blogs. They surfed through Entrecard and/or visited us after we had visited them. If they decide our blog is worthwhile, they choose the Advertise option. If not, normally an Entrecard visitor will drop their card so when we log into our account we can easily see how many visitors we’ve had.

Conversely, you can use this same information to visit their blog, and drop your card or choose to advertise on their blog.

It’s a lot like handing out business cards without any expense except the time it takes for you to put the widget on your blog and surf around inside the Entrecard website looking for appropriate places to visit, drop and/or advertise in turn.

We’ve been using our Entrecard for much less than a month, and while there are many more stats in your own account, here are some that ours is current showing as of this morning:

127 credits in your account:
Scott and I can use these to advertise on other people’s blogs as we find them

7 credits to advertise on your blog
What it will cost if someone wants their card to display here on our blog (again right hand column). We put our Entrecard widget in a prominent position, not everyone does so you might consider that as you’re surfing for spots to advertise your blog on.

Additional stats are there, but here are three more that are of interest to anyone looking for a great way to advertise their blog for free:

Our stats also show:

24 clicks from your blog to others
90 clicks from entrecard.com to you

As well as:

12 ads bought from you

Here are a few excerpts from the Entrecard Help webpage:

“Entrecard is the first and only free exchange network for 125×125 ads. Through this revolutionary platform, you can advertise your own 125×125 Entrecard on any blog in the network, for free, for a number of days.

You pay for this advertising with Entrecard Credits, that you earn for free by networking (a.k.a. visiting blogs and dropping your card for other bloggers).”

Do keep in mind that dropping your card and choosing to advertise on a blog are two different things. You’ll get traffic from your drop directly from the other person’s inside account within Entrecard. People like to check out whose been visiting them, and it’s easy to do.

You must build up credits to advertise, which displays your image on their blog.

Make your imagine attractive! Remember this is something that will show up on other people’s websites. If it’s so-so, they may not approve you. Also keep in mind that as you get people wanting to advertise with you, it’s important to log in and visit these pages first.

Here’s what we created to display on other people’s blogs”

When you log in, you’ll see two columns of cards to the right. The one nearest the middle of your screen are those blogmasters waiting for your to approve their card placement on your site. The farthest column of cards to the right are the one’s you have approved and they queue up to display over the course of time. Typical run times are 24 hours per card.

One more thing to remember is to log into Entrecard before you start crusing the internet. This way if you find another Entrecard member, you can easily DROP your card. If you arrive at someone’s blog and see an X that just means you are not logged in, and Entrecard doesn’t know that you exist (basically) without your being logged onto their system.

The process is very straightforward, and their help button and access to guidance is readily available.

We believe you will find this kind of real human traffic very useful as you build your blog - or even if you have an established one and just want more real traffic.

* * * * * COMING TOMORROW * * * * * *

The program we mentioned yesterday we will be telling you all about on Monday. The Entrecard is just too good to miss though, and we suggest you go join now

PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENTS - we do link back!

This was Part 5 in a series HubPages has been sending us, and shows why we go on at such great lengths about how truly wonderful Hubpages is for online marketers of any business.

Testimonials and Advice From Current HubPages Users:

“Just to give you an idea, I’ve been with HubPages 4 ½ months, and I make an average of $10 a day from AdSense, plus a couple hundred every month from Ebay/Amazon… It’s been increasing steadily over the time I’ve been here, and I expect that to continue as I get more content up and published!”
- Maddie Ruud - One of Maddie’s Hubs: The Truth About Wu-Yi Tea

“Now I’m making a few hundred dollars per month for the things I enjoy doing. I know more people here are making thousands of dollars per month.”
- len7288 - One of len7288’s Hubs: Health Benefits of Cabbage

“If, like most people, you are on HubPages to share information and make a few dollars, be patient; you won’t find success overnight. Keep writing quality and original content and the money will follow. It took me three months before I got my first click on Google; I now receive a check every month.”
- jimmythejock - One of jimmythejock’s Hubs: World War 1 Trench Warfare

If you need some help publishing your first Hub, read through their step-by-step guide here:

Download the HubPages Starting Out Guide
(PDF file)

A step-by-step guide you can follow or print out that will show you:

- How to start your first Hub
- How to add pictures, videos, links, and more
- How to attract more readers to your Hubs
- How to set up your Google, eBay and Amazon accounts so you can make money

Ready to begin? Click on this link to begin publishing and earning!
Start Your First Hub

If you’d like some guidance and assistance from helpful members of the HubPages community, feel free to ask for help or participate in a discussion in our Forums

And just to prove that we are using HubPages, here are our current hubs that you’ll also find referenced throughout this blog. Note that we write about different things, not always internet marketing and we will be branching out even more as time goes by. Also please do feel free to rate the, you’ll find the thumbs up/down at the bottom of each article as they end (just before the comments start):

Wipe Out Stress With Stress Management

YouTube Video Sites In A Box Software Review

Weighing In With Weight Management Resources

Social Bookmarketing A Useless Tool or Clever Marketing Strategy

Keyword Research How Scrabble Is A Prime Example Of Getting It Right

Stress Management Meditation Technique

Qassia Even Without the U Is A Great New Social Media

Taking Your Online Business Local

Building Credibility On The Road To Success

You’ll note that our profile is not as high as those shown above in their testimonials, but we hover between where we are now, and 91. Hopefully growing as we continue to publish.

* * * * * STAY TUNED TOMORROW * * * * * *

We’ll be bringing you another amazing free way to socialize and make your website popular (screen shots included when possible).

Today while cruising through another favorite haunt of ours, Entrecard, I came across “Blog Tips Blogging Brainiac Series” and Mark’s post of March 11, 2008. Mark details how in one day he personally pulled in $100. Yes, and the title of this post is true… Mark is just 13 years old.

how-the-13-year-old-made-100-at-the-dp-forums

I don’t want to say, “What the heck…” but I guess I just did. Our goal here at Online Internet Marketing Strategies is to bring you up-to-date ways to make money online. Strategies for successfully navigating both the internet marketing and social media marketing arenas.

Then, every now and then, Scott and I sit back and wonder if anyone reads, picks up the ball, and runs with it?

Yet here’s a 13 year old most likely running circles around a good many online marketers.

What has Mark got that other’s are missing? Here’s just a few guesses:

1. A dream
2. A mission statement of sorts
3. A detailed how-to succeed plan
4. Short, medium, and long-term goals
5. The where-with-all to go the long haul.

If you read his post, you’ll notice he was busy a good percentage of the day. Maybe not out there digging ditches, but working all the same. It’s evident that he has put into place strategic ways to pull income in - and he has not put all his eggs into one basket (as we see too many “grown ups” do).

Multiple ways to produce income.

Another point to watch as you read is Mark did not go into hock to start making money. He didn’t overcharge his credit card, mortgage his house, or bring himself to the brink of bankruptcy.

What he does do is get up every morning and work his businesses.

Too often, with so many programs out there shouting this, adults actually believe the ludicrous claims like “no calling, no selling, no …” you fill in the blank.

Do you really believe that after forking over X amount of dollars you can just sit back and do nothing…??

Let’s all take a page out of Mark’s book and learn a valuable lesson. Have a plan, develop your strategy, and get to work.

===================================
Be sure to read our special bonus offer you
will not get anywhere else.
===================================

Dear Blog Visitor,

We’ve been reading a lot about the Web 2.0 in generallately, including it’s history and all of it’s uses…

There is VAST potential out there we are not using yet!

For instance, there is a very famous Marketer by thename of Seth Godin who pretty much pioneered Web 2.0, and he went on to found Squidoo.

One of the fundamental thoughts driving Web 2.0 is a quote of his; “Everyone is an Expert.”

It basically means that if someone is talking about the subject of what you ate for lunch today, YOU are the expert in that field.

Keywords out there are dedicated to you, 24/7/365. You’re the go-to person on several such subjects that could be searched in google for at any time!

(Scary, huh?)

We realize that it may be hard to think of this simple mindset for being responsible for all of Web 2.0, including the many big sites like YouTube, Squidoo, MySpace, Facebook, and Digg, but that is exactly what drives them and allows them to be profitable.

We already had a system in place to spread the biggest news’ out there. It’s called the Press and their AP newswire.

Web 2.0 makes YOU the new press and it is in fact cutting into a HUGE chunk of the profession’s profits…

Nearly half of America, for instance, reads Digg.com daily, so therefore isn’t turning on the Channel 4 news as much!

(TV Advertising rates have been dropping ever since Web 2.0 was created!)

So what does this mean for you? What impact should this have on your day?

Well, if YOU are the new press, why aren’t you being PAID to submit your news each time you use digg, squidoo, or any other web 2.0 website?

Think about it… A huge central focus of where we get our news is changing rapidly, but the new business model is to NOT PAY the new Reporters!

Well, you know SOMEONE is getting paid…

Luke Parker figured this out earlier than most of us and created a system that allows you to get paid for using Web 2.0… And paid well.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Believe it or not, he’s got a list as long as your arm of different places you can go to submit your news every day for cash!

That’s right, you can get PAID to report about your weird toenail clippings now… And in fact you really should have been paid for it all along, according to Luke!

He goes one step further and shows a way not just to get paid for the random gossip we mostly see out there, but to compound your income by thinking smarter…

For instance, if you have a business online you’d like to advertise, then he suggests you use these resources to get paid to promote that business!

Press for your business is another kind of news, and Luke makes tons of cash every day doing just that! We’ve been watching his Surefire Success System since it was just a ‘Version 1.0,’ and it was pretty impressive stuff already… But starting tomorrow at 11am EST, it’s graduating to full 2.0 status…

He’s added all kinds of tools and beefed up his strategy even more, so we really are looking forward to learning all about it ourselves!

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Luke’s exciting free film on his site right now before he takes it down and puts up the new offer page:

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

This really eye-opening film shows exactly how to become TRUE winner in Google and Yahoo using web 2.0.

It’s really excellent stuff that will open up your mind to all kinds of new possibilities. You don’t even have to opt-in to watch it, simply head over to that page to start watching:

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

And remember, the doors open for that at 11am EST tomorrow, so be sure to check out his offer then!

All the best,

Diane/Scott

P.S. READ THIS SPECIAL OFFER YOU WON’T GET ANYWHERE
ELSE!

==================================

OUR AMAZING BONUS OFFER TO YOU:

$175 of free advertising done for you! Includes:

o Google indexing and backlinking of your best article or blog post within 48 hours from time of submission

o Safelist emailing to up to 2800 lists created for you

o 6 Line Ezine Ad submitted to over 30 publications using your material or we’ll create it for you (subscription required)

Many will offer you “stuff” but few if any will offer you direct hands-on marketing and advertising to get your web 2.0 off to a resounding bang!

All you need do is make sure to CLEAR YOUR COOKIES.

THEN follow our link to the website. When you join, send us a copy of your purchase receipt. We’ll double check to make sure you joined through us and contact you to get your information for this free offer! We must see you in our affiliate office to correctly credit your signup. So be sure to clear your cookies first! It’s that easy.

Post a comment if you need cookie-clearing directions

===============================

Tomorrow opens the doors on a new program designed to get you all the vital information you’ll need to successfully negotiate the social media market.

Never ones to advocate spamming anything, picking up the proper tools to do things right is a critical component to branching out into the social communities.

This post is short, and just serves as a reminder to all. If you signed up for our notice, great!

If you didn’t, why not head over to

I-Marketing-Strategies

Notification is free. Of course, never any obligation to join. But, it certainly never hurts to be in at the start of something… big!

It’s late, but I don’t want you to think that’s what has me slightly grumpy, it’s not. What got me was a short piece written in the Webpronews.

Writer David Utter, in his featured article Beware Social Networking Ad Buzz does another one of his quick looks (without much fact) and provides a sweeping opinion (without declaring it is opinion) on whether or not social media sites like Facebook and Myspace are really designed to help online businesses grow. He (continues) to insist that these sites are filled with college-types not much interested in anything business related. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him say this very same thing… and it drives me nuts. Every time I read his absolute-sounding statements I wonder what he’s basing these statements on? Statistical fact or personal opinion? Because statistically he’s wrong.

I’m not about to disclose my age but suffice to say college has been several years in my past, yet I frequent social media hot spots and I’m aware of numerous individuals my age and older doing the same.

Social media communities are filled with all kinds of people, of all ages. A trip around any of them, checking profiles and seeing who’s who, can show you that much. Facebook even provides demographics for heavens sake…!

After reading his article, it became apparent to me that the person most “in the know” was the first commenter to his article, Lyn Mettler. Lyn wrote:

“I personally think that the way to go online is not to pay to have a presence but to actively get involved, such as by setting up a page for your business on MySpace or Facebook and using that as a tool to reach out to your target audience.

I’ve never been convinced that paid advertising online fares much better than paid advertising in traditional media. It’s much better (more credible and authentic) to get a story about your business published in the newspaper than to pay for an ad, and similarly it’s better to have a page on MySpace than to pay for placement there (excluding pay per click).

One other point, these social networks are definitely not just for the 20-something, college-age crowd. All age groups are getting on in huge numbers. A couple stats I found:

More than 50 percent of all MySpace users are now over the age of 35, according to comScore Media Metrix.

Between May 2006 and May 2007 the number of unique users on Facebook over the age of 35 grew 98% to 10,412. — comScore Media Metrix”

Hats off to Lyn for stating so clearly the reason for any internet marketer to venture into the social media arena. “To actively get involved” is the key phrase there. Clearly social websites are not the place to go barging in and spamming the living daylights out of all and sundry. Common sense, a sense of community and fair play, and above all an understanding of these communities can and will take any online entrepreneur far.

Seems like David needs a wake up call - and a research partner. Give it a rest David

(I did weigh in, couldn’t leave Lyn just hanging there alone lol)

Sometimes internet marketing needs to take a backseat so we stay informed about the health and welfare of ourselves and our planet. Yahoo! News posted this health-related, must read bit of information today written by Jeff Donn, Martha Mendoza, and Justin Pritchard, writers for the Associated Press (written on Monday, March 10, 2008).

AP probe finds drugs in drinking ater

“Hot topic news” as far as we are concerned, and yes straying from our normal social media marketing and/or internet marketing strategies, but definitely worth 10 minutes of your time to consider the health implications for you and your family.