First let’s take a look at Jumptags:

What is Jumptags and Why Should You Be Using It?

(more…)

Currently BlogCatalog is without a doubt our favorite place to hang out, make new friends, and post our most interesting posts. The people hanging on BlogCatalog go above and beyond to reach out, friend you, and then actually participate with you.

Many of these types of services appear to have a “clicky” mentality, you get a visit but no real interaction; isn’t that the point of socializing?

To further enhance BlogCatalog’s likeability, the setup is easy as can be. You do need to know some basics, but they are put in a simple to follow, logical arrangement. Once you are logging in, and if you stay logged in, moving around is a breeze.

We’ll go over some of the fine points here, and then below you’ll see a few links - a How To Setup BlogCatalog YouTube via (with great voice over!) as well as a link out to MattNutts blog (which we advise using Firefox if your IE gets a bit wiggy on you).

So here’s our pointers for making the most of BlogCatalog which are extremely easy:

1. Sign yourself up
2. Validate your email
3. Log in
4. Choose Edit Profile
5. Create a widgit for your blog
6. Start looking around discussions, communities, etc.
7. Up on the right, join stuff as you see them

It really is that simple; no where near the complexity of something like say Facebook or Myspace!

The great thing is your page will also come with some current event stuff going on - so use your right side panel to get off to a good start. To friend someone is also easy (though they call it a “Add to My Friends” right up there under your logged in information).

Frankly, this community is so great that the whole thing just naturally gathers its own steam. There is absolutely no arm twisting and begging here, people are just nice, friendly, helpful, and informed. You can gather a wealth of new information just be taking the time to visit your friends pages, and the pages of their friends. Take the time to interact. Use the My Shoutbox and leave a few words as you visit, watch your inbox and click out to broadcasts and new notices you receive.

A few final words/requests before you watch the video or go read the How To BlogCatalog posts below:

1. Use a real inbox for BlogCatalog you’ll want to get these notices

2. Please leave your feedback here so we know what’s on your mind, what you thought of this post, and any questions or suggestions you have. Even a simple Hello works for us.

3. Right below this article you’ll see some “Be Social Please Tag Us” buttons. Hover over the icons and please do submit our work to these online systems. We’d sure appreciate your efforts!

Okay, here is the video that’s worth the few minutes if you’re a visual person and need assistance with BlogCatalog, along with another How To BlogCatalog advice article. Thanks for reading! Comment, Rate, Enjoy!

And for additional reference (though again my personal experience is Firefox as is loads the page best):

Complete Guide to Use and Help for BlogCatalog

If you missed our mailing yesterday, then you won’t want to miss reading this post. Qassia is an up and coming social community that awards you with backlinks in exchange for your “wiki-like” writeups.

Read about Qassia social community here

[NOTE: Qassia does send you a "validate yourself" type email to create your account. Be sure to give a real inbox or you will have wasted your time. Validate and return to the site to continue setting up. Your DASHBOARD gives you access to all the different aspects of how to setup your Qassia and what's what on how to write.]

After signing up, you’ll want to do a few things before you start posting. Always, in any community, fill out your profile and upload a picture or your avatar. This particular social media community is not that indepth (nothing at all like Facebook or Myspace), but letting others know who you are and what you do is always critical. Make your information fun and informative, they like that

Then you use the “Add Intel” links to begin adding your tidbits to their wiki-type setup. You need to have a bit of backbone when publishing since 10 other people will read what you’ve written and “grade your work.” We note that not everyone plays fair, and while some questionable entries get okay marks, other pieces of information that would be of use to all don’t always get the proper marks. We think the members of Qassia just don’t “get it” yet, but hopefully do over time.

The great thing is reading is subjective. So don’t be disappointed (or even elated) about your marks. That’s not the point

Gaining valuable backlinks in the search engines for your tags and “reports” is the point. Quassia promises great things in the search engines, so why not be a part of it.

As with all new programs or websites, we are suspending judgment until it’s been around long enough to receive some sort of grade itself. However, if they stay on track with their goals, why not be in at the start of something new that has the potential to really boost your website, blog, etc., into the search engines.

Qassia, after joining or even if you don’t join, please take the time to tell us about your experience here on this blog.

Never pass up the chance to branding yourself!

Enjoy!

UPDATE: Our own Qassia url is already in Google! We only started yesterday…! Now to see if and/or how long before our tagged stuff appears.

A recent post on the Nichebot Keyword Research blog makes the assumption that too many people rely strictly on keyword research to begin figuring out what niche they would like to develop to make money online.

We agree with the overall presentation that one should not use keywords as the starting point to building an online business. Instead, your keyword research is conducted to further enhance search-ability for that particular segment or niche after you’ve determined your market. While keyword research is a mainstay for developing tags, metas, titles, and content on your website, as stated, it is a tool used to uncover what people are searching for.

On the other hand, to reveal what people are buying online, you need to use “market research” tools. The article goes on to give you some solid starting points which include:

To Uncover Hot Selling Products

Head to eBay and click on their BUY tab. You’ll know in a flash what people are purchasing. The “Popular Products” is another link resource to ferret out even more information.

Amazon is, of course, another place to go to see who’s buying what. The idea, keep in mind, is you are trying to figure out what niche you could likely corner based on what people are physically buying.

Where to Find Popular Digital Products

A good solid source for information about popular digital products is Clickbank’s Marketplace. You’ll be able to set specific criteria and pull up what’s popular based on criteria you set.

In fact, Clickbank suggests the following:

“How do I identify the most successful products to promote?”

“Some affiliates prefer to promote very popular products that attract lots of affiliates (high affiliate gravity), while others prefer to promote products with less advertising exposure (lower affiliate gravity). The Marketplace can be sorted, within each category and sub-category, by item gravity. Either way, your best bet is to promote products that are well presented and likely to appeal to the people who visit your website, or view your advertisements.”

Competition

The final section of their post discusses the dreaded word “competition!” Many people fear competition and so never make a choice of what to plunge into online. If you read the article, you will discover that:

“There is NO reason to feel that way. In fact, you should get excited when there is a lot of competition. Here’s why…

“If there is no competition whatsoever in a marketplace, there may be no marketplace (or people to market to) at all. You should actually be worried if you don’t find any competitors for a market you wish to enter.

“The more competition there is in a marketplace, the more commerce is being moved. The more commerce that is being moved, you’ll have a chance at grabbing a bigger piece of the pie.”

We give this informational article a thumbs up for clarifying a business builder’s first steps, and again we have only presented an outline of the full post.

You can read it for yourself here:

“Market Research (or finding a profitable niche market) has Nothing to do with Keyword Research”

Enjoy!

Today’s post on social bookmarking can be found over at our favorite content sharing website, Hubpages.

Social Bookmarking: A Useless Tool or Clever Marketing Strategy?

After reading it, and we sincerely hope you will, please take a moment and share your thoughts, comments, input at both spots - hubpages and here below in our comment section.

Quick Reminder: One of the greatest benefits to social sharing sites like hubpages and our blog is your ability to voice your thoughts - and give yourself a nice link back to your own website

Knowledge, sharing, and marketing all in one fell swoop… it doesn’t get much better than that!

And as a P.S. of note, we’ve run across numerous excellent resources we’ll be sharing with you throughout the coming week(s). It’s amazing what you discover when you begin your journey around the (best) social communities on the net! In fact, we don’t even know where to begin having found “standalone” topics that do - in the long run - interrelate. Don’t worry though, we’ll figure it out

Again, we hope you enjoy our newest hub, please let us know (by voting and sharing on the hub itself and back here, too, everything counts as a marketing link for yourself!)

Today, surprisingly (or not so), in my inbox was a question from one of our brand new clients. While this individual was interested in getting involved in various internet marketing strategy “pieces,” it was evident on a visit to the website itself (and view sourcing the code), that starting at the beginning was where he needs to be - title tag inappropriate, no metas, etc. After replying in detail and giving him specific directions to begin, I headed out to the internet to chase down a video someone had asked me to take a look at.

To make a long story short (because the video had nothing to do with marketing strategies [or did it??]), somehow I ended up at eMediaWire. Which lead to a press release, which lead to this free pdf you can get right here, without all the rigmarole… Funny how things work sometimes…

So… here’s my take on this free internet marketing strategy resource:

Online Equalizer appears to be one of those “pieces of gold” in pdf format. It is written in such a way that everyone, novice to pro, will benefit from the information it contains.

One hundred and sixty six pages (which I have only skimmed for the moment but will be returning to after this post because several things have already caught my eye) bears all the hallmarks of being one of those “keeper” downloads you infrequently stumble upon.

Brandon Cornett begins his presentation with:

and that’s just the first 40 pages!

I’m not going to spoil this and tell you the end of the movie (so to speak), but on page 42 there’s an interesting way of looking at your writing and search engines. It actually goes against the grain of what many tell you and has to do with article writing. But again I won’t spoil it for you

Actually while typing I’m skimming through this free pdf, and am confident that while some of you reading may feel you are beyond this point, never, ever look a gift horse in the mouth. Since it is free, and you can

DOWNLOAD IT RIGHT NOW

see what areas you may be personally missing - or check it out for ways to glamorize what you currently have… you just never know when that “oh!” moment will arrive - this pdf could be one of those moments.

Again, I’m heading back into reading. Should, for some strange reason, I change my mind about Online Equalizer, I will be sure to let you know. But from what I’m seeing, and because of those we interact with daily, I truly believe you’ll find immense value inside. Hey, and remember, it’s FREE lol!

P.S. When you’re done, would you please remember to come back and leave your comments and input on this material? We would love to hear what you think!