(Seo web design) Using Social Networking Sites to Drive Traffic to Your Site

September 15th, 2008 admin Posted in internet |

By Shelley Lowery

Social networking sites seem to be the biggest thing on the Internet right now, and there are no signs that this will change anytime in the near - or far - future. The fact is that social networking sites, such as MySpace, FaceBook, and others, have given people the opportunity to express themselves, meet new people, and communicate effectively, and nobody is going to give that up.

Social networking on the Internet may seem like a new concept to most people - but it really isn’t. The first social network appeared on the Internet as far back as 1995, with Classmates. Classmates offers people the opportunity to reconnect with old classmates from High School and College, and is still in operation today - and doing quite well.

From there, social networking advanced with the onslaught of Internet dating sites. However, these days, it has advanced to the point where social networking sites often do not have a specific ‘theme.’ MySpace, which is by far the most popular social networking site in existence, is an example of this. No matter what your interests are, there is room for you on MySpace.

Social Networking Features

Social networking sites often have common elements. Some have more features than others. In all cases, you are able to create your profile. Sites, such as MySpace, actually allow you to fully customize your profile page, so that it is very unique, using layouts that are available all over the Internet. You can also create your own layout.

Other features include messengers, email systems, blogging features, friend’s lists, and comments sections. Some social networking sites will allow you to send individual emails to other site members, or to send broadcast emails out to all of the people on your network or friend’s list.

Most social networking sites will allow anyone to join, and are typically free to join. However, there are some that require a fee for membership, such as Ryze, and some that require an invitation from another member, such as Pownce.

Connect with Other Like-Minded People

Many people view social networking sites as ’something to do.’ However, they are much more than that. Social networking sites allow members to express and develop identities, to build relationships, to garner trust among their peers, and much more. The social networking sites simply provide the means - it is the members who create the content of the site, making these social networking sites user content driven.

Internet Marketers, large corporations, and even television shows make use of social networking sites. For example, many popular reality television shows have profiles on the more popular social networking sites.

This encourages public participation. They use the concept that ‘everyone wants to feel like they are a part of something’ and it is successful - because social networking sites allow everyone to be a part of something, regardless of who they are, where they are located, their sex, religion, beliefs, careers, backgrounds, or any other consideration that exists. Everyone who has access to a computer with an Internet connection has a ‘voice’ and they can use it with ease thanks to social networking sites.

Some of the best known social networking sites include: MySpace, Facebook, hi5, Xanga, linkedin, reunion, friendster, bebo, tagged, and classmates.

Signing up is usually very easy, and only requires you to submit your name, your location, a screen name, a password, and of course a valid email address.

Today, it is estimated that there are more than 200 social networking sites in existence. You can get a more complete list of social networking sites, as well as the ‘theme’ or group of people that each site caters to and the number of members through Wikipedia. Vist the Wikipedia site and search for social networking websites.

Marking Via Social Networking Sites

The popularity of social networking sites stems from the Search Engines. The Search Engines love these sites, as they always contain fresh content. What’s more, if you look at the Alexa rankings for some of these sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, etc., you will find that they are amoung the most popular sites on the Internet.

Although you can’t advertise on these sites, you can create a profile and include a link to your web site. This will provide a great way to not only increase your ranking in the Search Engines, but also drive traffic to your web site.

Social Networking Sites also provide you with a great way to spread your content all over the Internet. For example, you can share your articles, news, and post comments.

The key to using these sites successfully is to create a complete profile that contains a link to your site and an RSS feed. Add fresh content on a regular basis to drive a continuous stream of traffic to your web site.

Shelley Lowery is the owner and developer of http://www.web-source.net - Your Guide to Professional Web Site Design and Development. Learn how to design and develop a web site with 100’s of articles, tutorials, tools, & codes, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript and more.

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Using Social Bookmarking Sites to Drive Traffic to Your Site
By Shelley Lowery

If you’re looking for new ways to drive traffic to your web site, using social bookmarking sites may be your answer.

Social bookmarking is a system or network where members of the network are able to list or bookmark web sites that they like for various reasons. The members list is accessible by other members of the network. In addition, lists of sites can be created ‘on the fly’ by typing in keywords, known as tags in the world of social bookmarking. They may also find lists of sites based on categories, topics, or even random selections.

Many things can be bookmarked and accessed through social bookmarking, including web pages, feeds, videos, audios, shopping, maps, and more. The possibilities are virtually limitless.

Social bookmarking is a new term to many, but it has actually been around since 1996, when itlist was launched. Three years later, there was Backflip, followed by Blink, and it has just grown from there. Today, the most popular and well-known social bookmarking sites are delicious, simpy, and furl. Other popular social bookmarking sites include: Blinklist, Caboodle, Ma.gnolia, Dig, Stumbleupon, Netvouz, and Diigo.

Today, there are even services that will allow you to send a bookmark to multiple social bookmarking sites at one time. One such service is Onlywire. To use this service, you must first sign up and then sign up for a membership at all of the social bookmarking sites that the service utilizes.

Once this is done, you can put a small icon on the toolbar of your favorite web browser. When you find a web site that you would like to bookmark, you simply click the icon, and the service takes care of the rest. You will, of course, be able to ‘tag’ the bookmark with appropriate keywords before it is sent to the various social bookmarking sites.

You may wonder why you would want to do this. The reasons are as varied as the number of people on the planet. But the two main reasons are for social awareness and for business purposes. Some people who are passionate about a specific topic will use social bookmarks when they find important sites to make those sites more accessible to the general online public.

Those who own web sites use social bookmarking to get more traffic to their sites. Each time they add new content, they send another bookmark for that specific page. This results in ‘fast traffic’ for many, depending on the popularity of the topic.

Because social bookmarking is so popular, and used by so many, the services that are offered through the social bookmarking sites has been extended to include the ability to rate sites and to review them, or to leave comments regarding them. It is also possible to import lists that are generated through the social bookmarking sites into your own personal bookmarks. Some sites allow users to add notes, email links, to subscribe to feeds, and to even be notified via email when new bookmarks are added for specified categories or keywords.

These advances have made social bookmarking extremely powerful - not only for those who utilize the technology to find web sites, but also for those who want to get their web sites noticed by others. Whether you have your own web site or not, you will indeed find that social bookmarking is extremely useful - regardless of what your purposes may be.

The best site social bookmarking site for Internet marketers is Squidoo.

Unlike other sites, Squidoo will allow you to market your products and/or services. Squidoo will enable you to create an informative page on just about any subject you’d like. This page is known as a lens. You can create as many lenses as you’d like. However, the key to using this technique effectively is to provide your readers with helpful, informative information that will assist them in some way. You can then give them recommendations and provide them with links to your site.

When you set up your lens, you will need to set it up like you would a web page on your web site. For example, make sure you include your most relevant keyword phrase, also known as a long tail keyword, within your lens title and within the URL for better Search Engine ranking.

You will also need to make sure you ‘tag’ your lens with your long tail keywords, and other relevant keywords, when you set up your lens.

To ensure you get the most out of your lens, make sure you update it with fresh content at least a few times a week. In addition, place an RSS feed within the page, as this will provide some additional changing content.

To increase your traffic, create similar lenses and then link them all together. This will enable you to share your lens traffic and increase traffic to the links you’re promoting.

Even if you’re not interested in the whole bookmarking concept, it would be wise to learn to use social bookmarking sites. There is always the possibility that they could one day replace Search Engines, which have become extremely commercialized according to many opinions. While business owners do use social bookmarking, at this time, they are not able to purchase a higher listing, as they can in the Search Engines.

Social bookmarking sites provide a great way to not only build your credibility, but also to drive traffic to your site and increase your sales. Add this strategy to your promotions. It will be well worth your time and effort.

Communicating with your Web Designer
By Mercedes Aspland

If you are in the process of getting a website and have gone through all the steps to select the perfect web designer to create your site you need to make sure they know what you want. This is often easier said than done and it is important to remember that unless you are completely clear your web designer may get it wrong which could result in frustration from both sides.

Whether you have a clear idea about the layout of your site or are not that bothered it is vitally important to give your web designer guidance. Many web designers will furnish you with a brief that will ask all the questions that they need answering in order to prepare initial designs for you. However if this is the case remember to give as much information as possible to ensure that everything you want is included at the beginning. The more you go back and make changes the greater the chance the cost will go up.

If you are not given a brief there are a number of things that you can supply the designer with to ensure you get the website you want. Below is a list of our top points of things to include:

1.If you have a logo, make your designer aware and supply them with a copy to incorporate in their design.

2.If you already have company colours or know what colours you want to have, tell your designer so they know what colours to use on your website.

3.Tell your web designer what your target audience is and what you want your website to say about your company.

4.Provide your web designer with at least one example of a website that you like and explain to them what you like about it. It might be necessary to supply more than one, as you may like one for the colours and design aspect and another for the layout. Be as specific as you can so your web designer is clear what you like.

5.If there are any websites that you dont like or things that you dont like appearing on websites, give your web designer examples and explain the reasons.

Going into this much detail might make you feel like you are being picky, but remember you have hired a professional web designer and they will appreciate the information you are supplying. This will make life much easier in the long run as their objective is to make their client happy and if they know what you want it is much easier to achieve this. For example, in the past, some clients have said that they really dont mind what they get and have given no clear instructions. The designer as a result has done what they think would be good only for the client to come back and say, “I dont like that colour” or simply “I dont like it”. The web designer will then have to go back to the drawing board but without knowing what the client does like may again do something the client does not like, after all we are all different and all like different things. This is not only frustrating for both parties but also wastes a significant amount of time.

Remember to check what revisions are allowed in designs as your web designer will give you a quote for your website and this will include a certain number of changes. However changes over and above this may be charged for and you should be aware of this, particularly at the design phase, because if there are numerous revisions it is likely you will be charged for it. This leads us back to our advice above, give as much information before work begins and you are less likely to be disappointed and will keep the price at the original quote.

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