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Help For people Who Are Being Denied Benefits

2013-04-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

This is an email I received that may help the sick and disabled and those on benefits.

Benefits and Work (campaign@benefitsandwork.co.uk)

20% OFF ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FOR CLAIMANTS AND FOR PROFESSIONALS
- ENDS MIDNIGHT THURSDAY
If you’re not already a member, join the Benefits and Work community (open access) before midnight on Thursday and you can get 20% off the cost of your annual subscription. Just type the following code into the coupon box when you pay:
68452
Claimants and carers get an annual subscription for £15.56, down from £19.45.
Professionals get an annual subscription for £77.60, down from £97.00. Professionals can pay online or email a completed licence agreement within the deadline, quoting the coupon code in their email.
SUBSCRIBE NOW
Dear gary,
In this edition’s ESA News we have the stirring tale of a claimant with ME who sued Atos for the distress, pain and fatigue he suffered at his ESA medical . . . and won. We also have news of an ‘alternative’ work capability assessment to be piloted next year.
Moving on to PIP News, we have the entirely unsurprising announcement that the DWP are refusing to let Capita give claimants a recording of their PIP medical, even though Capita want to do so. We also tell you precisely what GPs will have to do to earn their £33 a time payments for completing PIP factual report forms.
On to Bedroom Tax News, we have a cheery video of protestors visiting Iain Duncan smith’s mansion and picnicking on his lawn. Plus we have a copy of a jaw droppingly illegal council tax letter being sent out by one local authority and a useful toolkit for claimants wanting to challenge a bedroom tax decision.
Finally, in General Benefits News, there’s increasing evidence that the DWP are trying to keep the option of short-term loans secret, preferring to force claimants to go to their local food bank instead, plus the ongoing saga of Tory ministers misusing statistics to whip up hatred against sick and disabled claimants.
PIP HAS ARRIVED . . . DON’T MISS OUT ON OUR JUNE/JULY TRAINING DATES
"Very useful and I have learned a lot." Laura Skorupa, British Polio Fellowship.
"Very useful day." Carol Woodman, Assert (Mental Health Advocacy)
"Very helpful and well presented." Karin Gray, Scope.
"Very useful information." Alison Heavey, Huntington's Disease Association.
More about PIP training in London, Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol and universal credit training in Bristol here.
ESA NEWS
Disabled claimant David Johnson sued Atos after being forced to walk to an inaccessible medical assessment centre, even though he had told Atos about his access needs on his ESA50 form. The ordeal left him in pain and very fatigued for weeks afterwards. . Although Atos tried to wriggle out of liability by claiming they were not covered by the Equality Act when carrying out ESA medicals, they eventually caved in and paid Johnson £2,000 prior to any hearing taking place. Johnson, who was assisted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission now wants others to follow his example in using the Equality Act to take action against Atos.
Members can read the full story and comment here.
In other ESA news, the DWP will be piloting an alternative work capability assessment (WCA) in the spring of next year. Work and pensions minister Mark Hoban told MPs that the new test has been designed and approved by two groups of charities and is intended to assess mental health and fluctuating conditions more fairly than the current WCA.
You can read the minister’s statement here.
We’ll keep members informed as more information emerges.
PIP NEWS
The DWP are refusing to let Capita give claimants a recording of their personal independence payment (PIP) medical, even though Capita want to do so at no cost to the taxpayer, a minister has revealed.
The DWP and Atos seem desperate to prevent widespread recording of medicals, for reasons that will be apparent to many people who have been through a work capability assessment.
Perhaps it is time for claimants to follow the example of David Johnson above and make use of the Equality Act to argue that recording their PIP medical for personal use – in the way you might otherwise make handwritten notes – is a reasonable adjustment for claimants with memory or concentration impairments and for those who have a physical difficulty with writing.
More details on recording PIP medicals here. (open access)
Staying with PIP, as an increasing number of GPs around the country adopt a blanket policy of refusing to write letters in connection with benefits appeals (external site), the DWP has revealed that it is paying £33 a throw to GPs for completing a medical evidence form in connection with PIP.

You can read all the questions on the new PIP factual report form for GPs here (open access).

And, as the coalition continues its drive to simplify the benefits system, we now have two different appeal forms for benefits purposes. The standard GL24 appeal form is still in place for most benefits, but for PIP there is a different appeal form and a different appeal system.
Claimants wishing to appeal a PIP decision must first undergo the mandatory reconsideration process, which does not have a time limit, before putting in an appeal direct to the Tribunals Service, for which there is a very strict time limit.
You can download a copy of the SSCS1 appeal form (external link) from the Justice website. We will be publishing a detailed guide to PIP appeals in the near future.
Finally, you can keep up with news of the challenges to PIP and the bedroom tax (below) launched by the excellent We Are Spartacus by visiting their Bedroom Tax (external link) and PIP pages (external link).
BEDROOM TAX NEWS
If you want to see how ministers in the ‘we’re all in it together’ coalition really live, then there’s several excellent videos of a bedroom tax protest visit (external link) to the mansion of Iain Duncan Smith by Disabled People against Cuts and UKUncut
And if you want to see just how incompetent or completely dishonest local authorities can be, then the letter sent out by Cornwall Council (external link)to victims of the bedroom tax should do the trick.
The letter claims that:
‘The amount of bedrooms in the property is decided by your landlord and you will need to contact them in regards to this matter’.
In fact, whilst the landlord tells the local authority how many bedrooms it considers the property has, the final decision has to be the local authorities, not the landlord’s.
Even more astonishingly, the letter actually tells claimants that:
“The decision made by the Council on your benefit is a non appealable decision.”
This is what is technically known as a ‘Big Fat Lie’ – bedroom tax decisions are appealable in the normal way.
We would strongly recommend that anyone affected by the bedroom tax visit the SPeye website (external link) which exposed this letter and also get a copy of Govan Law Centre’s Bedroom Tax Appeal Toolkit (external link)
You need to register with the site to get a copy, but if you’re considering an appeal it’s definitely worth it.
GENERAL BENEFITS NEWS
There is growing evidence that the DWP are trying to prevent people from requesting a short-term benefit advance (STBA) to help them avoid damage to their health or safety – such as going without food, heating or lighting. The STBA has replaced crisis loans for people who are, for example, waiting for a decision about their benefit claim.
However, according to the Guardian (externl link) Jobcentre Plus staff are sending people to their local food banks rather than telling them of the option of applying for an STBA.
The situation is so bad that England's eight biggest city councils have sent a joint letter to the Department of Work and Pensions asking why jobcentres are not issuing the loans.
You can find out more about STBAs from the Turn To Us website.
The Guardian has also published an expose of the continuing dishonest misuse of official statistics by government ministers to whip up hatred against sick and disabled claimants.
Conservative party chairman, Grant Shapps, claimed that 878,000 people on ESA dropped their claims rather than face being assessed. In fact, DWP research shows that the vast majority of these people dropped their claims because they got better or went back to work whether or not they had got better.
Meanwhile, IDS told the Daily Mail that in relation to DLA claims in the PIP pilot areas:
"We've seen a rise [in claims] in the run-up to PIP. And you know why? They know PIP has a health check. They want to get in early, get ahead of it. It's a case of 'get your claim in early'.''
In fact, if you remove the children and pensioners, who won’t be affected by PIP, from the statistics the number of claims by working age people- who will be affected by PIP - in the pilot area has actually gone down.
But it seems clear that Tory ministers are not going to let the truth get in the way of vilifying claimants at every possible opportunity.
Members can read more about this story and comment here.
MORE NEWS IN MEMBERS AREA
There’s more news in the members area, including:
Judicial review bid will ‘shine a light on PIP injustice’
Remploy: Union disputes job figures
Survey ‘will help build vital picture of rights’
Atos looks second best to Capita as PIP assessments loom
GOOD NEWS FROM THE FORUM – OPEN ACCESS LINKS
We know how much feedback from other members means to people who get this newsletter, so please do keep your good luck stories coming.
Support group prior to appeal
“Thank you for all the information the site provides in this respect I really don't know where we would be without your invaluable advice.”
ESA appeal success
“A big thanks to b and w and all the team. Won my appeal today.”
Support group without medical
“Massive thank you to this website which i will recommend to everyone needing help with these benefits.”
WRAG on appeal
“Back payments?? Did not realise I could get back payments!! A big thank you to your site and your help”
Support group following medical
“May I take this opportunity to thank all at the Benefits at Work site”
IB to ESA support group without medical
“THANKS for all your good work!”
DLA awarded
“The B&W guides and the advice on how to answer certain questions were invaluable.”
Support group for 3 years without medical
“thank you all for the great guides which helped me immensely”
ESA support group without medical
“Thanks to the advice and help on this forum.”
Support group on renewal . . . probably
“I would firstly like to thank everyone for the wonderful guide, insites and support from this website. Don't know what I would have done without them.”
Support group without medical – but wrong gender
“Firstly, thank you so much for the guides you provide and also this forum, which have been very helpful and supportive for me”
Higher rate care and mobility indefinitely on renewal
“Thank you for the help.”
Returned to support group on appeal
“Many thanks to B&W for all the guides and information - it really was useful.”
Subscribe now (open access) and discover what a difference we can make.
You can also read this newsletter and comment online (open access).
Good luck,
Steve Donnison
Benefits and Work Publishing Ltd
Company registration No. 5962666

The Top Rated Social Bookmarking Websites

2012-09-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

Below are the top thirty social books marking websites. These have been ranked by a combination of Inbound Links, Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, and U.S. traffic data from Compete and Quantcast. There are no exact measures of traffic but these numbers no less give us some idea about the market share of each these socialbookmarking players.

The single biggest social bookmarking website on the internet is Digg.

www.digg.com

Digg is followed by Technorati www.technorati.com

Next in line is del.icio.us – one of the senior players on the social

bookmarking scene

http://delicious.com/.com

The fourth largest social bookmarking site is Propeller. www.propeller.com

Then we have StumbleUpon – rounding up the top five social bookmarking

sites around.

www.stumbleupon.com

Reddit. You can check it out at www.reddit.com

Next up is the most hilarious social bookmarking site you will find and it’s

called Fark. If you are into pop culture, you need to make it to

www.fark.com

MyBlogLog – which obviously specializes in blogs. www.mybloglog.com

Slashdot is aimed at the techie population. Its tag line goes like this ‘for

nerds, things that matter’.

www.slashdot.org

10.

Kaboodle completes the top ten of the biggest social bookmarking

websites around. This is aimed at those looking to buy things on the

internet – shopping! You can share notes about products and stores at

www.kaboodle.com

11.

Bloglines tracks blogs, news and feeds. It is still quite a busy site in terms

of traffic www.bloglines.com

12.

Newsvine encourages users to post the latest news items from around the

world at

www.newsvine.com. It becomes a one stop shop for all kinds of news.

13. Blinklist is a very simple and easy to use social bookmarking website. It

sticks to the basics of creating and sharing bookmarks.

www.blinklist.com

14.

Netvouz allows users to have their own personalized bookmark page. Like

Blinklist, it is also quite simple.

www.netvouz.com

15.

Clip the highlights with Clipmarks. It shows the most popular and recent

‘clippings’ from the web by submitters.

www.clipmarks.com

16.

Then we have Furl at number sixteen, which claims to be ‘your personal

web file’ It allows the same features of bookmarking, tagging and sharing.

http://www.furl.net/

17.

Mister Wong lets you do your social bookmarking in several languages, so

you can make use of resources that may or may not originally be in your

language.

www.mister-wong.com

18.

dzone. This is aimed specifically at web developers www.dzone.com

19.

Magnolia. This simply lets you find websites and build a community with

users who have the same interests.

http://www.ma.gnolia.com/

20.

Rounding up the top twenty social marking sites we have Tailrank. Tailrank

tracks the hottest news in the blogosphere at

http://www.tailrank.com/

21.

Shoutwire has several topical categories. www.shoutwire.com

22.

Simpy is a very simplified social bookmarking website. www.simpy.com

23. BlogMarks promises users a hassle free way to save their bookmarks and

share them too.

www.blogmarks.com

24. Faves – which used to be known as BlueDot.us. Faves builds personalized
pages for its users based on preferences and interests. http://faves.com

25.Spurl lets you upload bookmarks from your computer on to the social

bookmarking website.

www.spurl.net

26. Spotplex contains social bookmarks in multiple languages.

www.spotplex.com

27. Linkswarm is a humorously written social bookmarking tool but with all the

same features.

www.linkswarm.com

28. Spotback also involves collaborative filtering. www.spotback.com

29. PlugIm. www.plugim.com

30. Rounding up the top thirty list on the best social bookmarking websites is
appropriately called MyBookMarks. www.mybookmarks.com

Using Fark To Create Traffic

2012-09-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

Fark

www.fark.com

Fark.com does not obviously seem to be a social bookmarking website. It is a humorous look at pop culture and the news, and is widely read by
people as an entertainment site. However, it is one of the most powerful social bookmarking sites around, and has the power to drive massive amounts of traffic to any website.

Fark is, in essence, a community based website.

Its creator Drew Curtis designed it so that it allows users to comment on a batch of
articles and news items that are updated daily. A seven day archive is also available for comment. Links to the articles or news items are submitted by registered Fark members which are then approved (green lit) or disapproved by the site administrators. Whether the links are approved or not, they can still have comment threads around them. Moderators monitor the discussion boards and any content that violates posting guidelines is removed.

Another variation of Fark is Totalfark. This is a premium version of Fark and requires a $5 monthly fee, whereas Fark is totally free. The advantage of Totalfark is that members have an online community and can take part in active and energizing discussions. They can comment on all posted links, not just the green lit ones.

In fact, the links submitted by this sub-community are not really meant for being
green lit and are displayed on Fark but reserved for comment and discussion by Totalfarkers. However, they may be green lit if they are particularly interesting, funny or embarrassing. This is particularly useful for you if you are looking at Fark from a social bookmarking perspective. If your blog is about any of the categories which Fark discusses, you can promote it heavily by posting links and inviting comment.

However, you must be careful. Your link must be good quality because the average Farker is intelligent and discerning.Furthermore, the administrators will soon work out if you are spamming. As mentioned before, there is no substitute for good content to drive traffic to your website, but once you build up credibility for your site, you can be assured that people will visit your website or blog for their daily fix.

Using Fark: Making It Work For You

You sign up for a free account on Fark and create a profile for yourself which is visible to other users. You can upload a picture and write a short bio about yourself, and you should do so, because this is important when trying to build up a community of like minded people to direct to your website. The Fark categories include Not News, Sports, Business, Geek, Showbiz, Politics, Videos and Voting. So, all of the news and infotainment articles that you could ever hope to read are listed here. Fark
describes itself as a new aggregator website and an edited social networking website, which receives about 1800 to 2000 links each day from users.

As suggested earlier, if your aim when using social bookmarking is to get people to visit your blog or website, then you should understand that each day, out of the 2000 odd submissions that Fark receives, only about fifty make it to the main page. So there is a high chance that your submission will not make it.

However, the kind of interaction you are seeking can be found on Totalfark. Furthermore, all the submissions that feature on Totalfark are archived in their entirety and not just limited to a seven day archive. Totalfark also allows for greater interaction and connectivity.

Users can, for example, add other users as ‘favorites’. You can highlight posts made
by your friends in any color you like and of course they can do the same for you.
Every time someone ‘favorites’ you, it creates a link back to your website. Not only can you ‘favorite’ your friends, but you can also do the same for your favorite posts and links as well.
Fark also has a voting feature where users vote on a particular humorous idea and whether it works or not. This is a great way to get people on your site, that is, if your link makes it to the voting section.

One of the most unusual distinguishing features of Fark is the tags given to the stories by the submitters themselves. They are displayed right next to a cleverly funny headline and carry a link to the actual story, as well as to the forum that is discussing the story. Next to the article you will find a number in parentheses. This
indicates the number of comments that have been made about the story, and the
more comments a story gets, the more likely people are to visit it.

Use Stumble Upon To Create Traffic

2012-08-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

Stumble Upon

www.stumbleupon.com

StumbleUpon is just a little different from the other social bookmarking websites (actually they are all just a little bit different from each other).

It works as a browser plugin to let you ‘stumble upon’ and rate websites, articles, blogs, photos, videos etc. A person using StumbleUpon is known as a ‘stumbler’, and when you come across an interesting web find you just click the Stumble! Button on your tool bar and add it to your StumbleUpon favorites. All the functions that you would normally use in social bookmarking are made available on your browser with StumbleUpon.

StumbleUpon is a great way to discover exciting new content on the web in a relatively random fashion, as well as sharing your finds with your friends. When you click the button on your browser, StumbleUpon generates web page matches according to your preferences. The pages displayed are those that have been
recommended by your friends or other users of Stumble that have interests similar you.

Using StumbleUpon: Making It Work for You

To use StumbleUpon all you need to do is to sign up for a free account and then download the free browser plug in. Once this is installed and activated, then StumbleUpon chooses which new website will be displayed depending on the ratings you assigned to previous pages, or on ratings of websites by your friends
and the sometimes perhaps even based upon the ratings of other users on StumbleUpon who have the same interests as you. So, if people in your network give your website thumbs up, more and more people are likely to visit it.

The content on StumbleUpon is based on a rating system that allows users to givethumbs up or thumbs down to a website, so it is an entirely recommendation based system that makes extensive use of socialnetworking principles. It also has a one click blogging system, and users can rate a blog with a thumbs up or thumbs down decision.

What StumbleUpon actually uses is called collaborative filtering. This is an automated process that makes active use of the opinions of the people using the system. It also takes into account the personal preferences that come about from machine learning. This creates a virtual community of people who are connected to each other, and over time this community should become ever more closely linked
because of the new linkages being added every day.

The website updates each user’s personal profile, which is a blog style record of the
sites that that particular user has rated. Then, StumbleUpon generates peer group networks of users that are connected by similar interests, and it is these social networks that organize the distribution of the content on StumbleUpon.

What happens is that users of StumbleUpon only the get to view the pages that have
been recommended by their friends or those who have similar interests.
Instead of just giving a site a thumbs up or down, you also have the option of leaving
comments on the website, and this will also appear in the user’s profile/blog. This
way of discovering content on the web is becoming surprisingly close to automating
the word of mouth marketing function.

Stumblers have the chance to rate and review the blogs created by their peers, and,
as a Stumbler, you could also join certain interest groups as well to further increase
the interactivity of your account. These are community forums created to discuss
specific topics wherein users post comments in such a way that it becomes more like a discussion board.

StumbleUpon claims to have a certain edge over conventional search methods, and some of these could be crucial to increasing your website’s visibility and directing traffic towards it. Using search engines often means that we have to carefully sift through pages and
pages of seemingly relevant content, but often these results are nothing more than somewhat irrelevant keyword matches which may be far from what you are looking for.

Using StumbleUpon, however, you can be sure that if the content on your website is good, then people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say will see you. Members have also come to trust content on StumbleUpon, since members are taken directly to matches that are sorted according to interests and preferences.
They are more likely to visit your site if it is visible on StumbleUpon. Like most other social bookmarking sites, StumbleUpon uses technology that is essentially driven by humans. By using a combination of machine learning and human opinions to yield search results, StumbleUpon delivers content that is highly relevant and appropriate, so that the user gets a high quality website every time they
search for something and they come to trust this pattern. This means that when your
website shows up on StumbleUpon, it will almost automatically have greater credibility.

StumbleUpon is quite easy to use too, so it could work for you, even if you are just
learning the ropes of social bookmarking. Also, if your target audience is not exceptionally good at understanding the workings of the internet and social bookmarking, StumbleUpon is a good place to start. Users can add your website to
their favorites with a simple click and they also have the opportunity to pass your link on to others in their online community. They can also give feedback or make comments. This creates an inevitable network of visitors to your website.

StumbleUpon lists nearly five hundred topics that users can choose to list as their
interests and preferences. This allows you to get your website known in different circles and communities of users. The internet just keeps getting bigger and more complex each day. Information is also constantly changing. StumbleUpon has a dynamic approach keeping fully abreast of all of the freshest sites, blogs and articles on the internet. It filters tons of
information on the website to bring content to its visitors. So if you have created a
new website, you can promote it and invite feedback and comments on it by using StumbleUpon.

Furthermore, the more active you are on StumbleUpon, the more visibility you will
gain, because StumbleUpon compiles a list of its most active users, and this gives extra exposure to those who are very active and helpful. It also shows you people on
StumbleUpon who are geographically close to you.

How To Use Delicious To Get Free Traffic

2012-08-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

www.delicious.com Just like any other social bookmarking site, del.icio.us is a collection of people’s favorites. These favorites are yours and those of many others like you. Whenever you find an interesting article, blog, music, recipe, review or just
about anything else, then you can simply save it to del.icio.us. This makes your favorites accessible from anywhere, not just your computer.

Furthermore, you can share these favorites with the people around you, whether they are family, friends or coworkers, and you can even build your very own
community of like minded individuals on del.icio.us. Del.icio.us also opens up the window to the best content on the web, so that you don’t have to sift through the thousands of search engine results. Everything on del.icio.us is someone’s favorite,
and this already acts as a content filter so you know that you are only getting the best resources and most appropriate website shown to you. Users can, as always,browse the numerous tags to search for what they want.

Using del.icio.us: Making It Work For You

Del.icio.us is basically a social bookmarking website that enables you to save your bookmarks online. You can use it to your advantage to get maximum exposure for your website or blog. It gives you access to the links that other people have tagged as favorites and this provides you with an insight into what kind of content people are looking for and how to position your website in relation to this content. You can
assign one word descriptors to your posts; that is, tags. Tagging allows greater flexibility – since you can give a post multiple tags and increase your chances of
being viewed.

The following are some of the major reasons why people visit del.icio.us and my suggestions for harnessing the power of its extremely large visitor base to increase traffic to your website:
• Many people searching social bookmarking websites are looking for information or doing research. If your website is information based, then use the site to pick up tips on what kind of information people need most, so that you can post accordingly. Stay active in the ‘tags’ that directly or indirectly relate to your own website. Only when you post comments actively will people comment on your posts, thereby creating a network of back links and opening up new business avenues.

• Many people now do a considerable part of their buying and selling on the internet. For example, people commonly choose presents on the internet and
have them delivered. They even have their own wish list posted on the net and share it with others. This can be a gold mine if your online business is
product sales based. Trawl the wish list tags to get an idea of what people are buying. If you find a wish list that’s looking for what you are selling, drop them

a message and tell them you can help. If the user finds you and your service helpful, they are likely to recommend your product to others as well. This
could open up a treasure trove of visitors and buyers on your website.

• Many of us listen to pod casts – whether it is news, music, reviews or entertainment. There is a considerable market for pod casts. If you are in the
business of developing pod casts, make sure you check out the mp3 and podcast tags on del.icio.us to see what people are listening to now.

• The internet is also fast becoming a popular travel resources center. People are buying bus, rail and air tickets online. They are choosing destinations and
hotels online. And when it comes to traveling, word of mouth is a great marketing tool. People are likely to trust information from people who have been to the place, used the same airline etc. If your online business is travel related, it would be a good idea to get yourself acquainted with the travel and
other related tags. Become an active member, help people organize the travel and get the benefit of guiding traffic to your travel based website at the same time
.
• Creating a link log can also help you immensely and is quite simple to do. Make sure you comment on other users’ blogs as well and they will comment
on yours, thus creating a network of links that point back to your website.

• You can also use del.icio.us as a tremendous networking tool and also for pooling resources and completing projects that need collaborative work.
Groups of people can use a shared account. They can use special tags for their own work and share relevant bookmarks that will be useful to the entire
group. You can, in fact, basically organize your tags and resources in anyway that you want.

How To Use Technorati

2012-08-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

www.technorati.com The word technorati is a combination of the words technology
and literati. The mainstay of technorati is blogs. Technorati is basically concerned with the world ‘live’ web, as opposed to the World Wide Web. The world ‘live’ web is that part of the World Wide Web which is constantly being updated and is interactive.

Technorati searches for and organizes independent, user generated content, whether it is blogs, videos or pictures. This kind of ‘personal’ media is also sometimes referred to as citizen media.
Before examining the workings of technorati, let’s take a look at blogs as they are the basis of technorati. A weblog or blog (as it is commonly known) is a kind of daily diary or journal but it is online. Blogs are a very powerful tool of communication.
They may be very personal and not actually trying to achieve an audience at all,whilst on the other hand, they could be vying for mass viewing. In any case, blogs are quite influential. They reflect a wide variety of opinions and topics, and they are as varied as the millions who write them and read them. Millions also respond to these blogs and are influenced by them.

Within the blogging community, bloggers connect to other bloggers on a regular basis. This means that they are engaged in an interaction that is almost like an open conversation. This is where technorati comes to fore.

Technorati tracks blogs and the conversations around them, and it rapidly indexes these links. The world live web is buzzing with activity that many are entirely
unaware of.For example, every day over 175,000 new blogs are created. These blogs are updated regularly as well. There are 18 blog updates per second – which means that there are 1.6 million posts being made every day. This could be a gold mine of potential visitors to your website.

Using Technorati: Making It Work For You

Technorati’s mainstay is the blogs that people create.
You can sign up for a free account and start posting your blog pages to Technorati straight away. You can also create a user profile for yourself, so that others can get to know you and your interests and help you to network better. The site also includes news, and is broken down into these two main categories – news and blogs. There are topical categories as well, and these include business, entertainment, lifestyle,
sports, technology and photos. Each topical category has blogs and news items related to it.

As a member, you can ‘favorite’ the blog or posting of a fellow user. You could even‘ favorite’ the user. This means that you are giving them a ‘thumbs up’ for all of the posts made by that user. Imagine how many link backs it can create to your website if people favorite your profile or even your posts in the same way.

Technorati also makes a distinction between the most ‘favorited’ blogs and the top commented-on blogs. So this brings a greater number of blogs to people’s attention.If, for example, the aim of your blog is to spread information, it may not garner too many comments but it may be a favorite of many users. On the other hand, blogs that are more opinionated and interactive will invite much more commenting.

The ‘popular’ page on the website displays the top five blogs, the ones that have been voted as ‘favorite’ by the most people, and it also provides a link to the top one hundred favorite blogs. It also shows the number of people who have voted the particular blog as favorite. The ‘popular’ page also lists the top five blogs that have the most comments made about them and provides a link to the top one hundred most commented on blogs. This page shows the number of comments made about a post as well.

Top Social Bookmarking Sites To Try

2012-08-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

Digg

www.digg.com is a popular website that involves elements of social bookmarking and blogging. It places an emphasis on science and technology but has recently expanded to included categories such as politics and entertainment. The latest stories and websites are submitted by registered users and editorial control is democratic. This means that news stories and web site links are submitted by users
and they are only moved to the front page of Digg based upon a user-controlled ranking system.

This is how it works. Users can view all the stories or link that their fellow users submit. If a story gets enough ‘diggs’ it gets promoted to the front page of the Digg website. If it doesn’t get enough ‘diggs’ it remains in the ‘digg all’ area, where it will eventually be removed. A post may also be removed if enough users report a problem with the link.

All the content on the Digg website is free.
Originally Digg carried fifteen categories in which to submit stories. These were deals, gaming, link, mods, robots, security, technology, design, Apple, Linux, music, hardware, movies, programming, software and science. However, Digg was recently revamped and the previous categories have now been worked into the six new categories, which are: technology, science, world & business, sports, entertainment and gaming – with each category having subcategories.

On Digg, users can discover web content from just about anywhere. Whether it’s the biggest names on the web or the most obscure blog from the other side of the world, you will find it on Digg.
There are no editors on Digg. The editing is done by all the users together. The users together determine the value of the content that is available. All the content is user driven – from the blog posts to the pod casts. Once you submit your post, it is instantly visible to all Digg users. If your submission is a good one and it gets enough Diggs, it gets promoted to the front page of the website.

There it is available for viewing by millions of users around the world. Since Digg is all about sharing and making discoveries, users can also build conversations around the content that is posted. Digg provides users with tools to comment on and

discuss topics they are passionate about. When you go through Digg, you will quickly realize the benefit of working through the lens of other users who have the
same interests as you, simply because it acts as a content filter. This ensures that you only get the most interesting, relevant and unique information.

Using Digg: Making it Work For You Simply sign up for a Digg account at digg.com and take off from there.
Whenever you want to submit an article, video or pod cast, just post it for people to see and it will show up immediately in the section called ‘Upcoming Stories’. Here, other Digg members can see it and ‘digg’ it if they like it. A ‘digg’ is a vote for your post that recommends it to other users. If your submission
receives enough diggs, then it gets promoted to the front page of Digg.com. The next step up the ladder of popularity is to make it to the Top 10 list on the
homepage.

The more people who digg your post, then even more people are likely to click on it. If it’s good for them, it’s good for the next user as well. On the other hand, if a
submission is no good and does not receive enough diggs it will remain in the Upcoming Stories’ section and stays there until it gets deleted. So you have to be at the top of your game to make sure that your post does not get deleted. To do this, you must stay active on the website.

You must take part in the collaborative editing process that Digg is essentially based upon. You should digg posts that you like because it means that other users will also digg your posts and create better visibility for your post. You can also share your digging history with your friends. You should make an effort to ‘bury’ any bad links, that is, links that have irrelevant
information or duplicate entries. This keeps the spam out and ensures that users get only relevant information. This helps you gain credibility and in turn build an invaluable network.

You can invite your friends or make new ones on Digg. This lets you view what others are digging and help you find mutually beneficial resources.

You can even share a link with friends who are not on Digg by emailing it to them. Most importantly you must share your opinions and make them heard on Digg. This is only way that you gain credibility for yourself and create more link-backs to your website, thereby generating more traffic.

How to Make Social Bookmarking Work For You

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Here are some methods that you can employ to get the most benefit from social bookmarking. Many of them focus on how to organize your information so that your website shows up in more and more search results:

• When you create a blog post, make sure that the keyword phrase is as close to the beginning of the post as is possible. When you bookmark the post, use
the title of the post and tag the keyword as well. This is great for search engine results. In fact, doing this is often termed search engine ‘bait’!

• Stay active on the social bookmarking website and bookmark every post. As mentioned before, social bookmarks are bait for the search engines, and this
is an opportunity that is not to be wasted.

• Social bookmarking leads to more people reading your articles, posts etc, and over time this will create additional credibility for you. It can also lead to
repeat traffic, referrals, sales, newsletter sign ups, comments on your blogs, emails from readers etc. In order to make the most of the social bookmarking
website, you need to have all these functions working for you.

• Interaction is your biggest and most potent weapon in social bookmarking.
Links back to websites rely on being bookmarked and getting read. With advancing technology, you can add video, audio, RSS feeds etc to get more and more interaction on your website and eventual links back to your website.

• The content on your website must be good. There is no substitute for good quality content when it comes to generating traffic. You must ensure that you
get quality links as well, because the links that you receive on your website must be from reliable sources and have to do be relevant to your content.

• Related to the point made earlier about having good content is the fact that search engine spiders are always crawling good websites. Increasingly, social
bookmarking websites are becoming a favorite of search engines. This is because there is a human element to social bookmarking. People are actively
involved in organizing and tagging their favorites. This is a strong indication that the web page is extremely relevant to the search, much more so than a
simple keyword search.

• When using social bookmarking you should work towards improving your search ranking. Get as many people – ideally those with similar interests – to bookmark your web site. The best way to encourage people to come back to your website is to provide great content and make it easy for people to
bookmark your website.

Using Social Bookmarking For Your Website or Weblog

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With the millions of blogs and websites competing for the time and attention of internet users, social bookmarking can be a huge help in getting your website or blog noticed. Social bookmarking has proved to be one of the top techniques to promote your website and guide traffic towards it, and the beauty is that it is actually quite simple to do.

The first thing on your checklist should be visiting a few of the top social bookmarking websites, such as

Digg, del.ic.ious, and Furl. If you are really clueless

about social bookmarking websites, then do a simple search engine search and you will get a ton of results. Sign up for a free account at the social bookmarking websiteof your choice, and when you do so, you will get to select a ‘button’ that you can add

to the end of each of your blog posts. What this does is enables users to bookmark your blog or website easily.

For example, if a visitor likes your website and is a member of the social bookmarking service ‘Digg’, he/she can click on your button and this will lead them to the Digg website where they will have to log in. After that, your blog post, article or website will appear as a bookmarked URL. This also gives the visitor the ability to post a comment on your post and this can prove to be very beneficial to your website in terms of traffic.

The more people that click on the social bookmarking link for your website, the more links you will have on the website pointing back to you website. This should increase the traffic on your website when people logging on to Digg are looking for posts relevant to them and find your site bookmarked. Also, as more and more people visit your website they may also social bookmark it themselves, either on the same social bookmarking network or on other sites, both of which will lead to even more bookmarks leading back to you.

However, just registering yourself with a social bookmarking service does not mean that your job is done. You shouldn’t simply stop after pasting a button under your blog posts and expect everyone to remember to click. You must become an active

member of these social bookmarking sites.

What is meant by ‘active’ is that you must actively visit the social bookmarking site in question and find topics that relate to you or your online business. This allows you to bookmark, post and add comments of your own.

Believe it or not, this really does increase the traffic on your website. If you bookmark some one’s website, it is likely that they will also bookmark your site, and there should soon be a network of links pointing back to your site.

The Basics of social bookmarking

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What is it?

No doubt, everything you have read so far has given you some indication of what social bookmarking sites are and what they do. Let’s try to break it down into even simpler terms. Social bookmarking is the practice whereby you can save your bookmarks to a public website and tag them according to content, type etc.

In order to create your own collection of social bookmarks or be able to view others’,you must register with the social bookmarking website in question first. The site will allow you to store bookmarks, make tags, decide upon which of your tags should be made public and which should be kept private. Some social bookmarking will do periodic checks on the bookmarks to make sure that the links still work, and as suggested, those visiting social bookmark websites can perform searches by

keywords, popularity or person.

Who does it?

Social bookmarking is useful for just about any one who uses the internet avidly and loves information. Social bookmarking is particularly appropriate and useful for pooling resources from research from around the world.

How does it work?

Social bookmarking is a new way of organizing information and categorizing resources, making everything easier to access in the process. The person creating the bookmark must assign a tag or a group of tags to each link or resource. This creates a user directed and defined classification of information. Social bookmarking services show who created particular bookmarks and also give access to other bookmarks created by the same person. Users can therefore make social connections with other users interested in the same topic by following these tags. As a user you can also see how many people have used a particular tag and search amongst all the resources with the same tag. Over time, users of a particular community site tend to develop a unique set of key words to describe their resources. This is known as ‘folksonomy’.

Why is it important?

Social bookmarking gives users a unique opportunity to express their own personal take on information and resources, as well as on the organization of these
resources. The process of social bookmarking allows people of similar interests and tastes to locate each other and create a sort of online cyber-community.

It follows that using folksonomy as a tool for research allows you to benefit from the insights and research of other users, and this helps you find information relevant to what you are looking for, as well as topics that are not directly related (such as those

that show up in key word searches). For example if your search is based on cars, you may also notice that other users found some connection between cars and car repair services, and this could prove to be a valuable connection and resource for you, either personally or on a business level. Furthermore, the collections of these folksonomies keep changing and are therefore generally up to date. Social bookmarking also allows users to rank tags and this acts as a collaborative filter of sorts and enables you to find your most relevant results.
Where is it headed?

Social bookmarking is not a technological marvel, and indeed the technology behind it is quite simple. The basic idea on which social bookmarking is built, that is tagging, is now spreading into other applications as well such as email and multimedia files.

As the net gradually moves away from ‘formal’ taxonomies and terminology, it will change the way that online communities come together and interact. The horizon of resources available on the internet is changing, new ways of classifying information

are constantly emerging and much of it is user directed and controlled. Keeping this in mind, it is more than likely that in the future, the organization and function of databases may change as well.
Why use it?

The most obvious advantage of using social bookmarks is accessibility. You can access your favorite websites from any computer and even from your mobile phone! You could argue that if you wanted to access any kind of information, you could

simply enter key words into any search ‘engine’ and gets thousands or even millions
of results, but that is exactly the problem.

No matter how fast or how many results a search engine may yield, it is still selected by a computer. In essence, computer software is trying to determine the meaning of your search. On the other hand, bookmarks are the result of discerning, deliberate

human action. Furthermore, such bookmarks within a social bookmarking service are usually focused upon a certain topic or attract a certain kind of user.

For example, if you and I share an interest in celebrity gossip, then you are likely to benefit from my bookmarks list much more so than running a search in one of the major search engines.

Besides that, you will also have a certain ‘word of mouth’ recommendation about the site. You don’t have to waste time figuring out which is a good website to catch up on the latest Hollywood gossip – you would simply log on to the social bookmarking

website and choose from recommendations by fellow gossip-holics.

Perhaps this is the most important advantage of social bookmarking. It has the ability to incorporate human intelligence. Furthermore, a community of like minded people can help you sort between good and bad content. This is something that search engines try to figure out by way of algorithms but is difficult to achieve.

Social Bookmarking Tips 2

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Internet Bookmarking

In the same way that you insert your bookmark on the last read page; or into an interesting article or passage you come across – you can also bookmark your favorite websites. Internet bookmarks are the web page locations or URLs that are retrievable.

Bookmarks are a feature of all internet web browsers. The bookmarking function allows you to save an internet address that you have visited. They are saved by name, rather than by address. This makes it easier for you to recognize and access it later.

The web links that you save are known as ‘Favorites’ in Internet Explorer. The bookmark option is usually found in the top browser menu. However,along with the bookmarking methods that are a built in feature of your favorite web browser, there are also many external applications that help you save, catalogue

and access your web bookmarks.

Social Bookmarking

Following on from and building on simple browser based internet bookmarks, we come to shared bookmarks. These are a means for bringing together internet users who share similar interests. Using social bookmarking, such users can pool their resources on the web, and this is what social bookmarking is all about at its most basic level. The bookmarks are not stored on a particular computer but they are instead created and stored on a remote web server. They are effectively stored on an external website that can be accessed anywhere.

Social bookmarking websites are also a kind of social network. It is a means by which users can search, share, organize and store web pages that have
bookmarked by themselves or other people. It simply refers to the various web based applications that allow you to store a record of your web bookmarks online, rather than saving them in ‘favorites’ on your computer at home or in the office.

Therefore, these bookmarks are usually public although this will vary between the different social bookmarking services available. Some may allow bookmarks to be saved privately only, that is they are shared only with certain people in groups or

networks of your choosing, etc.

Users who enjoy access to a particular social bookmarking site can view the bookmarks chronologically, by categories (tags), through a search engine or just randomly. Tags are most commonly used on social bookmarking websites.

At a slightly higher level, for the purpose of sorting and filtering the many bookmarks on a social bookmarking website, they are grouped under broad categories. These categories are what are most commonly termed tags. They may be words of

phrases which can help you find the same link later and also provide a list of similar websites with the same ‘tag’.

Tags are nearly the same as keywords, yet they are slightly different. When keywords for a web page are created, you are trying to match the words or phrases to the information you are looking for, and of course you hope that this will yield the results you need.

However, suppose when you enter the words ‘celebrity gossip’. You will gets thousands of unrelated websites that simply contain the words ‘celebrity gossip’ somewhere in their content. Tags are categories not key words.

They are labeling a certain ‘type’ of website, not searching the website content for the keywords – which may actually yield many useless results.

Many of the social bookmarking services actively encourage you to organize your bookmarks by way of tags instead of folders as in browsers. Bookmarks are
categorized according to tags and include information about how many people have tagged that bookmark.

Similarly, most of the leading social bookmarking websites create web feeds for their database of bookmarks which enables users to be instantly aware of the latest bookmarks that may be of interest to them as they are saved, shared and tagged by

users.

Social bookmarking services have grown increasingly popular. Many websites have added features like rating and comments regarding the bookmarks, emailing bookmarks, etc.

Free Traffic From Bookmarking Part 1

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The World Wide Web has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. Each day with every hour and every minute – it is growing even bigger and increasingly complex.

Anything and everything that you imagined is just a click away. Many of us can no longer imagine a life without it. Indeed, already thousands of people already make their living from the World Wide Web.

With the growth and spread of the internet,specialized techniques aimed at developing businesses on the web have also developed.

Despite all of the technological development, however, the basis of the global economy is still the same – buying and selling.

For the producers to advertise and to
make their wares available they need to market it.

Consumers also need a place where they can exchange their money for the goods and services they need.

In the modern world, the primary marketplace is increasingly becoming the internet. ‘Internet marketing’ is the crux of all Internetbased businesses and is increasingly important for other businesses as well.

There are few businesses of decent size that do not have a presence on the internet.

However, the dynamics of marketing on the internet is very different from ‘regular’ marketing. Offline, we use things like billboards, the sides of buses, adverts on television and radio, salespeople etc. to market our products.

If you are on the other side of the buying ‘equation’, that is, a consumer, you learn of new products through these marketing tools. More often that not, we do not have a choice about what and when marketing information is available to us.

In most cases we cannot choose to ignore the huge billboard on the road or the side of the bus unless you decide to drive with your eyes closed – but that is not something that is generally encouraged.

You could change the channel when adverts show up on your favorite TV or radio show – but it is more than likely you will hear or see it again. With marketing on the internet, the dynamics are a somewhat different. The internet is vast and intricate. It is an intense web of information that needs some skill to navigate, but if you do so, you can rest assured that your needs will be met.

The internet gives you more choice. You can choose which website to click on or ignore.

This means that the average internet user or anyone looking to do business on the net tends to be a little smarter than someone who does not use the internet for business. To market to a more intelligent set of buyers, the seller also has to elevate his/her game and be a smart marketer.

You need to have an extra edge to make your business or website stand out amongst the millions out there.

It is said that word-of-mouth is the strongest marketing tool. For example, friends starting a new shop, café or blog will most probably tell you to ‘spread the good word.’

We are more likely to believe our friends and peers than a stranger on the television or radio. This is because we know our friends/peers well and we often
share the same concerns, needs and tastes as the people around us.

If something is good enough for them, it is good enough for you.

Word of mouth could be defined as the passing of information verbally, sometimes recommendations, but most commonly it is just general information. It is usually informal.

Word of mouth was traditionally considered to be a person to person, face to face conversational characteristic. However, as modes of communication

changed, phone conversations, text messages, blogs, chats, message boards and emails are also a part of ‘word of mouth’.

Notwithstanding how it works or what channel it goes through, word of mouth is probably the most personalized form of marketing and the strongest.

A related marketing concept is that of the opinion leader. In any social organization there is a ‘leader’, one who is respected and held in esteem by the rest of the group.

This could be for a variety of reasons – age, intellect, intelligence, or access to information. It could also happen in any setting – work, school, home, bar etc.

There may be different opinion leaders according to subject. For example, when talking about the efficiency of washing detergents, the family is more likely to follow the opinion of the mother.

At work, we generally tend to follow the opinion of the boss,simply because he/she knows more, is better qualified or more experienced. At least
in theory, there should be some reason why we respect what the opinion leader has to say and then follow it.

What we need to remember when marketing on the internet is that internet users are a community. Internet users will therefore often have faith and confidence in their fellow net users. If, for example, a fellow blogger recommends an interesting blog to

you, then you are more likely to visit the blog. Social networks are, therefore, becoming more and more important in the internet marketing world.

Networks of like minded people create an easy target market for the marketer. Communications
within this target market grouping about a certain product or website are even more crucial to internet marketing. It is the ‘word of mouth’ of the World Wide Web.

Networks come in various forms on the World Wide Web. They have proved to be popular across all imaginable barriers of age, gender, social class, ethnicity, nationality etc.

A social networking group is defined by the focus on building communities of people who have something in common such as interests, activities, business, educational background, region etc. Some of the popular social networking websites in the English speaking world are Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, whilst in Asia, Friendster remains the most popular social networking website.

Social networking websites allow the users to chat, message, video chat, voice chat,share files and links, write blogs and join discussion boards. These are just the major basic applications that social networking websites allow.

Social networks are therefore likely to become a key resource for all kinds of businesses. For example, they can work for small entrepreneurs and businesses by providing them with a specific contact base. This enables the business in question to

easily locate their desired target market and build their contact base.

Social networking websites have also become key customer relationship management tools for sellers, and, increasingly, companies are using these social networking websites to advertise. More and more businesses are now global entities – and online business and advertising is a great way of reaching millions of people who populate the desired target market.

Besides social networks, social bookmarking is another key element of internet marketing and directing traffic to a particular website. Social bookmarking is also important to individual users on the internet, such as the blogs written by you and

me. It helps you guide more traffic towards your website. It allows your website to be indexed and more likely to be accessed by fellow internet users, because it works in a way similar to the way that word of mouth works. It involves the recommendations of other internet users about a particular website.

There are many kinds by social bookmarking services available - and each one works just a little bit differently or deals with a different type of content. For example, some social bookmarking websites follow blogs, others follow news stories. Let’s take a look at what social bookmarking is and how it works in my next post.

Would You Like 20 Sign Ups To your Offer

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In Many Online or Offline Businesses you have To Recruit or Create Leads ,This got me thinking about easy cheap methods of Recruiting and advertising and after many months of searching I came across this short Full training video.if your looking for innovative strategys please dont Miss Out on this video its an eyeopener for sure.

Using Social Networking Websites to Promote Your Blog

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Promote your blog? Why would you want to do that? Honestly, if you have to ask yourself that question you probably shouldn’t even have one. The whole purpose of a blog is to document your thoughts, views, and opinions on a particular topic, issue, or subject. What good will your blog do if no one reads it. In addition to sharing your thoughts with the rest of the world, did you know that you could also make money from your blog? You can signup for affiliate programs or other programs like Google Adsense. If you are using your blog to make money then you will defiantly want to promote it.

When it comes to promoting blogs, there are many blog owners who decide to let the search engine do the work for them. Search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN use a special technique that reads the content on your website. That content is then used to rank your website with particular keywords. This means that you run a blog on graduating from high school in New York, there is a good chance that your blog will appear in searches done on New York high schools. Although many blogs are successfully ranked in search engines, not all are. That is why you are advised against relying solely on search engines, when it comes to promoting your blog.

As previously mentioned, if you love meeting with or talking to people online, there is a good chance that you belong to a social networking website or community. The individuals that you talk to and that are in your community are likely the individuals that you wish to target. Since most social networking websites work to connect internet users who have the same goals and common interests, there is a good chance that your online friends will enjoy reading your blog. But, before they can read your blog, you have to let them know that it exists.

When it comes to promoting your blog on social networking websites, you have a number of different options. Your first option is to include a link to your blog in your community profile or profile page. This will allow other community members to checkout your blog, only if they wish to do so. The other way is to inform your online friends of your blog through private messages. Once you join a social networking website and create or join a network of friends, you should easily be able to communicate with those friends. Sending each of your friends a private message with information and a link to your blog tends to be more effective than just placing a link in your profile or on your profile page.

As you can easily see, there are a number of different ways that you can go about promoting your blog on online social networking websites. You never known, but, in addition to promoting your blog, you may also make new friends along the way.

Using Social Networking Websites to Promote Your Online Website

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Online social networking websites give internet users an easy and fairly safe way to come together. Many social networking websites are designed to make it easier for you to search for and make contact with other internet users, especially those that you have something in common with.

As previously mentioned, social networking websites can benefit all website owners, but especially those who are looking to make a profit with their websites. This can be done one of two ways, by selling something or by relying on revenue from advertising. If you have a website that selling products or services, you may find it a little bit easier to use social networking sites to your advantage. This is because, if you wish, you could do product or service spotlights. Each day, week, or month, you could showcase one of the products or services that your website sells. This could either be done right on your profile page or on a blog page, which is provided by most social networking websites.

If you are using your online website to make money with advertising programs, such as affiliate programs or Google Adsense, you may need to approach social networking websites in a different matter. Since you will not necessarily have a particular product or service to focus on, you will need to approach these websites as if they were personal websites. If your website discusses being a dog owner, it may be a good idea to state your love for dogs in your profile. After doing so, it would be acceptable and not necessarily considered spam to add a link to your online website.

As with all other types of online websites, social networking websites should help to increase the number of page views your website receives. In most cases, more page views mean more clicks which means money for you.

As you can easily see, there are a number of different ways that you can promote your online website, no matter what type of website you have or what you use it for. By keeping the above mentioned points in mind, you should be able to see an increase in your page views, in no time at all.

What Not to Put in Your Social Network Profile

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It is often advertised that your social networking profile is the key to making and finding friends online.

As previously mentioned, your social networking profile is important when it comes to meeting other internet users. This is because, in most cases, internet users are looking to chat with someone who has the same goals, views, beliefs, and interests as they do. Without a personal profile, it would be difficult or impossible to tell what your interests are. That is why social networking profiles are not only important, but they are needed.

When it comes to social networking profiles, a lot of focus has been placed on what you should include in your profile or display on your profile page. It has been said that pictures produce the best responses, as well as detailed personal information. Although a picture and detailed personal information may help to increase your page views, you may be getting views that you do not necessarily want. Despite what you may believe, most social networking websites do not have restrictions on who can view your personal profile. In fact, internet users, even those that do not belong to your online community, can easily see your profile.

Since anyone, literally anyone, can see your social networking profile, on most social networking websites, you are advised to be cautious. Essentially, this means that instead of focusing on what you should put in your online profile,you should be focusing on what not to put. This is one the best ways to protect your safety, both on and offline.
As previously mentioned, pictures are often recommended with social networking websites. If you are interested in positing a personal picture of yourself in your online profile you can do so, but you are advised to carefully choose that picture. While you will want to look your best, you are advised against posting a picture that is too revealing or seductive in nature. Most internet users can look at these types of pictures without feeling a thing, but for others these types of pictures spell danger.

If you make the decision to post a picture of yourself in your social networking website profile, you need to be careful about the rest of the information that you post. Although you may not necessarily think about it, a picture is just a picture, but combined with your name and address, it could be a deadly combination. You are advised to only post your first name in your profile. This will make it more difficult for anyone to try and contact you off of the internet.

It is also advised that you carefully choose your location. A large number of online social networking sites require that you select a city, as well as a state. If it is allowed, you may only wish to list your state and not the city. If you are required to list the city and the state that you live in, you may want to think about using a nearby city or town, especially if you live in a small town. If an internet predator wanted to contact you and you lived in a small town, it could be fairly easy for them to find you. That is why it is advised that you carefully select the answer to the location question.

In addition to the above precautionary measures, it is advised that you do not post detailed information on your children, the location of your home, your income, or when you will be leaving for vacation. By keeping these and the above mentioned points in mind, you should be able to enjoy online social networking without having to always look behind your back.

Creating Your Social Networking Website Profile

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Social Networking

Once you have made the decision to join a particular social networking website, whether or not it is one of the ones mentioned above, you will need to register with the site. Even free networking communities require that you go through the registration process. Once you are registered, you should be able to start communicating with other community members. Before you start communicating, you may need to develop your online profile or profile page, depending on the networking site. Although it may seem easy enough to create a profile, there are many internet users who are unsure exactly what they should and should not include.

Perhaps, one of the most important things to include in your online website is your picture. While a personal picture is optional, it is ideal. Many internet users enjoy talking to someone that they can see in their minds, without a picture this is difficult. If you are looking to use social networking websites just to meet new friends you may not necessarily need to post a private picture, but you may need to if you are looking to build your credibility. Many individuals will not even view an online profile if a picture is not included.

In addition to your photograph, you may want to include your name. Now, when it comes to your name, you need to be cautious. You are advised against giving your full name, especially if your profile or profile page contains a personal photograph of you. In addition to your name, you may want to put down your location. As with your name it is important to display caution. Your picture, your address, and your full name can be dangerous, especially if it falls into the wrong hands. As much as you would like to fill your social networking profiles with personal information, you are advised to think about your safety before anything else.

You may also want to include information on yourself. This information may include your hobbies, issues that are important to do, your likes, and your dislikes. With many social networking websites, including MySpace, you will find that there are preset profile fields for this information. In addition to preset questions or categories on your likes and dislikes, you may also find additional information, including fun questionnaires. Many social networking websites will ask that you describe your favorite color, your goals in life, your most embarrassing moment, and so on. As with your other personal information, it is important to stay as vague and possible and not use any full names, especially real ones.

By keeping the above mentioned points in mind, you should not only be able to create an online social networking profile that is filled with valuable information, but you can do so while staying safe at the same time. Your safety on the internet is in your hands, that is why it is important to think about safety, as well as internet popularity.

Xanga For Social Domination

2012-06-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

Xanga

Sign Up: http://www.Xanga.com

Xanga launched in 1999, originally offering users with the ability to share music and book reviews, and has since grown to become one of the most popular social networks online.

Xanga offers users with the ability of creating blogs as well as to quickly connect with your target audience through their social networking community features.

Each site created within the community is called a "Xanga Site" where you can post frequent updates, including blog posts, and article content.

You can also choose to make certain posts private, preventing access to the material unless the reader joins your contact list.

Use Linkedin For Social Domination

2012-06-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Linkedin Sign Up: http://www.Linkedin.com

Linked in is a business oriented social community where you can invite people to become part of your connections and well as quickly locate relevant leads and business contacts by importing contacts from your email accounts and external social community lists.

One of the greatest aspects of creating a Linkedin account is in being able to generate organic traffic to your site from the major search engines.

Website links featured on your Linkedin profile page will quickly rank within the search engines and by modifying existing labels and tabs to feature relevant keywords relating to your niche market, you will be able to quickly optimize your Linkedin account and boost your search engine ranking!

Linkedin is also helpful in promoting your blog's RSS feed by connecting your Linkedin account with external blog sites, including Bloglink, Blogger, Live Journal, Movable Type, Vox and Wordpress.com

Twitter To Generate Traffic

2012-06-06T15:48:00.001-07:00

Twitter

Sign Up: http://www.Twitter.com

Twitter took the online business arena by storm when it quickly grew in popularity attracting millions of users who can choose to 'follow' updates from those they are interested in.

Twitter offers a flexible API system that allows third party developers to create Twitter plugins and applications that enhance their accounts overall functionality.

One of these services is found at http://www.SocialOomph.com where you can set up automatic greeting messages that thank those who follow you for becoming a contact, while being able to promote a squeeze page, incentive offer or gift of some kind.

This is a great way to quickly build a list in your niche market, while establishing a relationship with those who choose to follow your updates and public timeline.

With Twitter, you can quickly build a profile that features your website URL and photo, while integrating keywords within your bio field to attract visitors to your page whenever similar keywords are entered in Twitter's built in search engine.

One thing to keep in mind when using Twitter as a marketing channel is that the more interactive you are, the more exposure you'll receive.

Every post you submit through your Twitter account will go out to everyone who follows you. In addition, your posts will be archived within your main profile page so that new followers can browse through previous updates.

Twitter is an incredibly useful tool when conducting niche research or testing the viability of a market.

From newspapers to television stations, Twitter has become an easy way to post instant news and alerts, and as an online entrepreneur, you can utilize this information to determine what your target market is consistently responding to and interested in by following those who are established within your market or industry and keeping an eye on their current broadcasts and launch announcements.

Sign Up To Ning

2012-06-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ning Sign Up: http://www.Ning.com

Ning, launched in 2005, offers people with the opportunity to create their own social network. In addition, you can browse through thousands of social communities and join those that relate to your niche market.
You can customize your social network with a unique blend of design customizations and layout ideas.

You can take things a step further by developing surveys, polls and allowing those who join your network to respond to profile questions, open conversations and threads.

If you develop your own social network within Ning, you will be given a unique URL that you can give to your customers, peers and associates.

You can also enhance your network by adding in modules through a simple

drag & drop' system, and best of all, users only require one login to access all of the social networks and communities they become a member of from within Ning.

My Space Domination

2012-06-01T12:09:00.000-07:00

MySpace

Sign Up: http://www.MySpace.com

MySpace, created in 2003, is a great contender when it comes to being an integral part of every successful social marketing campaign.

MySpace is used by millions of people all over the world who log onto their MySpace pages and browse through related pages and sites featured within the network.

With MySpace, you can quickly create squeeze page style templates, generating interest and fresh exposure to your products and services and can also quickly locate potential partners, joint venture offers and others interested in your niche market.

In order to create a memorable MySpace page, consider customizing the design and layout.

There is a free service available at http://www.Wix.com that will help you develop attractive, flash based MySpace pages quickly and easily.

Use Facebook To Dominate Social Marketing

2012-05-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

Facebook

Sign Up: http://www.Facebook.com

Facebook surpassed MySpace and became the most popular social network online in 2009.

With Facebook, you can interact with those in your market by adding them as a contact, but you can also generate exposure a number of other ways from within the Facebook community:

1) Create Facebook Advertising Campaigns

Facebook offers its own internal advertising center where you can set up "Adwords style" advertisements that appear whenever specific keywords are entered within the Facebook community.

You can customize your Facebook ads so that they become visible only to potential customers based on gender, age, or even location.

With Facebook advertising, you can pay per click (CPC) or impression (CPM),

and can schedule your ads to run for a specific time or on an ongoing basis.

You can create your advertisement by visiting http://www.Facebook.com/advertising

2) Create Facebook Fan Pages

A free (and effective) method of generating exposure and building a reputation within your niche market is by creating a Facebook fan page. A fan page is similar to creating a new Facebook profile, where you can add notes, messages, download links, and images to your fan page, while managing your fan pages all directly from within your main Facebook account.

One of the greatest benefits of building fan pages is that you can provide potential customers and leads with free samples or downloads of your products, or you can build a list by featuring an opt-in box directly on your Fan page!

Marketing Resources: When marketing your business with Facebook, there are many different applications available to help you maximize your exposure and maintain your account, including:

My Profile Box
Download: http://www.facebook.com/xsmyinfo

Social RSS
Download: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=23798139265

Facebook Video
Download: http://www.facebook.com/VideoApp

iEndorse

Download: http://www.facebook.com/iEndorse

Social Network Marketing Training 1

2012-05-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

Since being introduced in the mid 1990's social networking sites have revolutionized the way we do business online.

With instant access to your target audience, and the ability to keep a steady pulse on what our market is currently interested in, it has never been easier to connect with potential buyers and long-term customers.

Social networks provide people with the opportunity to create profiles, blogs and personal pages that reflect their individuality, interests and experiences. It puts people in quick contact with old friends, or helps them make new ones.

When it comes to generating new interest or exposure for your online business, social networks can help you quickly locate potential buyers, connect with authority figures, expand your outreach and even conduct niche research to determine current buying patterns, trends and overall demand.

There are literally hundreds of social media sites that have sprung up over the last few years. However due to the time involved with engaging and interacting within these communities while establishing credibility in your market in order to build the most effective marketing campaigns, you'll want to focus only on the most established, active social community sites.

This report reveals the top social networking websites where you can build an online presence quickly and easily, while subsequently tapping into some of the most profitable niche markets online, and locating potential joint venture partners and important business contacts.

These community sites will help you to develop brand awareness while maximizing your exposure and outreach.

Affiliate List Cross Promotions List Building Secrets 16

2012-05-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

Affiliate List Cross-Promotions

The last thing I want to tell you about list building is using affiliate list cross-promotions.

This is very simple.

Let’s say you have your own offer on Rapid Action Profits and you’ve built an affiliate list, which is just a list of affiliates who promote your profits.

Well, what you do is you go to other product owners who have affiliate lists and you say, “I will tell my affiliate list about your affiliate program if you do the same for yours.”

You might pick up some really good affiliates like that.

They might pick up a few and once you pick up affiliates, that means more traffic heading into your paid offer, which means more people on your list of high quality.

This is one of those tactics that kind of make you want to slap yourself in the head.