Social network marketing basics involves establishing and maintaining an active presence on social networking websites. Social networking has emerged as an effective way to promote products and drive traffic to websites. These and other Web 2.0 technologies are changing the way internet marketing is approached.

There are many terms for this form of web promotion, including social media optimization and social media marketing. And there are also different types of websites and methods that can be used. 

As with any form of internet marketing, successful social network marketing takes patience, know how, and some hard work. In essence, social network websites are online communities where people can meet, communicate, and share ideas. How you should approach your marketing campaign on these websites will depend on the size and nature of your business.

Many large companies and corporations have already established a presence on these websites. Smaller companies and home-based web businesses require a more subtle approach. Rather than out-right marketing of your product, you should try to become a member of the community by making friends and joining relevant groups on websites like Facebook and MySpace.

Another good tactic in social networking to provide help, advice and valuable opinions on blogs, forums and websites like Yahoo! Answers. When appropriate, provide links to your websites but don't overdo it, else you risk being seen as a spammer.

The above methods can help you drive traffic to your website. But perhaps more importantly, Web 2.0 and social networking sites offer some excellent tools to help you to encourage users to keep coming back and to recommend your website to other people.

First, you should register with the popular social bookmarking websites like Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon. Add links to these websites with your content so people can bookmark, share it and potentially give you very wide exposure. These websites also offer a social networking element that you should get involved in.

While not strictly social network marketing, you should also consider using RSS feeds to keep users coming back.

Businesses, large and small are learning to use social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to show the more "human side" of the company. Companies can engage with their customers and also monitor what others are saying about them.

Large industries like Dell, Absolut Vodka, AT&T, Avon, Coca-Cola, Goodwill, Hersheys, JCPenney, National Geographic, Purina, Samsung, Taco Bell, The Home Depot, Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart and so many others are seeing  the benefits of social networking.  This is now extending to small business owners around the world who are learning to incorporate this into their businesses.  

Here's an extensive list of social media marketing by large companies. It's very extensive and gives lots of information!

Here are some useful seo tips for website designers:

1) Make sure your URL's are as SEO friendly as possible. Avoid all those "=" and "?" marks. Use mod re-write to re-create these URL's to a more seo friendly format. Also, if the URL includes the keyword phrase for that page, that's an extra bonus!

2) Keyword research should be the absolute basis of any website design project. It should be the very first thing that you do with your client. You'll be surprised how many more pages and information you'll be able to get from your client if you can show them what their target audience is looking for.

3) Use html tags on every website page.

4) Avoid using flash for your navigation, if possible. Search engines still have trouble reading flash files and they simply will not follow the links from the navigation menu.

5) Remember the alt tags on your images. They should be not only descriptive of the image but use the keyword phrase for the page as well.

6) If you use an image to replace text - know that the search engines will not count the text in that image towards the text of the page. So if you think you can use an image instead of an <h1> tag - you're not serving your client well.

7) Optimize your graphics. You want the pages to load as quickly as possible. I leave a website only because it's loading slowly.

8) Use anchor text links within the content of the site. In other words, if you have one page focused on the phrase "divorce attorney" - within the content of a website page (other than the one marketing the phrase "divorce attorney") you want to try and refer to the divorce attorney page by using the phrase "divorce attorney" and hyperlinking it to that page.

9) Make sure the hosting company has a 301 re-direct set up (usually they're 200 redirects). With a 200 re-direct, the search engines actually index 2 websites instead of one. One version that's indexed is with the www and the second version that's indexed is without the www. So, www.abc.com and abc.com are indexed as 2 separate websites. The problem with this is that the search engines see duplicate content. Both websites are exactly the same. It's so simple to ensure a 301 re-direct, it just doesn't make sense NOT to use it.

10) Don't use or tags unless they're on the keyword phrases for the website page. These tags give the phrase that they're on some extra points so use the CSS styling instead.

Give your business that extra edge by offering SEO services with your web design skills. If you can't find the time to learn or implement these techniques, then contact a reputable SEO firm who can work with you.

Search engine optimization is an absolute must for any serious internet businesses. Here is a detailed step by step tutorial for by Dennis Burayidi.

Sedo, the leading online marketplace for buying and selling domain names has observed a growth in the variety and size of numeric domain names sales in the past year. Sedo's top numeric domain name sales of 2008 include 770.com for $350,000; 248.com for $175,000; 49.com for $91,500; and 657.com for $16,101.

"Numeric domains are a wise investment for both portfolio owners and developers," said Jeremiah Johnston, chief operating officer and general counsel, Sedo. "Whether it is for a Website named after a city's zip-code that focuses on local attractions, or a site utilizing culturally significant numbers, we continue to see an increasing demand for these types of names as companies and individuals find more creative ways to brand and market their sites."

Great 10 minute lesson on SEO and Blog Marketing. Take advantage of this free tool while it is still free.

Here are some of their services:

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20 top SEO tools

If you want to start a turn key start-up business look at moguling.com and use their social blog technology to create a completely automated source of income. Moguling.com offers unique opportunities to promote business blogs through their search engine optimization tools. Check out moguling.com!

Five important things to consider when creating and registering domain names.

How to register domain names,forwarding and masking. This is especially good for afliliate sites.Domain forwarding just might be the best, hardest-working domain name bargain!

Put any domain name to work, whether you've built a site for it or not. Select a domain name (or names), add forwarding, and any visitor who types in that name will be redirected to the existing site you choose.

Domain forwarding is especially useful if you have a site with a long, complicated address. Just register a simpler domain name (easily done using one of the less common top level domains, like .BIZ instead of .COM, for example) and then forward it. It's easy. Domain forwarding is FREE with domain name registry.

Domain masking lets you protect the address of a particular site, while still allowing customers to access the content.

Learn how domain names play a role in seo (search engine optimization). Look for comapanies that offer a broad range services such as the ones below. Dotventures llc offers a wide range of services for optimizing blogs.

 

Here are some premium affiliate-focused domain names available at auction by Moniker and produced in association with Affiliate Summit.  Included are:

Clients.com, AffiliateForum.com, CreditCheck.us, FindALender.com, MortgageBanking.com, PriceComparison.us, SuperSaving.com, RealEstateListed.com, SaleFinder.com, FinancePlan.com, Made-In-The-Usa.com, RealEstateMortgages.com, Warrantied.com, PcBuy.com, WirelessStore.com, AutoRebates.com, SmartPhoneGadgets.com, Trades.net, OnlineDiscounts.com, SellingTips.com
OnlineRegistry.com, QualifyMe.com, SpeakerStore.com, FindBestJobs.com, LongDistanceProvider.com, QuickBusinessCredit.com, OrlandoHotelGuide.com, TicketSavers.com, NewCarPreview.com, SpamClear.com, ThinkAffiliate.com, SearchAffiliate.com, VacationDiscount.com, CareerHelpers.com, TricksToSave.com, GreatRepairs.com, LowDownPayments.com, 247Flower.com, TrafficForLease.com, AffiliateForex.com, RestaurantAffiliates.com, SportAffiliates.net, SalesLeadProvider.com
WallStreetAffiliate.com

There are still plenty of people who will, surprisingly, overpay for the domain names that they want, when they could easily find cheap domain name registration just about everywhere online these days. But the truth be known, you want to look out for a few things when you are considering using any company that is offering cheap domain name registration. Sure, cheap annual rates might be nice, but you want to assure that you are getting the right company to host your domain, and not one that will rip you off or fail to deliver the services that they promise. Here are some things that you should always look out for when considering cheap domain name registration from any company.

• Uptime guarantee: this should always be 99%, if they will not promise that your domain will always be active then never go with them, even if they have cheap domain name registration.
• Cheap renewal rates: this is a common gimmick. Many companies lure buyers in with cheap prices to begin with, and then jack the rates up come the next year.
• Large bandwidth, online storage, and email accounts: make sure that a high monthly bandwidth is included or you may be paying fees for additional bandwidth. Also make sure that there are ample amounts of online storage as well as plenty of included email accounts, or you may be wasting your money.

So, you want to register a domain name in hopes of selling it for big bucks?

First, you have to find a domain name registry site. Yahoo! is currently having cheap domain name registration for brand new customers who haven't registered domains with Yahoo! before. The deal is currently at $1.99 for the entire year through the Yahoo! domain name registry. With Yahoo! domain name registry, you essentially get 24/7 support for your website. Another affordable and popular domain name registry is GoDaddy.

You now have to consider the qualities that make a valuable domain. Here are some appraisal aspects to consider when choosing a domain.

• Choose a top-level domain extension. The highest level domain extension is .com
• Find a clear meaning for your domain name
• Decide if the domain name is easy to commercialize and brand. Remember, businesses are the customers who will pay big bucks for a domain
• Make sure the domain is easier to remember
• The less words the domain is made up of, the more valuable it is
• Number of searches performed on the word in the last month. Also find out the current position of that word in the market
• Make sure the domain is easy to pronounce. It may look good on paper, but it may sound bad
• Hyphens, number and typographical errors lower the value of the domain name
• Typographical errors may work to your advantage when they are misspellings of other more famous sites

There are now a plethora of great companies all that are offering cheap domain name registration. But what is better than cheap domain name registration? Free domain name registry of course. So how do you go about getting what was cheap domain name registration for free? You just have to know where to look for it that is all. I have found yet another great site that takes the cheap domain name registration and breaks it to a whole different level. At www.aitdomains.com when you sign up for their very cheap domain name registration you won’t pay a dime for the domain if you also sign up for $2 monthly hosting. Their hosting has all the same features as the other big guys, but costs far less. High bandwidth, email, storage, you name it they have all the perks, but for around $25 per year with a free domain included. Deals for domains have never been this cheap. This is not some fly-by-night company either. They are one of the larger companies that offers online domain name registry.