By the end of this article, you should have a good idea of exactly what these social networks are for and how they can benefit your business.

If you happen to find a social media outlet you’re curious about, try looking it up in the Social Media Marketing Guide by SEOmoz, as there are a lot of social networks that are designed for specific niches and may not necessarily pertain to your business.

Before we dive into choosing our network, we first need to understand exactly what social networking is, and what it is for. If you’re reading this article, there’s a very good chance you have an ecommerce website and possibly even one of our free or premium business blogs. Furthermore, by running a site and blog you’ve probably come to understand the differences between the two. If you haven’t, that’s perfectly all right – I’ll explain.

Your ecommerce site sells products. It has a database where all the product information is stored, a shopping cart to process payment and a few other tools as well. All it is designed to do is process orders, so you can think of it as a catalog with a credit card reader attached to every page. Somebody does a search on Google, your site pops up and this potential customer clicks on your link.

Your blog on the other hand provides your audience (or potential customers) with relevant content and information through blog posts by dispersing throughout popular blogging networks. A blog is designed to get a buzz going about your industry or products with exclusive advertising rights to your business. So what that means is not every person coming to your blog is going to be a potential customer. However, if you provide relevant and helpful information on your blog, chances are these bloggers are going to link to your content and share it with other people who might be interested in what you have to offer.

So now we know the differences between the traffic coming to your site from search engines and the traffic coming from blogs. How does this pertain to social marketing? According to Wikipedia, Social Marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Right now that might sound a little confusing, but I’ll clear that up in a bit.

The main reason that social media outlets are becoming more and more popular is their ability to force feed information to large groups of people on the net almost instantaneously. Also, social media outlets are generally void of any kind of promotional content, meaning somebody on a social network doesn’t have to worry about being spammed with “BUY NOW WE ARE THE CHEAPEST” ads and other stuff. They hate that.

For example, if you are making videos on proper gardening techniques, you could use Youtube to host and distribute those videos. Then you could use Twitter or Facebook to disperse the videos even further, assuming you have a decent amount of followers, but those will come in time so don’t worry too much about that.

The biggest qualifier to determine if social marketing could benefit your business is time. Twitter for example is a micro-blogging service that lets your potential clients stay updated in real time. If you’re not updating your twitter very often, then that lack of action defeats the purpose of “real time updates.” Something else to keep in mind is if you’re still working on adding products, doing your meta tags etc., then jumping into the social networks might be a little premature, which is also why its a good idea to have more than one person in your company helping you out with social networking.

Now that you have the basics down, its time to decide on a network. I do not recommend signing up for multiple networks at once. Pick one and focus on that single network until you’re comfortable handling another.

Remember, time management can be a very big issue when adding a social network to your marketing plan. Twitter is definitely the easiest to get your account going and start “tweeting.” (Twitter Help Guide courtesy of Chris Brogan) It doesn’t really matter what network you start with, they all have the ability to benefit your business.

Just keep these few things in mind:

- Do I have time to manage this social network every day? (If not multiple times a day)

- By using this network, am I providing my audience with relevant information to improve their shopping experience?

- Am I trying to help others, or myself? If it’s the latter of the two, you probably shouldn’t be using social networks for your business.

After you get a Social Networking profile started:

- Talk about what people want to hear. If somebody is not sure whether they want a fiberglass or carbon fiber fishing rod, they don’t want to see pricing – they want information.

- You need a following (Twitter conveniently calls them “followers”). Without people actively viewing your network, it’s of no use. Make sure you check out the Social Media Marketing Guide to learn how to accomplish this.

- Be active in the community. People are getting smarter about the internet, so make sure you’re using this network for what it’s designed to do. Otherwise you wont get any social media love.

- Have fun! Social networks are designed to help the community, not hurt. If the network you chose is a headache and you can’t get the hang of it, then you probably shouldn’t be using it.

As Forrest Gump put it “And thats pretty much all I have to say about that.”

Thanks for reading and subscribe to our RSS Feed for all the latest news, tips and updates from StoreBlogs!Related Entries:

• Weekly Blog Tip: Social Media and Blogs
• Weekly Blog Tip: Cross-Linking With Blogs
• Open Your Niche Business Blog At StoreBlogs
• Weekly Blog Tip: Tip or Topic of Your Choice

There have been a handful of weekly blog tips, hopefully you StoreBloggers have learned by reading them as much as I have learned writing them. Maybe you find yourself wanting to know more about something relevant to our site, the internet, or the blogging realm but cannot find the time to research it yourself. Well here is your chance to nominate topics for future weekly blog tips. Not only will you get a wealth of high quality information, you will also get recognized in the post as the supplier of the post idea.

Every Suggestion Is A Good Suggestion

Please do not be afraid to post your suggestion in the comments section of this post, in the end it will help the entire StoreBlog community. Every suggestion will be appreciated and strongly considered. If you wish to submit your topic of choice privately and not be recognized for your contribution you can e-mail me directly at TylerA@storeblogs.com.

The purpose of this process is to provide you with information that is most relevant to your skill-level, and also information that most interests you. Hopefully we can get some quality submissions so we can tailor these weekly tips to your liking. Thanks for taking your time to read this and I look forward to your suggestions. Happy Holidays from the StoreBlogs staff.Related Entries:

• Weekly Blog Tip: Blog Comment Etiquette
• Weekly Blog Tip: Achievable Blogging Goals
• Weekly Blog Tip: Grabbing Your Readers Attention
• Weekly Blog Tip: Cross-Linking With Blogs

Some of you may have noticed earlier this week that we had begun the very exciting process of implementing a new dashboard. The purpose of this upgrade was to increase the speed and functionality of StoreBlogs, also help us eliminate bugs and defects. During the upgrade process we encountered an issue with logging in, which I’m sure most of you have noticed. Here is how you can get around this issue easily and quickly. Follow the instructions based on which browser you have used to access StoreBlogs.

For Internet Explorer Follow These Instructions:

1. Clear All Cookies and Cache – Go to Tools -> Delete Browsing History -> Delete Cookies.

2. Reset StoreBlogs Password – Go to StoreBlogs.com and below the Login fields there is a Forgot Password? link. Click the link and follow the steps to resetting your password.

3. Restoring Your Original Password – After you have received your new password log into your account. Once you get into your dashboard it it should automatically pop up with an alert saying you have reset your password do you wish to change it to a unique password. Follow the steps and you can restore your original password.

For Mozilla Firefox Follow These Instructions:

1. Clear All Cookies and Cache – Go to Tools -> Clear Private Data -> Check Cookies and Cache -> Click Clear Private Data Now.

2. Reset StoreBlogs Password – Go to StoreBlogs.com and below the Login fields there is a Forgot Password? link. Click the link and follow the steps to resetting your password.

3. Restoring Your Original Password – After you have received your new password log into your account. Once you get into your dashboard it it should automatically pop up with an alert saying you have reset your password do you wish to change it to a unique password. Follow the steps and you can restore your original password.

If you follow the steps correctly for your browser you should be able to login to your StoreBlogs account. If you encounter any problems please contact StoreBlogs staff to assist you with the process. We are very sorry if this has caused you any inconvenience, we appreciate your patience while we upgrade and sort out the login issues.

New Look & Faster Dashboard

We hope you are as excited as we are about the new dashboard, in the end the upgrade should make everything more seamless and quicker. If you have any questions about making the transition to the new dashboard or you need assistance with accessing your account please feel free to contact us. Thanks again for your patience while we do our best to improve StoreBlogs.com.

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• Helpful Tips To Get Started Blogging Quickly & Easily
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There are millions of blogs out there and a good majority of those blogs are using the WordPress blogging platform. Chances are your blog’s topic is not new to the internet, so you have to think of a way you can make your blog stand out. The first thing to make changes to is your front page. It will be the first thing that every one of your visitors will see. This week’s blog tip is going to discuss how you can make your front page unique.

Making the Front Stand Out

You will more than likely be using a WordPress theme, so lets examine the different ways in which you can modify your front page inside an already laid out theme.

There are several other things you can do to your front page to make it stand out from the rest. Probably one of the biggest adjustments you could make would be the layout of the page, however that requires the skill of a more advance user to adjust the layout significantly. Attempt to play around with it a little bit and post what you discover in the comments section of this post. There will be a future tip that will further discuss WordPress themes more in-depth. Thanks for reading this week’s blog tip, commenting is always encouraged.Related Entries:

• Weekly Blog Tip: Steps To Take Before You Publish
• Weekly Blog Tip: What Are RSS Feeds?
• Weekly Blog Tip: Cross-Linking With Blogs
• Weekly Blog Tip: Blog Comment Etiquette

This week we are going to discuss social media, and how blogging fits in with social media. There are several different ways social media is created, blogging is just one of these ways. I think social media is rapidly changing as new technologies and ways to communicate with one another come out. We will start out by defining what social media is and how you currently use it and how you could be using it in the future.

What is Social Media?

As I said before there are several different ways social media is generated. There are three different components to social media they are: concept, media and social interface. Concept is comprised of art or information, Media is physical, electronic or verbal, and Social Interface is where blogging fits in among other things; it includes community engagement, viral media, electronic broadcast or syndication and a few other things. Social media is quite a bit different than mass media, it is typically cheap, and accessible to the public.

You have already been using the social interface of social media for quite some time now through blogging. There are other ways you could be using this component through social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter or MySpace for your business. There will be tips in the near future how to use social networking sites for your store. However that is one thing I would suggest you start dipping your toes into because it is another great form of social media. There are also a few other ways you can share media such as photos and videos through sites like Flickr or YouTube.

Social media is very well the future of media, perhaps not the entire future but it will definitely continue gaining market share in the media realm. Blogging is a big component of this type of media and so are the other outlets suggested. It will be beneficial to you and your store to begin becoming familiar or continue gaining knowledge of these platforms. If you have any questions regarding social media please feel free to leave a comment. I hope you enjoyed reading this week’s blog tip, thank you for reading.

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• Choosing the Right Social Networks for your Business
• Weekly Blog Tip: Cross-Linking With Blogs
• Why Use StoreBlogs As Your Business Blog Platform?
• Weekly Blog Tip: Grabbing Your Readers Attention

It is a weird word, you can’t really make sense of it just by reading it. So what exactly is a trackback? It is yet another device to help build a blogging community. A trackback allows you to inform a blogger you are referencing their blog in yours. Say you read something in a blog you really enjoyed and wanted to link to it in your blog, you can send a trackback which will inform the blogger that you have linked to their site in your blog, which hopefully will generate more traffic for them.

Trackback to the Future

Using trackbacks will potentially invite more readers to your blog as well. The way you use a trackback is reference the blog in your post and provide a link. In the trackbacks field of your post place the link to the URL you are referencing. This will do two things, the first thing it will do is notify the other blog that you linked to their site. The second thing it will do is post a comment on the original article linking back to your blog.

It may sound confusing at first but once you begin using trackbacks you will fully understand the concept. Sometimes it may end there but other times it will become a gift that keeps on giving, the idea is the other blogger will find something interesting on your blog and reciprocate the favor. If you have any input or questions feel free to leave a comment.

Related Entries:

• Weekly Blog Tip: Cross-Linking With Blogs
• Weekly Blog Tip: Blog Comment Etiquette
• Weekly Blog Tip: Creating a Blogroll
• Choosing the Right Social Networks for your Business

They serve a very similar purpose as tags, but tags are a little bit more specific than categories. Categories is a broader way to file away your posts, and make it easier for your readers to navigate through your blog’s universe. When a subscriber clicks a tag it should return only a handful of posts, but when they click a category it should return several posts. This week’s tip is to help guide you when picking out your categories.

Categorizing Your Categories

Chances are you already have some categories in place, the first thing to do is look at your current list of categories and determine which ones (if any) you rarely use and potentially could cut loose. Starting from scratch isn’t necessary by any means, just ensuring that the categories you chose in the past are still relevant to your store blog today.

Tags and categories both exist for a reason, so use both wisely. When choosing a category you should really plan around what you think you will be writing about primarily. If along the way you realize you’re writing about a topic more frequently than you ever imagined then create a category for it, or on the flip side if you decide that you rarely use a category you expected to use a lot; go ahead and get rid of it.

Try your best to make sure that each of your categories has the same measure of scope, don’t have one category that is very narrow and then another one that is extremely broad. Attempt to have all your categories living on the same plane.

When naming a category make sure it is a self-explanatory name, something that any reader could understand the contents of the category without having to explore it thoroughly.

At the same time keep it simple, try to keep your blog clean and precise. In doing so you probably want to limit the number of categories to a low number. Four to eight categories should be sufficient enough to harness all of your blog posts. Remember when choosing categories to plan, stay on an even plane, and have an easy-to-understand name; also keep the overall number low. If you have any input or questions feel free to leave a comment.

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• Weekly Blog Tip: Filling Out Your Tags
• Weekly Blog Tip: Ways to Make Business Blogging Engaging
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I have noticed a few Store Bloggers comments saying that they were not entirely sure what an RSS feed was or how exactly to use it. The purpose of this week’s blogging tip is hopefully to put that confusion to rest. This weekly advice will tackle the RSS process by first defining RSS and briefly explaining the way it works, hopefully clarifying for all of you blogaholics how to begin reading RSS feeds. Without further ado, lets jump into this week’s tip.

RSS Feeding Frenzy

RSS can stand for a few different things but most commonly stands for Really Simple Syndication. Basically RSS is a way for bloggers to produce their most recently updated content in the form of a feed. This enables their readers to see a summarized version of their favorite sites’ updates and posts instantly.

There are many benefits to using RSS, one of them is search engine optimization, RSS feeds help you rank up and stay higher in search engines which results in more traffic. Overall it is just an excellent way to market your website, it will hopefully reach a customer base which you have not reached before.

Hopefully you have a better understanding to what RSS feeds are and their purpose now. Lets dive a little deeper and examine how to actually use them. The first thing to help you begin reading RSS feeds of your favorite web pages is to choose and RSS reader. There are a few different readers to choose from, I think its best that you try and use different readers and see which one you like best, if you are looking for suggestions just ask.

Okay by now you have chosen a reader which you would like to begin using, where to now? Go to one of your favorite websites or blogs and see if they offer an RSS feed. Usually you will see the RSS logo and you should be able to click subscribe or get RSS feed.

Once you do that your reader should now display any RSS feeds that are posted by that specific website. It makes it easy to get a jist of what your favorite places are up to without having to daily visit several websites. It will save you a lot of time, and look out for a future tip about how you can begin your own RSS feed. Thanks for reading, any questions feel free to post a comment.

Related Entries:

• Weekly Blog Tip: The Front Page
• Weekly Blog Tip: Creating a Blogroll
• Weekly Blog Tip: Cross-Linking With Blogs
• Weekly Blog Tip: Grabbing Your Readers Attention

Surely at this point you are trying to think of ways you can keep your blog fresh, new, and exciting for your readers. One way you can change things up with your store blog is to attempt to find a guest blogger. A blogging guest is another person you find to write a post for your blog. This week’s blogging tip is going to discuss the advantages of a guest blogger and also how to find the ideal candidate.

Its Time to Bag a Guest

Advantages - There are a handful of upsides to finding someone to write an entry for your blog. Firstly it saves you time because you personally do not have to write the post. Also it gives your blog a variety by hosting other writers styles, thoughts, and opinions. It is a free way to gain traffic and build better relationships with your readers.

Attracting Bloggers - Here are a few different ways you can potentially find a guest blogger. The most obvious option is to peruse your comments section for someone you believe is well-spoken and respectful. Go to one of the blog’s you currently read and approach the author, it doesn’t hurt to ask a fellow blogger if they would like to compose an entry for your blog. Another excellent resource for a guest post writer is offline, check with people you speak with in-person. Sometimes the best and most interesting blog posts can come from those who have a unfamiliar or different perspective on the blogging realm. The last tip for finding a quality guest blogger is to keep it simple. Don’t ask for a lengthy, extravagant post; it is safe to assume that your potential author does not have a lot of extra time to be writing for other blogs so start out small (i.e. A response to a question or two).

Now it is time to go out and add some spice to your store blog. Choose your guest blogger wisely because it does reflect on you, your store and your blog. Thank you for reading this week’s tip, if you have any questions please feel free to comment.

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Tags are decided completely by the author of the blog, it is an easy and unique way to categorize your blog posts. After you are finished writing a post you will decide what the overall keywords are in the post and then place them in the “Tags” box. If a reader enjoys that specific post they may click one of the tags and will be led to other posts with the same keyword. Utilizing this along with categories is a great way to organize your blog.

Tag, You’re It

There isn’t necessarily a right or wrong way to filling out your tags but you do want to make it as beneficial to your readers as possible. If they enjoy a post they’re reading and want to read similar posts it is best you have your posts well categorized with tags.

After you finish writing a post you will probably ask yourself what words in this post will make a good tag? Well it really depends on your preference and your prior history of tagging. It is best to use some old and and some new tags, and be relatively specific with your tags. That way when a reader clicks a tag they remain in the same general scope of the post they just read.

There is some room for creativity when tagging a post but also make sure you do the obvious tags. With business blogging if you are making a post about a specific product make sure you tag that specific product, so if a reader has a particular interest in that product they can easily read other posts about it. Even though tags are useful tools, make sure you don’t bombard the reader with excessive tagging, typically 5 to 10 tags is sufficient for posts of varying length. If you have any input or questions feel free to leave a comment.

Related Entries:

• Weekly Blog Tip: Choosing Blog Categories
• Weekly Blog Tip: Grabbing Your Readers Attention
• Weekly Blog Tip: Ways to Make Business Blogging Engaging
• Weekly Blog Tip: Steps To Take Before You Publish