Yes, why must you make social marketing a part of your business? How is it going to help you? Why not stick to the regular marketing techniques since they have always worked for me? What is this new phenomenon anyway? So many questions crowd our mind when we are faced with any thing that has not been tried before. In this connected world, social marketing is the latest tool available in your internet marketing tool box. Take it out. Take a good look at it. Do you want to know why you must use it? Well, here are some of the most common reasons.

Reasons To Make Social Marketing A Part Of Your Business

• It is a proven way.
• It is easy.
• It is effective.
• It brings traffic to your website.
• Everyone is doing it.

Do you need any more reasons?

Of late social marketing has become as popular as it can get. The social directories like Digg and Netscape are taking the world by a storm. Everyone and his neighbor want a slice of the action. Don’t you want to know what’s going on?

Are you blogging and submitting your posts to relevant social directories? If not, then you are missing out on an easy volume of traffic that could have been yours. For social marketing to be effective, you need to set up a blog. Make sincere efforts to get your blog known around. Now bookmark all the famous social directories. Write in your blog every single day. Take courage, you can do it.

Are you developing a great relationship with your potential and existing customers? The Web 2.0 makes it easily do-able. Remember, the future of your business depends upon this relationship. If you want to make your interactions interesting, deal with people directly. Speak to them through your blog. People like it. In any case it is an age old sales trick, tried and tested through ages. Once you start interacting with people, you become real to them. You are no more just a name. This helps people trust you and your product. This trust is the basis of social marketing.

Everyday millions of people are using search engines to look for the information that they want. By basing your blog entries around some keywords you help some of these people get the information that you are offering. No wonder search engines love social marketing! You make their job easier. You also help people. This in itself is reason enough to indulge in social marketing!

So what is your excuse now? Do you want your website to feature on page one of Google? Does the idea excite you? If it does, then get going with social marketing. That is the tool of the 21st Century.

There are many ways to design your Web 2.0 website to make it more attractive. A good design will ensure more hits on your website and therefore improve your business. There are some very simple tips, which you can follow to make your website more effective and generate more traffic.

Simplicity Is The Key

Nobody wants to see a website packed with too many features. It can in fact put off many visitors, as it can look rather unattractive. That doesn’t mean that you should keep your site bare, but have only the very essential features. Do not clutter it with things that are not required. Most internet users, as you know, just need to get the information they require and if there are too many other things distracting them, they will just look elsewhere. With Web 2.0, it is easy to get carried away and add more features than is needed. Try to avoid that.

Fewer columns make it easier for readers to take in the information. It looks neater and is much easier on the eyes. Too much information cluttered on one page will be a complete put off. You can search on Web 2.0 design tip sites to help make navigation easy on your site as well. You do not want to make it difficult for visitors to search for information or they will give up and move to another site providing similar content.

Make It Attractive

You can add colors to your site to make it more appealing. In fact, using different colors in separate sections on your Web 2.0 site is a good idea. Using larger size text will make it easier for the readers as well as look more attractive. You should use certain elements with good aesthetic appeal. Using effects like reflections and shadows can enhance the look of your website.

Many Web 2.0 designers will suggest that you use more self explanatory icons than just plain text to explain a concept better. This use of innovative icons is good but should not be overused. Perhaps, you can use them in some main areas of your site.

You can use labels to draw the reader’s attention to a particular part of your Web 2.0 website. These are especially useful to highlight certain promotions or special events that you may want to tell the readers about. Star shaped labels have been used quite often for this purpose. But again, do not overuse these labels as they can give your site a rather cheap look.

The main thing you should remember when using Web 2.0 web design tips is to use large and bold logos. This will create more interest in your website and increase your traffic as well.

The power of viral marketing can be seen in the answer you give to this question – Who would you rather believe – a movie star extolling the virtues of a toilet cleaner or your next door neighbor? The answer is very simple. In the over-advertised world of today, if people watch ads at all, it is for the production quality and the glamour. Trust them? I doubt. Everyone knows that an ad is all about someone trying to make a profit out of you.

The marketing world may try to hide the harsh truth behind ads by calling them info-tainment or consumer education. They may try and embed them in films or in TV programming. But the truth is known to most. 90% of what you watch is someone trying to condition your responses in a certain way.

We Trust Those We Know

Viral advertising is very different. You trust people whom you daily interact with. And if they tell you that a restaurant is good, you take it at face value.

As an advertiser, if you were to market your goods or services using viral marketing techniques, your efforts will be more credible and most likely to get far better results. A key aspect of viral marketing is the understanding that not every person is ideal to carry on this campaign. There are people who like to spread the word around and there are people who are not so inclined.

A viral marketing strategy therefore tries to identify those people who are naturally inclined to build social networks. Having done that, it tries and creates messages that these people will enjoy discussing. On an average, a well networked person will have a list of fifteen to twenty who he/she will communicate with. If even one third of these are as good at networking the first person, the message will have a higher chance of reaching upwards in just two or three iterations.

Ethical Issues With Viral Marketing

Sure enough, there is no dearth of people crying foul. Viral marketing, they say is taking advantage of the trust people put in their friends and using it for devious gains and for personal advantage. This is especially so when marketing agencies collect e-mail addresses referred by people and then send promotional mail with the friend’s name in the subject line, thereby increasing the chances that the mail will be read.

While there are some aspects of viral marketing that still need to be debated and clarified, it is clear that it is a powerful marketing medium. A person needs to be selective in providing references because of the dangers of abuse. The industry will also have to regulate itself and bring in mechanisms that will ensure fair play and that will make the subject of the mail clear. Regardless, it is evident that viral marketing will play a major role in modern advertising campaigns.

There are several ways of using Web 2.0 to get more people to visit your site. You can make use of many marketing techniques to ensure more hits on your website. Your website traffic will increase and you can generate good revenue. You can actually triple the number of hits per day, if you follow these marketing tips.

Social bookmarking sites are available with the main purpose of providing links for users to websites that they may be interested in. In fact, it provides links to those websites, which are already very popular with many other users. You can make use of these social bookmarking sites to generate more traffic for your own Web 2.0 website.

Types Of Social Bookmarking Sites

There are two types of social bookmarking sites. One type allows you to bookmark your favorite websites using tags. Other users can follow your links to view the websites you have tagged. If you have bookmarked sites, which have good quality content and are of interest to the other users, chances are that they will also bookmark these sites. This way you can start a chain of users who will click on the sites and tag them. This is how using Web 2.0 can increase the number of hits on a particular website.

You may think that you can bookmark your own website and get more hits that way. But this is not so. If you only bookmark your own website, you might lose your credibility because of self-promotion. You could also be reported for spam. So it makes more sense to bookmark some of your favorite sites along with your own, so that your site can generate more traffic. You even have the option of simultaneously bookmarking the top bookmark sites with the help of toolbars on certain sites. Onlywire is one such bookmarking Web 2.0 website.

Another type of social bookmarking site is where you invite users to view your website and vote on a specific story. You will have to post a link to your website along with a short description of what to expect on your website. It is very important to create a headline that catches the attention of the readers. This can generate a lot of traffic out of curiosity. Several websites use this formula to make it to the front page of story sites that are very popular with users. Netscape and Digg are a couple of such popular Web 2.0 sites.

Once you generate a lot of traffic using the above Web 2.0 marketing techniques, you can add Google Adsense to your site or sell your products to generate more money as well. These tips should help you increase the traffic on your website and improve your business.

The advent of the internet has given new impetus to viral marketing. Just a decade ago, such a message would have spread only in the physical vicinity of the originator. Today, with blogs and mailing lists, a message can hit hundreds of like-minded users in no time.

Blogs Offer Great Viral Marketing Opportunities

Just spend a few minutes on the explosion blogging has seen. There are literally millions of blogs on the Internet. Many are genuine travel diaries and journals. An equally large number relate to groups that are very concerned about some issues. But there are many that are only thinly disguised viral marketing efforts. Look at the blogs that relate to the ongoing presidential primaries. Sure, some are genuine efforts at discussing the politics, the process and the candidates, but a huge number are promotional in nature and are simply out to market their candidate.

What stops you from setting up such a viral marketing campaign? Many major drug companies do it all the time. You have a blog discussing a complex medical condition. They provide a lot of useful information on it, which ensures that the blog rates high in search engines. People flock to it and while they are exposed to ads that are clearly defined, they are also exposed to subtle viral marketing. For example, if a person said he was greatly helped by medicine X or hospital Y, and you felt he was genuine, how would it affect you?

Handle E-Mail Listings With Care

Let us now move from blogs to promotional e-mail listings. If you were to run a viral marketing campaign you could offer a person a discount if he refers friends. You can even make sure that junk contacts are avoided by offering an incentive on every sale that occurs as a result. This will ensure that you will get those references that are likely to buy certain goods or a service.

Viral marketing must not go overboard. Even if a person has been referred to you, it is up to you to enlist him or her. The e-mail you send must not be pushy or overly aggressive. Clearly state the reason for the mail, how you obtained the referral and what the person stands to gain by participating in your program. Offer a way to allow the person to say no. And if he says no, do not bother him again.

Finally, it is extremely important that the result of every referral and every mail must be tracked. Too many viral marketing efforts, when starting out small tend to ignore this point and feel that automatic tracking methods will be required when they expand beyond a certain size. Nothing could be further from the truth. You must put in place a tracking system with the very first mail that you send.

Viral marketing derives its wonderful results primarily from the fact that it originates from a source you trust. There are two other very noticeable features about this kind of marketing – it spreads rapidly in an exponential manner and it generally moves from an interested person to another interested person.

All three are great attributes. If they are understood well, then you can really make your advertising strategy work. Let us look at each a little more closely.

Trust

If a person you know well tells you of a certain product and how well it works, you will be more likely to believe him. Even if you do not know a person individually, you will still believe him if you are convinced that he is going through similar circumstances as you are. That is why people in a hospital will believe a fellow sufferer when they talk of a certain cure or a great surgeon. A certain element of celebrity endorsement also fits here, but not an obvious commercial endorsement. I know of a world famous cricketer who is a diabetic. When he endorses a blood sugar meter, I have no trouble believing him.

Spread

The spread of viral marketing is another virtue. One day two people talk of a product and if they are impressed enough, by the evening, they have discussed it with eight others. Before you know, more people than you can handle, know of the product. The key aspect is that your product must be worth talking about, mere price differential is not enough. Secondly, your users must include someone who is good at social networking. It is not easy to find such people, but when you do find them, if you can persuade them to try your product, you have it made.

Focus

In traditional advertising you spread your message far and wide, hoping that some of your target audience will see it. Agreed you may try and speak to a select audience by selecting your TV channel or time or the type of websites or Adsense keywords, but it can’t go more granular than that. In viral marketing, the focus of the advertising is as sharp as a needle. If I am crazy about cars and I know something really great about a new car, I won’t talk of it to a friend who is mad about computers. But I will talk about it to friends and coworkers who are as ‘car crazy’ as I am.

These attributes of viral marketing make it a great medium. Whether you are producing for local consumption or the globe is your market, a dash of viral marketing will always add an exotic flavor to your bottom line.

You can do so much more on the Internet, thanks to the new phenomenon of Web 2.0. It has sometimes been referred to as being the new version of the internet. In fact, instead of the internet being upgraded, it is how people use the internet that has been upgraded. Instead of just retrieving information from various sites, you can also add information on many sites. As an internet user, you are able to express your views, add content and share information like never before.

Some Sites Based On Web 2.0

There are several sites, which I can mention as examples of the phenomenon of Web 2.0. You have definitely used one or more of these sites without realizing how much the internet has improved. Think of sites where you can share photos and videos. There are also so many social networking sites where you interact with people all over the world. You make new friends, share your views, and gain information.

MySpace and Facebook are some of the ultimate social networking sites. You can meet new people on these sites. You are also able to upload information and photos of yourself. You can promote your company, website or band here. These sites are perfect examples of how Web 2.0 actually works.

You can upload videos of yourself on YouTube for the world to see. These videos may be a way of showcasing your talent or sharing your embarrassing moments with the world. Some people have even become famous after millions of users have viewed their videos.

Apart from social networking sites, there are various informative sites, which are based on Web 2.0. These sites allow users to post information, ask and answer questions. Wikipedia is one such site where you can find information about everything under the sun. The information on the site has been provided by users. Users have also reviewed and made relevant additions or changes to the information provided. It is an online encyclopedia, where you can view information for free. Several people add entries to this site every day.

There are many other sites where you can write book and film reviews. You can join many freelance content writing sites where you can keep adding articles. These sites are very useful as you can post as well as find information on any topic. There is so much demand for information that you can even get paid for writing articles on these sites. It has given so many writers the opportunity to get their articles to people across the world. You may have been turned away by magazines and book publication houses. However, on the Internet, you can post your articles for the world to read. Web 2.0 has really improved the way we use the internet.

Web 2.0 can be used in a positive way to improve your career prospects. Since it is an interactive medium, there are many networking sites where you could search for jobs; put up your resume and join communities with similar interests. This will give you a much wider range of companies within your reach. It is definitely much easier than searching for companies online and then sending your resume to them all individually. You could either join a job search site or post your details on a social networking site.

Join Business Networking Sites

Becoming a member on a business focused Web 2.0 site like LinkedIn would be the best way to enhance your career prospects. You can reconnect with old friends and colleagues. You can also post your profile and get connected to hundreds of employers. It is very simple because you only need to post your profile in one site and employers will find you easily. It is definitely better than searching for job vacancies for hours on end on your own.

There are many other such sites where you can put up your profile and search for jobs like Monster.com. These Web 2.0 sites give you the freedom to post your resume, edit your details whenever you need to, and apply directly to employers who are also registered. They are very helpful in the case of beginners as well as experienced professionals.

Networking Sites Are A Big Boon

Social networking websites like MySpace ad Facebook have forums or communities where like-minded people can join. These forums bring people from similar job backgrounds together and you can form business relations with many of them. For example, there are forums for content writers, graphic designers and many more professions. You could find jobs or even business propositions through these Web 2.0 based sites.

The best part about these interactive Web 2.0 sites is that, there are so much more you can do instead of just searching and applying for jobs. They have blogs where you can share important information or find helpful tips for your career development. You can be part of discussions among members regarding any topic that is relevant to you and your job. Many employers even provide tips on how to prepare for interviews and what they look for in their candidates. You can receive very helpful advice from professionals in your field.

With the onset of Web 2.0, there are so much more you can do on the Internet. Looking for jobs and enhancing your career has never been easier. You are able to post your photos, articles, paintings, anything at all that will make people sit up and take notice. You can gain a lot of publicity and improve your career prospects two-fold.

There is enormous power in viral marketing and it stems from the fact that it can be very tightly bound to its audience. You can broadcast an idea to the winds but only a few will ever germinate or bear fruit. But if you are able to ensure that people who have need of your product or service get to receive news of it directly then the per sale cost of advertising will be substantially lower.

How Internet Scores Over TV And Print

It is but natural that the advertising you create is closely linked with the type of product you are offering. If you are creating something that has value in a limited geographical area then your medium of advertising will differ from a situation where you sell globally. But the Internet can be of great value to you in either case. This is where it scores heavily over both print and TV media. Both of these cannot be applied universally without prohibitive costs. However, with Internet based viral marketing, you can be both local and global at extremely low costs.

On the other hand, even Internet based viral marketing is not a piece of cake. Most of us know that there are billions of pages on the net and these are growing exponentially. Besides this, the average unsolicited e-mail is never opened and more often than not, the sender is blocked as a spammer. How then do you ensure that your message is seen?

Early Attempts To Use The Net

Earlier attempts at getting free advertising included hosting free e-mail and including a small banner ad in every e-mail sent. However, this was hardly focused advertising. Everyone got to see the same ad regardless of their interests. Naturally enough, this got very poor results.

A far more successful effort is being seen in the offering of contextual advertisements. If your e-mails are generally about travel, you are offered more ads on travel, ticketing, hotels etc. While it is not being explicitly stated, it means that the ‘free’ hosting service scans your e-mails for keywords and creates ads for you. This is very similar to the Adsense service offered by Google. However, while this is much focused advertising, it is still not viral.

The initiative becomes viral marketing when a service like Adsense is embedded on sites offering specialist advice, discussion forums and bulletin boards. You tend to take the advertisement far more seriously because it appears on a site or a blog you have begun to trust.

It is not easy to produce such advertising. You have to recognize your users and their demands completely. Software can do a great job but only if you give it the raw information to work with. With properly focused viral marketing you can ensure that the right person gets the right message, every time.

The use of Web 2.0 has become an integral part of the internet now. If you own a small online business, you should be abreast with the latest developments in the world of web. With the onset of Web 2.0, there is so much more that you can do to enhance your website and improve your business. Web 2.0 is an improved version of Web 1.0, which is what we have been working with. It has totally changed the way the internet works.

Let us see how an online business worked with the older web. You have a website with all the relevant information and people will click on your site if they require it. And that’s probably where it ends. With the new Web 2.0, you can add so many more features on the site and make it more user-friendly and interactive. You can make it more real.

How The Internet Has Changed

Let us look at some examples of how Web 2.0 has changed the world of the internet. The Britannica Online was the only online encyclopedia where you could find basic information about certain things. You could get on the site, see the desired information and log out. Today, you have Wikipedia, which is an online encyclopedia as well, but with a huge difference.

Wikipedia has information on practically everything under the sun. You can get information about movie stars, football teams, historical figures, just about everything. And all this information has been provided by users. The users can add information and even change details that may be incorrect. Anybody can get on Wikipedia and share their knowledge with the world.

A great way to make money on your small business site is to have Google Adsense on it. You can have relevant Google ads placed in your site, which users may find interesting. It not only adds to your web content but also earns you money. It adds to the commercial value of your Web 2.0 site as well.

As the owner of a small business online, you have to be aware of what is going on around you. You cannot just start a business and expect it to do well on its own. You have to keep changing with the times, adding more innovations and keeping users interested in your site. This is all possible with the new Web 2.0. You can make your site more user-friendly and interactive. You need to do what others are doing, if not more. This means that you should add blogs, keyword articles, RSS and backlinks to make sure that your site generates more traffic. It is vital for you to find the right guys to design your site using Web 2.0. This will ensure a more profitable business for you.