Happy New Year

To all of my readers and clients. I wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year. 2008 is shaping up to be one many opportunities and numerous wells of potential for internet entrepreneurs.

The world economy continues to grow and flow. The economic forecast for 2008 is jaded with optimism and it appears that many internet markets are ready to literally burst forth and make people some very serious money.

I always find it consoling and helpful to gain understanding from successful mentors of the past when dealing with new beginnings. In keeping with that trend, I submit to you for use in your new year a few great quotes from some extremely successful entrepreneurial individuals about change and wealth:

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
...Anne Frank

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.
...Alice Walker

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
...Alan Cohen

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.
...Abraham Lincoln

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
...Winston Churchill

Our true wealth is the good we do in this world. None of us has faith unless we desire for our neighbors what we desire for ourselves.
...Mohamed

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
...Anne Bradstreet

Again, I wish all of you a great 2008 and the prosperity and wisdom of the ages. Take heart that you are not alone as an internet entrepreneur and know that you are more free than most of your friends, family and colleagues. Take the time to create and share with the world. If you do, success will surely follow.

To your success in 2008 and beyond!

David C Skul
CEO
Relativity

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series - Part 6

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series - Part 6

In part 6 of a this 12 part series, I talk about "definiteness of plans."

The old saying goes: "Plan your work and then work your plan." This trait is very important to the internet entrepreneur. The internet is distracting and can lead a person to lose track of their work day and the necessary tasks to be accomplished. Browsing, surfing and accessing many of the sites necessary for the success of implementing your internet marketing plans can cause you to lose focus in the short term and lose valuable time in the long run.

New processes and services from other marketers and entrepreneurs can also be distracting. We all want to shortcut our time spent on work, but researching the latest fads can really be time consuming. The best approach is to make a plan and then stick to it. You will be more effective and the results will be more profitable if you are committed to your plans.

Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas to All!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I bid you good tidings.

I appreciate all of my visitors from 2007 and I am looking forward to providing more content in 2008 for all of my fellow internet entrepreneurs and internet marketers.

2008 promises to be a banner year for entrepreneurs as the economy finally bottoms out and opportunity presents itself around every corner. I am definitely going to bring you more video and content from my corporate website as it applies. I also look forward to chatting with each of you in the blog and look forward to your comments.

I will pick up posting in my blog after Christmas. Again, blessing to your family on this joyous spirit filled holiday.

Peace,

David C Skul
CEO
Relativity

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series - Part 5

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series - Part 5

In part 5 of a this 12 part series, I talk about "definiteness of decision."

Making decisions and making them well in a reasonable amount of time is what separates successful entrepreneurs from failures and the mediocre.

The man who wavers in his decisions, shows that he is not sure of himself. He cannot lead others successfully.

As entrepreneurial leaders we need to be able to make high quality decisions quickly and stick by those decisions no matter the result. Knowing how hard making decisions can be challenging for any entrepreneur. The definiteness of those decisions and the spirit which those decisions are made is of paramount importance to the success of any entrepreneur.

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series - Part 4

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series - Part 4

In part 4 of a this 12 part series, I talk the need for "A Keen Sense of Justice."

Wikipedia cites traits of justice as follows:

1. Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all.

2. Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both

a) to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged, consistent with the just savings principle,

b) attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity.

As entrepreneurial leaders we need to have a keen sense of justice regarding the people that we deal with on a daily basis and how they are treated. Without justice there can only be tyranny. In reality, there are two types of predominate leadership structures. One is to lead by force or fear and the other is to lead by consent. The difference between the two types is that leadership by consent is far more effective and long lasting than leadership by fear or force. If you want to lead in your marketplace, you will need to be just and treat people fairly if you hope to maintain a solid and long lasting entrepreneurial effect.

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series - Part 3

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series - Part 3

In part 3 of a this 12 part series, I talk the need for "Self Control."

Wikipedia cites self control as follows:

Self control is perceived in a few ways. One of which is philosophical and might be described as the exertion of one's own will on their personal self - their behaviors, actions, thought processes. Much of this comes from the perception of self and the ability to set up boundaries for that self. Self-control can be expanded into several different areas, ranging from respect to willpower. Self-control is therefore centered in the ability of a person to exert their will over the inhibitions of their body or self.

As entrepreneurs we need to practice self control on a daily basis. When it comes to how people perceive us and the messages that we are broadcasting the tendency to follow comes from a feeling of confidence. If you have not mastered self control then you are not leading yourself. If you do cannot lead your self then you can never hope to lead others.

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series - Part 2

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series - Part 2

In part 2 of a this 12 part series, I talk the need for "unwavering courage". I reflect on a few of the challenges that entrepreneurs face on a daily basis. Focusing on introspection, the video deals with external and internal factors that contribute to the stresses everyday entrepreneurs face.

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series

The Traits of a Successful Internet Entrepreneurial Leader Series

In part 1 of a this 12 part series, I talk about being an internet entrepreneur and the ins and outs of the trade. I reflect on how America is truly the land of opportunity for entrepreneurs. There is also some good discussion on how hard and how much you will have to work when you finally decide to step out on your own.

Web 2.0 Marketing – Get the Right Tools - Video

Could you build a house with just a hammer? Absolutely not! The same ideology should translate into your Web 2.0 marketing campaigns. Do you know what tools and supplies you will need to effective and successful. Web 2.0 allows us to market in real time modes. This type of audience interaction was never possible before at such a grand scale. No doubt that Web 2.0 is here to stay and the smart marketer will leverage it.

As an entrepreneur in today’s rapidly changing world, you need to be quick if you want your business to succeed—especially online.

In a scenario that has already been revolutionized by the Internet, Web 2.0 is changing all the dynamics. New ideas, new techniques and new tools—it’s a completely new way of thinking and doing business. By exploiting these new techniques and tools and putting them to good use, you can create more marketing buzz and increase your profits exponentially.

Though Web 2.0 marketing tools are readily and easily available, the key to your business success is knowing how and when to use them. It is important that you only start utilizing Web 2.0 marketing tools if and when you are prepared to support the Web 2.0 technology on a consistent basis. More importantly, though, you need the content that it will require to succeed.

Read the article here: Web 2.0 Marketing – Get the Right Tools

Web 2.0 is Vital to Internet Marketers - Video

Internet marketers tend to specialize in one portion of the internet marketing medium or another. This is a mistake especially when a well rounded approach always seems to work best for most campaigns. Looking at ways to leverage the Web 2.0 marketing space and maximizing its potential has become vital and for the most part required of internet marketers in the business of generating traffic and building brand trust.

Contrary to popular belief, Web 2.0 does not signify a replacement to its 1.0 predecessor. The term Web 2.0 implies the web has changed but not in its entirety. With an immense number of web pages and millions of website owners, the web will more than likely always be a merging of the new and old.

Web 2.0 brings a new definition to the term web usability and the innovative technologies that drive it. Web 2.0 is more of a concept rather than a version and is more closely defined by dynamic web pages that encourage user interaction.

Unlike its Web 1.0 forerunner, where the primary option available to users was reading static web pages, Web 2.0 has been compared to readers helping write a book instead of being restricted to only reading it.

Web 2.0 is characterized by blogs, wikis (brought about by the success of Wikipedia), social networking sites such as MySpace, and RSS feeds, where organizations offer a variety of delivery and targeted news options. These seemingly innocuous technologies are expected to sway the enterprise for completely unexpectedly reasons.

Read the article here: Web 2.0 is Vital to Internet Marketers

Web 2.0 Ignites Small Businesses Marketing - Video

This video deals directly with the Small business arena. Web 2.0 Marketing really does open up a ton of low cost marketing opportunities for the small business person. You cannot advertise or talk about your projects on television or radio for a budget under $1000 per month and have any effectiveness. What's worse is that you cannot track your results or quantify the opportunity via direct contact with you consumer. Web 2.0 gives you that power. This video has been viewed over 500 times since it was published 4 weeks ago. The cost of production is about $5 per visit right now. But with every new visit that figure shrinks.

Though still in its infancy, Web 2.0 has completely altered the way businesses market online. It puts business collaboration not only in the hands of managers and employees, but also customers and potential customers, decentralizing the chain-of-command into more of a spider-web effect.Entrepreneurs looking for innovative ways to launch their businesses benefit greatly from this feature of Web 2.0.

It gives them the competitive edge against larger corporations that are run in an inflexible top down manner.An early 2007 poll revealed that several established companies believed Web 2.0 was over-hyped and were convinced it would have no impact on their business or any other start-up business.

Traditional thinking industry leaders found it difficult to believe that blogs and social networking could have world wide consequences on any level—start-up or otherwise. A few months later, Web 2.0 marketing has sky-rocketed, proving them wrong and leaving them scrambling to strategize and integrate this once innocuous marketing structure into their existing models.

Read the article here: Web 2.0 Ignites Small Businesses Marketing

Web 2.0 – Its Significance for the Retail Marketer - Video

Though relatively new, Web 2.0 has taken the world by storm. Familiar old technologies such as Flash and newer technologies such as AJAX and RSS feeds offer ground breaking new ways for retailers and consumers to connect with each other and communicate. These features are changing the face of online marketing.

The distinct characteristic of Web 2.0 marketing is that it is spearheaded by innovative means for keeping open the channels of communication between marketers and buyers. As the choice of communication channels increase, retailers are forced to think more about revamping their traditional online marketing campaigns. Blogs, social networking sites and RSS feeds are the three main areas of Web 2.0 that have the strongest impact on retailers.

Read the article here: Web 2.0 – Its Significance for the Retail Marketer

iMedia and the Web 2.0 Revolution - Video

No matter how good a product or service may be, it's the first impression that counts. Though much has changed in the way businesses advertise and market their products or services, the one thing that has remained constant over the years is the value of first impressions.

However, business marketing has, in recent times, outgrown traditional print and television mediums and is now entering newer realms. From interactive audio-visual presentations to web sites using a vast assortment of electronic tools, businesses are creatively engaging consumers. Entrepreneurs and advertisers who have long known that image is everything are now using the latest in technology to put that theory to good use.

iMedia is a valuable tool that enables specialization and entry into the fast moving and dynamic world of creative interactive media. It helps graphic designers respond quickly to growth, innovation and change. iMedia is a benefit to anybody who is passionate about creative media whether they possess artistic skills or not.

It opens up endless advertising and marketing avenues for individuals who have a creative mind and a zeal for digital media.

Read the article here: iMedia and the Web 2.0 Revolution

6 Tips for Increasing Blog Traffic

The easiest way to draw people to your blog is to post great content and to accentuate it with an RSS feed that people can subscribe to. Not all blogs are created equal and not all RSS feeds display your content in the best light. Once you get a handle on these issues its time to get down to getting the message out.

There are several really easy and free ways to get this done on the internet today. Take a look at the resource below and check out the rest of my article on the site for the rest.

If you've built a blog, your primary focus should be in developing a solid readership. Now that you have your blog running, you've been adding quality content, and you've been engaging your readers, what do you do now?

You need to spend more time promoting your blog. When you market your blog, you're marketing yourself. You can't hide behind a faceless company which makes marketing so much more collaborative and difficult at the same time.

Think of these 7 methods as a way of reaching out to your audiences and saying, "This is who I am. Come on over and let’s chat."

Tip #1 - Technorati Your Blog

Having your blog "claimed" at Technorati offers you several advantages. This includes the opportunity to add your branding or photograph to Technorati, where it becomes visible to millions of viewers who visit this popular site daily. You can also see your Technorati link and get updated link counts.

Read the rest of the tips here: 6 Tips for Increasing Blog Traffic

Web 2.0 Marketing – Communicating and Measuring Results

Web 2.0 gives us great ways to express ourselves and even more ways for our audience to express themselves to us. communicating is only one side of the equation. The other is the way we measure the results of our communications.
The sheer fact that people post comments, send the information to friends, or place your content on their own blogs is a good indication that you are making an impact on your target audience. the other is pure traffic results. After all, social marketing is just that... Marketing.

Web 2.0 is a technology that is people centered. It is characterized by enhanced interactivity, social features, ease of use, quick reaction times and fast loading applications. It includes several innovations that have changed the way we use and even think about the Internet. Discovering new knowledge is made even more accessible and community based.

The two factors that have made Web 2.0 so successful are customer communication and measurement.


How Web 2.0 tools help in effective communication with customers

Low cost Web 2.0 communication and marketing tools help you reach out to clients and customers right across the Web. The focus is on transforming static Web sites into dynamic experiences that are constantly evolving enabling you to more effectively engage your customers with photos, audio and video as well as community generated content.

Blogs, Webcasts and podcasts are some of the better known Web 2.0 tools, which are successfully being applied by midsize and small companies. For entrepreneurs, these tools allow them to maximize the capabilities of the Web by advertising and marketing themselves to attract new customers.

Read the rest of this article here: Web 2.0 Marketing – Communicating and Measuring Results

Web 2.0 Marketing – 5 Concepts That Matter

Well here we are again. trying to wrap our hands around the way to use Web 2.0 in our marketing campaigns and everyday internet interactions. The best way I can see to work with this medium is to unlearn what I had learned through my previous experience as an internet marketer and focus on the new concepts that are emerging to define how we maximize this medium. Very simply put, If you entertain people and give them what they need and supply them with fresh new ways to interact with that content you will be successful in the long haul.

Web 2.0 marketing has made previous conventional marketing methods seem nearly obsolete. Trying to succeed in a Web 2.0 world means having to discard old marketing notions and embrace new ones.

If you are trying to figure out the secret to successful Web 2.0 marketing, here are a few creative concepts that are sure to get started in the right direction.

Your Audiences Matter more than the Markets

Unlike conventional marketing where the markets were the prime focus and the customers just fell in place, the web is all about audiences. People do not just want to come, buy and walk away. They want to be enlightened, engaged, and entertained. The only way you can succeed in that is by thinking of your web visitors in terms of an audience instead of merely regarding them as market to "pitch" every week.

Forget business; think entertainment

You cannot enlighten, engage, or entertain your audience if your web site looks and sounds like it came from an academic textbook.

Weave a little creativity and imagination into your story and present it to your audiences in a compelling way. Engage your audience’s senses. If you want your audience to sit up and notice you, you need to appeal to their senses.

Capture their attention by delivering your message in an audio-video presentation. Sights and sounds put together can create a powerful impact and are more entertaining than poring over pages of boring, static text.

Read the rest of the concepts here: Web 2.0 Marketing – 5 Concepts That Matter

Gearing up your Site for Web 2.0 Marketing

Get ready because Web 2.0 is going to alter the way you operate your business, design you website and how you publish information on the internet. You have to be ready for a steady flow of potential customers coming to your site through social channels or commenting and discussing you products and services through diverse social channels.

Can you take the good with the bad? Are you ready to be responsive to consumers and their issues? I hope so because you need to be. If you languish in response time or cannot accept criticism then Web 2.0 is not for you. Making a good impression and then maintaining your reputation in the Web 2.0 world are absolutely the keys to your success.

Contrary to prior assumptions, social media has traversed the fad stage and transformed itself from a teenager based model to a full-scale marketing medium.

Social media marketing is here to stay and it brings with it tremendous changes to users' internet experiences as well as significant changes in the marketing techniques used by online businesses. Social media marketing effectively straddles the territory between virtual worlds and the real world, offering marketers as well as customers, unprecedented opportunities for delving into previously unknown territories.

If you are engaged in trying to sell your products or services online, it is absolutely critical to exploit this web 2.0 trend by implementing essential features that will make your web site social-media friendly.

The components of social media dramatically increase your potential of attracting repeat visitors who will also feel compelled to stay longer and buy more.

Social media marketing in a virtual world is immersive and real and is rapidly becoming a realistic means for reaching users as well as influencing their behaviors and attitudes in ways that never before possible. When designing your web site, it is important to keep in mind the kind of experience you are offering your customers.

Read the rest of this article here: Gearing up your Site for Web 2.0 Marketing

5 Tips to help you Succeed at Web 2.0 Marketing

Planning, launching and maintaining a successful Web 2.0 marketing campaign can be a daunting and time consuming obsession. There is no way around certain aspects of the Web 2.0 marketing space that are critical and those that do not embrace it whole heatedly will surely languish or worse be vanquished.


In this article, I have put together five tips to help you be successful with your Web 2.0 marketing campaign. They seem simple but do not overlook them. You do so at your peril.




While Web 2.0 marketing does not involve any complex technology, it does involve a radical shift in the way organizations think about marketing. The rules of the game have changed drastically and to succeed in a Web 2.0 world, it is important that all of Web 2.0 marketing doctrine is instilled in your organization's staff.

Here are a few things you may want to consider when entering the Web 2.0 marketing arena:

Tip #1 Learn how social media works

Social media marketing is a critical component of Web 2.0 marketing. Taking some time for you as well as your staff to understand and participate in social media marketing is an important first step. Some of the new services you need to understand and be familiar with include MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Technorati and del.icio.us.

Tip #2 Develop a Web 2.0 marketing campaign

There are several Web 2.0 methodologies that are available for your use. Brainstorm with your staff and your loyal users and develop a strategic plan about how and where your marketing resources can best be put to use for online marketing.

Keep your mind open and be prepared to accept the revolutionary new ideas that fit the nature of social media marketing. Invite staff and loyal customers to submit relevant photographs or videos and add catchy titles. These can then be sent as postcards to their friends and contacts, widening your customer circle.

What's even better is if you can get your passionate users to create a promotional video for your product or service. Ask you customers to film themselves using your product or service Let them be your "instruction manual". You could post them online on numerous sites giving you unprecedented, free publicity.

Get the rest of the tips here: 5 Tips to help you Succeed at Web 2.0 Marketing

Top Tips to Using del.icio.us as a Marketing Tool

De.licio.us is a great social book marking tool. It is extremely easy to use and enables the user to share their favorite web pages with the click of a button on most blogs. They even have a toolbar widget for Windows Explorer and FireFox. Getting the word out as well as garnering valuable back links to your site is a breeze when you use the De.licio.us tool.

As with many of Web 2.0's popular social networking websites, del.icio.us offers new and exciting opportunities to market your website and your product at little or no cost.

De.licio.us, which is soon to be known simply as Delicious, is a social bookmarking website that allows people to store and share bookmarks online. You can organize your bookmarks by tagging them and access them from any computer with an internet connection.

De.licio.us is one of the many rags to riches success stories of the Web 2.0 revolution. It was founded by Joshua Schachter in 2003 before it was acquired by Yahoo! in 2005 for an undisclosed amount—most guesses put it somewhere between $15M and $30M.

Like many social networking and bookmarking websites, you can gain popularity and drive traffic to your site by providing content that people like. Before you jump into the bookmarking game, spend some time researching del.icio.us to find out what people like, what topics are popular, and how big, or small, your target audience is.

Perusing the users' tag clouds will give you a good idea on popular topics. The bigger the link in the cloud, the more popular that topic is. Once you have an idea of what topics are most popular, you can begin to tailor your content in this direction. However, don't try to force your marketing into places it may not fit.

Read more about this topic at: Top Tips to Using del.icio.us as a Marketing Tool

The Marketing Power of Flickr

The old saying goes: "A picture is worth a thousand words." Well with Flickr you also get the thousands words in addition to a great venue for sharing photos and images with other like minded people. Flickr has really stepped forward in a very discreet way as a social network without really ever claiming to be one.

Studies show that people are image crazy and that the right image can transform any marketing campaign into a massive landslide winner. Using Flickr as a base for talking about your photos and images is a great way to drive targeted traffic but it is also a great way to gauge market responses to images you plan to use in you campaigns.


If you are interested in using Web 2.0 to market your products online, you need to think beyond traditional, one-way internet marketing techniques. You can now get written, audio, and visual content about your product on the web for free. You have the potential to expose yourself to millions of potential customers.

Blogs, social networking websites, and other products of the latest internet technology shift have changed the way we think about online marketing, and marketing in general. In fact, it is now accepted that traditional marketing techniques are losing their effectiveness as young people spend less time in front of the TV and more time in front of the PC.

One of the most popular free ways to market products is on Flickr. Ultimately, Flickr combines social networking and media sharing by allowing users to upload photographs.

So what does this mean for you? If you want to increase exposure, especially if you sell a product, you can simply publish product photographs on Flickr. If you can provide useful captions for your photographs, you'll be ahead of the curve. You also have to be different.

Read the rest of this article here: The Marketing Power of Flickr

How to Spice up your MySpace Corner

We all know it is important not to leave MySpace in the back of your mind when marketing products or services on the internet that appeal to that demographic. The real trick is getting people to "friend" you and then having them come back to visit you.

Like any other website or internet marketing campaign, you must create the stickiness factors that help to attract and retain visitors. MySpace offers so many tools to enrich your profile that it becomes easy to make your MySpace corner attractive and retentive at the push of a button.



With an abundance of easily available tools and templates, it’s fairly simple for MySpace users to generate a basic website quickly.

This is perfect for people who only intend to use their MySpace site for keeping in touch with old friends and for making new friends. However, individuals who are involved in internet marketing should consider offering their visitors more than just a plain website.

If you are looking to spice up your MySpace Website, here are two simple and remarkably easy ways to make it happen.

Add background music

MySpace makes it amazingly easy for members to add music to their profiles. From a marketing perspective, you may want to focus on delivering…marketing messages. Nobody says you have to use music. What if you produced different, short info clips for each day of the week? Whether music or news, here's how to make it happen:

Read the article here: How to Spice up your MySpace Corner

Get Visitors to StumbleUpon Your Website

The term "stumble" might seem daunting to some. It brings up thoughts of falling and embarrassing one self. But the Stumble social network is far from a mechanism for falling down or embarrassment. The Stumble social marketing tool allow user to bookmark and share the unique treasures they find while roaming the internet. It also allow for rating and social interaction. The tool is very easy to use and drives targeted traffic on a consistent basis. That is really the greatest benefit of social marketing networks like Stumble. A consistently steady flow of qualified traffic and users are being directed to your content and your site with little or no effort of your own.


Of all the Web 2.0 driven websites that have opened up the internet for marketers, StumbleUpon is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the best, free marketing opportunities on the internet.

StumbleUpon was founded by three Canadians: Garrett Camp, Geoff Smith, and Justin LaFrance. With almost two million users, the marketing potential on StumbleUpon is excellent. Its basic premise is that people join and, when they find a website that interests them (they "stumble upon" it), they bookmark and rate it for others to see.

What makes StumbleUpon unique is that content (i.e. websites) are categorized according to topic. Instead of using automated software, the site allows humans to determine what's important, or not. Most search engines use complex algorithms to determine importance.

So how exactly does StumbleUpon work? Users install a toolbar on their browser that lets them stumble upon random websites, giving them a positive or negative rating. The more positive ratings a site gets, the more traffic is driven to it.

The more friends you have on StumbleUpon, the more successful you will be. You will stake your reputation on your ability to supply expertise without overly promoting yourself. This is what makes Web 2.0 marketing, with its inherently social structure, so hard to penetrate with marketing messages.

Read more Stumbling here: Get Visitors to StumbleUpon Your Website

FaceBook’s Advertising and Marketing Potential

Face book continues to mae people with its marketing reach and advertising potential. Facebook, unlike its oredecessor MySpace is a venue for professional adults as a majority. The messages that are poorly received on MySpace are widely accepeted and even sought after by FaceBook users.

The potential for making real connections with people of like mind sets looking to collaborate and share ideas is far and above that of MySpace. Take time to get to know FaceBook and its benefits will bring opportunity to your front door.

FaceBook is quickly becoming the giant of all social networking sites, and as its popularity grows, so does the marketing and advertising opportunities it offers to businesses of all sizes.

Whether you simply want to post your profile on FaceBook to gain a little extra exposure or embark on a major advertising campaign, the latest social networking phenomenon offers a number of choices.

Before you begin any marketing or advertising campaign, you should get to know your audience. On FaceBook, the majority of users will be in the 18-25 age range so you will need to appeal to a fairly hip audience. However users over 25 years are the fastest growing segment. Companies are beginning to use the site for networking with existing clients.

Although the jury is still out as to whether FaceBook ads are worth the price tag, there are a number of ways you can advertise on the website.

You can buy traditional banner ads that are placed at the top of pages. Also, you can buy flyers that can be targeted to a particular university, company, or group. These are a way to target a specific audience and can be bought for as little as $5.

Read the rest of the FaceBook article here: FaceBook’s Advertising and Marketing Potential

How to Maintain a Successful Blog

Blogging is an integral part of any internet marketing campaign. The problem is, once you start one how to do you maintain and make it successful. you need to be constantly updating the content and how the blog looks in order to maintain and build consumer loyalty.

Adding new services like FeedBurner and subscription widgets can go a long way to increasing your blogs reach. The important thing to remember is that you need to be on top of your blog all the time. Make it fun interesting and concentrate on the experience. You can't go wrong if you maintain your blog in this manner.

Creating a blog is simple, even if you're a web neophyte. You can have one up and running in as little as 10 minutes. Maintaining a blog, however, is a far more complex matter.

This is, in no small measure, due to the fact that, though you can influence your blog, you lose some control once you start posting publicly.

The success or failure of a blog depends on a combination of several different factors. These factors include your blog's topic as well as its layout. An equally important factor is the ability to promote your blog to reach a large, and interested, audience.

There is not one simple or definite formula for creating or maintaining a successful blog. Because of the sheer dynamics involved and because you do not have absolute control over your blog, there are no success guarantees.

However, by taking a few well thought out steps, you can make certain your blog has the best chance of making it in a world where one blog is created nearly every second of the day.

Get the rest of the article here: How to Maintain a Successful Blog

3 Simple Steps to Increase Your Blog Readership

Well three simple steps sounds easy right? That is true if you put out good quality content on a regular basis. That is also true if you interact with people posting on your blog and responding in a timely manner. These steps and tactics seem pretty common to most people but it takes real dedication to post to a blog every day and to respond to comments that people leave on a regular basis.

There is one absolute truth in blogging. If you put n the work and stay dedicated people will come to see you and talk with you. Like any other marketing or communications medium you must speak and reach out first without expectation but be wiling to cater to the needs of your audience once they are there.

Blogs are an integral part of Web 2.0. Companies who were once skeptical about the effectiveness of web 2.0 are quickly acknowledging the value of blogging on the internet.

While setting up a blog is relatively easy, many companies struggle with ideas on how to make their blogs grow.

Here are three simple steps that will help you increase your blog readership:

Post regularly - Post unique

Giving your readers new and interesting content to read everyday is the best way to convert occasional visitors into regulars. Though simple in word, it's not so simple to make the commitment. You must get into a regular pattern of writing unique content and posting it regularly.

Ideally, your blog should have at least three posts a week, if not more. Don’t make the mistake of posting three on one day and then none the next week. Most visitors will skim for new content and then move on. They don’t have time to determine if you've posted new content. You either did or you didn't.

With the explosion of existing blogs and new ones being created everyday, readers have an endless selection of articles to choose from. If you don’t stand out from the crowd, your viewers will go elsewhere. Keep your readership growing by giving them content they are unlikely to find anywhere else. Breaking news prior to a major release will lead to more readers, more comments, and more links to your blog.

Get the rest of these tips here: 3 Simple Steps to Increase Your Blog Readership

Using Squidoo for Web 2.0 Marketing

I recently wrote about Squidoo and its superior potential for propagating your content. I cannot say enough about this resource. Setting up an account and creating your first lens is incredibly easy. The best part is once you have focused your Squidoo lens on your content it does the rest of the work for you. No Muss. No Fuss. You get a free blog that is constantly updating itself every time you post to your daily blog or other resource location. Awes om tool! Get to know the Squid and you won't be sorry.

Squidoo plays a major role in Web 2.0 marketing. This innovative website allows authors to create a 'lens', which is a one page website that highlights a single subject. A specific lens can glean information from several sources and assemble it all together on one page so that it makes for easy viewing and reading. What makes this service even better? It's free.

A lens maker has the option of creating several lenses on one subject, concentrating on different aspects of the topic in different lenses. The other option is to create several lenses covering a wide variety of topics, reflecting the lens maker's varied interests and fields of expertise. This remarkably simple idea offers internet marketers an extraordinarily resourceful platform for leveraging their business. Content rich, informative lenses attract quality traffic, add credibility to the product by offering valuable information and also establish the author's credibility as an expert in the field.

Squidoo offers authors several tools, called modules, with which to build a lens—or multiple lenses. These modules help set up separate, individual sections on the combined web space. Some of the other tools that authors can benefit from include the lens headline title, RSS subscription for readers, the author’s biographical area, a lensroll and a keyword list, also known as a tag list.

Get the rest of the scoop here: Using Squidoo for Web 2.0 Marketing

Blog Your Business to Success

Many of my clients overlook the need for a blog. A blog can go a lng way to helping you establish trust with others in remote locations. Think of your website like it is the front door of your business. Think of your blog as the story that goes along with all of the contents and people inside the building. A blog is really your chance to tell your story over and over again to a willing listener. It is also an opportunity to form relationships and bond with your consumer base.

The Web 2.0 revolution has presented a number of new ways to market your products and services—few more effective than the simple blog.

Basically, a blog is an online journal that is updated regularly. A blog can be on any subject, and, since they are cheap to set up and run, it is not surprising that the net is cluttered with them. Setting up a blog is easy. Breaking through the mess of blogs already in existence is harder.

If you already have a business, you should certainly consider setting up a blog that is affiliated with your existing website.

You can write about your products, related industry news, voice opinions and even post video, audio and images. However, be sure that your blog isn’t just a glorified ad. Make sure your content is relevant, interesting and well written. If you can attract visitors who are genuinely interested in what you have to say, your blog marketing experiment will be successful.

Learn more by reading: Blog Your Business to Success

Understanding Web 2.0 Advertising

The day has come to embrace Web 2.0 for its unbelievably effective and low cost advertising opportunities. If you advertise using traditional media outlets like newspapers, magazines, television or radio then you know how expensive advertising can be. Not to mention the fact that it is almost impossible to get a direct read on the results of one ad campaign over another unless you are very serious about tracking it. Unlike traditional media, Web 2.0 brings a whole new way of communicating with your target audiences and a much better way of tracking results from your campaigns. Take the time you need to form a solid understanding of the advertising potentials employing Web 2.0 marketing techniques and you will see the obvious advantages.


Web 2.0 has the potential to be a dream come through for businessmen and marketers as it offers an opportunity for free advertising.

So what is Web 2.0? The phrase was coined originally by O’Reilly Media and generally refers to the latest generation of websites and web applications that allow increased user participation, rather than the static nature of older websites.

We have all seen, and probably participated in, Web 2.0 websites. YouTube, Flickr, FaceBook. Wikipedia and My Space are all Web 2.0 websites, as is every blog you come across on the internet.

Because of the participative nature of Web 2.0, you can advertise your product or service free of charge simply by word of mouth. Take this example. Write an informative article describing the history, structure, and services offered by your company and submit it to Wikipedia. If it is genuinely informative and of interest, it will be accepted and you will have a page on one of the most popular websites in the world...for free.

Read more of this article here: Understanding Web 2.0 Advertising

Lens Building & Money Making in a Web 2.0 World

When I first learned about Squidoo, I thought... Awesome another way to leverage my content! But then I realized this little tool was so much more than that. It was a way to focus traffic on keyword phrases and fill those phrase pages or lenses with great keyword specific content. Well as you might have guesses it was very effective.

But the flip side of that monumental advantage was the inevitable leaking of the tool by a so called "internet marketing guru" to his masses of uneducated get rich overnight idiots looking to make a quick buck form adsense or affiliate links. Google quickly caught on and devalued the results. This made the idiots flee the ship like so many rats. Now the tool is stabilizing and returning to its post idiot effectiveness. Try this tool out and make sure your content is up to snuff before you do. Remember you will be under the lense.

Squidoo, one of the most revolutionary sites to emerge from the Web 2.0 phenomenon, can best be described as a cross between a mini site, a MySpace page, and a blog. If you are looking for a free and fast way to build traffic and make money online, this is it! Any internet marketer who is not building lenses on Squidoo is missing out on one of the quickest and easiest money making opportunities.

Intimidating as it may sound, a Squidoo 'lens' is just a simple one page website on Squidoo. To build a Squidoo lens all you need to do is write an article pertinent to your area of expertise, put it together on one page, and submit it. Squidoo offers a range of innovative tools to make the whole process simple, easy, and very creative. This simple one-step process establishes you as an expert in your field, and if your article is interesting enough, it will send the right kind of traffic back to your site.

Here are a number of pertinent facts about using Squidoo and the many ways you can use your Squidoo lens to build traffic and make money online:

Squidoo lenses are remarkably easy to build. Even if you are a novice to website or blog-building, you could create your Squidoo lens and have it up and running in less then twenty minutes.

Find out more about Lens building here: Lens Building & Money Making in a Web 2.0 World

Web 2.0 Marketing - Should or Shouldn’t You

In a world that is increasingly globally competitive the only question you should be asking yourself if you are not using Web 2.0 marketing strategies is: Why not? it is true that some of the Social Networking site and strategies will not apply to every business. For example, selling life insurance on MySpace is probably not a good choice due to the teen demographic that is the majority of the representation of the sites visitors. But how about using FaceBook? See what I mean? There are plenty of ways to leverage this technology to enrich your market share. You have global opportunity and no reason not to pursue it. Unless you don't want any more customers that is.

In an era where customers openly compliment, criticize and discuss your services and products, and thousands of other viewers read these comments, getting into Web 2.0 marketing can make even the tough skinned shudder.

However, love it or hate it, Web 2.0 is here. If your business is online, which it should be, you can choose to ignore the Web 2.0 movement or choose to embrace it.

You may not be able to control messages being published by your audiences, but you can influence the conversations by actively listening to and participating in and learning from them.

Do you have ideas for new products or services? Use active conversations to gather information and improve and re-design your product—giving your customers what they really want. This is what gives Web 2.0 marketers the edge over other retailers who are still on the periphery, hesitant to test the Web 2.0 waters.

With several innovative marketing channels opening, online marketers have many opportunities for reaching out to customers. The downside of having so many choices is that newcomers to web 2.0 are likely to be overwhelmed.

Find out more here: Web 2.0 Marketing - Should or Shouldn’t You

Using Web 2.0 to Out Serve Your Competition

As business people and especially as marketers it is important to communicate just how Web 2.0 can give our clients the competitive edge. Everybody is looking for that next great way to open new marketing channels at lower costs. I have to say, that Web 2.0 is an arena ready to break open and shift the way people think about market share in the future.

Never before have we had the opportunity as business people to attract market share from all over the globe and to not only educate them about our products and services, but listen to them in real time conversations about our products and services. Can you say Powerful?

I do not know of any business person out there that would not give their eye teeth to hear directly from their consumer and be able to tweak existing products, services or marking messages to suit the larger body of potential buyers.

Web 2.0 technologies have brought business and consumers closer together than ever before. Instead of bombarding the internet and traditional media with advertisements, businesses can now reach potential customers in much more subtle and sophisticated ways.

Perhaps more importantly, consumers can now interact directly with businesses and increasingly shape the directions businesses are taking. Web 2.0 possibilities, such as blogs, RSS feeds and other two way interactions, are allowing businesses to give their customers a voice that helps them improve their products, sales, and customer satisfaction.

However, if you decide to engage with your customers using these techniques, you will have to take the good with the bad because you will receive both positive and negative criticism.

The following are some of the best ways you can increase interaction with your customers using Web 2.0:

Blogs – Thousands of companies have already embraced blogs as a way of interacting with customers. A blog could be about a particular product or service or group of product or services. While keeping customers up to date, blogs also allow customers to post comments and leave feedback which can be responded to.

Get the rest of the article here: Using Web 2.0 to Out Serve Your Competition

Steps to Create a Web 2.0 Marketing Friendly Website

When I talk to people about marketing their goods, services and knowledge using Web 2.0 technologies they most often make the mistake that the process is complicated or more advanced than everyday internet marketing. In fact, the opposite is true. It is so easy to market using Web 2.0 platforms and concepts that most everyone wonders just why they had not engaged in this medium before. I would say that marketing using Web 1.0 techniques was far more laborious and harder to measure results. A few simple steps with your existing website and mindset and you are on your way.

The good thing about creating a Web 2.0 marketing compatible website is that you don’t have to overhaul everything completely or immediately. Small changes introduced incrementally can be just as effective.

The following list describes ways in which you can take advantage of Web 2.0 marketing to outfit your website for maximum interactivity.

Introduce yourself and tell people who you are. Setting up an 'About us' page that lists your skills and achievements endorses your credentials and helps potential customers know more about you and relate to you better.

Install a blog and begin publishing a few high quality articles on a regular basis. Provide an action button for every article on your site which will take your readers to the submission page of a bookmarking site.

Provide your users with a forum for meeting and discussing your services and products. Get your forum registered at BoardTracker, a forum search engine.

Give your users the opportunity to rate and review your products; this will help you manage your inventory as you can add or remove inventory based on customer reviews or opinions.

Providing RSS feeds for newly launched products, forum postings or blogs will provide potential customers with teasers of your content. Interested users will scan your teasers using RSS readers and if it draws their attention, they will be tempted to visit your site to glean some more information.

Publish your feeds at Feedburner. Feedburner provides an advertising network for all RSS feeds, which enables you to monetize your contents if they are of high quality.

Read more of the steps at: Steps to Create a Web 2.0 Marketing Friendly Website

Defining Web 2.0

Everyone is always arguing over what the term "Web 2.0 " actually means. I understand the concern of those whom are purists and cannot deviate from the straight line description of any term. I would also submit that the term "Web 2.0" is better used as a concept when straying from the definition handed to us by O'Reilly Media back in 2004. Whatever people choose to embrace as Web 2.0 the fact remains the same; it is here to stay and has far ranging ramifications for the internet of the future.

There has been much disagreement about what actually defines Web 2.0, a term coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004.

However, in the last three years something approaching a consensus on what Web 2.0 actually is has emerged. Most agree that Web 2.0 defines the internet as a platform where developers build applications uniquely tailored for the internet, rather than the internet having to adapt to suit the features of applications.

Examples of this definition are wiki sites or Google Docs & Spreadsheets which act like desktop applications but actually work in the user’s browser.

Under Web 2.0, the internet is also seen as a two-way medium with increased interactivity and input for the end user. This can be seen in blogs, wikis and social networking sites where users can easily interact with each other and the website's publisher.

While the term Web 2.0 suggests a newer version of internet, this is not the case. It simply refers to the web as we know it today. And as this will continue to change and evolve—an exact definition of the term may never be possible.

Read more of this article here: Defining Web 2.0