Social networking has become essential for building your business both online and offline.  With your website you can greatly increase your presents by developing personal relationships through social networking sites.  You will find that people

begin to trust you more.  They will see you through your website which is very important.  Your business becomes personal with that ever important personal touch, not some cold website that tells your future customers to call if they want to talk to someone.  You are also able to impress upon them the good points of your business more easily and people are more readily to accept them.

Enlarge Your Business Network As Well

Enlarging your customer base is not the only reason for social networking.  You can also enlarge your business networks.  Your suppliers are also looking to increase their businesses.  Developing online relationships with them will open doors to new opportunities.  It will get you to the top of the list for new products that you can offer your clients.  Heck it might even get you a larger discount.

Cost is almost Non-Existent

One of the greatest things about social networking is that the cost is almost non-existent.  You already have an internet connection, you already have a website so those costs should not be counted.  Being online and taking your time is the only cost.  But when do you do this?  You could do it during working hours on a slow day, but more than likely you can do it on your lunch time, at home, on Saturday or Sunday really any time you want.  Gaining more customers who are even more loyal will give you that edge and you have not had to spend any more money in doing it.

There are many other aspects of social networking that occur off-line.  For example you can get in tough with people through networking dinners and forums.  As you meet people exchange profile information with them.  Get your social information printed on your business card and make sure that you point it out to them as you hand them out.  The options are great, and the good news is that it is just beginning.

Here is a list of recommended social sites for you and your business to get started:

Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) - if you are not on Facebook yet what are you waiting for?  Get a profile it is free and it is very safe.

MeetUp (http://www.meetup.com) - This is a great place for forming interest groups and to find other people with similar interests in your area.  It could be a marketing boom if you use it right.

Linked In (http://www.linkedinn.com) - This is a business specific social site that lets you connect to people in the same industry as yours with the same interests.  It also lets you branch out and discover other avenues of income that you may not fully be aware of.

Forums - Forums are a great place to get your name out and to prove that you are an expert in your field.  There are many forums out there for you to participate in so you will have to do a search on either Google or Yahoo.  Just type in Forum and whatever words are associated with your business and you will soon find plenty of places to participate in discussions of all topics.

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Why free information? It is the information age and times are a changing. The new rulers of the world will be the ones that have the information. Information will change the way people make money and how the world views power.

There are all kinds of ages that people talk about in history. There was the Bronze Age defined by the ability to manipulate metal. There was the Renaissance where literature, art, and communication ruled. There was the age of Exploration where Europeans discovered North America. We are just ending the Industrial Age spurred on by the invention of the Printing Press and driven by the Assembly Line developed by Henry Ford. You are lucky to be able to have this book and begin your transformation to the Information Age.

You possess great skill in something that others are willing to pay you for. This is where this book makes no differentiation between established professionals who are looking for a way to develop and grow their business, and those entrepreneurs who are maybe just starting out. You have some sort of skill or passion that others need. Before you sold that skill by way of a service. That is good, now that people are desiring information you need to make just a little change. Most of your income will still come from selling your skill, or hiring yourself to do the work that others are not qualified to do, but now you will be marketing with your information. Information that you have and others want.

Anyone can read a how to manual. Anyone can sit down and after a long deliberation probably figure out how to do something. Most people come to the realization that it is probably better off to hire the people that know how to do it properly. That is where you come in. You give them the information to do some things on their own, some very specific tasks, but when it comes down to a real job with real money involved it will be your information that they will need. It will be your skills with using that information that they will pay you for.

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20 More simple ways to increase your traffic

A while ago I did a post on how to increase traffic to your blog.  Well here are 20 more tried and true methods to get you more traffic on your website.

1. Optimize the titles of your pages for keywords people will search for.
2. Send articles to ezine publishers with a link back to your website.
3. Have a link to your site on community sites like MySpace and FaceBook.
4. Create a freebie product to give away (ebook, software, whitepaper etc.).
5. Submit your site to the hundreds of free directories - use the viles-silencer list.
6. Do a group feature where you get other website owners in your niche to participate - maybe asking them all an opinion on something.
7. Hold a competition for the Top 50 in your niche - 1 month later post the results and let everyone know who featured - watch them link back to say what there position was.
8. Pass out business cards when you go to industry events in your niche.
9. If you have a product start an affiliate program and start approaching affiliates.
10. Submit videos to video sharing sites like YouTube and Metacafe. Include a link in the description and within the actual video.
11. If you have a product send it to website owners to get reviewed.
12. Look at a big website within your niche and ask to write some guest posts for them.
13. Place classified Ads on eBay with a link to your website.
14. Use an autoresponder on your mailing list to keep people coming back to your site.
15. Network! Email other site owners, phone them up, go to industry events and get yourself known. If they know your face they will likely talk about you on their site if you do something interesting.
16. Many forums have a place for you to advertise your site once - find them and do it.
17. Create an Amazon profile and start submitting reviews.
18. Conduct a survey and publish the results - make sure you let people know about it.
19. Get your hand on a load of PLR content for your niche. Add a commentary to the top, create a unique title, and post them all to your site - lots of new content and lots of new traffic.
20. Create a cartoon mascot for your site - then hold a competition for someone to create the best game for it - pay the winner a decent amount.
21. Make sure you have a memorable domain name that is short and catchy.
22. Use a well-searched for keyword within your domain name to help rank for that keyword.
23. If you sell a product ask someone else who sells a product to list your product with theirs, and you’ll do the same for them - split commissions on sales.
24. When you write a new article on your site - link to as many blogs as possible - they will likely see your site in their pingbacks, website stats, or Technorati. They will visit your site and possibly subscribe to it and link back at a later date.
25. Get your RSS feed syndicated to different sites like Zimbio and hubpages and Topix.
26. If your site is popular and has quality unique content then apply to get listed in Google’s News search.

Look you even got 6 bonus tips.  What a great blogger I am!

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Knowledge, by and of itself, has little, if any, value.  Knowledge only becomes valuable in its application.

There are a lot of people out there who know how to do something.  It is of no great mystery how a car engine works.  But what is useful is the application of that information.  I could open the hood of my car and see all the major pieces, I could guess what the purpose or function of every piece is, but I could not really fix anything.  I have the knowledge of what is happening, but I do not know the application.

You know the application through your business, or your service.  That is what people are really buying aren’t they.  They are buying your application of knowledge.

Let’s make another example.  I can go online and find a lot of information about landscaping.  I can see some really pretty pictures of flower gardens, some nice edging material, I can even see some nicely shaped trees, manicured gardens, and incredible lawns.  I say to myself I can do that.

What I can’t do online is know the techniques used to make these things.  I can’t know how it is done, I can only see it.  So I am at a disadvantage.  What you have is the application.  You know how to make things look like that.  You know how to make the gardens look good.  You know not only what colors work well together, but you know what color flowers work well with the surrounding areas.  That is the application of knowledge that you bring to the table.

Knowledge is important, but sometimes it is cheap.  The application of knowledge is what you have and what you are going to get paid for.  Just a little article to boost you up.  You have a great thing going, get yourself out there and start attracting new customers with your application of your knowledge.

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You have a knowledge that is very specialized and others would like to have.  That is your marketing edge.  I know that the economy is not doing well right now.  This is not the time to shut things down, or pull back.  This is the time to get your message out there.  Here is what I suggest you do.

Shameless Plug

Get the book Blogging For Pros.  Learn how to set up a blog on your website, and then learn how to use it.

Build Up Your Reputation

Now is the time to build up your reputation as an expert.  If your business is slow, this is the time to get your information out there.  Don’t chase after business (I know it is tempting but try not to).  Instead begin to pull people to you.  By giving away free information that is very useful to your future customers, and kind of obvious to you, you will begin to get customers to believe in you.  Using a blog on your website is free.  The information is priceless.  The value is huge.

Interact with your Customers

So no one is buying, and people are doing projects on their own.  That is OK.  Whether you offer a product or a service we all have to endure the times.  So while you are waiting out this recession interact with your customers.  Give them advice, run a free seminar, blog and ask questions that will induce an answer or even more questions.  This is another pull marketing tactic.  You are getting customers to not only trust you, but to rely on you for important information.

Have Fun

Have fun with your future customers.  I think that the biggest thing that is going to come out of this recession is the fact that people are going to be even more jaded toward corporations.  So don’t be one.  Be yourself.  Be your small business.  Be personable and when people are ready to spend money again they will come to you because they trust you.

The key in this economy is to pull people toward your business.  Sure money is tight, but we can do this with little or no money at all, it just takes time.  When people have the confidence and the money to spend again they will be ready to come to you for your services.

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OpenOffice is already in version 3 and it just keeps getting better.  OpenOffice is a product of Sun Microsystems and competes with Microsoft Office.  But instead of having to buy Microsoft Office you can save hundreds of dollars and not lose many features.

I have been using the Windows version for a while now and I love all the applications that comes with it.  I have had no compatibility problems and I run it on both Microsoft XP and Windows Vista.

It actually comes with six full-blown applications:   the Writer word processor, Calc spreadsheet, Impress presentations program, Base database program, Math equation editor, and Draw graphics program. All work great and are completely compatible with each other.  What I mean by that is that if you create a spreadsheet it will import directly into your writer with no problems at all.

So given the fact the full suite is free this is one of the best deals that you can get.  On top of that there are extra add-ons that you can choose from for the great price of FREE.  More free, everyone likes that price!

OpenOffice works with a large variety of formats including the OpenDocument format, Microsoft Office 2007, Office 2008 for the Mac, and PDF.  Speaking of PDF you can save your file as a PDF document which is incredibly useful if you have a document that you want to post on the web, or create as a downloadable ebook.

The book Blogging For Pros was created with OpenOffice and was saved in PDF format with OpenOffice.

So to end this commercial I would say this.  Get OpenOffice.  You have nothing to lose, it is a great product, and it is free.  If you don’t like it that is fine go back to Microsoft Office.  And by the way I am not getting paid for this commercial because OpenOffice is free!

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Increase your traffic flow using 20 easy steps

There are lots of ways to improve your website statistics.  I have come up with a simple list for you to use to help you get your website more exposure on the web.

I use most of these techniques personally and some of them work really really well. With many of my sites I use these simple steps and it gets me to the six figures in traffic quite quickly.

1. Submit a blog to a blog directory
2. Submit you RSS feed to RSS feed directories
3. Have a signature link in forums that points to your site
4. Post links to your pages to social bookmarking sites.
5. Leave comments on other people’s blogs and link back to your site.
6. Write something great about your niche and email other bloggers to let them know - there’s a good chance they’ll link to you.
7. Have the opposite opinion on everyone else on a popular topic. Everyone will link to you saying your wrong.  This one sounds risky but it really is not.
8. Review a product or company - if your review is positive email the company and ask to be featured in their press section.
9. Write good headlines/titles - good titles get more clicks.
10. Answer questions on Yahoo Answers.  You are the expert so start giving expert advise.
11. Post in Yahoo and Google Groups with a link to your site in your signature.  Do a simple search and you will find that there are plenty of groups for you to choose from.
12. Have an opt-in form - trade links with someone else who has an opt in form on your confirmation page.
13. Write articles and submit them to article directories.  This one is golden a must to get good traffic rankings.
14. Get yourself known as an expert and get featured in offline magazines, TV and radio stations.
15. Write a Press Release and submit it to PRWeb (make sure it is newsworthy).
16. Add an RSS subscribe button/link in a high profile spot on your site.
17. Add a mailing list subscribe form in a high profile spot on your site.
18. Add a bookmark this site link in a high profile spot on your site.
19. Use a Tell A Friend Script on your site so people can email their friend about an article on your website.
20. Mention your website in a post on Craigslist (don’t spam).

Have fun and above all be creative.

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There are many popular sites on the net which promote social networking.  The most popular today is MySpace (http://www.myspace.com) but Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) is catching up quickly.  At the time of this article Facebook is receiving about 200 Million visitors a month for socializing.  This is the new cult of the new generation which has taken off as how the internet will be utilized for a long time into the future.

Because of this success more and more sits have begun to pop up specializing in different segments like students, professionals, gardeners, etc.  With a little search you can become a member of a professional social networking site.  You will gain from the experience of other professionals.

It is not just for creating social profiles and making friends either.  Sites like Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com), Flickr (http://www.flickr.com) , and Picasa (http://www.picasa.com) have developed into the top photo sharing sites.  Youtube (http://www.youtube.com) , Metacafe (http://www.metacafe.com) , and Daily Motion (http://www.dailymotion.com)  have revolutionized how we watch videos online, and can be very useful for finding instructional videos made be people like you and me.  There are nearly endless opportunities for social interaction on the internet.

New generations are going to see social networking as completely normal, and not something that is new and should be viewed with skepticism.  Youth have never had problems following a trend, and this trend will last well into their adult lives.  The good news is that social marketing is still new.  You still have time to be an innovator.  In a very short amount of time you will begin saying “I have been on that site for years” and you will be looked at as a tech guru.  Besides when other sites come along and members flock there for the latest in social networking you will already be a seasoned pro and the move will be easy.

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So now that you have a blog what do you do with it?  The key is to write.  A successful blog is updated regularly with good content and good posts.  So here are my 12 best tips for writing.

1. Do it. Write. Write often.  Get on a regular schedule.
2. Read other blogs, read books, read anything and everything.  There is inspiration and good writing examples everywhere.
3. Keep a journal or notebook handy at all times so you can jot down all of your ideas.  I like to keep a little notebook in my pocket at all times just to write quick notes to myself.
4. Write once from your heart, then proofread and write for your readers.
5. Subscribe to other blogs that have styles that you like.  Copy what they do.
6. Don’t worry about being perfect every time.  If you write something that is just bad then learn from it.  Everything is a learning experience if you let it.
7. Write, keep writing, write when you feel like it, write when you don’t feel like it, just start typing and things will come to you.
8. Be observant. Again inspiration is everywhere.  You never know what might give you an idea for your best post ever.
9. Write how you like to write.  Don’t worry about the rules, just write.
10. Turn off the TV, tune out the rest of the world, sit down, and write.  You will feel better in the end.
11. Find a space that you can set aside for your writing.  Make it comfortable but not too comfortable.  Make it inspiring.
12. Become a blogger.  Enjoy being a blogger.  Tell people “I am a blogger”.

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Time Management is a myth.  Don’t focus on managing your time, time is infinite, abundant, there is always time to do what you want.  Instead manage your activities.

You see with the same amount of time you can become Bill Gates, or bankrupt.  It is done all in the same time.  The difference between successes is how you manage your activities.

Activity Management not Time Management

Time cannot be managed; everyone has 24 hours a day 7 days a week to get things done.  Only the types of activities that you do make a difference.  Figure out which activities get you closer to your goals.  Find out which activities help you reach your success.  Then do those, and do those more often.

Planning

Sit down and plan out your activities.  Make a list of 4-6 activities at a time and concentrate at one at a time.  When you get done with one activity then move on to the next.  Treat your activities like little mini goals.  Start with one and move on to the next.  Celebrate each accomplished activity as an accomplished goal.  Have a chocolate, a cup of gourmet coffee, put $5 in a jar for every activity accomplished and the next thing you know you can go out and treat yourself to a shopping spree.

Shut Out Interruptions

Interruptions will happen; the key is to be able to shut them out as much as possible.  You don’t have to answer every email you get every minute of every day.  You don’t have to answer every phone call.  These are merely distractions to your day.  Let people leave a message.  Go back to your email box and answer all your emails at once.  Both of these activities will take less time then answering them one at a time and it will also let you concentrate on what it is that makes you a success.

Write Out Your Plan

Write your plan out on paper and keep it in front of you while you are working.  This will be very helpful so that you don’t miss out on any essential actives that will lead you to success.  Make it into a list and you can check each individual item off, it will again give you a big sense of accomplishment.

If you can master activity management you will find that your time management will follow automatically.

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