I thought I’d better let you know that you are not seeing things if you think things are disappearing, they are.

I’ve upgraded wordpress and am now re-publishing everything in a more structured way to make my work easier and so the website will be easier for YOU to navigate. Click here to see the new look.

A recent question I was asked got me thinking about this. Read this article then leave your reply, I’d love to hear your thoughts about this.

Everyone has their own idea about what each word means individually, but how do we apply it to our online business?

Here is my definition of these words:

Social – to interact with others in a fun way, eg.- a party is a social gathering.

Networking – getting together with others who have similar interests, eg.- you can network with other stamp collectors at a stamp convention.

Branding – to get your face, name and business associated with each other in your visitors minds, eg.- Coke and Pepsi have clearly branded themselves as producers of cola fizzy drinks.

Now, I think of Social Networking as Branding’s Next Step

I’ve got my face and/or name on splashes where possible in other programs and I’ve added this branding to my own website promotions.

I don’t use Facebook, Myspace or Twitter at all. It’s a personal thing.

I use the chat ability in the traffic exchanges that I use for advertising to get to know my fellow members as I surf.

This expands my branding, they already know my face and name and by chatting they get to know me – the person behind the branding.

Over the past year I have seen it add new signups to both the programs and personal lists that I promote.

I also use instant messengers like yahoo and skype to interact with people outside of what the programs offer.

So that’s how I see we can personally use social networking to expand our business contacts.

But there is another side to it too!

First is your signature file that you can use to direct traffic to the promotion of your choice. This is used in your emails and forum posts.

It usually goes either to a personal opt-in form (squeeze page) or your website. This is the primary way to build your list and traffic.

In the case of forums, when others browse a forum and read posts they will see your signature at the end of any you have made that have been approved.

Second is your author’s resource box at the bottom of an article which you can allow others to reproduce so long as it is included. This again is usually used to gain subscribers.

Third, these days commenting on your favorite blog is another way you can interact with a website and its members/readers.

When adding a comment to one you have the option of adding a URL. Once your comment is approved your name is displayed as a clickable link which goes to the URL you chose to add.

All three of these I consider to be natural or ‘organic’ ways to get traffic to your website.

The ’secret’ or ‘trick’ to making these posts and comments work for you is to make them both RELEVANT AND HELPFUL to others thereby building your own credibility.

Relevant to the post topic is the most important of all, eg.- you’d look a bit silly making a post or comment about a car on a blog about lipstick wouldn’t you?

Helpful comes into play when someone has a question about something and you can HELP SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM.

Next time I’ll talk about Tracking, which is very important online so you know where your visitors are coming from. This is also known as Keying Your Ads in the offline world and I’ll discuss why it’s important.

I had a fall but am okay now. Sorry it’s taken a while to be able to be online as I bruised muscles and tendons in my right thigh and have been unable to sit at the computer.

I’ll be doing some updates to the site soon and have a couple of new articles nearly ready.

I am currently helping to test a new autosurf that launches soon. The Traffic Laundry is free to join and the owner holds conferences where we can learn how to get the most from it.

If you should join, please be aware that we are currently in ‘Test Mode’ and any bugs in the system need to be reported.

Why join now? You get to participate in the One Million Credit Give-Away.

You will find me at the weekly conferences as I want to learn as much as I can to help you all. Hope to see you there!

Being able to post an article here as a member is fantastic, thanks Soroya! I’ll do my best to add quality articles that contribute to the overall value of YHBEC.

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