Recently, I read several complaints by marketers who had tried using sites like My Space and other social networking sites to market their businesses. They complained that these sites didn't really bring them any real traffic, and they really weren't making sales by using these sites. In essence, these sites were a waste of time to market on because they didn't produce any immediate marketing results. As someone who uses My Space, as well as several other networking sites to market my business, I believe that these marketers missed the point. Blatant marketing on these sites won't work. Your approach has to be far more subtle. Your goal should be something different: increase your presence on the internet, build backlinks from a major traffic site, and build your brand so that potential customers find you. 1. Increasing your presence on the internet This is especially important if you are new to marketing your products and services on the internet. You have to build a presence, and a big one, if you want to be found by your market. "Build it and they will come" is the mantra of those who are so overcome by their egos they think their sites will be found without any marketing effort at all. Successful marketers know this isn't true. You have to get out there and promote yourself if you want to sell your products and services. Because social networking sites are high traffic, you have a better chance of being found if you get out there and build a presence. 2. Building backlinks The search engines are constantly spidering these sites. Want to get your site spidered? Then building a profile on these sites will help the search engines find you and then ultimately, your customers can find you. Remember, though, don't blatantly sell on these sites. Create a profile that tells everyone about you and your products or services. Include links to your website, or if you have more than one site, all of your sites. Make your profile keyword rich with keywords from your topic. 3. Branding yourself Whether you are a writer, or you are simply selling your own products and services, you will need to resort to shameless promotion if you want to make the sale. When you brand yourself, you are attaching yourself to a specific topic. You become an expert on the topic. Writing articles and posting them on your blog on these social networking sites can help others become aware of your products and services. This builds value, and by contributing to these sites, you are not only building value for them, you are building value for you. What's key is to use a soft sell approach. Establish your credibility and expertise. Get others to trust you and believe in your products. Then you will make the sale.
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