Using blogs and ads are great ways to boost your online visibility and attract customers, but if you're not taking advantage of the many social networking opportunities available, you're missing out on thousands of potential customers.
Here are just a few of the sites you ought to consider using in order to increase your company's online presence.
Social Media Networking Sites
Digg - Digg is one of the largest, and most popular, social media sites around and has the power to drive millions of people to your site with a single post. Visitors constantly browse Digg for content containing news, business, sports, entertainment, science and technology.
StumbleUpon - Tell StumbleUpon what your interests are and then use the button in your browser's toolbar to surf through all the content geared toward what gets you going. You can create a network of friends to share your discoveries with. StumbleUpon is a great tool for helping content go "viral".
Del.icio.us - This site allows users to organize and publicize articles they find interesting through tagging and networking.
Technorati - Technorati keeps track of millions of blogs, their readership and their popularity. Register your blog here to network with other writers who have common interests.
YouTube - There's no denying the power of YouTube to create viral marketing campaigns. Posting videos on YouTube dramatically increases your company's chances of getting traffic. Consider doing a behind-the-scenes video or even a commercial to post on YouTube. It's also an inexpensive way to create video blogs that can be viewed by your customers as often as you want.
Ma.gnolia - This is another bookmarking site that allows you to share and organize your favorite sites.
Furl - This site allows users to bookmark and share sites that they find interesting. Creating a network here increases your chances of picking up new visitors to your online business.
Squidoo - Created by marketing expert, Seth Godin, Squidoo's tag line is, "Everyone's an expert on something. Share your knowledge". People look to Squidoo to find experts in many fields and it's a great way to share what you know to further drive traffic to your blog or web site.
Reddit - This site allows you to upload stories and articles, which can drive traffic to your main web site or blog. It's a good idea to update often in order to create a loyal following of users that lead to increased traffic.
WikiHow - This is a colloborative project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. You can create your very own how-to guide or tutorial for whatever you want. Posting here allows you to share your expertise with thousands of visitors and is absolutely free to use.
Ning - Ning is unique in that it allows you to create your own social network. You can invite clients, vendors, customers and co-workers to your own confidential nook online.
Professional Networking Sites
These sites give your business an opportunity to take advantage of promoting events, recruiting and networking with other professionals.
Facebook - Once just for college kids, Facebook is now the number one networking site. Advertising or putting a business profile on Facebook opens up the possibility for millions of worldwide users to find you.
Linkedin - This is THE site for alumni, business associates and recent graduates. It's where professionals go to network and should be at the top of your business networking list.
Ryze - This site lets allows easy organization of contacts, friends and even online classifieds.
Gather - Dubbed the networking community for thinkers, Gather is focused on books, health, money, news and more.
MEETin.org - If you have a group of contacts and want to meet face to face, MEETin helps you organize events and bring people together.
Networking For Professionals - As the name implies this networking site is geared toward professionals and allows them to post photos, videos resumés and clips to connect with new business contacts.
Specialty Social Media Sites
These sites, while not as popular as the previous, give users the opportunity to narrow down their target audience. These can prove to be much more effective for driving the right kind of traffic to your site.
Sphinn - This online forum and networking site is primarily for the online marketing folks. Here you can upload articles and content from your blog to gain new visitors.
Tweako - If you're a computer or gadget hound, then this is the place for you. Tweako is aimed at the tech savvy.
SEO TAGG - You can stay on top of all the news concerning Search Engine Optimization right here.
Pixel Groovy - This site is geared towards web workers. It's an open-source site that allows submissions and ratings of tutorials, Web 2.0, email and online marketing issues.
Mixx - Here you can meet with people who have similar interests. Mixx allows you to submit and rate stories, photos and news.
General Social Media Sites
While not as specific as the last list, these sites provide great opportunities for advertising your business simply because they attract so many users.
Newsvine - You can post your very own column with the free account. This site is primarily about news, articles and studies.
Yahoo! Answers - By answering questions on Yahoo! Answers, you build credibility as an expert in your field. If you stick with it, and create a loyal following of readers, you can leverage that into potential sales.
43 Things - They call themselves "The World's Most Popular Online Goal Setting Community". You can post your company's goals to attract investors, employees and promoters who share your passions.
Wikipedia - The great thing about Wikipedia is that you can create your own page about your business. Detail your history, services, upcoming promotions or anything else you want readers to know. Having a page on Wikipedia makes you look more professional and gives millions of people access to you.
As you can see there are plenty of options for you to network on the web. Each one has its strengths and drawbacks, which is why you should look at all of them and then pick few to go with. Choosing more might mean that you won't use any of them to effectively achieve the results you're after.
- Nina Menezes
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