Everyone knows about the major social networking accounts: Facebook, Myspace and now the surge of Twitter. People often choose one of these 3 top sites because it has the most users or their friends are already there.
However, these social networks are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other social networks, some more geographically based and some interest based. So how many are enough? Which ones should you make sure you’re using.
The open ocean of social networks is vast. CNET recently annouced that the ‘build-your-own-social networking site’ Ning, now boasts 22 million registered users and one million different social networks within the site. The social rating and networking site Digg continues to grow with close to 10 million unique visitors per month. And the social bookmarking site StumbleUpon has 7.5 million registered users.
These numbers don’t even account for the many smaller social networking sites that are popular in Europe and Asia and the niche sites that are interest-based — LinkedIn for the business crowd, fuzzster for petlovers, Model Mayhem for models and photographers, TikiCentral for lovers of Polynesian Pop and so on. All these sites, though different in their approach, are social in nature. So which ones should you use? All of them? Just one of them?
Before answering these questions, it’s important first to ask what is your goal with social networking. Business? School? Marketing? Networking?
If you’re using social networking just to keep up with friends and family, then you’re best sticking with Facebook. Facebook now features 200 million users, which means there’s a much higher likelihood that your friends and family are going to be on Facebook, compared to other sites.
However, if you’re looking to connect with a specific demographic, then you should find out which social networking sites they use. This could mean attaching yourself to one of Facebook’s Fan pages or you may need to seek out a niche site as mentioned above. Ask yourself this question: Where do my people congregate online?
This doesn’t mean you should sign up for 10 social networking sites! Social networking takes time and effort. Unless they have a dedicated Social Media Manager, most small businesses or individual ventures don’t have time to keep up with this many sites. You’ll be spread too thin and will never really become a member of any site.
Therefore, stick to a limited number of sites. Two to three social networking sites is a pretty safe number. This keeps you from being spread too thin — although you’ll still probably find yourself ‘playing favorites’ and devoting more of your time to one of them.
How many social networking accounts do you have? Is it more than 10? Should there be a standard number?
(Via Tutorial Blog.)
With the current craze over Facebook among college students and now even among older people, it’s almost taboo not to have a profile on Facebook. The popular social networking site boasts around 150 to 200 million users worldwide.
If you’re like most people, you have a decently-filled out profile. You’ve probably listed a few of your favorite movies, put down your high school and posted a couple photos. Now that you’ve gotten this far, it’s time to spread your wings.
Facebook is about social networking, so it’s time to actually do get social and do some networking with people other than your spouse or that crush from high school you really don’t remember. A couple of the best ways Facebook allows users to do this is through fan pages and groups.
The first question is whether to start a fan page or group, or maybe even both. Although they sound similar to one another, fan page and groups are two different Facebook features that accomplish different things. Groups are basically the same on Facebook as they are at other websites. They are general destinations for people with like-minded interests to gather and become members of. Group members can write on the group’s wall, exactly as you could on a profile page, as well as leave topics and posts on the discussion board.
Facebook Groups are good for narrowing in on interests. If you’re a part of an organization in a city, you can use a facebook group for promoting upcoming events or post relevant topics that members would respond to. Although groups can be used for conversation, they often become more of an brand identity, rather than a place for dialoguing with other group members.
Facebook Fan pages on the other hand, although they sound like groups, are actually much different. Fan pages allow the same type of interaction as group pages but with much more options for customization and personalization. Similar to group pages, a Facebook Fan page has a wall and can have a discussion board, but it can also have much more, like Facebook applications, flash and html code. Because of the flexibility of using html code, fan pages can be customized to look similar to a web site. Although fan pages often are pages devoted to a particular athlete, actor or hero, they are quickly becoming much more than that, with pages for marketers, realtors, magazines and writers.
So do you want to create a fan page or group page? If you want a deeper relationship with your members and users who are going to come back after joining, then Facebook Fan pages are the way to go. They offer much more customization and allow further reach and interaction with users. If you have a more targeted audience, then you may want to go with a Facebook Group page.
What have been some of your favorite Facebook Fan pages or Facebook Group pages?
(Via Tutorial Blog.)
As a full-time webmaster and site owner, figuring out just what Google wants has been the most challenging aspect of running an online business. For many webmasters Google is the eight ton elephant in the room and you only have two options: upset the elephant and get trampled or quickly find out what it likes to consume and try to feed it.
In order to keep Google fed, webmasters have to jump through more than one set of hoops. When it comes to getting top rankings in Google’s Index or SERPs, there are 200 of these hoops or ranking factors. And if you want to play in Google’s ballpark, you have to try and master the majority of them.
For years, frustrated webmasters have been guessing and searching for these ranking factors. Asking what does Google want? How does Google rank pages and keywords? How does Google want you to build your site?
Ten years ago it wouldn’t have mattered what Google thought of your site for it wasn’t even in the picture, but now when it comes to online search, Google is king of the hill. And as we all know, kings get whatever they want.
Besides, any webmaster worth his salt, knows Google is what counts when it comes to organic traffic – you can achieve #1 spots for a keyword in all three top search engines (Yahoo and MSN being the other two light-weight contenders) but Google will simply deliver the most traffic to your site.
Google doesn’t as yet have a monopoly on web search, but it’s getting close to 70% of U.S. traffic and in some countries it’s up over 90%. But it’s not only the search numbers which makes Google king – it is the prestige and power of the Google brand name. Google has truly permeated into popular culture and the public psyche like no other brand name in history.
Google brings respect and trust into the equation. Web users respect and trust Google to give them a quality answer to their question. That’s why it was rather ironic, that for years webmasters have been asking Google about their ranking system, their algorithm, their practices… for years Google remained for the most part silent. This was mainly to keep at bay, those who would like to “game” the system in order to get high rankings within Google.
Until now that is, maybe it’s just me but doesn’t it appear that Google is suddenly opening up about its whole ranking procedures and what they expect from webmasters. Maybe the answers have always been there, we just couldn’t find them. However, a more likely scenario is that someone high up within Google made the decision to be more transparent when it comes to webmasters and how much they would tell them.
In recent Webmaster live chats, Googlers Matt Cutts, Maile Ohye, among others… have been honestly answering questions about what Google requires webmasters to do regarding their sites. These are Q&A sessions dealing with the “burning questions” webmasters have had for years concerning Google and what Google wants. Do a search in Google for “Google Webmaster Help | Google Groups” if you want to find these sessions.
Since I run several modest sites on webmaster tools and Internet marketing I am approached by more than a few people who want me to help them build their online site or business. One of the major issues that always comes up somewhere in the process (usually phrased in different ways) is this question:
What does Google want? What does Google expect of my site? How do I get ranked high in Google?
Mainly because my chief goal is to help these webmasters understand Google better in order to build a profitable site; I have struggled and puzzled over this question for years.
What is Google’s Golden Rule?
Many experts believe it is related to relevancy – the key to getting high rankings is how relevant your content is to the question being asked? Maybe so, but in order to explain it to a would-be webmaster, I had to find the words that would most appropriately sum up Google’s prime directive?
After you go through all the SEO checkmarks, take into account the quality and uniqueness of your content, factor in the credibility and authority of your site and backlinks, and factor in the relevancy issue… this was the simple Google Golden Rule I came up with:
“Always think of your visitor first when creating any content for your site.”
This may or may not be what Google is expecting but all indications are pointing in the direction of the “visitor’s experience” and how good you or your content make that experience? Google is serving up a product, it wants the user of their product to be happy with the results. If they’re happy, Google is happy. And if everyone’s happy then the kingdom grows.
Still anything as simple and as complicated as getting top rankings in Google can’t be boiled down to a single catch phrase. You must do your homework and a good starting point would be to thoroughly read Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Studying and listening to the latest Google webmaster chats may also prove beneficial and helpful.
However, there are still those 200 hoops you have to jump through and you must be extremely careful of how you build your site if you’re trying to please Google. Listen when the king speaks. Observe his rules. Be on your guard, and it helps to become just a little paranoid. And always, always remember, an elephant never forgets.
By Titus Hoskins
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