Get More Website Traffic With Social Networking

Simply put, social networking is interaction between a group of people who share a common interest.  Lots of these sites have sprung up to build burgeoning online communities, most notably the ones I call The Big Four: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace.

Facebook – www.facebook.com

This site, which used to be limited to only college students, busted onto the public scene within the last few years to become a worldwide phenomena.  With over 500 million members as of this writing, it’s a place you need to be to connect with new friends and customers.

How to Use Facebook With Your Website

Get the Facebook “Like” Plug-in
This simple button allows your visitors to like your site on Facebook with one click.  It posts a message on their FB page, so all their friends can see it and possibly even repost it to show their friends, and on and on.

Start a Facebook Business Page or Fan Page
Set up a simple profile for your business on Facebook.  Then, make sure you post on it often to keep people interested.  The best way to do this is to allow your blog to update your social networking sites automatically when you post something.  Or use a free program like TweetDeck to manage all your social networking sites at once.

Install a “Find Us on Facebook” Button
Here’s how to get viewers for your Facebook page.  When they see your FB page, they will be able to add you to their own feed, so they see your updates whenever you make them.  Hint: Keep the updates coming!

Twitter – www.twitter.com

Twitter allows you to have an ongoing conversation with all of your contacts.  It’s great for sending out announcements about new content on your site, specials you are offering, or pithy comments about current events.

How to Use Twitter With Your Website

Tweet This
If you think your visitors are mostly Twitter fans, then you can have a specific button via Tweet This to let them tweet about your site.

Follow Us on Twitter
As with Facebook, you can get a free Twitter account for your business, then put a button on your website, so visitors can sign up to get your tweets.  Again, you have to tweet consistently to keep your message out there.

LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com

Imagine your website in a business suit, and that’s what LinkedIn is about—business networking.  You can either add your personal profile or your company profile to LinkedIn.  Then, you can start connecting to others and posting messages.

Like other services, you can allow visitors to share your site on LinkedIn, and you should post updates to LinkedIn frequently.

MySpace – www.myspace.com

Once the king of social networking on the web, MySpace has lost a lot of its clout.  But it’s still a recognizable name, and people tend to use it more for entertainment purposes.  In fact, bands, singers and artists are its most avid users, because they can easily add videos and music clips to their profiles, and personalize their pages with custom graphics—something that most social networking sites don’t offer.

Again, your visitors can share your site on their MySpace pages, and you need to keep your own MySpace page updated.

The Best Way to Let Your Website Visitors Share Your Site

Add This – www.addthis.com
Of all the social bookmarking plug-ins, this one is my favorite.  Add This lets you choose your favorite social networks to show on your site.  Then your visitors choose how they want to share your content by clicking a button.  The most common buttons to show are The Big Four: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace.  I like that it also allows visitors to bookmark your site in their browser, email your site to a friend, AND choose from a huge list of social networks to use.

How to Update All Your Social Networks at Once

Network Publisher for WordPress – http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/network-publisher
If you are using WordPress for your website or blog platform (and believe me, you should), try this plug-in that lets you submit your post to 30 social networking sites automatically when you click the Publish button.  Ta-da, you’re done.

TweetDeck – www.tweetdeck.com
Here’s an application that connects you with your contacts on all your social networking sites at once.  Again, it just takes a click to send your post to all your friends.

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Start Socializing Your Website

I can build your social network pages and get you more website visitors. Let me show you how to publicize your site the right way to succeed online.

Ask me for a Free Social Networking Quote today >>

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