Using Social Networking Sites to Drive Traffic to Your Site

Social networking sites seem to be the biggest thing on the Internet right now, and there are no signs that this will change anytime in the near – or far – future. The fact is that social networking sites, such as MySpace, FaceBook, and others, have given people the opportunity to express themselves, meet new people, and communicate effectively, and nobody is going to give that up.

Social networking on the Internet may seem like a new concept to most people – but it really isn’t. The first social network appeared on the Internet as far back as 1995, with Classmates. Classmates offers people the opportunity to reconnect with old classmates from High School and College, and is still in operation today – and doing quite well.

From there, social networking advanced with the onslaught of Internet dating sites. However, these days, it has advanced to the point where social networking sites often do not have a specific ‘theme.’ MySpace, which is by far the most popular social networking site in existence, is an example of this. No matter what your interests are, there is room for you on MySpace.

Social Networking Features

Social networking sites often have common elements. Some have more features than others. In all cases, you are able to create your profile. Sites, such as MySpace, actually allow you to fully customize your profile page, so that it is very unique, using layouts that are available all over the Internet. You can also create your own layout.

Other features include messengers, email systems, blogging features, friend’s lists, and comments sections. Some social networking sites will allow you to send individual emails to other site members, or to send broadcast emails out to all of the people on your network or friend’s list.

Most social networking sites will allow anyone to join, and are typically free to join. However, there are some that require a fee for membership, such as Ryze, and some that require an invitation from another member, such as Pownce.

Connect with Other Like-Minded People

Many people view social networking sites as ’something to do.’ However, they are much more than that. Social networking sites allow members to express and develop identities, to build relationships, to garner trust among their peers, and much more. The social networking sites simply provide the means – it is the members who create the content of the site, making these social networking sites user content driven.

Internet Marketers, large corporations, and even television shows make use of social networking sites. For example, many popular reality television shows have profiles on the more popular social networking sites.

This encourages public participation. They use the concept that ‘everyone wants to feel like they are a part of something’ and it is successful – because social networking sites allow everyone to be a part of something, regardless of who they are, where they are located, their sex, religion, beliefs, careers, backgrounds, or any other consideration that exists. Everyone who has access to a computer with an Internet connection has a ‘voice’ and they can use it with ease thanks to social networking sites.

Some of the best known social networking sites include: MySpace, Facebook, hi5, Xanga, linkedin, reunion, friendster, bebo, tagged, and classmates.

Signing up is usually very easy, and only requires you to submit your name, your location, a screen name, a password, and of course a valid email address.

Today, it is estimated that there are more than 200 social networking sites in existence. You can get a more complete list of social networking sites, as well as the ‘theme’ or group of people that each site caters to and the number of members through Wikipedia. Vist the Wikipedia site and search for social networking websites.

 Marketing Via Social Networking Sites

The popularity of social networking sites stems from the Search Engines. The Search Engines love these sites, as they always contain fresh content. What’s more, if you look at the Alexa rankings for some of these sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, etc., you will find that they are amoung the most popular sites on the Internet.

Although you can’t advertise on these sites, you can create a profile and include a link to your web site. This will provide a great way to not only increase your ranking in the Search Engines, but also drive traffic to your web site.

Social Networking Sites also provide you with a great way to spread your content all over the Internet. For example, you can share your articles, news, and post comments.

The key to using these sites successfully is to create a complete profile that contains a link to your site and an RSS feed. Add fresh content on a regular basis to drive a continuous stream of traffic to your web site.

Copyright © Shelley Lowery

About the Author:

Shelley Lowery is the owner and developer of http://www.web-source.net – Your Guide to Professional Web Site Design and Development. Learn how to design and develop a web site with 100’s of articles, tutorials, tools, & codes, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript and more.

• Guide To Twitter For Beginners Guide To Twitter For Beginners To say that creating this beginner's guide to Twitter has been hard is an understatement. Not a day goes by without hearing about a new application or function getting launched. It's difficult for everyone to keep up to date. Nevertheless, when you get rid of......
• 5 Ways to Create A Successful Niche Business 5 Ways to Create A Successful Niche Business   Too many business owners fish in the widest and deepest pools' trying to be all things to all people.  Offering a broad range of products and services to a broad audience and never really create the waves that lead to tremendous......
• Over optimization and No Follow tags in Google Many people ask the question "can I over optimize my site for google and is there a such thing as to many no follow tags?' The answer is best explained in the video from Matt Cutts below.   As you will see in the video there is no such thing......
• Becoming an Authority site - 101 tips Becoming an Authority site - 101 tips  I am not sure who put this together it was sent to me quite some time ago so I thought I would post it here for all to use. Becoming an authority site is a lofty goal, but with the right amount of dedication......
• SEO Of The Future - Future proofing your SEO    When we talk about future proofing our SEO strategies we are really trying to look into a crystal ball in a sense and predict what changes will happen when it comes to search engine optimization, however we can also look at the past and see look at what has changed......

• Social Networking Etiquette - 6 Crucial Tips for Quality Online Relationships Do you know what’s tarnishing social networking etiquette and giving internet and network marketers a awful reputation?...
• Using A Multitude Of Social Networking Sites to Find Email Information Over the past several years social sites have made their impact on the way people use the Internet. Both personal and business users are getting...
• Pentagon wants to harvest info on social networking sites Anyone else have a major problem with this? "I AM continually shocked and appalled at the details people voluntarily post online about themselves.' So says...
• Social Networking Is it still having some growth? If your asking yourself this and not using these areas to promote your business by then you may be...
• Social Networking Websites: How To Find Them Each day, in the United States, millions of Americans communicate with each other online. In addition to communicating with other Americans, many are communicating with...