Web 2.0 and Social Marketing

The reason we tie Web 2.0 to Social Marketing is simple: Web 2.0, from a website owner?s perspective, is important because of the focus on user submitted and user controlled content that many Web 2.0 services and sites (but not all) allow.

Generally speaking, if people can submit links to content, submit content, make comments and vote good/ bad content up/down thus affecting the amount of traffic that content can generate, it?s Web 2.0.

Voting, commenting, and actions the visitors take that control what shows up in the most prominent places on any given site is Web 2.0.

As a marketer, being aware of the best places to show up and how they work will bring you traffic. More traffic than you ever got without social marketing in many cases. Being linked to by a lot of authority sites in their own right, your site climbs the rankings in the engines as well. It gets spidered more often and more deeply than if you were, say, focusing your efforts on article syndication alone.

How to create and market a blog post with a Web 2.0 twist. There are, of course, several different ways to market your latest blog post. Below I have outlined a step-by-step strategy for marketing your latest blog post using Web 2.0 sites.

1. Your ping list has to be in order. Check out the recommended ping list if you don?t have a ping list you are happy using. The first part of marketing your post starts with your ping list. Plain and simple.
   
   
2. You must tag your post. Simple Tags is a required plugin for Wordpress blogs. (Wordpress 2.2+ has tagging but the general consensus is that it ?sucks?) Simple Tags will allow you to categorize content based on a tagging engine. Without a doubt, Simple Tags is one of the most powerful Wordpress plugins. Each time you make a post add your keywords as tags at the bottom of your post as well as to your Wordpress pages.
   
   
3. Tag Technorati throughout your post. For example, this post is about Web 2.0 and blog posts. Using this approach will keep your posts at or near the top of the list at Technorati. There?s a really killer plugin called Tagalize-It that makes tagging throughout your posts really simple.
   
   
4. Your post is pinged and tagged properly. Now what? Time to syndicate your post and generate some immediate traffic. Some clarification is necessary here. Web 2.0 sites normally have 2 types of functions. Either they act as bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us or they act as story submission sites like Digg where users vote on the quality of story.
   
   Make sure that when you sign up for accounts at places like StumbleUpon.com or Propeller.com, you look for the buttons they give you to put on your browser so you can easily submit content from your site and elsewhere without logging in to each site manually.

1. Technorati.com (Claim your blog if you have not already done so!)
   
   
2. MyBlogLog.com Start a group, get readers. Use the widget, get readers.
   
   
3. Propeller.com (install toolbar button for FireFox and IE for future use)
   
   
4. StumbleUpon.com (install toolbar button for FireFox and IE for future use)
   
   
5. Reddit.com (install toolbar button for FireFox and IE for future use)
   
   
6. PRWeb.com ? do a press release with the ?hook? for your linkbait and run the links from the release straight to the linkbait piece.
   
   
7. Digg.com (Tech and other topics)
   
   
8. IMNews (internet marketing topics)
   
   
9. PlugIM.com (internet marketing topics) (install toolbar button for FireFox and IE for future use)
   
   
10. MarkTD.com (internet marketing topics) (install toolbar button for FireFox and IE for future use)
    
    
11. SpicyPage.com Seek out sites that are created for your niche. There are Digg-like sites popping up all over the web just like PlugIM, IMnews, and MarkTD above for the internet marketing niche.

Looking for an easy way to add Digg buttons and links to your Web pages? The instructions given on the Digg Web site can be a bit tedious. Use this generator instead, to make it easier. You can place it on your site for others to use also. The image file contains Digg buttons to put on your Web site or blog, which can also be customized for your site, using the included Photoshop file.

1. Ad copy - How to write effective ad copy -- for your website and for other advertising.
   
   
2. Affiliate programs - How to select one which is most appropriate and most profitable.
   
   
3. Autoresponders - How to select an autoresponder system to answer emails quickly.
   
   
4. Awards - How to apply for them. How to create an awards program of your own.
   
   
5. Banners - How to design an effective one.
   
   
6. Banner exchanges - How to choose the best banner exchange.
   
   
7. Chat - How to set up a chat, and run it smoothly.
   
   
8. Communities - How to create a community at your website.
   
   
9. Discussion boards - How to select the software, and manage the message board.
   
   
10. Email discussion lists of your own - How to create them and operate them.
    
    
11. Fast-loading pages - How to increase the speed of downloading your web pages.
    
    
12. Free stuff on your site - How to select free stuff, to entice people to visit your site.
    
    
13. Guestbooks - How to select a guestbook.
    
    
14. Links - How to create links to your site, and how to create reciprocal links.
    
    
15. Maintenance of the website - How to manage the day-to-day care of your website.
    
    
16. Newsgroups for publicity - How to publicize with in the Usenet, with ads and sig files.
    
    
17. Online services - How to benefit from membership in America Online, etc.
    
    
18. Payment systems - How to set up a payment system with credit cards, checks, etc.
    
    
19. Publicity - How to get free publicity on the internet.
    
    
20. Repeat visits - How to encourage people to return to your website, for more purchases.
    
    
21. Search engines - How to submit the site to search engines.
    
    
22. Signatures - How to write an effective sig file, to put at the bottom of your emails.
    
    
23. Traffic analysis - How to choose tracking software, to know who is visiting your site.
    
    
24. Translation of web sites - How to translate the site, so that you can sell in other languages.
    
    
25. Webrings - How to choose a webring which will bring people to your site.
    
    
26. Website-hosting services. How to select a company to host your website on its server.
    
    
27. Business Tools - Software to help develop & market your online business.
    
    
28. Business Opportunities - Opportunities to make money online.