Web 2.0 For Internet Marketers

What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 is a broad term used for web technology that promotes sharing of information, commenting, and collaboration among users. Web 2.0 is also known as social media marketing. Have you seen blogs that use social bookmarking such as Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon? These fall under the Web 2.0 umbrella. Have you heard of Squidoo, FaceBook, Hub Pages, YouTube, MySpace, and Twitter? Yep, Web 2.0. These are all examples of social networking, and they’re free to use.

When I say Web 2.0 is about the sharing of information, I don’t mean snagging someone’s work and putting it on your website. What I’m talking about is sharing through social bookmarking. For example, you read someone’s excellent blog post and want to let others know about it. You can “Digg this” through Digg, “Stumble it” with StumbleUpon, “Tweet” it on Twitter, or use any of the other 2.0 avenues.

Why should you use Web 2.0?

One big reason to use social networking is that it brings you traffic. Let’s say you have 1200 people following you on Twitter and you’ve established yourself as someone personally interesting, a go-getter in your niche, and very helpful to others. When you happen to mention your latest blog post or your new product, people are going to come to your site for a look. Some will purchase too.

This traffic is free, money-wise, but you are trading your time for it so use your time wisely. Build relationships, be friendly, answer questions, help out, and send people to great blog content (yours or someone else’s), but don’t spend all day at it.

Another benefit is that search engines love fresh content. Web 2.0 sites seem to get better indexing position with the search engines and that’s probably because of the constant flow of new content.

The third reason I would like to touch on is the building relationships aspect of social network marketing. It’s about building trust. When others get to know you, trust you, and become your friend, they are going to buy from you rather than someone they don’t know.

One last big reason here is to brand yourself. If you video yourself explaining how to do something in your niche and then stick it on YouTube so it goes viral, you are going a long way in branding yourself as an expert in your field.

What skills do you need?

You need to know how to add social bookmarking plug-ins to your site(s). In addition, you will want to sign up for many of the 2.0 goodies. There are some finer points to learning how to use FaceBook, Twitter, and Squidoo to your full advantage, so further learning is in order.

Figuring out how to best manage and organize your time is important with your new social networking or it can take over your internet marketing life. These free traffic-getters are great, but you have to balance your time spent with how much you gain.

Of course, the more Web 2.0 strategies you use, the more exposure you get. But it is time consuming. Consider outsourcing some of this; like hiring someone to build your Squidoo lens or do your social bookmarking.

I would also say that you need to post some really great content on your blog so others will click on your “Digg this” icons. That means you have to write it yourself, rewrite PLR, or hire a ghostwriter to write it for you.

What other strategies work well with Web 2.0?

• Outsourcing any of your needs; article writing, changing blog themes, researching, building websites, graphics, etc.
• Setting up a website
• Blogging ins and outs
• Article marketing
• How to get traffic
• List building
• Selling affiliate products
• Offering your services on the Internet
• Doing audio interviews
• Using PLR
• Mentoring or coaching

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