John Ugoshowa asked:


If you would ask this question, Which one is more important the mailing list or the product? any savvy marketer would answer you, The mailing list.

Principally, any wise business person puts the importance of hungry demand (and not just any demand) in front of the product. In other words, there is no product if there is no demand! And a mailing list represents the demand or your business if you would like to call it.

If you frequent the Joint Venture forums and membership sites of any kind, you will find that product and service owners need mailing list owners more than the other way round. This is because the mailing list owners have the prospects that the other type of partner is looking for to sell to.

And if you are a mailing list owner, you do not have to necessarily make money from selling your own product. You can sell advertising space or craft a Joint Venture with product owners in return of commissions, recurring or not.

Most of the biggest success web businesses on the Internet today often establish the mailing list (or subscribers) first before the product. One fine example is Friendster.com.

Friendster.com, in the nutshell, is a website that connects friends and potential friends from around the world through a free membership access.

While Friendster.com does not make money from the number of members who join the site, the business makes money from selling advertising space and partnering with other big time merchants and businesses, owing to the established number of members Friendster.com has recruited.

This business is perfect example that demonstrates why every business should establish a need or demand before the product itself, and why you should do the same, whether you run a friends site or not.

Belinda Sinclair asked:


A lot of single men and women these days are looking for new ways to explore and pursue relationships. And what better way to do so than through online dating personals? Where else can you find such a huge network of diverse people, a lot of them as hungry for love and intimacy as the next person, than through an online dating service?

Dating services online have seen a massive rise in popularity over the past decade as more and more people use the internet to meet lovers and pursuerelationships. It’s an exciting way to approach dating and can be very rewarding.

Here’s a review of the top six online dating services out there.

Online Dating Service #1: Match.com

Match.com is a subscription-based online dating service and has been around a long time. It’s a fun site that’s loaded with helpful features. It has a clean search tool that gives you all the information you need to see if you want to communicate with certain people and you can instantly chat, leave voicemail, or even “wink” at the person if he or she is online.

One of the best features of this online dating service is the age-match facility, where you can specify the age-range of who you want to meet. That way, you don’t have to deal with 50-year-olds if all you’re interested in are 25-year olds. It’s a wonderful place to start if you’re just beginning to explore online dating personals and is equally helpful for established players too.

Online Dating Service #2: Yahoo! Personals

Yahoo! Personals is another hugely popular online dating personals site that boasts thousands upon thousands of members, all looking for the perfect match. Like Match.com, there are fees involved and some people think they are quite high compared to other online dating services. But Yahoo! Personals does offer some free online dating features and you can browse other profiles to get an idea of who else is on the lookout for love. It’s an interesting service and with the amount of people involved, your chances of finding the right person are considerably enhanced.

Online Dating Service #3: AmericanSingles

AmericanSingles is a great, well-designed and fully functioning online dating personals site that has quite a few great and helpful features. Chief among these are the chat and communication features, which are sure to get you some cool interaction.

You can “hot-list” people and even “tease” them, in addition to emailing and inviting to chat. Speaking of chatting, AmericanSingles has a very good chat system that allows for better exchanging of ideas – and who knows how far you can get on in a day! Oh, and if there’s one piece of online dating advice that you can heed it’s this: don’t let the name AmericanSingles mislead you. There are singles from all over the world at this site!

Online Dating Service #4: eHarmony



eHarmony is a very unique online dating service. The site isn’t so much about quick profiles and fancy picture comparisons than it is science. If you sign up and pay the fee, you will be asked to take a lengthy personality survey to determine what you’re all about.

After that, eHarmony matches you with other people who have the same interests as well as complimentary features about them. With eHarmony, you know you’ll be dealing with people who are totally committed to online dating since they’re willing to pay a fee that is a tad more expensive compared to other online dating personals. Your chances for finding the RIGHT one at eHarmony are certainly increased. It’s definitely one of the more interesting dating services out there.



Online Dating Service #5: Webdate.com

Webdate.com is a huge online dating site that offers much in terms of number of members. Users come from all over the world in what has to be one of the most diverse collections of singles on the planet. Unfortunately, you can’t do personality matches or anything, although you can browse other profiles easily and get in touch with members faster than other dating sites can offer. Watch out for the advertising; other than that, this is another extensive and potentially rewarding site.

Online Dating Service #6: Friendster

Friendster.com isn’t so much about online dating personals than it is a community of friends. But there are features that allow you to tell people you are single and looking out for partners. There are millions of Friendster users who are looking for love and relationships and the extensive profile feature can really help you out. Searching is relatively easy and finding someone with matching likes/dislikes isn’t that hard. You can exchange videos, blogs, and a number of other things too. Plus, if it doesn’t work out, you can always remain friends on this site. Friendster is all about relationships, whether intimate or platonic. Good site, lots of possibilities.



If there’s one piece of online dating advice you need to know it’s this: a dating site is a tool, not a mask. A solid online dating rule is never to betray another person. Follow that online dating tip by being true to yourself and who you are, and one day you’ll find the person who’s right for you. Happy soulmate searching!

Nathan Holland asked:


Anyone in the online marketing business would know the answer to the question What matters more, the mailing list or the product? The answer may actually surprise you. Contrary to popular belief, all would say The mailing list.

Business people know the importance of a hungry demand. They admit to putting that first, and the product not far behind it. Business people understand that the way to rake in more cash is by giving the consumers what they want (demand). In laymans terms, no demand, no product. The mailing list represents the demand for the product/s that you offer. The mailing list reflects how well your business is doing by showing you how great or how low the demand is for a certain product.

If you frequent Joint Venture forums and membership sites of any kind, you will discover that more product and service business owners need mailing list owners than the other way around. Why? Because these mailing list owners have the list of prospective clients that the product and service business owners need to be able to sell or market their products and services.

On the other hand, if you are the mailing list owner, its not necessary for you to make money from selling these lists. You may also opt to sell advertising space or maybe partner up with a product and/or service owner and in return, get commissions per sale and terms are totally up to you.

Most of the biggest online business successes today have a mailing list as its foundation. Business owners actually establish this first, even before the product was thought of. A good example for that would be Friendster.com

Friendster.com is a free social networking site that connects friends and friends to be from all over the world. How, you ask, does a business like this make money? It makes money through selling their advertising space. What they do is partner with big time merchants and let them advertise on their site. Friendster.com acts as the mailing list in this example. Even Google and Youtube are looking into it.

This kind of business is a good example of why business owners should establish a mailing list first before the product because the demand will determine what your product should be.

Peter Nisbet asked:


r Facebook or Friendster login has been refused then you will need a Friendster or Facebook proxy to get you into the site. The same is true of MySpace and YouTube. Why is it that so many people are seeking proxies for these social networking sites?

Not so long ago, as employers took on younger people, they also appear to take on their habits. Many young employees believed (still do) that when they start to work for an employer they can take their surfing habits with them. At every opportunity they would use the company computer to access their Friendster account, login to Facebook or find what the latest big video was on YouTube. Obviously, their employers did not like this.

The result was that employers blocked certain URLs. This wasn’t difficult because the vast majority of companies use an intranet system, so all they had to do was block the server from accessing these websites. As company networks became more sophisticated it was even possible to identify the computer from which the Friendster login attempt originated.

Universities and colleges soon followed, and it finally became obvious that private computers, or at least those operated by private concerns such as educational and government establishments, and businesses, were no longer willing to tolerate their staff using their computers or terminals to access social networking sites. Friendster login was refused, and those of other social networking sites.

This seemed unfair to many, and still does, because such sites are a means of communication just as cell phones are, and many use Twitter for example to send small messages to their friends. So what was the answer?

Simple when you think of it. The colleges and employers and whoever else blocks the URLs you visit, can only see one deep. So, if you visit a website that is not blocked, your company’s server won’t block you. You can log on to that site. Now, take it a step further. If you now use that website to log on to another website, your firm or college’s spying software can’t see that. It still thinks you are on the original innocuous website. Nobody except you knows that you are actually logged on to Friendster.

In basic terms, when it is used to log on to Facebook it is known as a Facebook proxy, and it can also be used as a Friendster login. A search box on another website can be used as a proxy to enable you to access any other website at all. It need not be YouTube, Friendster or, but any URL you want to access.

The problem with proxy sites is that once they have been used for a period of time, they are found, and that URL is then added to the list of banned sites. “Banned” does not mean that you should not access them: it means that you CANNOT access them. They too are blocked from you in the same way that a Friendster login is blocked.

That is why you need a regular source of proxy sites – finding one by accident seems great because you can log on to Friendster, and that Facebook proxy is allowing you to contact your buddies from work, but it won’t last. Once it has been blocked then what do you do?

Better by far to find a website that offers a free Friendster login or a Facebook proxy that you can rely upon. Such sites will carry out checks on the proxies they offer, and change them when they have been found out. You will always have a tried and tested proxy that works.

Felix Burke asked:


This article is perfect for those who are looking to start out with Internet Marketing, as well as those who are new to it, and want to know more about what exactly is affiliate marketing.

I’ll attempt to answer all questions you have about affiliate marketing in this article.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

I’ve seen lots of people asking this question – I’m going to answer this question in layman terms here, so everyone can understand.

Affiliate marketing is where you’ll be promoting other people’s products and services to potential customers and get paid commission whenever someone purchases the products and services you recommend.

Is Affiliate Marketing Legitimate Or Is It A Sham?

Of course affiliate marketing is 100% legitimate.

Lots of people have managed to generate millions of dollars from affiliate marketing every year and you can do the same as well.

It is definitely not a sham…

What Are The Advantages Of Affiliate Marketing?

Some of the advantages of affiliate marketing include:

No need to bother about inventory

No need for you to have a warehouse to store products. It is done by the merchants.

No need to set up payment processing

No need for you to set up payment processing as well – as it is also done by the merchant. All you need is to sent potential customers to the merchant’s website, and everything else will be taken care of.

You can make lots of money from affiliate marketing

Take digital books for example – most of these merchants pay out up to 75% for a sale of a digital book – for example, if you manage to refer a sale for a digital book worth $40, you’ll receive a commission of $30 – it’s as simple as that.

You can sell to anybody around the world

There’s no boundaries on the Internet – your website or promotion will be seen by everyone around the world – this means that you have a chance to sell to anybody around the world! This is unlike a physical business, where you can only (in most cases) sell to people within the country where the business is located.

What Is The Difference Between Affiliate Marketing & Multi Level Marketing (MLM)?

In affiliate marketing, the amount of money you will make will depend on the amount of sales you make – and the merchant will pay you a certain amount of commission based on every sale. There are no downlines in affiliate marketing – you work directly work the merchant.

However, for Multi Level Marketing, the amount of money you’ll eventually make will depend on the money you make as well as the money your downlines make. The more number of downlines you have and the more money they make, the more money you’ll make in turn. It is impossible for you to profit a lot from Multi Level Marketing if do not have a good downline. I personally am not into Multi Level Marketing so I can’t comment any further.

Affiliate Marketing – How Quickly Can One Start Making Money?

My answer to this question is – it all depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it.

You need to follow the right steps and strategies – there are many people out there who claim that they can help you make millions of dollars overnight – most of these are scams, so please do not believe them.

It is possible though to make millions of dollars over a period of time – you need to first establish yourself on the Internet community as someone people can look to for answers on a certain subject/topic – and once you’ve built that trust with people, you can be sure that the community will buy whatever product/service you promote (and that’s when you’ll see millions of dollars coming in)

Does Anyone Really Make Any Money On The Internet Or Is It Just A Dream?

To be honest with you – when I was first introduced to this Internet Marketing business in late 2006, I, too, was also very skeptical as to whether this whole thing is genuine or is it nothing but scam.

After some persuasion, I decided to try it out and I was lucky enough to learn from the right Internet Marketing gurus (I was also scammed by some) who taught me the right techniques and strategies to profit from Internet Marketing as an affiliate marketer.

What Can I Sell To Make Money As An Affiliate?

You can choose to sell either physical products (e.g. televisions, cameras, books, computers, etc.) or digital products (e.g. digital books, MP3s, etc.).

If you are interested in selling physical products, you may wish to sign up as an affiliate for Amazon (where you can promote anything on the Amazon website and get a commission of about 4% – 8% per sale), or an an affiliate in Commission Junction, Performics (In Commission Junction and Performics, you can find many companies where you can promote products for – such as Sony, HP, etc.)

If you are interested in selling digital products, you can sign up as an affiliate for Clickbank where you can sell digital books on any topics such as business, health and fitness, personal development, marketing, etc.

In addition, you can also make money by giving out free memberships to people, free products (like free game consoles, free gift cards, free ringtones, etc.) or when someone requests for a free financial quotation, etc. – Here are some of the networks you may want to sign up – MaxBounty, ClickBooth, CPA Empire.

How & When Will I Receive My Payment?

Most of the affiliate networks (such as ClickBank, Commission Junction, Performics) issue out payments by check, and most of them issue out payments once every month. However, there are some (like ClickBank) that issues out payment every fortnightly.

Once you’ve received the checks, you can just bank them in your country’s local bank the same way you bank in normal checks. However, the checks might take a little bit longer to clear – between a week to approximately a month, depending on the bank – my suggestion is to check with them directly.

Is There Any Way To Track The Number Of Sales I Generate As An Affiliate?

Yes, all affiliate programs will have an option for you to see how many sales you’ve generated as an affiliate, as well as how much you’ve made over a period of time – such as in a single day, in a week, in a month, or in a year.

You’ll also know when payments are being sent out.

How Do I Get Started With Affiliate Marketing?

Ask yourself these questions – “what am I interested in?”, “What do I like to do in my spare time?” – For example, you love playing golf during the weekends, and you have an affiliation for it, then that’s what you should start off with – selling golf products as an affiliate.

Still continuing with the example of golf, you can either sell digital books on how to improve your golf swing, or you can sell golf clubs, golf balls, etc.

Next, you’ll need to find a merchant in the golf niche that has an affiliate program so that whenever somebody you referred to purchases something from the merchant’s website, you’ll be paid a certain amount of commission.

How you can find merchants in the golf niche that has an affiliate program is very easy – just head over to Google and type in the following:

[your area of interest] affiliate program – using the example of golf, you’ll type the following into the Google search:

golf affiliate program

Google will return a list of websites with merchants that offer an affiliate program. Visit those sites one buy one and sign up for their affiliate program. Normally, you do not need to pay to sign up for their affiliate program.

Once the merchant approves you to be their affiliate, they will give you a unique link (known as your affiliate link), which you’ll have to give to your potential customers to visit to purchase products/services that you’re promoting (the reason is because you’ll only be paid commissions if your potential customers purchase the products/services through your affiliate link)

That’s how you can get started with affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Product Marketing – Do I Choose The Product First Or Niche?

I would say you should look for your niche first. There’s no point in choosing the most profitable product to promote but you know nuts about that product – it will be very difficult for you to be able to convince potential customers for that particular product to buy from you as well.

Affiliate Marketing On A Zero Budget – Is It Possible?

Absolutely. Let me show you how.

First of all, it’s free to sign up to become an affiliate for the merchants. Next, you can make use of a free blogging website such as Blogger to set up your website to promote products for the merchant.

Once you’re done with your blog, you need to drive traffic to it (no traffic = no sales) You can make use of free traffic generation methods such as MySpace, FaceBook, Friendster, etc. to drive traffic to your website.

You can also drive traffic by placing advertisements on free advertisement sites like usfreeads, or write articles around the product/s that you’re promoting and submit them to the various article directories – such as EzineArticles, Article Dashboard.

By using the methods above you’ll be able to receive tonnes of traffic to your website, and get some sales.

So there you have it! A nutshell of how you can do affiliate marketing on a zero budget.

How Do I Drive Traffic To My Website?

There are many ways to drive traffic to your website – both paid and free.

Let me go into the paid methods first – you can advertise your websites on the various search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. For these paid search advertising, you’ll have to pay whenever someone clicks on your advertisement to go into your website.

Next, for free advertising, there’s lots of ways for you to drive traffic to your website (I’m going to list some of them here):

1. Write articles and submit them to the various article directories – in the author’s byline, include a link to your website.

2. Participate in forums in the area where you’re promoting products in (for example, if you’re promoting golf products, then you should visit golf forums). Some of these forums will allow you to put a forum signature – which is a link that’ll appear at the end of all your forum posts – include a link to your website there.

3. Sign up for social networking websites – such as MySpace, FaceBook, Friendster, etc. and connect with people in your niche area.

4. Post a free advertisement in free advertising networks such as usfreeads.

How Can I Market Affiliate Products Without A Website?

You can make you of advertising sites such as usfreeads, or you can pay to advertise on the various search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Is It Possible I Use Only Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing In Affiliate Marketing And Succeed With It?

Yes, you can use Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing alone in affiliate marketing (I’ve done this before and made quite a lot of money from it).

However, you need to be equipped with the right skills in order to be able to create profitable campaigns.

Which Is More Profitable? Affiliate Marketing Or Google Adsense?

Here’s my answer – both can be very profitable – if you do them right. I won’t go into Google Adsense here but in essence, as a newbie, you should pick one (either affiliate marketing or Google Adsense) and focus on it.

Should I Use Landing Pages / Squeeze Pages With Affiliate Marketing?

First and foremost, for those of you who do not know what a landing page / squeeze page is, it’s basically a page that is used for the purpose of collecting your potential customers’ first name and email address in exchange for something – it could be a free report, free email training course, free audio program, etc. It has the intention of eventually leading the potential customers to the products/services you’re promoting.

As to whether or not you should use a landing/squeeze page with affiliate marketing will depend on your marketing effort – some of them build one to build his/her list so as to be able to sell to them in future (as the saying goes “the money is in your list”). But remember this – do NOT build a list and just send them emails to ask them to buy the products/services you are promoting – it’s probably going to turn them off. You have to give them VALUE, such that they’ll open up your email when they see them in their inbox instead of sending them to the thrash can.

There are people who did not use a squeeze/landing page – they would just send potential customers directly to the product sales page.

So it all depends on what your marketing strategy is – my advice is, try both of them out, and see which one works for you better.

What Is URL Masking In Affiliate Marketing?

URL Masking is basically hiding your affiliate URL and make it shorter. Let me give you an example – if you are promoting a ClickBank product, your affiliate link will look something like this:

http://your_affiliate_id.product_id.hop.clickbank.net/

Does the above link look very long and bulky?

One look at the URL people will know you’re trying to sell them something as an affiliate.

Here’s where URL masking comes in – to hide your affiliate id as well as to make your link shorter.

You can make use of free services such as TinyURL or PinURL.

Cell Phones are commonly used by almost everybody in this world. Cell Phones have not only brought the world closer but due to the innovations and technology the cell phone provides a number of uses in our daily activities. A few uses of cell phone is that it is mobile and a tiny instrument that can be carried along anywhere, hence helps us to stay connected with the world around us. Some other important benefits are it has a MP3 player to download and enjoy a good collection of your favorite songs, Camera that helps you capture those memorable moments of your life, video-recording facility and a variety of 3D-games that can be played and downloaded from internet sites, this is not the end, the SMS, MMS and WAP has added an advantage to its use. In Short, a Cell Phone provides all the luxurious facilities in a small package otherwise for which your might have paid a fortune. Initially a cell phone was developed to overcome all the problems you had faced while using a telephone, actually the cell phones portable feature and the facility to speak to your loved ones from anywhere in the world, attracted a lot of people to purchase it. Now Cell Phones are regarded as a great Social Networking instrument. However, online social networking is easily done through the World Wide Web by creating your profile from the base. Recently there are a number of modifications made by which you can access your personal data from other community sites and help you easily move among the other social networking sites, thanks to the Facebook. News Corps Myspace, Facebook and Friendster are the two leading online hangouts on the social networking sites help you to easily integrate your profile, friends list and other social programs. These features enable you to add in data profile, photos, videos or any social gatherings without creating from the scratch as the basic biographical information can be seen on online websites like eBay Inc. All these facilities can be enjoyed by the people who use their Cell Phones to browse the web for a Social Networking Site like those mentioned above, Myspace and Facebook along with information surfed for daily weather forecasts, maps or news. Surfing for Social Networking sites through your personal Cell Phone has helped you to stay in direct touch with your friend circle and thus you never felt like missing them. The WAP feature enables you to get this facility. Today every brand of a Cell Phone has all the advanced features that help you remain connected with the world. A study reveals that more than 40% of the cell phone users worldwide use WAP services only for Social Networking and one fourth to other search portals and in countries like the US, South Africa and Indonesia, 60% web users connect to the Social Networking services through their mobiles. More and more youngsters upload photographs and videos to the Web from their Cell Phones. The young generation is an active participant in exchanging pictures and videos to their friend with the help of their mobiles through Social Networks. Social Networking, an important cell phone content is the common craze amongst the youths. A lot of Social Networking websites can be easily accessed through the Cell Phones due to its latest technology and advanced development. Thus using Cell Phones for Social Networking is a common practice which has brought the world closer as compared what it used to be earlier. Due to a lot of competition among MySpace, Facebook and Friendster, it has attracted more than ten millions of people through their Cell Phones.

Jason Szova asked:


o join a social network but don’t want to join Friendster? With hundreds of social networks popping up every month how do you know which one to choose? There are lots of alternatives out there these days, so in this article I am going to show you some alternatives when it comes to joining Friendster and others.

In my opinion when joining any social network you don’t want to be faced with lots of rules and regulations. You want to be able to do your own thing and interact with your friends how you see fit. So without delay what are some alternatives when it comes to Friendster?

LinkedIn – Linkin is a new social network for professionals and has many good benefits to joining the network. With Linked in you have to be invited and it is more of a professional social network compared to myspace and facebook. The best thing about linked in is you can get a job in your area of expertise simply by belonging to link in. Many head hunters and recruiters exclusively hire people just from linked in, so it ranks right up there as one of the best social networks today.

MySpace – However if you’re in your youth and want to connect, MySpace is an awesome Friendster alternative simply for the fact there are lot’s of young people to connect and chat with. MySpace is more high school and has more people ranging from 13-20. It has also been around for quite awhile with millions of registered members. It all depends what your are interested in doing with each social network. That’s what makes them different from one another.

FaceBook – FaceBook is in my opinion is one the best of both worlds if you are into marketing yourself as a professional & as a friend. FaceBook could be your answer. It has a wide variety of features as well as a big member community.

There are lots of applications being made all the time to make your experience more enjoyable. There are more people on Face book in the range of 20-35 as well so you can connect with more people who might be in your age range.

So as you can see these are just 3 Friendster alternatives, but I would go with whatever network appeals to you the most. Because everyone is different ages and at different stages in their life there is no right answer for this one. These are just some alternatives if you are trying to make a decision on which network to join over another one.

Kathryn Lively asked:


These days, some may tell you it isn’t all about the blog anymore. To be seen on the Internet, and to promote your books, CDs, and other products, you have make friends online, and become involved in a network of like-minded people. If no such place exists, you are then charged with creating such a safe house in the hopes of attracting people who might enjoy what you write.

The concept of the online social network is all the Internet rage. Where blogs allow website owners to add content and promote various products and ideas, involvement in a social networks help one target a specific audience and broaden exposure in a relevant environment. As the world continues to theoretically shrink with communal sharing of ideas, videos, music, and images, people can establish different levels of relationships through these networks, be they casual or intimate.

As someone with a book, CD, or product to sell, involvement in social networks can raise awareness of your brand, contribute to link popularity for your main website, and help your overall image become more dynamic and interactive in the mind of a potential customer.

However, one wants to be certain not to spread the talent and effort too thinly. While it is important to set aside some time to promote via the Internet, having too many eggs in the basket may prove cumbersome. Should you join as many social sites as possible. It is recommended from a branding standpoint. Establish your name on each site and provide the fundamental information about your books, goods and services with the necessary Web links, let this be the minimum effort you put into a site. With some site you may find you participate more than with others. Only your comfort level and commitment to time will ascertain where the bulk of your promotional efforts will go.

So, to which social networks should you subscribe? There are quite a few that have gained world popularity in recent months, some are even cited on news programs and other established websites. Some cater to the general public, some to niche communities. Finding out where you and your books belong doesn’t have to be a chore. Here follows a brief survey three social websites, two established and one up-and-comer:

MySpace: MySpace just may be the pet rock of the Internet. Everybody seems to use MySpace for their online headquarters these days: celebrities, music groups, authors, and everyday people. What attracts users to MySpace is its multi-functionality. Users can post daily entries in a weblog, share pertinent info on a main page for new visitors, post quick bulletins to friends with a single keystroke, and join message board communities with people who share similar interests.

Authors and musicians find MySpace especially helpful as a promotional tool for their works. Musicians may upload songs in MP3 format for listeners to sample, while writers can present books covers, excerpts, and links to purchase. The act of obtaining “friends” within MySpace increases the possibility of exposure as MySpace sites become interconnected through user activity. Leaving messages for “friends” on their respective MySpace sites establishes your brand and advertises your own page. The more active you are on MySpace, the more attention you bring to your works. With regards to functionality and popularity, this is definitely one all authors should consider joining.

Friendster: Friendster works along the same principles as MySpace, which is understandable since this site preceded the other by about a year. Friendster allows for users to post blogs and photos and connect with other Friendster users who share similar interests through private messaging and group message boards. Though not as much in the public eye as MySpace, to set up a rudimentary information page on your site, content, and products on Friendster may be beneficial in attracting other members searching for your interests.

Squidoo: With an odd-looking, squid-like mascot, Squidoo is a fast-growing social network that allows users to create “lenses” relating to various topics. An author for example, may choose to create an informational “lens” on the topic of his/her book, and format the content of the page to suit the information. How Squidoo differs from other social network sites is the use of set modules which build each page. There is no set blog software within Squidoo, but users may implement RSS feeds, text content, and affiliate links from any given number of participating retailers to build a page.

An author of a baseball book can, for example, implement the RSS feed of his weblog into Squidoo, link to relevant baseball sites with a link module, and link to his book on Amazon.com. Affiliation links allows for the Squidoo user to earn a percentage of sales attributed to the site as well.

The one advantage to establishing a lens on Squidoo is that, with the RSS feature, one may build two social networks at once. By updating a blog at MySpace or Friendster, the feed applied to Squidoo will update, saving time on updating the lens altogether.

Of course, this list of social networks is far from complete. As the Internet continues to expend, certainly more niche communities will launch in order to attract users. Some may explode like MySpace, while others maintain a steady user base like Friendster. Either way, anybody with a book, CD, or item to sell on the Internet should take advantage of the extra exposure, and determine how much effort should go into each site. Nuture your brand across the Internet, and you are certain to see recognition and sales grow.