Web 2.0, Internet Marketing, The Easiest Way To Generate Massive Exposure

Many people feel that they are running in circles when trying to improve the traffic to their site. The following article looks at the many marketing opportunities that exist in today's Web 2.0 world.

If you’ve ever been involved in a small business, or possibly even a home-based business then you’ve most likely hit the brick wall, just as many people do. No, I’m not talking about start up capital, or operating expenses, because starting a home business is actually one of the most affordable ways for the average person to break into the world of business, and break out of the world of 9 to 5 slavery.

The brick wall that I’m referring to is that of creating exposure for your products and services, and generating traffic for your web sites, presentations, and business briefings. In fact, one can very quickly find themselves pulling out their hair with shear frustration and confusion.

What once was a world of duplication, manipulation, and old school marketing, has in a matter of a few short years been swept aside by those on the cutting edge of the Internet landscape. The cutting edge of what has become the world of web 2.0. Unfortunately, despite the trends, most people really do not know what web 2.0 really is.

Of course, it’s cutting edge, it’s now, it’s happening, but are you using it?

Don’t get me wrong, web 2.0 Internet Marketing is not rocket science, but you do need to be armed with the basics. Just putting a few video clips on your site, or tossing up an audio file or two that people can access or download does not make your site a web 2.0 experience. In fact this has been done for years, but what does make it web 2.0?

Here are a few things to consider before jumping head long into the world of web 2.0 Internet Marketing, and possibly a few suggestions that may make your transition into this world a bit easier.

Architecture of Participation

The first element of a well-designed web 2.0 experience is something called the Architecture of Participation. You might also hear things like RIA (Rich Internet Applications), or even SOA (Service Oriented Applications).

Despite the use of fancy buzzwords, this simply refers to the user experience. Is the site pleasing to the eye, easy to use, and most importantly does the site make it possible for visitors to participate in the content of the web site?

This could best be demonstrated by taking a look at sites such as YouTube.com, EzineArticles.com, as well as social networking sites like MySpace.com. Each of these examples has a very well planned Architecture of Participation.

Mash Ups & Integration

The next element of a true web 2.0 experience is often called the mash up, or content integration. This is actually quite simple. Again, going back to sites like MySpace.com, you’ll see that participants can implement many different sources of web content. You’ll not only see video and audio, but you’ll also see blogs, comments, and networks of friends. Many sites will also integrate content from multiple sources or sites onto a single, new web site that generates fresh content on the fly, ready for eager site visitors.

Mashing multiple streams of content onto a new web site is where the term Mash Ups actually came from, which here again, is not rocket science when you determine what content your visitors might like to see, hear, or read. It’s simply a matter of pulling the appropriate content and mashing it up into one convenient place.

Social Networking

Finally, social networking is a big part of web 2.0. Of course, it’s deeply routed in the Architecture of Participation, and it almost always implements the mash up to create unique content, but the unique factor in social networking is that it’s designed to bring like minded people together.

Networking is the key to building successful long-term business relationships, but if you’ve ever hit your friends and family up with a business opportunity, you’ve probably discovered that they’re not always as like-minded as you might have originally hoped.

Tapping into such social networks can put you, and your business or opportunity in front of literally millions of potential prospects and future business partners, and because you are networking with like-minded people, you’re not forced to go old school when it comes to pitching your opportunity or product.

Over all, web 2.0 is a major departure in traditional marketing, and is light years beyond the days of mass mailing and classified ad submission. It is a whole new mindset in terms of building relationships, by simply rethinking the design process of your next web site, and oh yeah, the best part is that web 2.0 will cost you absolutely nothing to implement into your business.

Basically, the key to web 2.0 Internet Marketing is in the user experience. Gone are the days of sit and stare web sites. With a little creativity, and a touch of web 2.0, it’s now possible to turn a one way experience into a two way stream of communication, which is the key to any business success.

About the Author:

Troy Berlin has been actively involved in the home-based business industry for nearly 15 years and has been a stay at home dady for the past 10 years thanks to his home business. He now helps others develop their own online home business incomes so that they can enjoy more time freedom as well. Learn more about the Prosperity Cast Network, and Troy Berlin at http://www.ProsperityHomeNetwork.com

Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativity

Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativityis a must read for anyone wanting to put the power of the internet into their business site. From the review:

The emergence of Web 2.0 is provoking challenging questions for developers: What products and services can our company provide to customers and employees using Rich Internet Applications, mash-ups, Web feeds or Ajax? Which business models are appropriate and how do we implement them? What are best practices and how do we apply them?

If you need answers to these and related questions, you need this booka comprehensive and reliable resource that guides you into the emerging and unstructured landscape that is Web 2.0.

Gottfried Vossen is a professor of Information Systems and Computer Science at the University of Muenster in Germany. He is the European Editor-in-Chief of Elseviers Information SystemsAn International Journal. Stephan Hagemann is a PhD. Student in Gottfrieds research group focused on Web technologies.

• Presents a complete view of Web 2.0 including services and technologies

• Discusses potential new products and services and the technology and programming ability needed to realize them

• Offers how to basics presenting development frameworks and best practices

• Compares and contrasts Web 2.0 with the Semantic Web

If you really want to understand what is happening on the web today, Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativityis a great place to start.

Plug Your Business! Marketing on MySpace, YouTube, blogs and podcasts and other Web 2.0 social networks

Plug Your Business! Marketing on MySpace, YouTube, blogs and podcasts and other Web 2.0 social networksis an excellent book detailing how you can use the power of communication and internet social networking to expand your business. From the author:

• Get massive exposure for your business, no special computer skills needed.

• Quit wasting money on traditional advertising and marketing campaigns.

• Blog to connect with customers and generate word of mouth.

• Boost your visibility with Google, use MySpace for viral marketing.

• Ignite word of mouth with Web social networks

No matter what kind of business you have, its success depends on two things: It must serve a need, and you must find customers. Most new businesses fail simply because the right people never heard about them. And this is the paradox for entrepreneurs: People aren’t paying attention to traditional marketing and advertising anymore. But free advertising is alive and well.

Whatever you want to call it—buzz, word of mouth, peer-to-peer or viral marketing—you can’t just manufacture it. You must earn it—by engaging your target market.

Fortunately, there is a very straightforward, ethical way of gaining this free exposure: by participating on social networks. These social media sites, such as MySpace and other Web 2.0 networks, allow members to create profiles of themselves (or their business) with the objective of meeting like-minded friends and partners who share the same passions and goals.

The individuals participating on these networks might be searching for anything—a mentor, a ride to work, a date for Saturday night, recommendations for a movie, a new job, or perhaps they want to meet someone who’s an expert in their hobby. For business owners who learn to use them, social networks can provide valuable free exposure to a worldwide pool of new customers and fans.

These social networks have turned traditional marketing on its head. No longer must a business owner scrape together a huge pile of cash for a marketing campaign, then pray that it works. Hundreds of thousands of businesses large and small are leveraging social networks to lure new customers, often at virtually no cost. And unlike most traditional advertising, social networking can pay dividends for years to come because it forges a strong link between you and consumers, enabling your biggest fans to become evangelists for your business.

Internet social networks allow entrepreneurs to build their businesses one customer at a time. It’s the same as having a “street team” pounding the pavement for you. Just as your street team might pass out fliers about a show or new product, your MySpace friends can forward the same type of information using electronic messages to a much larger audience.

When you’re successful, your loyal customers begin spreading the word for you, generating true word of mouth.Entrepreneurs can no longer depend on interruption-based ads, such as commercials and junk mail, which force consumers to stop what they’re doing and pay attention. But with social networking, you can influence these consumers precisely at the point where they’re engaged.

In the old days, with postal direct mail or telephone cold-calling, your chance of getting a response from someone who didn’t know you was about 2 percent—and that’s if you had a big marketing budget and were doing everything right. But today, the social-networking skills described in this book can result in response rates of 80 percent or more.

Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business

Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Businessis a great book outlining the basics in setting up an effective social network marketing campaign for your business. These sites are a huge source of potential online traffic and cannot be ignored.

The future of marketing is a two-way street, not a one-way message.

Marketers must look to the Web for new ways to find and communicate with customers, rather than at them. From MySpace and YouTube to blogs, social media on the Internet is the most promising new way to reach customers.

Marketing to the Social Web helps marketers and their companies understand how to engage customers, build customer communities, and maximize profits in a time of marketing confusion. Author and social media guru Larry Weber describes newly available tools and platforms, and shows readers how to apply them to see immediate results and growth.

In order to use the Internet to its full marketing potential, executives must open their minds to new possibilities, embrace social change, and rethink best practices. Rather than broadcast messages to audiences, savvy marketers will participate in, organize, and encourage social networks to which people want to belong, striking up a dialog with and between customers. Networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and even Flickr are the perfect forums for this new dialog; Marketing to the Social Web shows you how to tap into it.

Today, marketing is exploding with possibilities and complexities as it reaches out into new forms, media, and models. Marketing to the Social Web presents an exceptional opportunity to use these new tools and models to reach new markets, even in today's fragmented media environment.