Want to Grow Your List? Try Using Social Networking Sites.

Twitter.com. Facebook.com. LinkedIn.com. Friendster.com. I’m sure you’ve heard some of these sites. And maybe you’ve taken a peek at some of their home pages or even signed up for a free account. But, Are you generating a ton of qualified leads using these sites yet? If you’re not pulling in traffic using these sites, you’re certainly not alone. Plenty of people haven’t even touched the social networking scene yet. And many of those that have ventured out into this relatively new territory aren’t matching their strategy or their message to the medium. You see, you can’t just post a profile on MySpace and talk TO your audience. These are social networking sites, meaning you talk WITH your audience. In other words, it’s a two-way conversation. And if you try to make it into a static, one-way conversation, you’ll find very few people interested in what you have to say. To that end, here’s what you need to do to start making the most out of social networking sites: 1) Join and Set Up Your Profile Stay away from setting up a jumbled profile with lots of images, colors and fonts that make it hard to read. If people have to struggle to read it, they won’t. And you’ll lose a potential prospect. On the flip side, don’t make your profile into a “clinical white” corporate-type site. People don’t visit other people’s profiles to read about companies. If they want to look at a business page at all, it’s because they want to find solutions to their problems. In other words, your profile isn’t really about you. It’s about your prospect. 2) Contribute Good Content Social networking sites aren’t for blasting out one commercial message after another. And in fact, doing so can get you banned. However, you can use these sites to establish yourself as an expert in your niche, as well as to attract qualified leads to your site. And to do that, you need to contribute good content on your social networking blog, on the forums and elsewhere on the site as appropriate. Doing so starts the conversation with like-minded others – and networking is the key to using these sites successfully. 3) Start Now Today is the time to get started. And that’s because social networking is not only hot today, it’s the future of the web. We’re seeing this evolution right now – and if you start using social networking sites immediately, you’ll be rewarded handsomely in new customers, new leads, new sales … and plenty of money! Stay tuned for the more secrets of using social networking… And Happy New Year!