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This is the second marketing article in a series of five articles related to Internet marketing that I have written, so to assist those Internet marketing novices and bloggers who really desire learning how to get started on the right foot in this crazy, mixed up world we call the Internet. If you missed the first article, then below is a link to the first article in the series, so you may catch up with the rest of the class:

Understanding Social Bookmarking Services So You Too Can Build A Successful Internet Marketing Network

In this lesson, we will be discussing the importance of friendship on the Internet and in social networks more specifically. While the Internet can be dangerous and scary at times there is a right way and a wrong way to finding and making friends on the Internet without putting yourself in a dangerous situation. We are discussing making friends on the Internet as an additional way to build a successful marketing network and not for any other purpose such as dating or hanging out at the local café.

Step One: Join a Social Bookmarking Network

One of the most valuable lessons that I could teach anyone, is to join at least one social bookmarking network such as one of the following:

1. StumbleUpon

   One of the biggest and most active social bookmarking websites on the Internet with a very friendly community that enjoys light and humorous articles, websites and photos. For me, poetry does not do well on this site, but for some poets, StumbleUpon is the best place to win over new fans of poetry.

2. Digg

   The biggest and most active bookmarking community on the Internet with millions of page views and tens of thousands of new Internet content being shared 24/7 amongst the millions of members. This is the best place to bookmark more serious topics and subjects for the community to read, vote and leave comments on.

3. Shoutwire

   If political and religious websites, photos, articles and topics are your type of thing, then I have found that this is the best social bookmarking community for this sort of thing. Like with other social bookmarking websites this community enjoys other types of bookmarks besides political and religious subjects. You can submit just about any type of bookmark, but the two already mentioned above are the best performing on this site.

4. Faves

   This is the best social bookmarking community to use, so to learn how to use a social bookmarking service. The community is smaller and moves at a slower pace than the other social bookmarking communities that we have already discussed, but is still a useful community to be part of.

   Light and humorous articles, websites, blogs and photos rule the day at Faves. Poetry does not do so well here.

5. Slashdot

   This is an excellent social bookmarking community that is heavily involved in anything tech or computers. There are a whole bunch of intelligent nerds and geeks that get their tech news from Slashdot and tech; computer and Internet blogs, websites and articles can do very well here in this community.

Once you have joined a social bookmarking community, then the next thing that you need to focus on is your personal profile page.

Step Two: Read The Terms and Conditions

Be sure to read carefully the Terms and Conditions and any rules that the social bookmarking service has made available to its community members. You do not want to break the rules and risk being banned from using the site and/or service. I know, none of us enjoys reading all of the legal stuff that these websites have for us to read, but it is necessary, so that we don’t lose the right to use the service.

Step Three: Creating A Personal Profile Page

Nearly all social bookmarking services allow their members to create and build their own person profile page, so that their members have the chance to introduce themselves to the rest of the social bookmarking community in which they now belong to. With this in mind, it is extremely important to take your time and do this right, because this is your first chance to make a lasting good first impression on those visitors who have chose to visit your profile page.

It is not important to give your real name or location, but it is important to divulge a bit of personal information like your favorite hobbies, books, music and other pieces of personal information such as these things. The reason why this is so important is because it makes your friends and visitors feel like they are getting to know who you are, just like making a real world friend. The better your online friends get to know you, then the stronger and more successful your marketing network will be at the end.

When creating your personal profile page, be sure to include hyperlinks to your personal blogs, favorite articles, and website if you have one. This is an excellent opportunity to expand your marketing network to include other projects that you have going on at the time.

Step Four: Setting Up Your Personal Profile Settings

Nearly every social bookmarking service allows their members the choice of making their bookmarks available to the public or to keep it private (only for personal use/viewing). If you are joining a social network partly due to building a Internet marketing social network, then it is extremely vital to make your bookmarks public, so that other members in the social bookmarking community can visit, read, vote and leave comments on the websites and articles that you have discovered or liked.

Step Five: Getting To Know Your Surroundings

Before you start getting bookmark crazy, you should first take time and explore the social bookmarking community that you have joined. Checkout what other members are discovering on the Internet and take the time to visit, read, vote and leave comments on other members’ bookmarks. Explore the forums and groups that many of these social communities have setup for its members to enjoy and interact with each other in. Just get to know who and what other people are doing, so that you will be in the know (in the loop) always.

Step Six: Make New Friends

One of the single most important steps to building and maintaining a successful Internet marketing social network is to make as many friends as possible. Social networking is all about your friends and how many quality friends that you are able to make in the longrun.

One of the best ways to make friends in social networks is to invite anyone to be your friend that has left positive comments on any of your bookmarks that you have added and introduced to the social network(s) that you belong to. Just don’t get disappointed if not all of the people that you have invited to be your friend choose to make you their friend in return. Some members of these social bookmarking communities are not interested in making friends, because they are rather using these bookmarking services to replace the traditional search engines, so to discover new and exciting places to visit on the Internet.

Another good way to make quality friends (the kind of friends that will be most likely to visit the articles, websites, videos, games and movies that you discover and bookmark) is to invite any member in the community that routinely bookmarks subjects and topics that are of interest to you. Just remember, not everyone will be interested in making friends, so invite as many members as you are able to, to be your friend. Especially, invite any member who is interested in the same things that you are interested in or write or blog about on the Internet.

Step Seven: Get Personal With Your Friends

It is one thing to invite and make new friends, but it is something else entirely to make new friends with a personal touch. After you have made a few new friends make sure to send each of them a private message, just to welcome them into your friend’s network. This type of personal touch makes your new friends feel special and leaves a good impression on them about you.

Step Eight: It’s Bookmarking Time!

Now, that you have joined a social bookmarking community, setup your personal profile page, explored your environment and made a few new friends, it is time to start bookmarking your favorite websites, blogs, articles, videos, music and photos. Yes, you can bookmark your own blogs, articles and websites, but don’t stop there – bookmark all of the places that is of interest to you whether it’s yours or somebody else’s.

Try to avoid bookmarking anything or place that contains adult content that children should not see. The places and things that you choose to bookmark will either reflect positively or negatively on your social reputation.

Step Nine: Building and Maintaining A Positive Reputation

As we discussed before, the reputation that you develop on the Internet and especially in the social networks that you are participating in is very important not to screw up. Some people believe that they can have it both ways, but once you develop a good reputation, and then reverse course the other direction, just kiss everything that you worked for good-bye. People do not like peopling who are mean, nasty, crude, or bookmark anything that would generally be unsafe to visit. Be nice and show respect for everyone even those people whom not nice to you. Just ignore those people are disrespectful and move on with your good reputation still intact.

Step Ten: Create or Join A Group

Most of the social networks on the Internet offer tools to its members, so that they can create or join a community group to get to know other members better. The groups vary widely in topics and subjects, but joining or creating one for you is an excellent way to make more friends. The best thing is that these friends share many of the same interests that you have and are more likely to want to visit your blog, website or read an article that you have written.

Step Eleven: Be Helpful

It is very important to be friendly and respectful to everyone that you meet in these social networks no matter if the people that you meet are nice to you or not. Be helpful and help other new members find their way around the social community when they need some help. Always invite anyone that you helped to become your friend as you and that person have already something in common. You both have established communication with one another in the form of helping each other in a time of need. People do remember the kindness of others, even if they say nothing at the time.

This concludes the second article in the series of five Internet marketing articles that are being written, so to help anyone wanting to learn Internet marketing basics and techniques. Bookmark this article for easy reference and subscribe to Nelson Doyle’s RSS Feed, so that you do not miss out on the future articles in this series.

The third article will be published in the next couple of days.