Connections Everywhere!

If you are serious about internet marketing, then the top tool you need is traffic.  You can pay for traffic, or you can get it organically.  There are several organic methods, including, in fact, Wizzley articles.  But if you enjoy meeting people like I do, social network sites give you plenty of traffic opportunity.  Fun + beneficial = no brainer!

Wait a sec. Is this really a good idea?  Would it be better to just pick a few and be really active on those sites, rather than signing up for so many profiles? Plus, how the heck do you keep up with all of it?

Yep, I hear you. The answers are: "No" and "who cares"?

I am positive I have signed up for many social networking sites that no longer exist, or have been downsized, bought out, re-purposed, etc.  So was all that time and effort wasted?  No way!  I meet people everywhere.  There is not one single place I've joined where I cannot say I have not had some social benefit.  People remember me from one site to the next as well, which only adds to my brand and my credibility.  If you are unable to be active on every single one (who is?) that's okay.  You are drawing in people you would not otherwise reach.  I have my blog posts go from Posterous to my main blog, to blogger, typepad, and finally, facebook and twitter.  I do occasionally post specifically to those individual sites, but the beauty of it is that I have it set up to go to one place (from email, I might add) and then the other sites are automagically populated.  There are plenty of folks who like to "browse" (I'm one of them) on the different blogging sites.  Why deny yourself the opportunity to get in front of those folks, too? Bottom line is, I do have a few places I frequent, and the others, not so much. But I stilla add fresh content and check in at least weekly (usually twice weekly or so) to see what my subscribers and those I follow are up to.

Keeping up? No way.  I pull initial confirmations to a folder in my email, and that's about it.  If I've not been to a site in a while, how refreshing to find it again later, having forgotten all about it, to find new followers and a bunch of activity, based on something I did months ago.  I love that!  There's almost always a way to retrieve your login info... the key is to be consistent.  Passwords can get tricky, because you do not want to use the same one, but I know that if I can't get it I can always retrieve it.  Just be sure you remember your security questions.  Sometimes they're a little rediculous and the answers can change... so be careful with that.

About.Me
This is a pretty good collection of everything else listed below

Cafe Elsewhere
My Original Blogger blog

The Ironed Out Diva
My Main Blog

K Squared Gumbo
Typepad blog - I also pulled in a posterous blog I did for a while about the Natchez Trace, and do some quick blogging here. It really is "gumbo" lol

Southern Green
Tumbler - still figuring this one out. It is getting more and more popular. I was on here a long time and nothing, now suddently it explodes. You just never know!

Amplify
Great way to send short blogs to FB & Twitter, but I have trouble with pics