This is a guest post written by Mr. Javo. He blogs over at Mrjavo.com and is in the Blogging Idol competition. If you have a minute drop by and say hi.

Social media networks allow people to come together online around shared
interests, hobbies, or causes. Many people around the world, use those
social networks to share the latest posts of their blogs, getting some
targeted traffic with the possibility to attract new subscribers.

The problem starts with the people who abuse of those systems, flooding
the homepage of the respective network with their own posts. Those
people think that they are using correctly the network, or may be they
think the more posts they submit, the more traffic they will get, but
really, that’s wrong! So, let’s see the correct use of the social media
networks, but before that let’s check the advantages and disadvantages
the social networks can have:

*Advantages*

*Traffic*: As mentioned before, this is the most obvious reason
why people loves those sites. By participating on them, you can
drive tons of traffic to your blog, getting new readers and
potential subscribers or customers.

*Branding*: Besides the traffic you can get, those communities are
a perfect place to expand your brand and let the people know who
you are! This way, you will be imposing your brand in Internet,
attracting the people’s attention.

*Relationships*: This is very related to the branding point. These
communities are full of bloggers, entrepreneurs or people who just
love to share their interests. When you deal with the same group
of people for some time, you will end meeting them. By
participating in social media networks, you will make many
friends, who can be potential partners for future businesses.

*Learning*: In every social media network, you will meet people
with the same interest than you. Commonly, you will receive many
articles related to your interests, and probably you will learn a
lot by reading them. Remember, everyday there are something new to
learn about.

As you can see, the social networks are very productive to your blog or
business, helping you to establish your authority. Let’s check how you
are supposed to use those communities:

*Don’t Spam*: This is the gold rule you should never break. If you
start submitting all your own posts, the other users will notice
something weird in your behavior. If you continue with the same
attitude, you will be reported as spammer! If so, you will get
banned from the social network, so avoid doing this!

*Take Part In The Network*: If you join to a network just for the traffic it
can drive for your blog, you are lost. If you want to expand your
brand, be a recognized figure and get credibility among other
bloggers, you should be and active and good user.

*Be Genuine*: What I want to say with this point, is that you
should submit and share to those social media networks, the
content you consider useful to your friends. You should not start
submitting whatever you see on internet to get karma points or
something, because you will be seen as a spammer, and you know
what happens then…

After reading this, do you think that using social media networks can
have a disadvantage? Well, I don’t think so! If you use them correctly
and with property, all you can get from those communities is traffic,
information and good relationships, which easily can help you to promote
your product in a future, for example. So, be a good user and avoid
spamming!

Wow, its 4 PM EST already. Time flies! Well I wanted to post this earlier today but now is better than never. I want to talk about how online relationships rely heavily on give and take.

How many times have you asked a friend for a favour online. It could be as simple as a stumble, or as big as money for a project but I can’t think of one person that has never asked ANYTHING out of a friend online.

We have to support each other. Online you have to give to receive. That being said, you should not only give but receive as well. If people ask me to stumble their stuff or even link to a post I always do what I can within reason and my morals.

That being said, if you don’t get anything back in return, that is good karma for you. If you continue to give but not get anything back then you are being used. There is a difference between giving to help a friend, and a friend taking advantage of your good will.

A lot of people don’t see that relationships are one of the most important aspects of succeeding online. I strongly believe this point to be true .

If you abuse your relationships with others you will push people away. Soon you will see your reputation dwindle with them and the benefit of their relationship fade. Relationships with other people take work, and you shouldn’t take them for granted.

In the blogging world relationships with other bloggers is what makes the community so powerful. If you can leverage your relationships with others, you can create a huge buzz about something or just broadcast your opinion or content to a ton of people.

With this in mind, get out there and make some new friends. I know its cliché but, “you can’t put a price on friendship”.

Add me to your google talk or aim (mattaw101@gmail.com) if you want to stop by and say hi.

Here is a podcast with Ian Fernando. Unfortunately it got cut a bit short due to the fact that he was on the top affiliate challenge. That being said, Ian is a great guy and has a lot of great tips for PPC. The sound is a bit low so you may need to turn your volume up a wee bit, I apologize for that…

The Lingo

MMO (Make Money Online)

PPC (Pay Per Click such as paid search)

Links

IanFernando.com

Adwords help tool

Incentaclick

BlogRush is of absolutely not use to my blog and I would not recommend using it. I have had the widget up for quite a few days now and guess how many visits it has sent me… 0!

So, basically I’m giving away free advertising on my site to others for nothing in return. Honestly, I’m not impressed with that, but its an example of trying to tweak a site. I thought it may work, it didn’t and as a result, I’m dropping it.

I know others have experienced success with the website but it just isn’t working for me. I think the principal is decent but I do not feel that the system is worth taking the space on your blog to display. This is a perfect example of finding out what fits for your blog. Although BlogRush may work well on others blogs, for me it isn’t.

As a result I would like to say, “Bon voyage BlogRush…”

On an unrelated note, I hope you guys are all having a great weekend!

Seriously, what is the Top Affiliate Challenge garbage! Here I was thinking that a decent internet show about affiliate marketing might have been created, then this disappointment shows up. Don’t get me wrong, I admire the idea behind the show, I just feel that the execution isn’t there.

Before I go into all the negatives, there are a few positives. One is that Thor actually got this thing going. It takes a lot of work to do something like this and kudos to him for doing it. Secondly, I think it is great that so many sponsors have put their faith into this project. Community involvement is key and I really like how the affiliate companies are supporting this show. I also think the idea for the show is cool and like the way a new episode comes out every day. I also think that there is a lot of heart in the show. The producers do want it to succeed they just have to resolve some issues. I think as the show goes on a lot of the issues I talk about below may be resolved. With any project there are bumps at the begging and I hope they can be fixed.

That being said, I do have quite a few problems with the show at the moment. The quality of the film is horrible. Seriously, the show looks like it edited it in windows movie maker. The show is roughly cut together with frames just fading in and out.

The show is poorly put together. The host is reading off a script and not doing a good job of it. Although it is a reality show, it seems horribly scripted. Like when Jason came into the room in episode 2 (yes I actually watched it), I just groaned and rolled over. A scripted reality show, doesn’t that sort of defeat some of the purpose of the show?

While the intentions for a great show may be there, it simply is not put together well. Also, you want an internet reality show, yet you don’t want to make it look good. The Next Internet Millionare looked good. Thor you were on that show, maybe you should take a few pointers from how Joel Comm produced it.

I have also not learned one thing about affiliate marketing in the first two episodes. All I saw were some companies come up talk about their offers, a bunch of people talk smack and then a few peoples thoughts. Honestly, it can only get better from here… (I sincerely hope it does)

Finally, Wes from Tracking202 pointed out, whoever runs their site forgot to .htacess the video folder. If you want to see episode 3 before it comes out and every next episode (unless they fix it), just follow the link: http://208.87.32.10/ (EDIT: They’ve now fixed this, but I’ve already watched an episode that wasn’t supposed to be out, and so have a lot of other people…). C’mon that is just sloppy. Also, if you say episodes will be up at 1 PM CST, they should be up at 1 PM CST not like 3 or 4 PM CST. If you can’t keep the promise, don’t publish it.

To leave you off with some video, my buddy Ian Fernando (a contestant on the show) made a video that I am posting below. I think other contestants may catch on to what he thinks and the show will go from internet reality to internet comedy.

What do YOU think of the Top Affiliate Challenge

- end rant -