The Most Powerful Ways To Make Money Online With MySpace by:Samantha Milner
If you haven't tried MySpace as one of the most successful sources of internet marketing then you are seriously missing out
. MySpace is simply one of the most powerful ways to make money online and this is still very much the case now with the phenomenon of Twitter.In 2006, internet users were shocked to learn that MySpace.com was generating 250% more traffic than Google. MySpace, a social networking website that allowed its members to befriend other people who are subscribed to the same service, became so popular at such a short period of time. Statistics for 2006 showed that 41% of internet users between the ages of 18 and 24 are MySpace members. This is a huge percentage that represents millions of people. And most of these members visit MySpace.com more than five times per day.
What Is MySpace, Exactly?
MySpace is a free membership website where its members can create web pages they can call their own. A web page often serves as a profile page for the member, where he can upload his photos and/or videos, tell the world about his hobbies and philosophies, and share sound bytes of the songs he fancies.
The social aspect of MySpace comes in the form of "contacts." Each member can invite other members to be his "contacts." Contacts are like online friends. An invitation to become a contact is tantamount to an act of befriending. Members who are invited to become contacts can either accept or deny the said invitations.
For the purposes of this piece, it'll be important to note that a member can leave messages on the profile page of any of his contacts. This message can be read by other people who will visit the said profile page.
Also, each member can create groups or join existing ones. Groups are like social communities dedicated to particular subjects, like rock bands, popular actors, engaging hobbies and the likes.
Again, for the purposes of this piece, it'll be important to know that ach group has its own forum as well as its own bulletin board where the members can post some notes for all the other members of the group to read.
Currently, there are over 2 million groups at MySpace, where almost 7 million forum posts have been made.
Okay. But How Can MySpace Help Me Make Money?
With the volume of traffic that MySpace generates on a daily basis, your online business is sure to benefit if you can get even the minutest share of that pie.
How can you do this?
MySpace is composed of many profile pages. In 2006 alone, at the peak of its popularity, it had over 67 million signups and at one period, was getting 250,000 new members per day.
Now, some of these profiles are more visited than others. Some profiles boasts of more contacts, for example. Some profiles are owned by beautiful people with beautiful photographs to greet their pages' visitors.
The trick lies in being able to display your link in any of these profiles.
For that, you have to be their contact. You will need your own profile. Thereafter, it's just a matter of inviting as many people as you can so that they may be your contacts.
Once they are your contacts, you can leave a message on their profile pages where you can likewise leave a link to your website.
This will work in two ways:
1. You will get direct traffic from the people who will get to see your link and click on the same; and
2. You will improve the number of back links for your website. MySpace pages appear prominently well in relevant search engine results.
The other way by which you can use MySpace to market your product or service is by taking advantage of the group feature we have discussed earlier.
You can either join an existing group dedicated to a subject related to the subject of your online business, or create your own group. Selling internet marketing products? Create a moneymakers club. Selling mp3 players? Create a music lovers group. Selling dog grooming eBooks? Create a "pamper your dog" clique.
Once you are a member, or an owner, of a group, you can start posting in the forum or the bulleting board. The same principle applies: make your link visible.
Important Guidelines To Follow
Sounds like hard work, eh? You're probably wondering if there's an easier way.
Well, there are easier ways, most definitely. There are programs that will auto-invite and auto-add contacts, which will do the dirty work for you. There are MySpace trains you can join that will keep adding contacts for you for as long as the members keep adding contacts of their own. There are actual services that will undertake to manually invite and add contacts for your profile as well as post messages on the profile pages of your contacts. There are programs that will auto-post messages on the profile pages of your contacts, as well.
Some of these options are legal. Some are ethical. Others can be considered black hat.
Before you consider a particular option that promises to make the job easier, make sure that it doesn't violate MySpace's TOS. There are few things more frustrating than getting a million contacts, only to have your account deleted because of some violations.
Here are some essential guidelines that will ensure a proper and efficient MySpace marketing campaign:
Your promotions should be within the context of social messages. MySpace users have smartened up because of people who have abused the website to blatantly promote their products. They'd immediately consider obvious promotional notes as spam. Sometimes they delete such messages left on their profiles. Sometimes, they report the same to the caretakers of the site, and this may lead to the banning of the erring account. The messages you will leave should maintain a cordial, social nature. Instead of saying "Hey, visit my (link), it's great," you can say "Hi (name), I read your profile and was surprised to discover that you like (subject), so perhaps you might want to visit my website at (link)." Personally, being honest also produced great results for me. A message like "Hi (name), I just launched a website at (link) and I'd really, really appreciate it if I can borrow a few seconds of your time for a visit." The latter isn't really spam because it's a sincere invitation.
You must be able to speak their language. Remember the dominant demographic: 78% of MySpace users are between the ages of 18 and 40. You must make them feel that you know what's on their mind, that you share their thoughts and their passion.
Respect the fact that you won't win all the time. Unless you're serving a niche that is highly desired by MySpace members - like music, movies, gadgets and the likes - you may encounter a difficult time in converting visitors into paying customers. MySpace is an excellent source of traffic, yes. But such traffic won't provide a high conversion rate for each and every niche.
MySpace marketing is an aspect of an emergent branch of online business practice, one which is called Web 2.0 advertising. Many believe that Web 2.0 is the future of the internet.
With the success of MySpace.com, we can safely say: that "future" has come.
About the author
Samantha Milner is a well-known Internet Marketing expert and the owner of DSM Publishing:
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