Most people do business with people they know and trust.  So, the best way to get more business is to meet more people and the best and easiest way to meet more people is to use the great new social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Hubpages, Squidoo.  These sites empower you to easily create a page all about your business for free! 

When it comes to social networking basics, social networking online is similar in concept to networking offline.  Many business people are comfortable going to mixers and joining community groups to help raise their profile in the local community and to introduce them to hundreds of potential clients.  Network marketing works because you are building relationships, not just selling.  Nowadays, so many people turn off “selling” messages that it is imperative for businesses to find other effective means to reach new customers. 

New customers, of all ages, are using Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace every day.  They spend hours connecting with old friends and making new connections.  These sites are like working the world’s largest mixer.  You can create a network of people and then reach out to their network.  When you add a new blog posting, you will have hundreds, if not thousands of eyeballs.

These social networking sites act like web 2.0 marketing tools allowing you to inform new people about your product and services.  You can create a home page with your image, logo, description and many even have blogs, updates and many other interactive features to keep your profile up to date.  After you make a great business profile on a social marketing site, you can invite friends, join groups and reach out to other members so that they can learn more about you and your business. 

Not only do you get all of the benefits of a social networking site within the site itself, you also improve your own search engine ranking.  By using the free profile, blogging and other content sites, you are creating thousands of search engine results that link right to information about you and your business.  Social marketing sites let you get your name out there faster and cheaper then traditional SEO, search engine optimization.

If you are not sure how to get started or how to reap the benefits, then you can find many sources that will show you exactly how you can use Social marketing sites for explosive business growth.

In developing their business plans, companies of all sizes face the challenge of determining the size of their markets. To begin, companies must present the size of their “relevant market” in their plans. The relevant market equals the company’s sales if it were to capture 100% of its specific niche of the market. Conversely, stating that you were competing in the $1 trillion U.S. healthcare market, for example, is a telltale sign of a poorly reasoned business plan, as there is no company that could reap $1 trillion in healthcare sales. Defining and communicating a credible relevant market size is far more powerful than presenting generic industry figures.

The challenge that many firms face is their inability to size their relevant markets, particularly if they are competing in new or rapidly evolving markets. On one hand, the fact that the markets are new or evolving is the reason why there may be a large opportunity to establish them and become the market leader. Conversely, investors, shareholders and senior management are often skeptical to invest resources because, since the markets do not yet exist, the markets may be too small, or not really exist at all.

In developing over 200 business plans for emerging ventures, venture capital firms, SMEs and Fortune 500 spinouts, I have encountered the challenge of sizing emerging markets numerous times and has developed a proprietary methodology to solve the problem.

To begin, it is critical to understand why traditional market sizing methodologies are ill-equipped to size emerging markets. To illustrate, if a research firm were to use traditional methods to size a mature market such as the coffee market in the United States, it would consider demographic trends (e.g., aging baby boomers), psychographic trends (e.g., increased health consciousness), past sales trends and consumption rates, price movements, competitor brand shares and new product development, and channels/retailers among others. However, conducting such an analysis for emerging markets presents a challenge as several of these factors (e.g., past sales, demographics of the customer when there are no current customers) don’t exist because the markets are presently untapped.

The methodology required to size these new markets requires two approaches. Each approach will yield a different approximation of the potential market size, and often the figures will work together to provide a solid foundation for the market’s potential. I call this first approach peeling back the onion. In this approach, I start with the generic market (e.g., the coffee market) that that company is trying to penetrate, and remove pieces of that market that it will not target.

For instance, if the company created an ultra high-speed coffee maker that retailed for $600, it would initially reduce the market size by factors such as retail channels (e.g., mass marketers would not carry the product), demographic factors (lower income customers would not purchase the product), etc. By peeling back the generic market, you eventually will be left with only the relevant portion of it.

The second methodology requires assessing the market from several angles to approximate the potential market share, answering questions including:

- Competitors: who is competing for the customer that you will be serving; what is in their product pipeline; once you release a product/service, how long will it take them to enter the market, who else may enter the market, etc.

- Customers: what are the demographics and psychographics of the customers you will be targeting; what products are they currently using to fulfill a similar need (substitute products); how are they currently purchasing these products; what is their degree of loyalty to current providers, etc.

- Market factors: what other factors exist that will influence the market size - government regulations; market consolidation in related markets, price changes for raw materials, etc.

- Case Studies: what other markets have experience similar transformations and what were the customer adoption rates in those markets, etc.

While these methodologies are often more painstaking than traditional market research techniques, they can be the difference in determining whether your company has the next iPod or the next Edsel.

Did you know that you could turn the tables on Google and actually use its search engine to generate money? Google Adsense pays you money in exchange for being allowed to publish paid-for ads on your web site. The clever thing is that the ads are related to what your users are looking for on your site. If used correctly they can both enhance your site and make you money. So how does it work? Google provides you with its AdSense HTML code, which you place on your web pages. Then, Google automatically “reads” your pages and decides on the best ads to display.

It uses a sophisticated algorithm that includes such factors as keyword analysis, word frequency, font size, and the overall link structure of the web. It says it knows what a page is about and can precisely match Google ads to each page. AdSense also uses geo-targeting to serve Google ads to your pages that are specific to a user’s region and language, based on their IP address. This means that the ads that are served to a user from Australia may be different than those that appear for a user from Canada. If a visitor clicks on one of the ads they get taken to the advertiser’s web page and you get paid cash – easy!

Well, not quite. First you must have a site with plenty of visitors, otherwise it isn’t worth the effort. Secondly, your page must be set up in such a way that Google stands a chance of working out what you are trying to promote or sell. In essence, you need to look at your page title, headings and initial copy to make sure that Google matches the right ads to your page. For example, on my page devoted to digital photography courses, I don’t want to advertise rival courses. So what I do is ensure that the first words on the page are “digital cameras”, not “digital camera courses”. That away, Google shows ads for companies selling cameras, not training courses. Don’t expect to earn a fortune. Google is a bit cagey about its ad rates, but you typically earn a few cents per click. Advertisements for casino or other gambling sites could make you up to a dollar or more for each click though. On the downside, the very nature of Google Adsense means that users navigate away from your site, which may not be in your best interests.

An affiliate marketer may have all the things needed for him to be able to succeed in a business such as affiliate marketing.  He may have the necessary drive, diligence and perseverance to be able to understand how the system works.  He may have all the tools necessary in maintaining the business, including a really unique and interesting website which could earn him a fortune if only the whole world could see it.  However, all these would prove useless if he does not know how to drive traffic to his website.  His business would sink into oblivion together with all the sales, fortune and dreams that he might have realized if he only knew how to do this particular task.

Getting people who matter to see one’s website is a difficult undertaking if he tries to consider the fact that there are rivals everywhere waiting to pin him down.  The immensity of the internet as well as the affiliate marketing world has given birth to the fierce competition between affiliate marketers, each of whom has his own great product to offer.  With all the websites piling on top of each other, how would one be able to stand out?  The seven best ways to drive laser-targeted traffic to one’s own website would help those who are bent on sticking it out with this business wherever it is bound to take them.

The first step in driving traffic to one’s website is by relying on search engines and what they can do for the affiliate marketer concerned.  Because they are popular for driving free targeted traffic, they should not be ignored by all means.  Having top search engine rankings is vital in building popularity links, and the use of the right keywords is important in attaining this goal.  Once a website is on top of the list, it is easily accessible to anyone who wants to see it for himself.

The second way in driving traffic to one’s website is by contacting other webmasters for a possible link exchange partnership.  Locating websites that are related to one’s own website is the primary task.  Once there, he should be able to establish communication by personalizing everything as much as possible.  It is then possible to make reciprocal link exchanges between webmasters whichever way the affiliate marketer prefers.

The third way is through writing one’s own articles.  This is an effective way in promoting a website, because good content that are appreciated by readers will lead them to visit the writer’s very own website out of sheer interest.

The fourth way is through joint venture marketing.  This is one of the most effective ways of promoting a product or a service.  Having a partner through ad swap or link exchange is beneficial to both parties as it allows them to reach a wide customer base in a short amount of time.

The fifth is through joining affiliate programs.  Having affiliates to do the work means allowing them to bring tons of traffic to a website.  Skyrocketing sales would be realized as a result, and both the affiliate and the website owner will benefit from the situation.

The sixth is by having a list of subscribers that one can refer to every so often, because they are those which would prove to be valuable assets for the marketer concerned.  The use of autoresponders and personalized newsletters is one way of keeping track of them all, and holding on to them by letting them know about new products and services is an essential task that should be done by the affiliate marketer concerned.

The seventh is by knowing one’s market through and through.  It is important for traffic to be targeted to those who might have a special interest in the theme or topic of one’s website.  This way, a solid customer base is going to be created.  Once a potential customer shows an interest in a particular website by paying it a visit, one must not waste time in trying to show him that his effort is worth it.

Traffic generating strategies are important in trying to make one’s affiliate marketing career inch forward.  It is always advantageous to plan one’s moves in any business that he might undertake.  This is particularly so in affiliate marketing.  If one knows how to get people to see what he has to offer, then he is on the right track.