The colossal growth of social networking in these recent years has brought about a new era in web marketing. In a digital age where almost everything is done online, it seems as though the generation gap where internet usage is concerned has been getting smaller over the years. More and more people are spending time online, and with the advent of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and various Instant Messaging clients, it would seem as though people are living double lives; one offline, and one online. So would it not be prudent for businesses to take advantage of the growth of social media to reach a wider spectrum of audience? If you search hard enough online you will find a web marketing ebook that will tell you how social media has changed the landscape of web marketing, but this article will give you a glimpse of the phenomenon.

Typically large businesses tend to distance themselves from their customers, often interacting with the latter in an impersonal corporate identity. Yet with the revolution of social media, more and more organizations have taken notice to the effectiveness of taking up a more personalized approach and being less “corporate” towards their interactions with their customers.

Having seen the potential in “social marketing”, these days many marketers have embarked on a “social marketing optimization” strategy when marketing to potential consumers. From widgets, to RSS feeds, to blogging, the transition between the “corporate” interaction versus the more personalized touch is apparent even in the larger corporations. If you look around hard enough you’ll find “corporate blogs” by large internationally recognized brands, viral videos on video portals providing teaser ads for a new product… whatever it is, corporations have been wising up to the prospect, and have hopped onto the social media bandwagon. With more and more corporations using “social marketing optimization”, no longer will it be simply a useful element in web marketing, but a distinct marketing strategy on its own.

Providing a more personalized touch for consumers also has its own added advantages. Being “one of them” as opposed to just a faceless corporation would allow companies and marketers alike to get to know consumers a lot better. The ability of consumers to freely review, recommend or even condemn a brand on the web presents an interesting avenue for marketers, because never before has one individual wielded such power over the fate of a consumer product or service. A single email or blog post or video blog can determine a marketer’s success or downfall, because nothing is more powerful than word of mouth. The myriad of wish-lists and complaints in the form of blog content could surely serve as a source of ideas and resolution for corporations seeking to build up customer loyalty.

In the near future, broadcasting content via RSS feeds, podcasts, and viral videos will prove to be an invaluable asset to the marketer, because of the huge reach social media has over consumers. Because of this, those who intend to take advantage of all the social traffic out there will have to regularly provide fresher and more unique content to stave off consumer boredom and competition alike.

Web 2.0 and Web marketing is a match made in heaven. There are many ways to create traffic to your website using the power of Web 2.0. Below I am going to examine what I consider to be the top five.

Jack Humphrey, a well-known Web 2.0 expert, defines it this way in his Authority Black

Book:

Generally speaking, if people can submit links to content, submit content, make comments and vote good/bad content up/down thus affecting the amount of traffic that content can generate, it’s Web 2.0.

Blogs, wikis, file sharing sites, content rating systems, book-marking sites, and social networking sites are all examples of Web 2.0. Some of the more well-known Web 2.0 sites are YouTube (file sharing), Facebook and MySpace (social networking), Wikipedia (wiki), BlinkList (book-marking) and Digg (content rating system). The list is almost endless, and the traffic that these websites generate is absolutely staggering.

So how can you harness some of this traffic?

1) Create original, quality and compelling content and submit them to Web 2.0 websites.

For example, if you write an original and compelling article, you can submit it to content sharing and content rating system websites such as Digg, Propeller, Newsvine MarkTD or Reddit. Sometimes there content sharing and content rating system websites that specializes in a particular industry. MarkTD specializes in marketing, for example.

When you submit your article to these sites, people will give it a vote, and each vote moves the article up where it can be seen by more and more people. This has the potential of creating a lot of traffic for your website since each reader will need to click on the link to go to your site to read the full article. And you’re building a permanent link pointing to your website that can be followed for months and years to come. (And don’t forget, a link from a quality site to your website helps in your search engine rankings too.)

Or you can create an original video and submit it to YouTube. Here it will get rated and possibly seen by many people. If the video contains your website or a plug for your business, then all the better. YouTube is not the only video sharing website however. There are many, and one video can be submitted to them all. This same concept applies to your original images, photographs, digital art and audio files.

2) Web 2.0-ize other people’s sites that contain a link back to your website

I’ll assume you already know how your bookmarks (or Favorites) work in your browser. There are websites that exist that act in the same way, but the bookmarks you set are public. BlinkList and Simpy are two examples of this. People’s public bookmarks are browsed by others and lead to clicks to the sites you’ve bookmarked. So be sure to bookmark your business website and inner pages that are important.

Also, these bookmarks can appear in search results in engines like Google and Yahoo. And some even think that search engines use book-marking sites in their algorithms, although this has not been conclusively proven. Simpy and BlinkList are two more examples of these kinds of Web 2.0 book-marking sites.

Let’s say you write an original, quality article and post it to your business website. Then let’s say you submit the article to a handful of content rating websites like some of the ones explained above. To further market this article, you can then use social book-marking sites to bookmark the page on the content rating websites that list your new article and that contain a link back to your article. This can be very powerful.

Or let’s say you notice that an authority in your industry has a link on its website that points back to your website. Go ahead and bookmark the page on the authority site, thus marketing it, which in turn markets your site as well. One particular Web 2.0 website that is very popular and can generate tons of traffic is StumbleUpon. This site allows people to give any page you deem worthy a “thumbs-up”. And if you get enough “thumbs-up”, people browsing StumbleUpon will see it and click over to that page. So I always make it a point to “Stumble” my business websites’ homepages and sites that contain links to my business websites as well.

If you become an active member in a handful of Web 2.0 websites and utilize these first two suggestions alone, you will be amazed at the kind of traffic you can generate.

3) Engage in the conversations and activities

When I suggest above to become an active member I mean that you need to visit a few of your favorite Web 2.0 sites on a regular basis and actually contribute to the site with your opinions, votes, comments and submissions. For instance, if you like Digg or Newsvine, visit them often and submit quality articles, content and sites to them. And they don’t all have to be your sites.

In fact, the more impartial you are, the more people will trust you when you submit one of your articles. And you ought to vote for other people’s Digg submissions as well. You may enjoy Facebook, Linkedin ro MySpace. First, create a profile on the site, then go out and make connections within the community. The more you do this, the more you can harness the power of the people you meet to help market your website or yourself.

Visit and comment on blogs in your industry. This is another tried and true way to engage in the online conversation. Blogs are Web 2.0 and have been around for a while now. Unfortunately, leaving blog comments has been abused by so many people that you absolutely must only leave blog comments that contribute to the overall blog post.

Only add your website’s link if you’re asked to. These links won’t help your search engine rankings but can drive traffic to your site.

4) Encourage visitors to bookmark and tag your content

If you have a blog, add a feature that shows up at the end of every post that allows users to bookmark or submit your post to other Web 2.0 websites. ‘Share This’ is just such a blog add-on (or plug-in) that can do this for you. If you have a Wordpress blog you’ll be able to find a plug-in that allows you to integrate this type of feature (including Share This) into your blog very easily and without the need for any technical knowledge. If you write a memorable or compelling post, people can use this to make bookmarks to the post, Stumble it, Digg it and so forth. All of this can lead to more traffic.

5) Add a Web 2.0 feature to your website

First of all, your business website needs a blog. If you don’t have one, then stop reading this and go to it. A blog enables you and your employees an easy way to post new information that is relevant to your business and helpful to your customers. And it allows your customers to easily communicate with you by leaving comments.

But beyond a blog, what other Web 2.0 features can you add to your website? If you’re selling products, consider adding in a feature that allows customers to rate each product. It can be something as simple as one to five stars or more elaborate where they leave reviews. Amazon does this and it one of the major driving forces in their sales. When potential customers see that your products are rated by existing customers, they’ll be more likely to trust you and buy.

You could add a wiki to your website. A wiki is software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content. By encouraging your website visitors to create content for you, you’re allowing your site to grow, become more informative and thus creating more chances to be found in search engines. These features can be found as third-party software packages and integrated into your existing website surprisingly easily.

The power of Web 2.0 is substantial. It’s time you begin to harness its potential and by following these five suggestions, you’ll be well on your way.

Much deliberation has been done about your site’s design and layout. Rich, quality content has also been written. The fact that your blog is presently on the net, and that you have exhausted all the means needed to keep it in good shape, your queries about ‘marketing my blog’ will then surface.

Marketing on the real world entails reaching out, physically, to your intended market. Much goes the same way with internet marketing. Like in the real physical set-up, you cannot expect people to come up to you to ask what you have to offer. In the internet, people will not visit a site they do not know exists, and this is where your concerns about ‘marketing my blog’ emerges. To let people know about your site’s existence, there is a need for you to actively join communities and announce the virtues of your blog. The reasonable method would be to choose those communities that are in line with your blog niche. Through this way you will meet a lot of people with concerns and questions you and your blog can provide answers to. There is no better way to gain exposure and visitors than answering forum questions with your site link attached on your signature. You will soon discover that the best solution to your problems about ‘marketing my blog’ lies heavily on self-promotion. Go ahead and put your best foot forward. A direct invitation towards your site is hard to ignore especially if you are able to provide interesting and useful responses.

Visiting other blogs and leaving informative comments is another productive method to create networking. This is a good method to market your blog by encouraging other people to link on your site and be exposed to their respective groups. You will realize that it takes a lot of work to address your concerns about ‘marketing my blog’, but once properly done, the exposure can grow exponentially on its own.

Once you have your marketing foundation laid, you will then have extra time to spend on other time consuming but effective means for site promotion, that of submitting your feeds to several sites. You can create your account and submit your feed to blogbunch, bloghop, getblogs or blogtoplist. The list for feed submission site is endless and useful if you have the time to spare. Extra traffic is also assured if you cater to social bookmarking. Propeller, Technorati and Digg are among the top social bookmarking sites along with Yahoo, Google and MSN. A social bookmark site allows members to keep a list of favorite links which can be shared to their groups of internet connections, friends and family members. Submitting your URL to these social bookmarking sites allows your product to be included in their lists and be a part of the circulating sites for sharing.

Having a blog will not ensure profitable returns without a sensible marketing plan. Choosing ones that will work and spending the right amount of time and effort in sustaining a good blog is the smart technique to use whenever one is faced with concerns about ‘marketing my blog’.