Third. Misleading information about your products and services when doing online business. As much as possible, be honest with what your business offers. Once people find your blog misleading, they will automatically move away from it.

Fourth. Copying what other people write. Once you have the exact copy of what was already written, you can be charged with plagiarism. People and search engines are after fresh and original contents. The more unique and original ideas you put in your blog, the more readers you will get.

Fifth. Focusing on getting traffic than maintaining content. This is a clear mistake that every blogger must avoid. Even though getting enough traffic is one important thing in the success of social online marketing, content still counts. Your visitors will read information and not the traffic. Remember that it is not only search engine spiders who visit your blogs. You also have people as your readers. Relevant ideas can draw a lot of people and profit, as well.

These are just some of the things that you need to avoid when creating blogs. Always remember that blogs are essential for any marketing strategy. Having it the wrong way may lead to loss of profit for your business and a waste of your time and efforts.

Things to Avoid in Blogging

To help you go through the whole blogging activity, let us discuss things that one should avoid in doing the blogs:

First. Writing for the sake of posting a blog. Blogs can be created depending on the person’s mood. However, if you want to get noticed online, get visitors and gain profits, consider choosing a suitable subject for your blog and stick with it. Keep in mind that aside from people, the blog must also catch the attention of the search engines in order to increase search rankings. Higher search engine rankings would mean increased chances of monetary benefits. That is why blogging can be considered as a social media internet marketing strategy.

Second. Having whimsical titles for each post. Always consider that the posts are written for both humans and search engine spiders. So if you want to create an effective blog, make sure to feed both of them. And start well with the title. Make your titles interesting for people to want to read the whole blog and try your best to make your titles contain essential keywords. That way, search engine spiders are also attracted to the article.

Doing these two initial suggestions for your blogs will surely benefit you. You are already into your way of making interesting blogs both for people and search engine spiders. Tomorrow, I will add more suggestions so tune in.

Social Internet Marketing

Free Membership V.S. Paid Membership

In setting up your own membership site that will be beneficial to your business and convenient for your members, the clients must be provided with membership options. The options can either be free membership or paid membership. However, in order for a business to yield better financial investments, marketers or business owners prefer to have the paid membership as part of their marketing strategy. This basically means that the clients will have to pay for a specific amount each month in order to retain their membership benefits while receiving what is due their investment.

Benefits of Paid Memberships to Clients

Having the paid membership site can be a tool in achieving your business profit maximization goals. However, there is a need to consider the benefits that your clients can in turn get from it. Once you take this for granted, chances are, your social internet marketing strategy and online business will end as a failure. As much as possible, deliver what your site offers. Allow feedbacks from your clients and this will give an idea of what aspects are there that needs improvement. If the clients know what they are getting with how much they pay, why would they cancel their membership?

Ensure Membership Retention in Paid Membership Sites

Aside from providing your clients with beneficial information through your website content, long term benefits must also be considered. Encourage your online community to interact with each other in order to build relationships while doing business. Regularly update your site and as much as possible, learn to manage the expectations of your clients. Never keep promises that are undone. This is the very reason why paid membership fails. At first, they entice the clients with exciting surprises and promises but end up with nothing. This will create disappointments that will certainly lead to cancellation of membership of the clients.

In order to get through with the challenges of the social internet marketing success, dedication and commitment plays a vital role. A plethora of opportunities must be well compensated with good and honest services. This is a tried and tested strategy that paves way to the success of any online business.

Social Networking Site

Starting your own social network is another story. There are many things that you need to consider before you can come up with an effective social networking site. Before jumping into the idea of establishing one, let your creative imagination get to work and let interesting ideas flow randomly.

Getting the attention of the viewing public can be quite challenging if you lack the smart techniques and ideas to employ. Competition in the web industry is quite tough and you must be able to keep up with the rest. In order for your social networking site to become more effective, consider the following steps:

1. Identify a NicheYou need to identify a niche interesting to you that demands for a social network. Try to do a lot of research on matters that attracts the interest of people. But keep in mind that you, too, should be interested in it so that you will be able to sustain the site.
2. Check the Functional Aspect of the SiteFunctionality of your site plays a vital role in the success of your venture. If the site does not function as expected, you run the chance of losing your users.
3. Specify the Features of your Social Networking SitePeople look forward to the features that social networking sites offer. There are plenty of features that each platform can contain and it is vital that you choose the features that are applicable and beneficial to your members. Remove unnecessary features as it may lead to confusion. And instead of getting potential customers, you lose them to your competitors.
4. Ensure the Integration Capability of the SiteMake sure that your site can seamlessly work with other websites and widgets. If your social networking site has integration capability, it is easier for you to incorporate your site to other popular website modules.

With the following tips, you’ll be able to provide for a channel of the opinions and views of individuals on various topics and issues. Everyone deserves to be seen and heard and the best venue nowadays that provides the opportunity to do so is through social networking sites.

Membership Website Components

But first, let us define what a membership website is. A membership website is a platform that contains pages dedicated for its members only. So if one wants to access the contents of this type of website, one has to register and provide personal details so that the membership website administrator can assign a username and a password for one’s use. Having a username and a password certifies the association of the person with the specific site and enables him to freely access the information that is for members-only. Though membership websites started as one that contains mostly articles, there are now existing websites that has stretched out to include course materials, ebooks and image library. Still others now provide video clips and audio materials. Some are also capable of providing a venue for forums and even chatting. Generally, membership websites allow interaction of people with the same interests, providing a venue for networking and knowledge-sharing.

A membership website is also an income-generating endeavour. This is so, because, it allows you to sell online contents. And according to the “Online Publishers Association,” people are open to paying an amount for the online content that they need or are interested in. The hottest niches include business content, personals or match making, and entertainment. It continues to grow and now even includes topics like DVD authoring, sports coaching, marketing services, and dieting. The key is to capture a specific market within the niche and gain a strong hold over the global market.

The best part of running a membership website is the fact that the first and foremost consideration in setting it up is one’s interest, hobby or specialization. You get to build an exclusive content on matters that interests you and earn from it. This is possible because a number of companies are offering affordable and user-friendly membership software solutions. One of which is the www.socialsam.com which you will encounter more in the succeeding write ups.

Building Up Your Social Networks

1. Create you profile and highlight your business.

Before you start connecting with your target audience, you must prepare your profile and that of your business. As much as possible, provide honest information to avoid misleading and confusing people along the way. Use your profile on all the social networking sites that you wish to engage in. That way, people will know about you and what is it that you are up to. And once you are invited, you can readily approve the invitation since your profile is ready.

2. Provide pertinent and beneficial information.

The next thing you need to work on is to provide beneficial information. Write as many articles as you can and make sure that they are related to your goals. Put your ideas and opinions into words and share it through the internet. With social networking sites, you can write about almost anything. And in order to make a name, update your account regularly and write as often as you can. So always use your creativity in making things work.  Set boundaries with things that are no longer helpful and consider detrimental. If in case you are too busy to do regular posting, hire someone who can do it for you.

3. Start connecting with people.

After considering the things that I have mentioned above, you can now start inviting people to your network. It is also important that you find some information about the people you want to become friends with. Always remember that social networking is about connection and building relationships and not just simply promoting and doing business. The more quality relationships you create, the greater the opportunities for your business to grow. But since social networking is a long term strategy, do not expect to have clients right after connecting with several people.

There are plenty of social networking sites springing up from time to time. You do not need to catch up with all of them. Just imagine updating your accounts on all of these sites everyday, it is a lot of work. Try connecting to 3 sites first. When you find all three already working, then, you can add another site gradually.

Building your business through social networking involves a lot of risks. Possibilities are inevitable. Whether you consider social networking or not, take extra care in doing business over the internet.

I know this is a gross generalization.  If this is not the way you do business, then I beg your forgiveness.

Typical membership websites have an average lifespan of about 3 to 4 months.  Members typically drop off after a few months, and the marketer is forced to continue the prospecting/sales cycle.

While everyone knows that it is easier to sell to the same people who’ve opened their wallet than to a stranger…the key is…you need to sell something your users need/want and feel that they are getting value for their continued patronage.

Let’s take a look at another “continuity program” - the multi-level marketing industry.  These companies do very well because they often sell a recurring product - such as a vitamin suppliment, or a weight loss product, or skin care products that you would continue to use month after month.  If you discontinue the subscription, you will suffer a “pain of disconnect”.

Let’s use another example from the video game industry.  The MMOs like World of Warcraft where users pay $15/m for years.  In this model, users invest literally thousands of hours into their characters, and develop friends with other people in the world.  If they discontinue their membership, they risk losing their friends, as well as the thousands of hours they invested in building their characters.

What can you do in your membership business to introduce “pain of disconnect” to your users?

Being an internet marketer, let’s use teaching internet marketing as an example.  In my community website at www.socialsam.net, I have several “pain of disconnects” I have built for my users.

1) Ongoing coaching.  I provide my users with high value and practical specific techniques to help them with their business in the form of an e-course.  Instead of releasing everything to them on day one, I break them into smaller courses.  For example, “SEO strategies”, “how to build a blog that monetizes”, “Using Social Media to grow your business.”  I then drip feed these courses to my paying members month after month.  In other words, the longer they continue to be paying members of my community, the more content I will release to them to help them become more successful.

2) Build a Community.  I have a private social network instead of a membership website.  Like Facebook and Linked in, members of my community actually have a profile.  Other members can see their profile, strike up conversations with them, find other members within my community based on interests, industry, profession and location.  Encourage your users to form mastermind groups, blogging circles, cross link mutual circles (where everyone mutually social bookmark other people in the network).

Learn from World of Warcraft.  Heighten the opportunity your users have to invest in your brand.  Deepend the relationship they have with you as well as with each other.

Provide weekly live webinars for members of your community.  Allow them to ask you questions.  INTERACT with your members.  Treat them like people.

Within my community at www.socialsam.net, I encourage my users to ask questions to other members of the community.

In my book, “The Social Marketing Manifesto“, I go into greater detail various methods of increasing the pain of disconnect for your members.

You can also check out www.socialSAM.com for a powerful social network/membership software hybrrid platform that is designed to keep your members in your network for longer, and harness the power of social networking to grow your membership base organically.

Sincerely

George Tran

Author of “The Social Marketing Manifesto”
Success Strategies for Small Businesses using Social Media
www.socialmarketingman.com
www.twitter.com/georgetran

However, one of the biggest challenges that membership website operators struggle with on a daily basis is member attrition. Operating a membership website can be described as liken to retaining water with a sieve.   In this article, we discuss various different ways to reduce membership attrition.

Information is Key
The easiest way to find out why your members are leaving is to ask them. While this is easy in principle, in practice, this can be tricky as most membership software does not have any built in “Exit Poll” that polls users to ask them why they leave your membership website.

When choosing a membership software for your membership website, be sure to look for one that has this feature.

The Community Ties

One of the key principles of membership website management is this:

People come for the content, but they stay for the community.

Most membership software technology act as nothing more than a firewall.  Those who paid to access can, those who don’t can’t.  There’s no community component to their membership website.  Having a membership website implies that there are other members….yet few actually take the time to build their community and foster inter-member communication.

Building a community in which other members can communicate with each other, support each other and offer each other builds incredible loyalty and “stickiness” to your brand.

So, to keep people inside your funnel longer, encourage your members to connect with each other.  Make sure your membership software has a built in forum.  Ideally, have a private social network - like Facebook….so that your members can search for other members in your community, connect with them based on interest, profession, industry, location, etc.  Allow them to search for other members inside the community.  Allow them to post comments, questions, and allow others to comment.

Encourage your members to contribute content to the community.  Appoint volunteer “Community Manager” volunteers from your member pool.

Overwhelmed with Content

Most membership software systems only act as a firewall to the vault.  In other words, once someone has authenticated with the guardian system, they are given the keys to the vault.  This means your members have access to 50,000 hours of content.  Which leads to one of two things - neither serves your business very well.

1) Your user will want to download everything they can and discontinue their membership as soon as possible.

2) They are so overwhelmed with “so much content” they enter a coma and suffer the “intellectual death”.  Too much information leads to paralysis..which means they don’t do anything at all.

The best way to prevent this is to have a system that drip feeds your content to your users over time.  For example, a sequential autoresponder, or some sort of time release e-course which releases content to your members one module at a time.

Another way to keep your members for longer is to release content based on length of membership.  For example, if they stay for 31 days, they can gain access to e-course B, or member area X.  If they stay for 60 days, they get access to e-course Y, etc.

This way, you both grow together.  You can just offer “virtual coaching” for your members to be part of your community…the longer they stay, the more content/coaching you provide them.

Confusion Leads to Attrition

Another problem with “access to the vault” strategy of content release is that users are so overwhelmed with 50,000 hours of content…that they often get confused.  They don’t know where to even begin.

The best way for address this is to provide a thorough introduction to your community website and help your members navigate your site.  Have a video.  Get them to downnload “Read This First” or a “Getting Started Guide”.

Remember, one of the biggest reasons people leave your site is that they are overwhelmed/lost or confused.  Don’t let this happen to your membership website.

In my book, “The Social Marketing Manifesto“, I’ve outlined a number of solid “Cost of Disconnect” strategies that you can also incorporate into your membership website business to further increase membership dependence on your service.

Operating a membership website business is a constant struggle between attrition and new signups.  The key to increasing profits is to keep your members inside your community for longer, thus growing your membership base.   In the next post, I will show you how to grow your membership website business without advertising.

You might want to check out SocialSAM.com if you are considering a membership software solution.  It has all these membership retention tools built right into the application.

Sincerely

George Tran

Author of “The Social Marketing Manifesto”
Success Strategies for Small Businesses using Social Media
www.socialmarketingman.com
www.twitter.com/georgetran

A membership website is also a great benefit for members as your members have the opportunity to network with other people in their field/passion/industry/hobby group as them.  They can share best practices, make reviews about products as well as communicate with you directly.

The problem with setting up a membership site traditionally is the technology piece.  Things are never really “that simple”.  Few programs actually handle all the complexities of managing your members, and at the end of the day, many people have to “Frankenstien” their own hybrid solution together.

While all membership technologies handle access control and restrictions fairly well, here are some challenges with some membership software technologies:

- Tying in the access control system with a merchant account and recurring billing module.  ie. When a card fails to authorize, to automatically disable access for that member.

- Allowing members to talk with each other.  Have a community component - not just restricted content access.

- Offer different levels of programs based on packages bought.  In other words, if you sell two programs “How to make money with affiliate programs” and another program called “SEO your way to riches”.  Invariably, you will need to set up two separate membership sites.  Imagine the convenience of having just one package that serves both communities and be able to control which package has access to which program and area of your site.

- Being able to “content drip” your content so that the longer your members stay, the more content they will receive - instead of “all you can eat”.  The problem with “all you can eat” style member access programs is - 1) Users can download everything on month one and then cancel.  2) They are simply overwhelmed with too much content and get stuck on “analysis paralysis.”

Below, I’ve created a 15 minute video that shows you how to setup a membership website/continuity program using our SocialSAM platform.

Please let me know what you think.  I value your feedback.

Sincerely

George Tran

If you are looking for a membership solution, here are 10 things to look out for. Of course, these are just my opinions and I’m sure there are other features I haven’t thought of. Ideally, your solution should have some, and preferably all of these.

1) Easy Installation and Management - Yet flexible and powerful
The solution should be easy to install and setup. Most open source solutions are relatively easy, although you will likely require a “geek” to install in on your own server.

The assumption here is that you have your own server. If not, it is fairly inexpensive to rent a server. Virtual servers can go for as low as $59 per month. Do a search on “web collocation” to find a good host provider. I’ve used Aplus.net, and they are a pretty good outfit.

Make sure that once installed, the software is easy to configure and customize. In other words, you can change your logo, set up new membership packages on your own without needing a geek to do it for you.

Hosted solutions in general are easier to install and all you need to do is to customize it.

2) Easy and Convenient User Experience
Some solutions are prettier on the eyes than others. Also, your solution ideally should make the users feel comfortable and be intuitive. Users should not feel lost, or overwhelmed with too many things on the screen.

In some instances, it is better to have “too little” items present than too much as people can get easily confused and intimidated. If users feel frustrated or confused, they will be more likely to leave your membership site.

You should look for a solution that has an intuitive user experience.

3) Social Media
As of 2008, videos are becoming common place. Your solution should be able to support streaming videos. Videos are useful for teaching concepts and ideas, or just talking to people. You could record a tutorial video teaching people on the perfect golf swing and make these available for “members only”.

Simularly, your users will want to upload their own videos too. Your system should ideally support this also.

Of course, videos come at a heavy price. You will need to properly plan for server space to support this. Videos need to be re-encoded to support streaming format…and encoding takes tremendous server resources. Not to mention the disk space required to store all these as well as the bandwidth to support it. For a smaller membership site, a single server could serve this purpose, but for larger networks, you will likely need to build a cluster to handle load balancing.

Having a hosted solution will negate the need to worry about these concerns. The trick is to find the right solution that support this.

4) Customizable
Make sure the solution you selected can be customized to support your business needs.
There are two axis of customization you need to investigate: Image and functional.

With an image customization axis, you have a degree of control on the layout, the colors, the images you can customize to fit your image brand and site’s appeal.

With a functional customization axis, you have control over the feature set of your solution. For example, if the solution does not support a shopping cart, and if it is important for your business, that you can have that function programmed in. Most Open Source solutions support this, although some off the shelf software does not.

While both axis of customization are important, you will need to prioritize what is more important for your business model. Of course, the ideal solution will have high customization in both but you will more likely have to pay for it in the price tag.

5) Integrates a detailed Member Profile and Search function
Make sure your solution supports the Web 2.0 paradigm and the ideals of a social network. People expect these features in their solutions. It strengthens the building of bonds and community. Most membership solutions are based on the old “BBS” forum structure (for those who are not familiar, BBS stands for a Bulletin Board System as popularized in the 80’s and 90’s).

Having a detained member profile allows members to put in a detailed write up about who they are, what they want, what they are looking for and a way for others to connect with them….much like Facebook. Unfortunately with many existing membership software solutions, they fall short on this area as their focus is in the membership access control, and not on the user experience.

Ideally, members can locate each other based on interest, location, industry, and profession…to mention a few criteria.

6) Integrated e-Commerce
Perhaps you sell books, CDs or DVDs. Why not have these available on your membership site for your members to purchase. Better yet, why not have the ability to offer “members only” prices that are substantially cheaper than “retail”? This gives people an incentive to become a paying member.

It is even more important to have this function integrated if your system supports an integrated affiliate tracking system. This way, when a member buys something, the referring member gets paid a commission.

7) Event Calendar and Registration
This feature is important for someone operating an information marketing/seminar company, event promotions such as concerts or conferences. Having an integrated system for your members to buy tickets right from your social membership site, and track commission is a powerful way to market your events.

Having an integrated event calendar means you don’t have to wait for your web master to update your event calendar all the time.

Integrates an affiliate tracking and payout system
Having an integrated affiliate tracking system is a powerful and effective way to grow your social network as it gives your users a financial incentive to refer their friends and associates to your network.

Imagine saying to your members, “refer your friends to join our network. Should they decide to buy a product from us, come to one of our events or upgrade to premium membership, we will pay you a commission.”

Unfortunately, very few membership systems have this feature.

9) Classifieds/Reverse Classifieds
Ideally, your solution offers a classifieds system for your members to post ads. This gives your members…particularly your paid premium members an incentive to stick with your network….and gives your free members an incentive to be premium members so they can post ads and gain clients from your network.

Some systems support a Reverse Classifieds system where members can post “I am looking for” ads. Why is this cool? Imagine if you can have a place for your members to post ads such as “I am looking for an investor”, “I need tickets to next week’s Madonna Concert”, “I need to find a mentor in Marketing”.

10) Free and Paid Member hybrid
Most systems fall into one category or the other;

if it is a free network, it is called a social network - like Facebok and Ning.

if it is paid, it is called a membership network.

An ideal solution is one that supports both a free member and a paid member. This way, your network can grow by attracting free members and then upgrade these to become paid members. Ideally, your solution should also support multiple membership package definitions such that each package has its own access rules ie. “who has access to what”.

Other Considerations

In addition to these features, you should also keep in mind the following important infrastructure considerations.

Scalable Secure Server Maintenance and Backup
If done right, your network will grow. Be careful that your server can handle your growth from 10 people to 10,000 people…or more. Make sure your hardware has a RAID drive array so it can still be operational should you experience a drive failure. Without this, even if you have a backup…restoring from a down drive can take you offline for days…and this could destroy your business.

You will also need to install a firewall. Most solutions will require you to store your client’s credit card numbers on your own system (so you can charge them month after month). This also means your system will be a target for hackers. You will need to hacker proof your system to ensure maximum security. It is advisable to hire someone familiar with internet security to audit your site.

Of course, backups are crucial. Your solution should have a backup solution that is NOT backed up to the same drive as your main machine. This is because should you experience a drive failure, having the backup on the same drive will be disastrous.

On of the benefits of using a hosted solution such as Ning is that you don’t have to worry about this. Frankly it’s a pain in the behind to deal with this and it is not a productive use of your time and energy.

Ongoing Maintenance and Development
This is the most important part of the puzzle and often the most neglected. Companies treat their software as one off projects. This is not true. When deploying a solution, be sure to have a budget for maintenance and bug fixes. Not all software is 100% bug free, if you use Open Source…you may run into bugs and need to hire people to fix it.

Also, keep in mind that your needs (as well as the needs of your customers and the environment) often change. Companies often hire a team to deploy a solution and let the team go, then 6 months later; realize they need some other feature. It is difficult to track down the same team as they may have moved onto other projects.

This is one argument in favor of hosted solutions as they will always be there to handle your needs as they change.

If you are looking for an affordable, yet powerful social membership platform, you might want to check out our solution at www.socialsam.com. It has most of the features described here and you can get started with as little as $2.