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Top 5 Ways To Use Web 2.0 for Web Marketing
By Jason OConnor (c) 2008
Net Gazette (http://www.thenetgazette.net)

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), del.icio.us (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 content sharing and content rating system websites
specialize 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. Del.icio.us
was one of the first and a very popular example 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 or 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 provides
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 and become more informative,
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. See http://www.jackhumphrey.com/
fridaytrafficreport/social-networking/
top-142-social-marketing-blogs-on-the-web/ for a great list to
start with.
================================================================
Jason O'Connor is the owner of The Net Gazette
(http://www.thenetgazette.net/), a free newsletter that teaches
Web professionals all about Web design, development and Web
marketing.
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