Web 2.0 Marketing a Hype?

Dwain Jeworski, Internet Marketing Center's VP of Marketing, advised that it is prudent to take the current hype in Web 2.0 with a pinch of salt. He warned that using social media and bookmarking sites, no doubt is beneficial but is very time consuming and one has to weigh the value of it. It takes lots of time and effort to get that traffic.

One can't just jump in and start a sales pitch but has to slowly ease into the community. Also, the people hanging out at Web 2.0 sites are looking for fun and entertainment rather than for something to buy. One can't just waltz into an online community and start talking about one's product and think of driving swarms of interested buyers to one's site.

If you want to get hold whatsoever out of Web 2.0, you have to invest a lot of time in them. You can only put your URL in your signature or profile page. In other words, in Web 2.0 your objective should be relationship building, not selling.

Usually the visitors you manage to bring from, say, Facebook or Digg will normally click out of curiosity and not to buy. Thus, Web 2.0 traffic isn't going to convert so well.

So, is it worthwhile to do Web 2.0 marketing? Jeworski says if you're already getting hundreds or thousands of high converting visitors to your site each day, only then should you even consider Web 2.0 marketing.

Otherwise, the truth is, there are probably many other things you should be looking at that will produce better results than spending hours each day on a site like Facebook or Digg.

Before you invest your time in Web 2.0 marketing you should absolutely make sure your basics are right, such as your marketing factors, sales copy and site design.

Then you should optimize for the search engines, which is still the greatest source of free traffic online. Also don't forget the proven traffic generation strategies such as pay-per-click and article marketing. Then also do joint ventures with other successful entrepreneurs to promote your product to new groups of interested visitors.

Only after the proven ways of driving qualified traffic have been utilized, then and only then, should you venture into Web 2.0 marketing, advised Jeworski.

He says, because otherwise, you'll find yourself digging way too many holes in the ground - but never striking gold.

• Jeworski's article

Year of the Rat

Yes, 2008 is the Chinese Year of the Rat and it's even celebrated in Japan. Mice competed in a rodent race at a Japan zoo to celebrate the Year of the Rat which begins on February 7.

Also replicas of these creatures are given pride of place on the shelves and in the antique shops in Chinatowns throughout Asia to herald in the Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays.

It is an important holiday in East Asia. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month and ends on the 15th of that month.

Celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had a strong influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, and formerly the Japanese before 1873.

In Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and other countries with significant Chinese populations, Chinese New Year is also celebrated, largely by ethnic Chinese.

Social Marketing Traffic Strategies

Watch this 50-minute video on Social Marketing by Don Crowther of Stompernet. It is indeed an eye-opener on the great importance and significance of Social Marketing.

Yes, Social Media or Web 2.0 sites are a great force to rekon with because it is truly bringing the world much closer. We are all getting more and more connected. We are building relationships with people around the world and doing it at an amazing pace.

This is a huge tidal wave... and if your blog or business is not positioned in front of the wave, then you're going to be left behind. This is described as a FUNDAMENTAL shif on the Internet.

Here is the link: Social Marketing - No Secrets

It's worth watching the 50 minutes right from start to finish, especially if you have not looked into using Social Media and Web 2.0 sites as a means to market your blog or business.

Google Changes Algorithm?
In the New Year, Google seems to be changing their algorithm and making the search results more time related. The leading search engine has been ranking items from popular sites like Digg higher than factual or historical sites like Wikipedia.

Gurus Taught Wrong Way of Article Marketing

Here's something I learned recently and would like to share.

Many gurus have taught that in article marketing or submitting articles to article directories for purpose of promoting your link in the resource box, just write any old short article between 300 to 400 words without bothering whether the article has quality, since the only purpose of the article was to provide some kind of content to get the link back to their website.

This is a big mistake because Google has enhanced their algorithm to take care of this kind of spamming.

First you must realize that the purpose of an article directory is to provide a storehouse where webmasters can go to gather quality articles that they can place on their websites for the benefit of their readers.

Bill Pratt in his article at Site-Reference website, said what Google considers is this. If an article was distributed six months ago, and no one else has chosen to publish it, except for the article directories, then it is perfectly safe to assume that the article is pure garbage and not worthy of the links it possesses.

When an article is of good quality, people will vote on that article by putting it on their non-article directory website. If an article is on article directories AND it is also on average niche websites, then it must be a good article and worthy of its links, including those in the article directories.

So you see, it pays to write excellent quality articles of quite good lengths of about 500 words or more in submitting to article directories.

You've heard of eating snakes and lizards. Now, caviar extracted from snail's eggs has started to emerge in Paris restaurants. But those wanting a taste need to be prepared to pay a premium price.

Did you celebrate New Year with caviar?

Given its high price in the West, caviar is synonymous with luxury and wealth. In Russia and other Eastern European cultures, though still expensive, caviar is commonly served at holiday feasts, weddings, and other festive occasions.

Sturgeon-derived caviar is generally not eaten by Jews who keep kosher, because sturgeon lacks scales and thus is not considered kosher; however, this does not apply to every roe-yielding fish species.

In Islam all sea or river animals such as fish are lawful and halal which applies to the sturgeon as well as its caviar. In Hong Kong and Japan, caviar may be found on sushi and is often very affordable.