Gone are the days when you needed to pick up a newspaper to get your news, or wait for the 6 o’clock news to find out what’s happening in your town or around the world. Now more than ever, up-to-the-minute technology is fusing into our lives, enabling us to not only choose when to read out news, but what news to read and where to read them.

Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary feeds, more commonly knows as RSS feeds, is in great part, the source of that fusion. An application initially created for Netscape back in 1999, it has evolved into one of the most readily available methods of obtaining information quickly and easily.

In simplest terms, RSS feeds give the user a way to go to their favorite websites, subscribe to their content, and access their information as it is updated, setting it up in a simple, readable and accessible format, either on their desktop or on their browser. Some of us can’t honestly remember web browsing without the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds, and it’s hard to imagine it being taken away.The RSS feed system, initially created as a tiny, seemingly insignificant companion piece to a popular browser, is now an indispensible tool in our everyday Internet life.

One thing that’s become increasingly evident is the role that RSS feeds — more specifically, online aggregated news feeds — have played in the growth of technology and, more specifically, information exchange. The use of RSS feeds grows as the demand for newspapers as a whole dwindles, and it makes sense; after all, why get dated information from a newspaper when you can get updates every minute or so on your computer?

Which is why sites like Techmeme and News Tracker are becoming more and more popular. These automated sites are linked to RSS feeds all over the Internet. When the feeds are updated, so is the page — it’s as simple as that, yet it is so much more vital than what its simplicity implies. For those of us that are subscribed to numerous feeds, it becomes hard to go through all of our updates and read.

RSS aggregated news sources eliminate the work of having to go through all of your live bookmarks and look for breaking news; these sites already have those feeds condensed for you, in an accessible, easy to use website. The difference between these sites and social bookmarking sites such as del.ic.iou.s is that RSS aggregated sites are automated, so they give you up-to-the-minute information, when you need it. The automation factor, in conjunction to the simplicity and accesibility found in these RSS aggregated news source websites is what makes them such an amazing new addition to the world of web surfing.

From its humble beginnings as just another browser application, RSS feeds have evolved by leaps and bounds, into the future of information exchange worldwide.

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If you are new to social networking or you want to become an expert at it, the first thing to do is to view the marketing technique in a similar fashion as you would a traditional networking meeting offline. Have you ever gone to a networking function and come back with a handful of business cards to follow up with? Why do you look at networking online any different?

Tag Line

One of the first rules of effective networking is to have an effective sales tag line for what you do. A common mistake when people network is that they are too wordy in their description when asked or they are not clear. When someone asks you what you do, this is the first opening to generate a solid lead for your business opportunity. When you are developing your online tag line, consider brainstorming about what it is that you do and what your objectives are for the business. Your tag line needs to represent you and your opportunity within one sentence, without giving away the punch line. Too often, salespeople feel that they have to talk and talk in order to get a lead or close a sale.

For example, an effective tag line for an online multi level marketer would be, “I help people generate the extra money that they are seeking” or “I provide solutions in the forms of products for what people are looking for”. These are what I like to call teaser lines as they generate interest on the part of the person that you are talking with. It is not different when you are talking to someone online; in fact, you have to be better at networking online that you do offline to generate leads that you can convert into a paying customer.

Conversation

Just like networking offline, online you want to have credible conversations with people. Your first instinct when you are using social networking to drive people to your website will be to sell, sell, sell. In reality, this is a major turn off for people, as we are constantly bombarded with people trying to sell us something day in and day out. Instead, have a conversation with someone about anything at all; it could be about the site, their background, who they are or about something that is business related. When it is appropriate, and it may take several site visits and conversations, you may ask them what they do. This will inevitably lead to them asking you what you do.

Take this opening as an opportunity to get the person back to your site. My favorite line is, “I prefer not to talk about business on the site as I joined to meet people. However, if you are interested in what I do, here is my website (or information, or I can send you some information).” This method of conversation will open the door for you to capture their personal information, but in a fashion that is willing, not as you simply generating a lead. And, it is professional and will help you to build credibility.

Shaking Hands

Your ultimate goal when using social networking to build your business is to shake hands with as many people as possible on a daily basis. This will involve an investment of time on your part. Schedule time every day for you to visit sites, to meet new people, and to keep up with the people that you have met in the past. The most visibility that you have and the more hands that you shake online, the more revenue you will generate for your business and for your website.

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We all know that Google has made its way into the dictionary as a verb! No one would argue that the onset of Google has become an international phenomenon, changing the way we research on the Internet and the way that businesses market. Now, a powerful new force has made its way onto the web- Digg. What is it, how do you use it and what can it mean for your business?

While it can be challenging to keep up with all of the Internet tools and technology, one of the newest ways to communicate and market on the Internet is through social networking and social bookmarking.

The question that I would ask you, is “Do you Digg”?

Digg is one of the biggest social bookmarking sites available today, but is it large enough to be considered ‘mainstream’? Social bookmarking is a way to help drive traffic to your website, and we all know that traffic is priceless in value for your home business. The more traffic that you can drive to your website, the more opportunities that you will have to generate revenue for your business. While you may be overwhelmed at times with learning how to market on the Internet, social bookmarking is a tool that you need to add to your company website if you have not already.

While Digg is not the only social bookmarking site, its popularity is sharply rising, making it one of the many tags that you need to add to your site to increase traffic and potentially increase your sales.

How does social bookmarking help you? Well, when someone likes a blog post or an article post on your site, they can click on Digg and share it with all of the other members of their group. When your content ends up on Digg, it has the opportunity to be spread, otherwise called by some as “The Digg Effect”.

While this effect can be positive, it can also be negative; hence, the power of the Internet. Marketing has become a tool that can become viral in a moment. You want to create great content and you want to regularly add it to your site. The Internet offers the ability for even the smallest guys to get noticed. But, beware as you want to make sure that you follow a few simple tips to get your content viewed in a positive way:

• Always use original content. Make sure that while you may be inspired by other people’s content, yours has to be 100% original.
• Post regularly- daily if possible.
• Sign up for all of the major social bookmarking sites. Not only will this help your content to get greater distribution, but you will have the opportunity to instantly create a viral effect if your content is superior.
• Provide true value to the readers of your content. Nothing is more frustrating than reading a blog or article posting and then thinking, “This was a waste of time” or ‘That was it” or “Just another sales pitch”. If you can position yourself as a true authority on a topic, providing true value to the reader, you will get sales via the credibility that you have established. When you can sell in this matter, you don’t have to use a hard sales approach to generate website clicks.

So, whether or not Digg actually makes its way into the dictionary, it is an effect that you will want your business to be a part of.

Here is another post I wrote about getting onto the front page of digg.

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Editors note: Having sold $7000 of blogs myself, I have experienced the advantages of selling, but what about buying?

Why buy an established business or franchise rather than start from scratch? There are many advantages for an entrepreneur.

First of all, there is a savings in time, energy, and money when buying an existing business or a franchise. The lengthy process of researching and creating business plans and models has already been done for you. Usually when individuals decide to sell a business they prepare a business plan or offering summary for you. Also, if there is financing needed for your purchase, it is not as difficult to obtain since lenders are more likely to finance a business with a proven track record.

Also, most times, everything is included in the purchase, especially in a turnkey business for sale. It is very beneficial for you to inherit the infrastructure that has already been established by the previous owner. This includes the customers, suppliers, employees, equipment, and systems as well. It is a good possibility that the previous owner(s) may offer some insight and assistance, therefore making the transition easier. In addition, the cash flow most likely will start immediately, rather than in an unknown timeframe when starting a brand new business. Profitability is not in question as it would be in a startup.

Opening a franchise comes with the advantage of knowing that this business has been successful in other locations. The idea and process of running this business have already been proven. Therefore the learning curve in operating the business can be virtually eliminated. In addition, Risk of failure is much lower with a franchise than starting a brand new business. There is a much higher likelihood of success if the same business has done well in other areas.

Finally, since a franchise or existing business for sale already has a good foundation, you can focus much of your efforts on building and expanding the business. As you become more familiar with your customers’ needs and wants, you will have opportunities to add enhancements and improvements, therefore increasing your chances of higher profitability much sooner than you would in a startup business. There are thousands of businesses for sale and franchises out there right now and they are very easy to find. At BusinessMart.com you can browse through many great businesses for sale and franchises and also learn about the entire process of buying and selling a business.

BusinessMart.com has become the fastest growing business for sale search engine, helping buyers and sellers of small businesses and franchises.

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Photography by Steve Webel.

This guest post was written by Tay, the author of Super Blogging. Super Blogging helps other bloggers create successful sites and make money online. If you like this article please consider giving it a thumbs up on StumbleUpon.

Whether you are a new blogger or have been blogging for ages, there is always the need to reach more people and increase your exposure. Getting your brand out there and generating traffic is something every webmaster strives to do. If you’re on the quest to increase your visibility and make your name known, then read these seven tips to get some great ideas and learn how to do so.

1. Develop relationships with other bloggers.

If you want to draw attention and exposure to your blog, develop relationships and communicating with other bloggers in your niche is probably the most important thing you can do. Subscribe to other blogs and comment on their articles, and always link out to other posts and pages. Bloggers notice when someone is a loyal reader of their site and is always commenting and linking to them. Establish friendships and get your name and brand out there. Not only does doing this help you gather your own loyal readers and have your site spread, but you also have people who will be willing to help you in a time of need, or participate in projects you might hold in the future.

2. Guest blog on other sites.

Guest blogging is also a pretty powerful technique. You might wonder why you would bother wasting your quality time and ideas by giving them to someone else, but often times doing this is even more beneficial than using those ideas on your own site. By writing for someone else’s blog, you are reaching a whole new audience, a whole new group of people that could become potential readers of your own blog.

3. Write linkbait articles and pillar posts.

The articles that are the most successful are the ones that are of great quality, look like the writer spent plenty of time on them, offer something unique, and have a catchy title - and of course, the writing, spelling, and grammar has to be of good English as well. Great examples of pillar posts or linkbait articles that would become successful include one that might list 101 resources or 50 great ideas, with a great title or headline to match. People love reading articles where all of the best information is compiled and organized into one place, and they’ll be more than willing to share those resources with their friends and other bloggers.

4. Become active in forums and other communities.

Every single niche has a forum or community if you look hard enough for it, no matter what you’re blogging about. And some of those forums have thousands upon thousands of members. By registering and becoming active in a forum, you can develop relationships with all those members and find some new loyal readers for your blog. Spend time helping other forum members and answering their questions. Prove that you are an expert in your field, and it’ll be hard NOT to gather some new readers and friends by participating in forum communities.

5. Implement social media and networking on your blog.

Social media is very powerful. Sites like StumbleUpon can send thousands of visitors to your content in a matter of hours, and that power isn’t even difficult to harness. Sign up on social media and networking sites and starting communicating with other users that are in your niche. Make friends on those sites while submitting and voting for your content, and other bloggers’ content, all the while. Promoting your articles using social media is very easy, especially if you have others bloggers you can share it with. The snowball effect can easily be created and send you plenty of traffic and create exposure.

6. Give away something for free.

Many people draw plenty of attention by giving something away for free on their blog. Whether it be contests for money, free advertising space, giving free links, or offering a service or talent you are good at for no charge, people notice. Your blog can generate plenty of exposure if you implement giveaways and contests properly. People will recommend you to their friends and often come back to your blog for months or years to come if they remember you as being a helpful and intelligent blogger.

7. Do something different and unique.

Look at all of the most famous and popular bloggers in your niche. Did they get where they are for no reason? Of course not! You need to set some time aside and think of what you’re good at, and then use those talents to do something unique and different, something that hasn’t been done before. If you’re an artist, draw sketches of your favorite bloggers. If you can write songs and poetry, or sing, then do so about a popular site or blog in your field. Actions like that turn heads, and soon enough you could be seeing more attention than you can handle. Be extremely creative and don’t be afraid to do something out of the ordinary, because doing the same things everyone else does isn’t going to get your blog or brand noticed.

You aren’t going to get your blog noticed by sitting back and waiting for the hoards of visitors to come to you - you have to work for it. If you write quality content that people want to read, network with others, and get your name out there, then your blog could become popular in no time. All it takes is some dedication and determination.

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Have you ever wondered what it would take for you to become more popular among your blogging peers? Or pondered precisely which specific actions you could take that would put you in their good graces? Well, wonder no more! Here are five things you can do right now to make you the blogger that everybody loves to love!

First, tag them for every single meme that comes your way—even the ones that have nothing at all to do with their blogs’ topics. After all, it’s such an honor to be tagged and they’ll be so busy feeling special! because you’ve tagged them that they’ll hardly even notice that the meme involves a topic they despise—and even if they do notice, they’ll forgive you because of your incredible generosity. In fact, they’ll thank you. (Don’t they always thank you? See! I rest my case.)

Second, when they ask your opinion, always be totally honest with them—about everything. They’ll appreciate it. As long as you can say it in a nice way, it doesn’t really matter what you tell them. Many people believe that (as the saying goes) “some things are better left unsaid”; but do you really believe the bloggers you know would want you to hold back your constructive criticism? Of course they wouldn’t. I’m glad you’re beginning to come around. (In fact, the very definition of the word “blogger” is “one who never leaves anything unsaid,” isn’t it? Well, OK, I’ve stretched that a bit—maybe it’s more like “one who rarely leaves anything unsaid.” At any rate, you get the idea.)

Third, whenever you happen to notice that they’ve made a factual error in a post, be sure you never tell them, since it would only embarrass them. The same goes for errors in the spelling of someone’s name—particularly your name or, worse yet, the name of someone far better known than you are. Ditto for broken links. Many people will simply tell them privately, via an e-mail or private message, but this is much better avoided. After all, you wouldn’t want to cause them any emotional discomfort. (In case you’re wondering, this is much different than the situation in the above paragraph and therefore does not constitute contradictory advice. The difference? In the above situation, they’ve asked for your two cents worth.)

Fourth, if you’ve asked them to write a guest post at your blog and they’ve agreed, no more need be said about it. Don’t annoy them, reminding them of the deadline or planned posting date. They would prefer that you didn’t. You wouldn’t want to make them feel like children who can’t do anything without needing to be reminded by “Mommy,” now would you? I didn’t think so. As the deadline approaches, be strong, and hold your tongue (or rather your blogging fingers). Prepare another post just in case they do forget. (You should always have a few emergency posts waiting in the wings, anyway.) And if they do forget, calmly and quietly—emphasis on quietly—post the alternate piece without any mention of it to them. They’ll so appreciate the fact that you didn’t nag them about it—really!

Fifth, copy posts from their blogs and post them to your own—and do so freely and regularly. This is the perfect compliment—and they’ll love you for it! No need to let them know in advance. They’ll find out when they check their Technorati Blog Reactions or their stats or receive their next Google Alert. If nothing else, they’ll find out the next time they visit your blog—or the next time their friends do. As long as you give them credit and include a link to their blogs, it’s perfectly all right to do this, and don’t let anybody tell you any different. Those who believe you should ask permission first are the same boring people who have never thrown a surprise party for a friend or family member. Just think of this as a surprise posting party for your favorite bloggers. They’ll be elated once they discover your gift!

These are just a few of the ways you can become the blogger that other bloggers adore. No doubt you can think of others. But these five will certainly suffice to get you started on the road to becoming everyone’s favorite blogger!

Jeanne Dininni is the author of Writer’s Notes, a blog which offers a wide variety of inspiring and informative content to help writers and bloggers succeed at their craft. She is also a freelance writer and poet whose works appear in various print and online venues.

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Spending hours upon hours online can take it’s toll on you. To counteract that you should get off of the computer. WHAT?! “But I need to be online in order to make money,” you say. Now I know that most folks are online to get money, but how many are actually being productive? I would think that many online entrepreneurs waste a big chunk of their time when online.

What can you do to make your time online more effective? Make a daily or weekly map of what you plan on doing online. That way you get online and know exactly what you are about to do, instead of procrastinating or letting things distract you. You will be surprised with your efficiency and productiveness. Build that tunnel vision with your time spent online. You can even designate how much time you plan on spending online. This allows you to spend X minutes or hours performing a task and makes you prioritize those duties. For a person like me it’s wise to factor in some extra unexpected time online, especially since I have a large instant messenger list.

Now that you are a more focused “interneting” machine, you have some spare time. Those extra hours you just saved yourself should be used to get some much needed exercise into your weekly routine. When I say exercise I dont mean go run a marathon. What I mean is that you should get off of the computer and go for a walk, or do some push ups. Something physical. Anything. It’s also good to get some sunlight and fresh air.

I follow these simple practices and am still able to exercise, spend time with my family, live a normal life, read all of my email, do my marketing, write my blog posts, and read all of the 58 blogs I am subscribed to. Believe me, those extra few minutes you spend planning your online routine will save you hours that you didn’t even know you had.

Israel has been in the internet marketing, web design arena for 6 years. He currently manages a health, fitness, and weight loss blog at FatManUnleashed.com.

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I thought this would be rather ironic as I am now the guest blogger trying to drum up some traffic for my site Crenk. Over my time of blogging I have guest blogged for some of the largest blogs on the Internet, but have never really found a site that allows me to guest blog and actually give something in return. This article runs through what you should get in return for you guest blogging.

Traffic - When guest blogging you need to try to find a blog that is in the same niche, this is due to readers actually wanting to click on a link in the guest post and head over to your site. Traffic is the be all and end all in some niches. Traffic also has a strong impact on revenue. Thus, if you traffic numbers improve you will potentially make more in ad revenue on your site, this is a nice payoff for not getting paid for the guest post.

Subscribers - Another major reason for guest blogging is to increase your subscriber numbers. Subscriber numbers are a good indicator of your authority within the niche. People subscribe because they think you opinion or articles are worth reading on a day to day basis. Thus, because more people read your blog then there is more potential for them to link to you, tell their readers about your blog and even gain more advertising revenue in rss post level ads.

Freelance work - There are also some people out there that are keen on gaining a reputation, thus leading to some freelance work. A good example of this is for a freelance web design to guest post for a design weblog such as Adii.

At the end of the day whichever avenue you take you must always put a price on your time. If you aren’t getting paid for the guest post you must think of what you will get in return, and if the value of a post by you is $15 then you must aim to get at least a few subscribers from the post, good traffic numbers or even some offers of freelance work.

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