Ning: Web 2.0 at Your Doorstep
Web 2.0 sites are gaining steam around the 'net. MySpace gets more hits than Google - and marketers are cashing in on it! Everyone's Squidooing their way to the top of the SERPs.
YouTube videos send your traffic spiraling out of control. If you're not familiar with web 2.0, I'm going to direct you to my short report on it so that I don't waste space here with a crash course.
You can access it here, and read it first: http://www.tiffanydow.com/web20Ning.zip - it's called The Multi-Layered Mindset of Web 2.0 Marketing. If you're a savvy marketer, you're on the lookout for the next best thing - the site that remains virtually untapped, one that welcomes marketing, and one that houses your target audience. Ning is your next web 2.0 wave.
You can't afford to allow the competition to have leverage over you because they took the time and put in the effort to adopt all of the possible, and often freely available, resources that the 'net is making available to you as an entrepreneur.
The ability to be interactive in your own web 2.0 atmosphere lets you tap into the minds of your prospective customers and learn from fellow entrepreneurs, exchanging ideas and creating a formidable clique with powerful profitability.
Can you say…branding? Branding yourself as the go-to person in your niche is best done through socialization, not hard-hitting hyped-up sales copy. Ning is going to make it possible for you to immediately claim status as an authority figure.
It's a small world when you're socializing on the 'net. I stumble on friends who I haven't seen in years on MySpace. I just now discovered Joe Vitale from The Secret (someone who made a big impact on my decision to switch to marketing) in a public Ning community with only 5 other members - I joined right up so I could learn from him in a setting with a low mentor-to-student ratio.
Ning was created in 2004, and now has over 58,000 social networks. Many started by individuals running multiple networks. This is still in its infancy. When Squidoo started becoming a "household" name on the 'net, it fattened up from 50,000 lenses to over 130,000 in a matter of months.
Don't let another marketer steal your network ideas before you "get to it." Apply this today - because it only takes a few minutes to claim your spot, and you have to act to get results.
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What Sets Ning Apart?
If you look around the Internet, you'll find all sorts of social networking communities. Each one offers something a little different. For the serious entrepreneur, the thought of becoming involved in a huge community like MySpace is often a temptation.But MySpace has become so large, it's difficult for some to find their target audience in the sea of profiles where advertising is greeted with extreme hostility. Wouldn't it be better if everyone who was interested in what you had to offer just came to you instead?
If the prospects, JV partners, affiliates, and competitors all stood in line at your doorstep waiting to get behind the velvet rope where you pick and choose who gets in and who gets left out in the cold?
With Ning, people are involved in many different communities as part of the Ning network. In each community, you can meet people with similar interests. You can join networks or create your own - for free.
You can customize the formatting for your page, adding whatever community features you feel are vital to your members' experience. And%u2026if you want to take it one step further, you can transfer your Ning network to your own domain and cash in on the advertising it brings in.
In each network, your members get their own profile page, where they can blog, add pictures, upload videos, and chatter with one another. But instead of a social network where everyone's interests differ, a Ning network brings an entire target audience to one hub - with you in control of what they see, hear, and read.
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Managing the Layout of Your Ning Community
Not all Internet marketers are created equal when it comes to creativity, so Ning makes it easy for you to literally drag and drop features into your network page. Your community will be set apart from the others - and you can even personalize it with your own header, just like it's your own domain.When you chose Internet marketing as your career path, you placed yourself in the position of being constantly compared to other marketers. Unfortunately, there are millions of budding entrepreneurs spanning the globe at any given moment.
You need something spectacular that will set you apart from the masses. You don't want to be just another spammer on MySpace or one of the many Lensmasters on Squidoo. I use both of those social networks, but it's stiff competition compared to Ning, where I'm the head honcho calling the shots.
Now don't get on a power trip - remember, it's a social network - so you have to allow your members to have input, too. While you get overall control of the social setting, they get to contribute and make it one of the premiere places to see and be seen in your niche.
I belong to a few Ning communities, and I've even started my own. I created a community for people who purchased Building an eBook Empire, because I am personally mentoring them as they go through the process from start to finish.
I've included my own header, chosen a layout that matches, and designed the network with the features I wanted to include - a blog, text/ad space, a forum, videos, photos, and profile pages.
My members, who are in an exclusive invitation-only setting that's closed to outsiders, can network with one another, form bonds for future Joint Ventures, and share ideas to work in a team environment in what is usually a very isolating career.
Be creative with your community. The ability to change the layout of your network gives you the power to make it more user-friendly to those who are technologically handicapped, while also offering features that may appeal to those who are a little more advanced in their 'net know-how.
Having design authority gives you the control to make a statement and set the mood for your community. I'll show you how to customize your Ning network during the set-up phase.
Flipping the Web 2.0 Traffic Funnel
Ning lets you turn the web 2.0 traffic upside-down, where you remain static and the prospects come knocking on your door - where, incidentally, you can market openly and use your space to seal your expertise.
Ning lets you build credibility with the online community. They don't reach a sales page with skepticism. Instead, they join you, they get to socialize with you, ask you questions, and become a part of your group. Then it's not buying from a stranger, it's trusting a friend's recommendation.
Everything you do that makes your name more recognizable - that strengthens your branding - lends credibility to you as a serious player in the world of the online entrepreneur.
By investing in your community (time and energy are excellent investments in this situation), working to make it grow, and evolving along with your members, you'll be making an impression on those who sit silently back and watch - the lurkers, who often wind up being powerful players in their own right.
You'll discover that you build friendships, partnerships, loyal followers and fans. All of these relationships would take far longer to cultivate if you were not the driving force behind your very own social networking community on Ning.
As you manage your own social networking community, you need to keep in mind that it's the people in your community that drive its success. The members of your network - and not the gadgets, gizmos, widgets, and cool 'insert great new tech toy here' - are what matters most.
Making the Most of a Ning Community
While doing this, you should also be making a concerted effort to foster an atmosphere of learning and growth. If you do these things, you should find that your community quickly becomes a wild success.
Use your community page to issue challenges, build your membership numbers up, and feature community members for contributions to the niche in general and for meeting personal goals.
You can also use your community to set goals publicly. This is a great motivator for many marketers. One reason for this sense of motivation is that it creates an atmosphere of accountability. It also encourages other members of your community to do the same.
You can share encouragement or pony up the occasional swift kick in the butt that's needed to get things going in the same public platform. As long as there's camaraderie and progress, it will be worth staying a member, not just joining for the sake of curiosity.
If none of the reasons above are appealing enough to encourage you to build your own social network, then it should be pointed out that very few of your competitors at this point in time can claim the fame of running their very own web 2.0 setting. Most have a forum, but nothing else. They don't know why or how to set up a social network.
Being the first in your field to bring new technology and techniques to the 'net makes you an authority when it comes to that particular method of doing business. This is a major boon to your business and is very likely to encourage people to join forces with you, buy your products, and/or listen to what you have to say because you are a pioneer and many people prefer to follow pioneers.
You can realistically accrue twice the results from half the effort when you leverage this insight and apply the latest and greatest of Web 2.0 technology that's available in Ning.
Say hi
Bizcash wrote
Just started a trivitateambuild/ning.com
for our team build.
What a great resource!
Posted October 13, 2008
juno
Great lens, this can really help with my site! filled with basketball themes.
http://basketball-layouts.com
Posted April 01, 2008
GGeorge wrote...
html>Great lens. I have a copy of your Social Networking on Squidoo and HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to anyone who wants the cutting edge scoop on Squidoo.
Posted July 02, 2007
technovoid wrote...
From one "Warrior" to another, a huge THANKS for all you do to help those of us who are less experienced. I learn a lot from all you lenses, ebooks and blogs. Keep up the great wotk!
JD at Natural Health Remedies
Posted May 09, 2007
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