Starting a Social Networking Website From Scratch

You've seen MySpace, you've heard of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and all the other ones. What do these websites share? They are very popular social networks. Would you like to give it a shot also? In that case, this article will point you in the correct direction.

What do you want to achieve by building a social networking website?

Think about this thoroughly. It is crucial that you comprehend your ambitions early on so you can avoid getting frustrated later. There are usually a couple of options:

Starting a Social Networking Website From Scratch

- you are starting a social networking site for a real physical community you are a member of (e.g. your local soccerclub), with no financial ambitions.

- you are starting a niche community website for a group of people that you are perhaps a member of (or maybe not) with financial ambitions (you want to make some cash)

- you want to start a huge site, like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, with obvious financial ambitions.

Your ambitions and where you stands towards the community you are building a website for will determine your approach. In the following part, we will go over at the various options and the typical costs you can expect.

Starting a website for a a real physical community you are a member of

This is by far the most simple one, as a big chunk of the marketing will simply be word of mouth in your community. It's sufficient to have a person with some influence in the community promote the website (perhaps yourself) and the rest of the group will join.

To start from zero, as with any social network website project, you'll have to think about the needs of the community. Lets take an example. If you are starting a site for a soccerclub, the website will need things like groups, fan profiles, sharing of photos, event management calendar, etc.

Social networking sites are always built with the same basic principle: the goal it to provide online sharing and organisation tools for the members of the community. If you are starting a website for an existing community of which you are a part of, you should have a pretty good idea of what the people need.

Make a list of the functionalities you need, and compare this list to the features of social networking software packages like boonex, phpfox or Dzoic. These are complete out of the box social networking website scripts that you can upload on your website. If this seems complicated to you, you can often get help from the technicians at the customer service. If the service doesn't include this, take a look at the many freelancers available on elance.com for example. The average cost of such software is around 350$.

That might look like a lot of money, but the advantage is that you fully own the site and that you have complete control. You won't have any branding issues (your own logo and design will be on the website) either. If you are building a website for a community which really doesn't require all of this, you can do it a lot cheaper by creating a network at Ning. This is a website that permits people to create social networks on their hosting platform. A basic social network can be started for free.

Remember that when you choose this option, you will be completely dependent on Ning. The name of your website will include Ning, the layout will have Ning all over it, and changing any of this will cost money. You'll have very limited control over your network: it is hosted by Ning, implying that if Ning goes belly-up - so does your site.

So think about this thoroughly, check out Ning and check out some of the out of the box social networking software scripts if you want something more robust and reliable.

Starting a niche social networking site with financial ambitions

Excellent move! You have recognized that there is a huge stack of money out there waiting to be picked up. Niche social networking websites have been around since the dawn of the inet (remember yahoo groups? mIRC)? The difference is the fantastic technology we all have available now.

Facebook is excellent for superficial networking. LinkedIn is great for professional contacts. These sites however do not permit the users to be anonymous (that would be completely besides the point of these sites), implying that members can rarely express themselves fully. And there comes the need for niche networks where members can meet & share all they want without their real-life social networks ever finding out!

There are quite a few methods you can use to make this profitable. There is the obvious way of using AdSense on the networks, or affiliate links. There is off course is the huge e-mailing list you could acquire from having your own niche site. Put all this together, and a popular social network you own could be your new personal piggybank.

If this sounds exiting to you, you'll need to thoroughly think about the following:

What does the community require?

Again, this is the basis for any successful social networking project. Go deep! Here is an example. If you are building a social network for people with insomnia problems, you could have the "what are you doing now" feature of most profiles customized to: "how many hours awake".

Having nifty things like this will greatly enhance member experience. The members will feel like they are part of a community tailored to them, rather than being on a community website with features they don't need.

You'll have already understood that Ning is not an option here. You need full control over the website. If your budget is limited (e.g. below 500$), you'll have to find a social networking script that meets your needs as much as possible to limit the cost of customization afterwards. These software packages are usually open source, implying that you can change whatever you desire. This means that if you do not have developing skills, you are going to need a developer to do it for you. To reduce your costs, get a script that meets your requirements already as much as possible. To find a developer, you can usually refer to the forum of the developers of the site - there are plenty of young programmers out there who are willing to help you out for a very reasonable amount of money. You can also try a freelancing website.

Before starting the site, you'll have to think about how you will seduce members to join you. If you know people inside the community already, then that is a very good head start. You can speak to them and try to get them on board. You'll need to hit existing forums, maybe place a Google ad, or write articles (like the one you are reading now), etc.

You want to create the next huge thing like Facebook, MySpace...

Ok, knowing that you have most likely typed something like "how to start a social networking site", I am going to assume that you are not a developer. This implies that you will not be able to shake a social network out of your sleeve in the next couple of days.

All is not lost however. First of all, get help. Find a group of people who like the idea, and put your minds together. If you can get financing from somewhere, go for it. That's what you'll need to start developing a site that does exactly what you want it to do, with security, powerful servers and everything!

If you've got a great idea - try applying the same method as for niche networks - but think about getting financing as soon as possible. One you hit a hundred thousand users, your network will grow very quickly and you will pay huge amounts of money for the servers to host all of this!

If you are dreaming about the next big thing, experiment a bit beforehand - create some groups on Facebook and see what it takes to get people to join for example

Conclusion:

- small community websites can be created using Ning
- advanced, robust niche networks can be built using social networking scripts that come out of the box
- ideas for huge networks need financing early on to become a hit

Starting a Social Networking Website From Scratch
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The Advantages of Social Networking

It's great to have friends but you have to admit that there are certain interests you or they have, which neither is not interested in. When this happens, it is time to expand our circle and that is just one of the advantages of social networking.

Social networking enables people who share the same interests to hang out together and this simply means that you are able to make new friends. If for example you are interested in basketball, no one there will get tired of talking about the players or the game which occurred last night or several years ago.

Since most social networking is done over the web, you get to meet individuals from other countries and learn about their culture. How many people do you know keep in touch with someone across the Atlantic or the Pacific? Given that you share something in common, you get to communicate with that person regularly that is very similar to hooking up with your friends after work or school.

The Advantages of Social Networking

From a business point of view, the first two advantages of social networking enable you to meet new clients and expand your business because most of these sites allow you to customize your webpage and provide links to your personal website.

Just to give you a few examples, there is Multiply, MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and Classmates. With so many around, you won't have a hard time looking for a social network that you like. You can even post ads here so you can inform other members of an event that you are hosting.

The best part about becoming a member of a social network is that majority of these is free. This means that you don't have to pay any fees. All you have to do is sign up by filling up the form and then activating the link when this is sent to you via email. Now that you are a member, you can invite other friends to join and look at other profiles.

The advantages of social networking will allow you to make new friends, promote your business and best of all, won't cost you a thing. But there are some social networking sites that will require you to pay a fee. Before you sign up, consider if this value for your money.

Will social networking sites ever replace meeting people in social events and other gatherings? Of course not because all this medium does is give you more exposure. It allows you to put your best qualities out there especially when first impressions last.

When you join a social networking site, never post any private information about yourself unless you are ready to have people get in touch with you. You shouldn't also put anything embarrassing about yourself because some people have been denied employment because of the information posted.

If there are "privacy" settings in your social networking site, you are advised to use it so you can control who has access to your personal information.

A lot of experts say that social networking is here to stay so we have to take advantage of it. When you do join a social networking site, keep an open and see if this is exactly what you wanted. If not, cancel your account until you find the one that you like.

The Advantages of Social Networking
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Easy Kid Recipes For Mexican Drinks

Tequila, Kahlua, and margaritas are well known Mexican drinks for adults and there is also Mexican beer, hot chocolate with rum and lots of Mexican cocktails to choose from. However, what about kid recipes for Mexican drinks? What do Mexican children drink and how can you make kid recipes for Mexican drinks at home?

Popular Drinks for Children in Mexico

Commercial bottle sodas such as Coca Cola and Fanta are popular drinks in Mexico and kids also like to drink fruit juices, milk, and hot chocolate. Atole is a mixture of water, toasted ground corn tortillas, and toasted ground corn kernels. Add black corn, ground squash seed, and salt and you have a jocoatole. Chia is sweetened water with the chia herb, which is a bit like sage. Alfajor is a sweet and delicious drink made with almonds, honey, coconut and more.

Easy Kid Recipes For Mexican Drinks

Unusual Mexican Drink Recipes

More obscure drinks which can be found in Mexican bars and restaurants include sangrita (not to be confused with sangria) which is a weird sounding combination of sugar, orange juice, ground onion, chili, salt and vegetable colorant, and pozol, which is corn paste mixed in water with either salt or sugar added for flavor.

There are many kinds of Mexican drinks and these make the perfect accompaniment to authentic Mexican food recipes. You might like to try a milk based drink such as the thick, yogurt-like cuajada, if you are eating a spicy Mexican food with lots of chili in it.

Traditional Mexican drinks complement traditional Mexican foods and there are also lots of ice cold drinks to cool you down on a hot day or piping hot coffee or chocolate based drinks to warm you up on a cool evening.

Aqua Fresca -- A Very Refreshing Mexican Beverage

Mexicans love fruity drinks and these are suitable for adults and kids and great served with lots of ice for cooling you down on a hot summer day. Use a zero calorie sweetener or honey instead of the sugar if you prefer.

You can use any fruit you like to make Mexican aqua fresca, including apple, banana, peach, strawberry, cherry, kiwi fruit and watermelon. Experiment with different flavors for different results. The following recipe serves six people or three very thirsty ones.

Aqua Fresca with Fresh Fruit and Citrus Juice

You will need:
4 cups water 1/4 cup sugar or equivalent honey or sweetener 2 teaspoons lemon or lime juice 2 cups fresh fruit, peeled, de-seeded and chopped Lemon or lime wedges, to garnish
How to make it:

Combine the water and fruit in a blender, and then pour this mixture into a pitcher, through a sieve. Stir in the lemon or lime juice and add sugar or sweetener to taste. Garnish the pitcher with a wedge of lemon or lime and serve with plenty of ice. If you do not have ice, you can chill the water and fruit before pureeing it, so the drink is cold.

Easy Kid Recipes For Mexican Drinks
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With a family of six, five guys and my wife you can imagine that great food has always been a way of life in our household and having lots of different easy recipes to choose from is very important. Well when the guy factor kicks in that means only one thing will fill that craving, Mexican food, and the more the better. Not that greasy fast food Tex-Mex stuff but real healthy authentic Mexican food you will love.

If you like to make authentic Mexican recipes, do not forget about Mexican drinks recipes. Mexican food tastes better when you wash it down with a traditional Mexican drink and you can make a big pitcher of aqua fresca or something fruity for the kids on a hot afternoon. You will find Mexican menu inspiration at MexicanFoodRecipes.org and cooking tips too.

Not sure about Mexican recipes because you're confused by all those foreign sounding names? Don't worry we have you covered with an extensive Mexican food glossary complete with phonetic pronunciations for the non-Spanish speaking too. See when we set out to make a website on Mexican food we aimed to make the best Mexican food site on the net. We understand that Americans want to eat health and know just how great traditional Mexican cooking is. It is loaded with loads of fresh produce and lively seasonings that make this the perfect food for anyone concerned about eating right.

visit the site dedicated to this wonderful cuisine MexicanFoodRecipes.org. The site will arm you with everything you need to make an award winning meal your family will thank you for. Start eating health today, visit now, and don't forget to bookmark us in your favorite social bookmarking site so you can come back often.

Advantages of Social Bookmarking

I use several sites to ensure that I get the most from social bookmarking as a method of site promotion. This is not entirely a self promotion tactic. I use it for general bookmarking as well, making new and interesting friends and keeping abreast of all the changes that take place in the online industry. There are many ways in which one can manipulate social bookmarking to their advantage and while this may not be entirely unethical one should remember that social sites are there to socialize.

Build up your list of 'friends', make contacts, get real conversations going and you can be assured that you will continue to grow your online business as well as a continued success with your chosen field.

There at least a hundred different social sites and all offer a different and sometimes unique way of interacting with others. Go through them and sign up. I suggest installing a password manager such as the open source 'LastPass' in order to keep all your passwords in order. Remember that it is good practice to generate secure passwords that will allow your network to remain secure. Keep a record of the sites that you have just signed up to and remember to visit daily and offer the other users something of interest to read, rate and enjoy just as you will want the same.

Advantages of Social Bookmarking

Another important factor is ensuring that you have an updated profile. This is important because this determines how trustworthy you are to the other online socializes and give you more credibility. Forget about using a picture of your dog or cat! A proper head shot is all that is needed. Once you begin to grow your network you can the watch as your visitor traffic starts to grow and your revenue increases.

I use these methods on all my client sites including Nearly Illicit Magazine and it has worked amazingly well for me. However, one needs to remember to exercise caution and work smartly in order to obtain the desired result.

You don't always have to hire another company to do your Search Engine Optimization - You can always do it yourself with careful planning and complete understanding of the system. Social Bookmarking is just one of the methods used to rank a site for keywords.

Advantages of Social Bookmarking
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I am a young entrepreneur and my passions lie in many places. As a result I have chosen to create a company that can and does allow me to process a lot of creativity in a large amount of sectors, albeit this be completely online.

I am also giving away a FREE e-book on SEO with all the vital information that you need! For more details visit us. I have a lot of SEO knowledge and if you would like to learn more visit the link above and use the contact page to get in touch with me and I will help in whatever way I can.

Top 10 Social Bookmarking Websites

What is social bookmarking you ask yourself? Well here it is. Social bookmarking (sometimes referred to as social tagging) websites allow you to bookmark a link of interest to a website and later retrieve if from any computer. Remember when you would have to write down websites you liked or could not access or recall a website because you were nowhere near your computer. Well not any more, now you have access to improve you internet experience through the use of these social bookmarking websites.

I have compiled a list of my top 10 social bookmarking websites. Some of the criteria I used to come up with this list include:

· Easy for first time users to understand, user friendly

Top 10 Social Bookmarking Websites

· Simple to add a bookmark

· Have a lot of readers/followers

1. Blinklist.com - Blinklist.com is very user friendly. Any first time user on this website will have no problem finding their way around the website. Once you add your bookmark, it very simple to view it at anytime. All bookmarks are saved with a screen shot of the website, short description and the URL.

2. Digg.com - Digg.com is a very recognized social news website with a very positive reputation. It was due to the popularity of digg.com that many other social networking websites were formed. Anything bookmarked to digg.com will rank high on Google and other search engines. Digg.com meets all the criteria's used for this list, it is very user friendly, easy to use and has many users.

3. Newsvine.com- Newsvine.com is excellent because not only can you bookmark content on your website, but you can also view all the up-to-date news information all other users have to offer. An excellent advantage is that newsvine.com has so many users that the possibility of attracting many readers is unavoidable, which is excellent for your business.

4. Sphinn.com - One of my favorite websites for many reasons. One, it is very easy to navigate (I like easy). Second, it breaks down all news posts, for example, "hot news" is broken down into sections that are very important to the success of every website like SEO and PPC, etc..

5. Mixx.com - This is a flourishing bookmarking and social media network. Fellow bookmarking website competitors include digg.com and reddit.com.

6. Reddit.com - Stories submitted to reddit.com immediately available for readers to view and vote. Like other social bookmarking websites, more votes on your post the higher the rank it will receive. Once s registered user, you have access to view your submitted bookmarks along with those bookmarks that were either liked or disliked by other readers. This is an excellent tool to help you track not only whether it was liked but also if it was read.

7. Delicious.com - delicious.com is an excellent source for social bookmarking which allows its users to create tags, save them to your account and share all tags with the public. As said by delicious.com "Delicious greatly improves how people discover, remember and share on the Internet." Once again, very user friendly and easy to bookmark websites. Delicious is owned by Yahoo and is a must have for your social media and bookmarking strategy.

8. Propeller.com - Remember Netscape? For those of you who do, Netscape was purchased by AOL in 1998 and is now better known as Propeller, which is an excellent social bookmarking community. Once an account is created and a link has been added, readers can vote, comment, share with a friend or even bookmark for later reading. Sources say they should be redesigning the websites appearance soon, looking forward to it.

9. Bookmarktracker.com - If you're the type of internet user that prefers not to download programs into your computer than this is the social bookmarking website for you. Most websites require downloading of software in order to successfully bookmark items. Bookmarktracker.com allows you to copy and paste the website URL into a field in your account and as easy as that the bookmarking is done.

10. Startaid.com - Last but not least, staraid.com is another excellent social bookmarking website which allows you to create a customized homepage for each account holder. In this homepage, account holders are able to see all bookmarks and manage them as well.

Social bookmarking websites have become a popular way to store, manage and share search links on the internet.

I Hope this information is useful and remember no harm can come from creating your own social bookmarking account.

Happy bookmarking...

Top 10 Social Bookmarking Websites
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Top 10 Ways to Promote your Products-Services

As we all know Internet has grown in popularity and has enabled many businesses to sustain in some of the most competitive environments through effective internet marketing.

Internet marketing is an art and a potent weapon if used in the right way. Most of the online businesses are either selling a product or a service. Effective MLM or Internet marketing can drive the required traffic and covert visitors into customers.

Social Bookmarking

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There are many ways to sell you products or services online but we will talk about the top 10 ways to promote your products or service online.

Top 10 Ways to Promote your Products-Services

The first and the most important thing is formulating a business strategy. Without an effective business strategy, you will be able to run your business but at the end it will die a slow death because there is far too much competition out there.

Another important thing is that in the initial phases, you will be working on a shoe-string budget and this is one factor that needs to be incorporated while formulating the MLM or internet marketing strategies.

So the first thing is to get your website online. The content, the product descriptions and the services being offered have to be keyword driven. This means that if you are selling fitness products, then your homepage and other pages need to have keywords like fitness products, fitness equipments, fitness, etc so that it's easier for the search engines to pull up your page. On the other hand, you need to keep in mind that there should not be an overdose of keywords. You need to list your business in all possible free listing directories. This is an easy and cost effective way of Internet marketing. Most of the directories are capable of directing heavy traffic to your website and can help increase your page ranking in Google. Online submission in forums is extremely effective. You can submit your URL in a relevant forum so that people can click on it and be directed to your website. Blogs are another free method of reaching out to your probable customer and helps direct traffic to your website. All you need to do is create a product blog and upload it in relevant blog sites. Linking: Adding your links on other websites is extremely useful. If you want to add a link free then there are two options. Either you can add the link in forums or blogs or you can barter with another website. The sixth way of promoting your product is cross linking. You can add your website link on another website and in return add their link on your website. Traffic coming to the other website can be directed to your website. Online Press Release are another great avenue of driving traffic to your website or promoting your services or products. Newsletters: There are a few directories like http://bestezines.com/submit/ where you can submit your product or services newsletter and this is free of charge. Social Networks: Social networks like Yahoo Groups, myspace or hi5 are great places through which you can get a lot of traffic. You have to just sell your services or products using soft selling techniques. Article writing is another way of exploring the Internet marketing possibilities without paying a dime. There are many websites where you can submit your article with your website url.

Top 10 Ways to Promote your Products-Services

Azlan Kasim leads and coaches a team of online entrepreneurs

He dedicates a hour each morning to strategise and plan his business and a hour at night for self-evaluation and criticism. His motto is simply this "If I am what I was yesterday, then today is lost".

[http://www.azlankasim.net]

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Will I Ever Be Able to Retire?

This question is on the mind of millions of baby boomers approaching the normal age for retirement. Sadly, the answer will be no unless they come up with something quickly. Financial planners have been telling boomers for years that they need to save for retirement. This has often been a case of "easier said than done." Baby boomers are one of the best educated and most successful generations of all time. However, we have been notorious for spending, not saving. There is a reason that we have been called the "now generation." Our philosophy has been that we want things and we want them now.

Financial planners told us that we needed 70% of our income when we retired. That didn't seem like it would be too difficult. We just assumed that things would work themselves out.

Baby Boomer

I operate a blog about how to supplement retirement income. People assume that I am talking about some type of an annuity plan, in other words, supplemental retirement income. For most baby boomers, it is way too late to look at setting up an annuity. Here is what I actually mean. Before one can retire, one must sit down and determine an actual budget that will apply when they stop working. From that budget, they need to subtract their income. Income will include Social Security, pension income and interest from savings, 401K plans or whatever. If income is less than the budget, the amount left over is what a retiree will need to supplement his or her retirement income.

Will I Ever Be Able to Retire?

There are several ways to supplement retirement income but one needs to take action. The two most common solutions are to obtain a part time job or start a business, most likely an online business because one can do so with minimal start up cost. The best way to do this is to begin while you are still working. I have personally set up about 40 websites and blogs that are earning money. I will be retiring next year and I want to be prepared.

Will I Ever Be Able to Retire?

Steve Kujala is in the insurance business. He is a grandfather, a frequent article writer and operates numerous websites and blogs including Supplement Retirement Income at http://BabyBoomersEarnings.blogspot.com.

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