I think there are a lot of Twitter users who have had similar experiences to mine.

I wrote the title to this article last March, just days after landing the gig. I put off writing it until now as I’ve been super busy with various projects including the one that brought in new business for me. My last article posted here was two months ago — never before have I gone so long between posts ever since launching this site nearly six years ago.

Twitter Gig

The gig that I got lasted just over four months, shorter than what I had expected. Yet, it was a job that came my way because the woman who hired me saw my automotive tweets via @theautowriter, one of several Twitter handles I manage. This account is linked to my main website at autotrends.org, my flagship car site that showcases my work.

Following being contacted for the gig, I submitted the required paperwork and began to write. I averaged two articles per week at $50 per article. The rate seems low, but the articles took me about one hour to write. When all was said and done, I pulled in $1,700 all because of someone who found my tweets.

More Contacts

I’ve also been found by other people in the automotive industry who were also tracking my tweets. Although those connections haven’t yielded new work, each one has raised my visibility. Importantly, at client expense, I’ve been flown to Detroit, San Francisco and to Ohio for automotive related events.

Those events have allowed me to test drive vehicles or see new products before these hit the market. Moreover, I made additional connections with other journalists including one that I believe will eventually yield fresh work. Again, this is all because of Twitter.

Social Media

These days, I’ve largely abandoned all of my other social media platforms including my long-term favorite, StumbleUpon. SU is still decent, but I need to keep my irons in fires that yield solid results. Sure, a surge of traffic to my websites is always welcome, but more important is the work that I get from my contacts, particularly through tweeting.

LinkedIn is beneficial to me for business, Facebook is ideal for family contacts, but nothing else out there seems to be worth my while.

That’s okay, because when it comes to tweeting, the proof is in the work I’ve gotten, the trips I’ve taken and the new contacts I’ve made.

Does Twitter rock? It certainly does in my world!

I am sorry that I never followed you back on Twitter. I am sorry that I’ve neglected retweeting your tweets.

I am sorry that I am just an occasional participant on Google + and I am certainly sorry that your last message to me was buried in my Gmail inbox.

How is that for a start?

I am sorry. No, really.

Call me social media engaged, but also call me social media overloaded. I cannot think of the last time I used Digg. Or Reddit. Or Technorati. I am still using StumbleUpon, although my lack of consistency should be evident to all.

Family members beckon me on Facebook, but other than offering up the requisite birthday good wishes, most of my participation involves the automatic postings from Auto Trends and Word Journey. Too much “TMI” has left me wanting less…far less.

I am sorry for forgetting to get back to you about your guest article. Quite frankly, I am working with solicited contributors and don’t have the time to review each of the unsolicited requests. I get tons of them scattered across the blog network that I manage. Most are off topic…many are poorly written.

Still, the invites to this network or that group come in. Everyone on LinkedIn seems to want me to join their group. I prefer to use LinkedIn as my online resume and offer up an occasional question when an article idea requires additonal input.

I have a lot of friends in India – people who want to do business with me, offering to write articles for as low as $1 a piece. Trouble is, the grammatical mistakes, spelling errors and syntax are often so very wrong that I would have to spend as much time editing each article as it would take me to write them. Thanks, but I’ll pass.

I am sorry that your business venture has not worked out or that your webinar cannot seem to find sponsors. The few webinars I’ve participated in have been too long or offered a poor connection. I would rather have read your notes and, if there is something of benefit, share that information with my readers. Most webinars seem to be long on fluff and short on substance. Lots of marketing too. Enough.

To my clients I offer up a sincere apology if Google PageRank still gets you up in arms. In 2006, PR mattered much and I told you so. In 2011, PR is a secondary ranking factor – your placement in the SERPs carries greater weight. Let’s continue to naturally build backlinks and link out to reputable sites again and again and again….

Have I missed someone in my great apology tour? If so, I am sorry. And let’s just leave it at that.

Photo: MorgueFile

The world of employment is a world of shifting trends, just like anything else. If you’re on the job hunt nowadays, then you may find that your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn profile has more of an impact on your success than traditional job boards or employment agencies.  Recruiters are now actively using social media sites to find and screen employees. In effect they’re conducting a pre-interview virtual interview.

Sound confusing? Well that means that it’s time to learn some new rules for the modern world of job hunting. As if finding a job weren’t difficult enough already! The good news is that you can leverage your social media profiles to work in your favour, and if done well you’ll have more job searching power at your fingertips than ever before. Let’s take a look at the current state of play in the social recruiting space to help you get started.

Everything’s Going Social

Years ago, companies frequently used job boards to find new hires.  They would post a new job description on the job board, and then review all the applications that came flooding in.  However, in the last few years, particularly as the economy has worsened, but also as a result of the rise of the ubiquitous Internet, the flood has become a raging torrent.

It’s not unusual for a job opening to receive thousands of applications, which means that as an applicant it’s very easy to get lost amongst the noise. Most hiring managers don’t have the time to sift through every application they receive.

At the same time, social media sites like Facebook are evolving beyond their original design. Where once these sites used to be just tools for finding old classmates and making new friends, now they are used to create professional profiles and cultivate corporate images. This is of course especially prevalent on sites geared toward business networking, like LinkedIn.  In keeping with this trend, companies have begun to find that it is sometimes easier to head-hunt the applicants directly via their social media profiles, rather than open the application flood gates to the general population.

Be Careful What You Post!

It should come as no surprise that in addition to being used to find potential employees, social media sites are now also being used to screen and eliminate job candidates. What this means for you, is that you probably shouldn’t post pictures of wild drunken nights in Cancun, Ibiza, Bali, or any of the incriminating photo hotspots. In fact, from a job seeking perspective, it’s a good idea to not post anything that gives too much detail about your private life.

However, if you must post these sorts of photos, then make sure that your security settings are absolutely water tight, and don’t forget if that friend of a friend is actually your potential new boss!  Take this one step further –remember that the same rules apply once you’ve landed the job. It’s not unusual for people to be fired because of something found on their Facebook or MySpace page.

More Than Just Skills and Experience

When companies look for new hires, they’re not just looking for someone who has the skills to do the job.  They also want a good fit; they’re looking for a team player who shares their company’s values.

Social recruiting helps hiring managers find the people they need, because they can get an overall picture of who you are and not just what you can do.

What This Means For You

If you’re working on finding a job right now, use your social media profiles to help you search.  Contact possible employers and open a dialog.  Upload your resume, references, and portfolio so that recruiters can see it.  Maximize your chances of appearing in search results by having a complete, well developed, and up to date profile.

Make sure your profile shows you at your best – remember that you don’t want anything there that might turn them off.  Expand your network to include people who work at your employer of choice. Join in conversations, develop relationships and cultivate an appealing professional relationship.

Social media sites also allow you to find out more about a company before you apply with them.  Internet-savvy companies are now blogging on their Facebook or LinkedIn pages, which should provide you with some additional insight into the company values and type of day to day work activity.  You may also be able to find some commentary from previous employees or customers about the company on the web.

Has everyone had a positive experience with the company, or is the bulk of commentary exceedingly negative?  All of these sources of information should give you a better idea of what the company’s about, which is vitally important for the health of your career.

In summary, social recruiting has come of age. Companies are now reviewing social media profiles and incorporating them into their decision to hire or not hire, so use yours to your advantage.

Author Information

Mike Dunlop works for HirePulse, the home of premium contractors, consultants and freelancers.

Okay, I am exaggerating. I have a Facebook fan page for my automotive business (rarely updated, unfortunately) and can see how you might connect with customers with Facebook. But, it is also crowded by people who leave gratuitous pictures of their favorite domestic animal, regurgitate localized weather reports and offer many more distractions than I possibly can count. Facebook is kind of like Twitter, but with more characters allowed!

Now that I’ve given Facebook a sufficient dressing down, please allow me to explain how you can make LinkedIn work for you, but in ways which may not be as obvious to you. Not everyone on LinkedIn is looking for a job and some connections hardly qualify as “networking enhancing.”

Beyond the hype, some of the jewels found in LinkedIn are as follows:

You can put your resume online. I still maintain a hard copy of my resume in .doc and .pdf formats and can send them out as an attachment as needed, which is rare. But, I can also point people to my profile page which is my default online resume. Sure, I could manage it on here or on another site I control, but my LinkedIn profile page looks great and, importantly, is searchable on LinkedIn.

Speaking of personal information, LinkedIn allows you to solicit recommendations from clients who also use LinkedIn, with their recommendations posted right on the site pending your approval. There is no need for you to send “three references” with a hard copy of your resume; your recommendations are listed immediately after your resume and are categorized by the places where you’ve worked or by projects you have completed.

I’ve made good use of LinkedIn Answers a half dozen times as 2010 drew to the close, soliciting responses to questions I asked about all things automotive. Those answers, at least the best ones, were incorporated in articles I wrote for Auto Trends Magazine, my flagship automotive website. I have gained several new connections and have received feedback from some very influential people. In return, I link to personal or business websites or to LinkedIn profiles to show my “thanks” for their participation.

Local Groups — Admittedly, I haven’t taken advantage of the various LinkedIn inspired groups meeting in my area. But, I am glad to know that there are other business professionals who like to connect in person, providing much needed and welcome face-to-face opportunities for people. I follow several local based lists, taking note of meeting at various public venues held throughout the month.

Of course, you can easily encounter people who oversell themselves, lie or consistently leave negative feedback or answer questions without care. That’s common in any social media setting, but in LinkedIn I have found that the spammers and other malcontents usually quickly get bored and move on.

See Also — Getting Linked In For 2010

Whether it is generic networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut etc. or professional networking sites like LinkedIn, there is distinct advantage of becoming a member on these sites. Simply by registering yourself and specifying a few details, one can join a networking site and start using the available services.

A few sites (especially the professional networking sites) require one to complete a minimal profile so as to identify yourself and be easily found by similar social groups. By joining social media sites, one can be in touch with friends, colleagues and clients in no time. It becomes easier to know the preferences, tastes and schedule of an individual, company or group of people by adding the respective party into one’s network.

In the case of professional networks like LinkedIn, one can join various groups pertaining to the colleagues of a company, an industry, product line, position levels or even the classmates from graduate college. It is easy to track activities in the groups, know the latest developments in technology and the industry, become aware of ongoing and upcoming events and even get to know the job opportunities that are posted by members.

Social media is an easy way to talk to a selected circle of people, to search through friends, to join groups with similar likes and dislikes and to make new friends. Companies can directly talk to their end customers, convey information on new launches and certain events, and advise what changes are in the pipeline by just posting the info on the network. They can also better understand the needs of their key clients and this can help them design better products and increase profitability.

On a professional site like LinkedIn, professionals can list their experiences, skills, qualifications and other such details. There is also an option to post or receive recommendations to those within the network that helps to get a professional advantage and provide ready references to prospective employers.

On the negative side, social media sites are prone to fake profiles, fake identities and potentially compromised privacy. Though there are privacy options provided by almost all the sites what to share or what not to share, one must be careful with sensitive information and to ensure that a professional image is portrayed that is in line with the company brand.  A company should ensure their employees post professionally on social networking sites if it is to be viewed by potential customers.

Author Information

Claire Jarrett runs Marketing By Web, who offer PPC Management and is also an associate for PML Media, a Social Media Management company

I must admit that I missed the blessed event which is strange considering that I was working on that date. Still, Google did what has now become an uncommon event: they exported their PageRank to the Google toolbar.

What this means is that everyone’s site has been reevaluated and assigned a fresh rank based on Google’s algorithm, a formula which remains a mystery to all except for those who are part of Google’s inner circle. Everyone has an opinion on how PageRank works, but unless your name is Matt Cutts and you’re talking, then then the rest of us should doubt what is being said.

For the record, Matt’s Musings remains at PR3 while my three other main sites are also now at PR3. The Article Writer dropped a notch, Word Journey climbed a notch, while Auto Trends remains the same. Talk about ranking parity when the traffic patterns for all four sites vary widely! Still, my linking strategies must have changed otherwise Google wouldn’t have adjusted their rankings accordingly.

So, what does this mean? Not much. Given that the toolbar export happens weeks after Google reassigns PageRank internally and that PageRank is a constantly fluctuating commodity, the ranking you see isn’t particularly accurate. Or at least it isn’t so today.

I haven’t dismissed PageRank completely, but I use other measuring points to gauge traffic including Google Analytics and Alexa. All three combined plus Compete and checking backlinks give me a better picture on how my sites are doing, but I’m sure that there are other measurements out there. I just don’t want to pay for them.

Beyond Matt Cutts there is much more to add today. But, I won’t bore you with trivialities or boorish behavior.

Revisiting LinkedIn

I was considering amending something I mentioned on New Year’s Day about LinkedIn, but decided against it. Instead, all I want to add about that is if you are on LinkedIn, you need to fill out your profile completely and obtain at least two recommendations in order for your information to be fully visible.

LinkedIn can also be valuable if you add the right keywords and keyword phrases to your profile. I stick these under “Specialties” which is part of the Summary section in my profile. Those words tell a lot about who I am and what I do for my customers, but they also add some SEO benefit to my page.

As mentioned previously and confirmed by so many others in the industry, Google loves LinkedIn profiles which means that when you Google your (unique) name, your LinkedIn data should appear on the first page of the search engine results page (SERP). Thank you, Matt Cutts!

Writing Better

Lastly, I want to encourage each of my readers who are inspiring writers to step up a notch in 2010.  I know of at least two people who want to expand their writing so that their works might appear on high profile sites and in select print publications for the very first time.

In order to do that, you must work at improving your writing. Certainly a writing class can help, but most bloggers have that down pat. They just need to incorporate some generally accepted rules to bring their writing up to the next level.

There are three books that can help you write better, each of which I own, but none which are offering me compensation to plug them (disclaimer). They are: The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law (AP Stylebook); Grammar Smart: A Guide to Perfect Usage (The Princeton Review); and The Chicago Manual of Style.

The AP stylebook is a must but if you find the Chicago Manual too bulky, then Grammar Smart can do the trick. In any case you will want to invest in yourself  by purchasing materials which can advance your work. Read and study them; apply what you learn to your writings. And if you get published, let me know!

And that is what sets LinkedIn apart from just about every other online networking site: instead of connecting with people socially with perhaps a business component included, LinkedIn reverses that by putting the emphasis on connecting with people professionally. There is a social component thanks to groups, questions and answers, and a Twitter connection, but LinkedIn is all about enhancing your professional position online, perhaps finding a job as you connect with influential people in your field.

No posting pictures of your cat nor should you tell everyone what you ate for breakfast.

LinkedIn Backgrounder

First, some background details about LinkedIn for the novice: Officially launched in May 2003, LinkedIn is based in Mountain View, California, home to Google and other internet start ups. Much like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn has been experiencing an explosive growth in the past year, topping 53 million members from 200 countries as of early December. Most people, myself included, use the free account to connect, but a paid business account gives you even deeper access to other members.

My reason for using LinkedIn parallels what the site is all about: connecting with people professionally. Your main connection with other members is your personal profile, a detailed page which can and should become your online resume (more about that later). Until recently, my profile had been wanting until I began to clean it up. There are some more changes that I will still make, but I’m satisfied that what appears there right now accurately reflects who I am and what I can do for my customers today.

Tips For Linking In

When you sign in to your LinkedIn account, you will be brought to a page crowded with information including your inbox, network updates (status, recommendations, profile changes, events, and more), group updates, and more. But the section you will want to work on can be found on the navigation bar (see below).

Click on Profile > View Profile and you will see the same page that everyone else finds when they look for you on LinkedIn. If you are not satisfied with your details > Edit Profile and make your changes. This is where you will be bringing your information up to date, adding details just as you would with your resume.

But it is better than an ordinary online resume. Your LinkedIn profile can be supercharged to include your personal photograph, links to your website or blogs, your career summary, specialties, and work history. I write my information in the third person, but I have noticed that others use their profiles differently, often as a way to market themselves directly to their customers.

Sample LinkedIn Profile Page

Maintaining Your Connections

Your connections are what puts you front and center with other people. Though some folks are happy with a small group of manageable connections, I have chosen a path favored by many others: connecting with the most people possible.

You can do this by joining groups that make it easy to connect. One of the first things you learn about LinkedIn, is that you really need the help of others to link to others still. Sure, go ahead and import your email contacts as LinkedIn will find out which of those are already LinkedIn, allowing them to connect to you.

Be careful though: you don’t want to include people who do not know you as they may reject your connection request, instructing LinkedIn that they do not know you. LinkedIn will then restrict your ability to connect with others until you agreed to abide by their terms (which you thought you were doing), a small nuisance but one to keep in mind.

I have also been able to connect with thousands of people by joining a the LION group – Linked In Open Network – which I have added to my name. LION identifies me as someone who accepts all invitations without restriction. That also means that I can add hundreds of new people when their weekly opt-in email list arrives with new members willing to connect to you. Simply follow the instructions given and your email inbox will soon be flooded with acceptances.

Yes, there is a drawback here as you will receive more messages in your inbox then you may get in a week, perhaps a month. Use it on occasion as you’ll be busy checking profiles, answering personal requests, and deleting messages.

Recommendations Are Critical

The most important feature of LinkedIn for me is the recommendations others give for your work. For each position you feature and school attended, you can ask other people to recommend your work. This is important as their recommendation is the equivalent of a reference. Ask your customers who are already LinkedIn to first connect with you and then once connected to recommend you.

You can seek recommendations for jobs held & schooling too.

I should have been more diligent about this feature as I only had one recommendation until recently. Now I have four and I am working on several more. Soon, I will be updating my contact information on this blog and on my main The Article Writer website to offer a link to my profile on LinkedIn.

This offers a huge advantage to me: instead of writing pages of “about me” stuff and posting on various sites I own, I can offer one link to my LinkedIn profile, with everything people need to know about me. This can be a real time saver as it ensures that I maintain a consistent public face across the internet. By the way, when you google your name, your LinkedIn profile should appear on the first page of the results, provided your name is unique.

Questions & Answers

My favorite way of connecting with people on LinkedIn is by participating in their question and answer feature. Go to More… > Answers and you will be able to ask people a question or answer questions already posted by other members. As long as the question remains open, you can add your answer which will be one of many answers received.

Ask a question or answer a question on LinkedIn.

Importantly, if your answer is spot on and you have written an article related to that answer, you can include that link in the web resources section following your reply. You can also notify other experts to forward the question to for them to answer and send an optional personal note to the person who asked the question in the first place.

Don’t be surprised if you hear back from the person who asked the question in the first place. Several times I’ve had people contact me directly to express their gratitude for my help.

Should You Upgrade?

While the basic package offers many features, LinkedIn also allows users to upgrade their accounts as a way to find and email influential people directly. I am not very familiar with what is offered and the price is not cheap, but there are some people who insist that the extra $25, $50, even $500 per month is worth it to them.

I suppose if you are looking for a new job, then the cost of an upgrade beats what you would pay a headhunter or recruiter for their services. I recommend starting out with a basic account first, upgrading once you understand what benefits are available to you.

Get Linked In

I have only touched on the benefits of LinkedIn from my own perspective, therefore I have also reviewed several additional resources which can help complete that picture for you.

2010 is here, so let us hope that it is a good year for one and all. If you are looking for work, then one of your resolutions should include starting or updating a LinkedIn account, perhaps the best way for professionals to connect online.

Resources

Forbes.com: How I Found My Dream Job Using LinkedIn

LinkedIn.com: Ten Tips on Building a Strong Profile

Mashable.com: 7 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn

SmartMoney.com: Can A $1,000 Resume Boost Your Career?

The Wall Street Journal: LinkedIn Wants Users to Connect More

I don’t hate these people personally. How could I? I don’t even know them. What I don’t like is their marketing methodology which is designed to elevate them well beyond what they think they are worth. In other words, these kinds of marketeers imagine that they are the be-all and end-all of problem solvers, claiming to present solutions we need in order to succeed at what we do.

Crazy Self Promotion

Many people clown around online, spending way too much time in personal marketing than actually getting some work done. Deliver a solid product and your customers will return for more, allowing you to keep your marketing efforts to a minimum.

I can’t give you an actual example of this kind of person because I immediately block Twitter followers whose self promotional efforts seem to trump the very services they claim to offer. But this problem isn’t peculiar to Twitter users alone – I still come across a good number of freelancers who get carried away with self promotion, placing too much emphasis on themselves at the expense of their actual services.

Many of us are fairly new to personal branding, with the older freelancers part of a generation of people who were taught that self promotional efforts were almost always wrong. In many ways our parents and grandparents were right – who we are is of less importance than what do. Actions do speak louder than words which worked quite well before the emergence of the internet. Today, you have to learn to promote yourself online or risk being missed in a sea of people – nobody knows who you are unless you tell them.

Personal Branding Advocates

While the internet has turned many a trusted standard upside down it has also opened up a world of personal branding advocates who forget that the service offered is of more importance than the person delivering it. When we tend to get so wrapped up in ourselves, we begin to believe our own hype – that nobody else can do the job that we do. Or at least as good as we do.

Friends, that kind of thinking is false. While you may believe your own press, potential customers won’t. Moreover, they’ll look past your hype to the person who seems more likely to make good on their deliverables then you.

Extending Reputation Management

The key to success in any business is your reputation. Your reputation isn’t built on what you say you can do, but on what you have already accomplished. Customers trust that you will follow through and deliver an expected end product. While they may sing your praises personally, it is what you do for them personally that matters the most to them. If you can’t or won’t deliver, they’ll be force to go elsewhere.

Why is trust so important? For one big reason – people who trust you will continue to tap you for their projects. Which means you’ll need to spend less time marketing yourself. Which also means you won’t need to look foolish (or desperate) on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or wherever.

Trust also brings freedom because when you become a known quantity, you’ll get tons of repeat business. You’ll be richer, happier and more satisfied too, maintaining your dignity even while your competition loses theirs.

Photo Credit: Miroslav Nagy

See Also — You Must Brand Yourself Or You Will Perish

That first occurrence was within an article I titled, How I Found You Online, where I marveled at the different ways I discovered people via the internet. At that time, I relied a lot more on forums such as Digital Point and Sitepoint as well as social media sites including BUMPzee, MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog to connect with people. Back then, I was a new user on StumbleUpon and was still stopping in on MySpace on occasion.

But it was my last comment that brought a smile to my face, particularly my comment about Twitter:

I plan on joining LinkedIn eventually, but I think I’ll sit Twitter out.

Yes, it just took me just seven words to explain that I wasn’t planning on using Twitter, likely for the reason that I saw no point in using it.  After all, Twitter was only a silly way for people to send one liners to each other all day, right? Who had the time for such nonsense?

Well, things certainly do change in the world of social media as I am basically forum free these days, choosing to meet up with people through their respective blogs and key social media sites. Yes, I even connect with a handful of people through email, but if you’re looking to IM me, that won’t happen — but feel free to send me a tweet!

It must have been an article I read, such as Mihaela Lica’s very first article on Sitepoint titled, “Twitter’s Little Known SEO Value,” that piqued my interest in Twitter. I’ve been following “Michi’s” writings for several years now and her candid explanation of Twitter caused me to revisit the site, digging a bit deeper to see what it is all about.

I joined Twitter long ago, have posted a bunch of links in the in the interim, but my network wasn’t much to brag about. But, this past week I invited a number of people to connect with me via Twitter, tripling my contacts and putting some life in my exchanges with other members. That move brought in a number of high end users, professional tweeters who add interesting stuff and make Twitter worthwhile.

Sure, there are some people who seem to be having conversations with nobody but themselves, but I’ve also come across a handful of really good articles that I probably wouldn’t have found had I not started using Twitter. In those cases I’ve read the article, posted a comment and, in a few situations, shared that information with someone else.

Mihaela’s article is a good read, making no silly promises that Twitter will do something that it won’t. But it was her last statement that I found most interesting (and true) — If you can make people come to your site via Twitter, then this is an SEO advantage you cannot afford to miss. – something I am taking into consideration as I tweet may around the site.

Oh, by the way, if you want to follow me on Twitter please click on the little tweety bird and you’ll be brought to my profile page for a connection.

Specifically, I do the following on a regular and consistent basis:

Update Often — Nothing new here, but the more often you update your site the better. Fresh information attracts readers who want to read what you wrote. In addition, updates trigger a visit from Mr. Googlebot and friends as the search engines are always looking for fresh food, i.e. new material. Even an overhauled page triggers a visit, so if you have nothing new to share, consider updating something already on your site.

Link Freely — I regularly link out and I comment on other blogs on a daily basis. Link love is so important and I regularly visit blogs which give it out and I do the same for people who visit this blog and most of the other blogs that I manage.

Shift On The Fly — I’m constantly tweaking and refining my methods, trying new stuff while holding onto the “tried and true.” I review MyBlogLog stats throughout the day to see how traffic is flowing to my sites and I review Google Analytics thoroughly at least once a week to spot a trend and to make sure that I’m on course.

Social Networking — Yes, that is still me over on StumbleUpon, but I’ve been doing some digging lately too. Entrecard does help bring down my Alexa score, plus I’m connecting with some savvy folks there as well as through StumbleUpon and LinkedIn.

New Sites — One of my newest sites is now live, Auto Trends, although it is in BETA until I add new pages and choose a theme to replace the Kubrick three column theme I currently am using. I’m concentrating on developing fresh content and bringing in traffic at the moment. I’ll make it “pretty” after tax season ends, but probably closer to May if I’m still busy.

That’s it! Maybe you thought I was going to share some of my secrets, but that information is for another course, Traffic Generation 201, which I will teach if the demand is there. In the meantime, be consistent with your approach and good results will come your way if you are patient and give it time.