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While some put a lot of stock into websites such as these, I would encourage you to not do so. As they may offer one point of reference to figure out the worth of a website you own, are selling, or would like to buy, they should just be one of many other statistical references to gather data from. If nothing else, they offer a form of entertainment, and you can grab a nifty website badge from some of them to impress your friends and co-workers.

Many of us actively use sites like Twitter and Facebook to promote our businesses. And those of us looking to connect with more business-related contacts may turn to sites like LinkedIn to develop relationships with people we have worked with or may want to work with. With the growing use of social networking by business professionals, there is a growing number of social networking sites focused on business users and meeting their needs. Here is a list of 20 social networking sites for entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals that are worth a look.

At a recent social media workshop a participant asked me to reveal my social media routine - how I track, converse, communicate and otherwise curate all my various social media activities. I paused to think about it for a while because I never really considered what I do a routine, but it occurred to me that, in fact, I do have a systematic approach to social media. (No surprise really, I'm a systems thinker and I just do it habitually - ask my wife, I have a system for making the bed and loading the dishwasher.)

It's a great idea to create social media systems, or "processes" that allow you to automate some research and setting time and tasks for different aspects of social media - whether listening or interacting.

Marketers must adopt an entirely new strategy -- more than that, an entirely new mindset. They must get away from trying to create new desires in people, trying to push and force themselves on people, trying to control people. Instead, find a more natural way. Find out what people want, and then give it to them. Offer them value, and they will appreciate that. Be a resource. Give things away. Don't force -- let them come to you, because of all the value you offer. Here's how:

It's fantastic that interest in social media is so high, but I'm alarmed at the number of brands and agencies that are ready to jump into social media to take "advantage" of audience concentration in Facebook, Twitter, and other fast-growth outposts. What's lacking in most social media programs is an actual strategy. If you don't know precisely why you're in social media, with whom you want to engage, and how you're going to measure success, you're not ready to start.

To survive, publishers have to let this one go. Digital (online and mobile) is the future; younger people have already adopted digital media as a lifestyle, and they're not going to miraculously start reading print newspapers in any significant numbers as they grow older. Print will continue to decline as its core audience ages. So put the future at the center of the company, not the past. Now, and not before it's too late.

Twitter is one of the most satisfying ways to spread your website or idea. In addition to referrals, you can also gain loyal users, expert opinions, and possibly friends. It's unlike any other medium in its ability to propagate interesting things. Word of mouth has always been the best advertising and Twitter is the best vehicle on the internet for word of mouth.

Spreading your links and ideas virally with twitter

Today, I'd like to cover how to make that single post you're composing more likely to earn the attention it deserves. Let's dive into the list

Great tips on building content outposts so your content can spread organically

When considering the tools of social media and how they relate to your business communications needs, it's important to think about two parts of the equation: possibility + function. These tools open up new ways to communicate, which is great. It also means that you have to consider what the functional goal of that communication means to your need.

Dan Zarrella is an award-winning social media and viral marketing scientist, writer, and speaker. His new book is The Social Media Marketing Book. In this interview I try to pin him down and tell me when to use specific social media platforms, services and practices to run a business.

Social Technologies are a Horizontal -Not A Vertical ApproachIt continues to amaze the market that such simple social technologies can impact the entire organization.  In fact, social technologies, at the core, allow people to connect to each other without a middle person in the way.  As a result, expect social technologies to impact every employee and customer touchpoint.   CMOs must prepare in their 2010 planning how to leverage social, not as a skunkworks but as a strategic shift in all communications.

The days of a long-standing, static website are over. Start a blog (preferably integrated with your website) and start leveraging the power of these tools to bring fresh content and high-relevance to your website.

In 2009, an active blog at the centre of your Web presence says that you are ready to have an engaging conversation with your ideal guest today. As such, your blog needs to become the centre of your online Web presence, and that means it's time to prioritize your marketing efforts in the new year.

We are always talking about building a community. It's the first thing we recommend for many reasons... This is a good overview on how to find, build, and grow your online community

In social media, who you know - or who knows you - can certainly make all the difference. That's why figuring out who to connect with and taking the time to build relationships with these people is key to leveraging the power of social media.

A great tool to build social media press releases

PitchEngine shakes up the PR industry making it possible for PR pros, brands, and agencies to build and share digital, social media releases with their contacts for free. Our PitchEngine SMR takes the press release to the next level, eliminating the need for antiquated email attachments, word documents, image CDs, and more. Upgrade to a customized newsroom for your brand or client and we'll host a full archive of your PitchEngine SMRs for your corporate website and share them with our database of media users. Save money, save time, and step up your PR to the next generation with PitchEngine.

A great starter guide for SEO - if you want to start learning, this guide is a great start.

Our Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide covers around a dozen common areas that webmasters might consider optimizing. We felt that these areas (like improving title and description meta tags, URL structure, site navigation, content creation, anchor text, and more) would apply to webmasters of all experience levels and sites of all sizes and types. Throughout the guide, we also worked in many illustrations, pitfalls to avoid, and links to other resources that help expand our explanation of the topics. We plan on updating the guide at regular intervals with new optimization suggestions and to keep the technical advice current.

Great list of items you need to address when deciding on processes to manage web analytics in your company. My best advice is to find someone to dedicate an hour a day to your web analytics.

It's not that bad, I swear! 27 easy little steps that will take you from the day the boss pokes her head into your office and says "Hey, I think we need analytics" to the night you get Employee of the Year for leading a company-wide turnaround.

Earlier today we shared 5 Bing SEO Tips and how Bing is starting to generate a good amount of traffic to our websites. Compete.com says Bing is the #13 trafficked website on the web now so it's a good time to learn how to optimize your website for Bing.

The article provides a quick overview if you want to start optimizing pages for Microsoft's search engine. Especially I never used the Bing webmaster center in combination with Google's tool before.

Social Monitoring Tools, Keyword Targeting, Noise Elimination, Refined Mentions, Analysis, Take Action... The Social Media Monitoring Funnel is a great guide

The following is a guide to social media monitoring. Before I get into the nuts and bolts of the article, I want to emphasize that each company needs its own strategic thought and implementation - and that no two companies should have identical forms of monitoring. Each brand is different, each website is different, and where people talk about your company and what is being said is going to vary. With that in mind, I present to you the Social Media Monitoring Funnel.

According to a report on search engine results from Forrester Research: "on the keywords for which Google offers video results, any given video in the index stands about a 50 times better chance of appearing on the first page of results than any given text page in the index." Not only is video invaluable to getting your web presence better exposure in search engines, but video is the most compelling way to tell your story and inspire potential visitors.

Hyperlocal search strategy is an often underlooked market for many local businesses - especially the local service industry. If you are a plumber in Des Moines, IA and you aren't in the "local listings" when you search "des moines, ia plumber" - than the people companies listed are stealing business from you... Even if you are the #1 organic search result

The top web search results are buried by three local search results. If you're a local business, and you want to get traffic, you'd better get placement in that 'three box' (or in some cases, 'ten box') that shows local results. On the bright side, this version of universal search gives you yet another way to hop, skip and jump right past all the other web search results. All you need to know is how to best position your site for a local search listing.