Articles, Videos and Social Websites Oh My!

Recently, I spent two days checking out some of the more popular Social, Article Submission and Video Submission websites like Facebook.com, Youtube.com, Metacafe.com, Scribd.com, PR.com and others.

You might think I have a lot of free time on my hands to be checking on these types of websites, rather than the typical marketing websites that I usually review.

We all spend some time looking around the Internet to find new, interesting, or funny websites. But my review of over 100 websites wasn't for fun. You see, recently I came across an interesting article that talked about using Social, Article Submission and Video Submission websites for marketing purposes. Yes, Marketing!

I knew there had to be a connection between theses types of websites and getting improved rankings on the search engines for my websites. I also thought there might be away to use these types of websites to actually direct potential clients to my website.

Through my review of these websites, I found out that search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and others are now using content they find on these websites in their search results. What's so good about that? Well, if you write a 300-700-word article on a topic related to your business, you can submit it to an Article Submission website like ezinearticles.com

When your article gets listed in the directory of the Article Submission website, the search engines will find your article and will rank that page in their search results. Your article acts as an advertisement promoting your knowledge of the topic you wrote about. With a link in your article that points to your website, you will get more visitors to your website.

The same holds true for Video Submission websites like Youtube.com and Bebo.com when you upload a video to one of these sites. For a simple video; record yourself reading the 300-700-word article that you wrote. Add some graphics and you've got your first business video.

Social websites like Myspace.com, Facebook.com and others are great places to build an online network of business owners with products or services that are not competitive but synergistic with yours.
These websites can be a good source for referral business. There is a lot to learn about how to use these sites for marketing, and my best suggestion is go slowly and learn the ropes first. You certainly want to make your best impression using this type of media.
I almost forgot to mention that with many of these social websites you can upload articles and video.

There is another type of social website that is more for business. Linkedin.com, Fastpitchnetwork.com, and Xing.com are growing fast in popularity with business owners.

These sites are excellent for building up a network of other business owners willing to network with you and exchange referrals. On some of them you can post press releases, submit business events, add your Blog, search for businesses and services, and a lot more.

If you decide to join any of the above websites that I've talked about, you need to carefully read their rules and regulations as to what is and what isn't permitted.
So the next time you have some free time and want to learn about the next level of Internet marketing, you should check out these Social, Article Submission and Video Submission websites. I did and I'm already seeing the results with more visitors to my site.