I do not write about this concept too much on Maven Mapper’s Information these days, however there is a very good and slightly old fashioned way to network with other bloggers across the blogosphere.  Its called a blog surfing exchange. 

How Blog Surfing Exchanges Work

A blogger or a non-blogger signs up (works better if you have a blog).  You then surf through the directory of blogs that they offer, they tend to display a new blog one after the next in categories that you pick.  You control the speed and you can rate blogs as you go if you want to do that type of thing.  You can also block or favorite blogs as you go.

For each blog you visit, you earn some credits.  You can then use these credits to list your own blog in the exchange and other bloggers will then see your site in the que.

This is a good way to find other bloggers, see what they are doing, how they are doing it and network or share or develop ideas. 

This is not a good way to market your website or products or ebooks.  If you are into that type of thing, you should probably look elsewhere.

This is primarily for bloggers to connect with other bloggers and generally communicate blog to blog.

As I mentioned this concept has been around for a long time.  I am a long time member in BlogExplosion and BlogMad.  These are two of the largest surfing exchanges.  BlogExplosion is the oldest I believe and BlogMad seems to have recently eclipsed it as the largest.

To my knowledge if you have more than one blog, there is no limit on the number of blogs allowed at BlogExplosion.  That said, they are slow at approvals and very picky.  You can expect to be rejected a few times.  Try and take it in stride as it can pay off later. 

I do not agree with their philosophy, but it is their club.

BlogMad is much easier, but they limit you to 3 and then later 6 blogs.  Essentially you have to work your way up the levels to get more benefits such as the ability to list more blogs.

I’m just about to hit the ‘Mad’ level for example, I was hoping to win a Technomarine watch, but will settle for the ability to add more blogs.  Sounds goofy, but hey its about as mature as Facebook.

Big Picture Purpose for Building Subscribers

This isn’t a good place to go strictly to get traffic for your website, however as you network there and as people see and possibly like your site, they will essentially be able to use that introduction as a means to coming back and maybe subscribing to your syndicated delivery via rss or email.

Today, I reached 100 LinkedIn Connections.  That was a milestone for me.  I do not connect with people, just to connect with them on LinkedIn. 

If you know me, here’s the link to my LinkedIn Connection

Some people will connect with anyone that makes the request on LinkedIn, but I work to make sure that I connect with people that I really know, have met, have worked with, worked for, partnered with etc.

I have definitely only scratched the service of the people that fit into that description for me, but not everyone uses linkedIn.

I didn’t really do a lot with it myself until about 70 days ago, when I started generating a lot of business through LinkedIn, and when I started successfully placing referrals through LinkedIn.  I then saw the huge amount of functional utility that this social network really provides. 

I might play around on Twitter or Facebook, but I get business done through LinkedIn.

Maybe you have heard of Twitter.

Its part social network

Part Micro Blog

With Twitter Blocks its also one part three dimensional (two and a half) mind map.

OK, so that is using the term mind mapping rather loosely.

Twitter Blocks enable you to visualize the Twitter movements of your friends or even people that are following you or your friends through the Twittersphere.

I have no idea if Twittersphere is a real thing, but it seemed to fit the bill.  think Blogosphere + Twitter -> a Micro Blog and get TwitterSphere.

This is a great example of a conceptual application for Web 2.0 technology.

Its also one that shows how mind mapping concepts, software and technologies could be adapted to fit into the social networking revolution.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a social network that enables people to submit short text entries from a cell phone SMS message, email or computer.  The short messages provide casual little updates about where a person is, what they are doing, what they are thinking etc.

For example a series of Twitter Entries might look like this

Woke Up Tired

Sweating Profusely after long run

too much traffic

Productive Afternoon

Traffic Lights Suck!

Need to let off steam with the Guys

Hot at the poker tables!

Not so Hot, Going to bed early

Context for TwitterSphere

When I first saw this concept I was reading a short article at Webware.com.  They presented Twitter Blocks well, but they summarized and my first impression was that this could be a MindMapping tool for people.

Cafe.com provides an interactive multi player game combined with a social network background.  Users can setup a free account, and then download free games.  They can select an Avatar and then play the game online with other friends or players.  The games are free, there is no adware or spyware.

Cafe.com business model is to make money off of selling upgrades, better avatars, accessories, more game levels or options.  But the starting point is free and does give users a way to play and hang out online.

More and more business models like cafe.com’s are popping up as businesses learn how to create a market, capture a market, nurture a market or harvest a market ripe for the picking.

The avatars are interesting enough and definitely fun looking.  There are many different movements and gestures that your avatars can perform adding a visual social dynamic to the entire game process.  The games aren’t going to entice the hard core gamers much, but they will prove addictive and the social environment reinforces that more and more.

At the end of the day people like to play games.  The games do not have to be super complex as long as other people are involved.  That social dynamic combined with avatars that put the human face and body language on the situation make this sites and sites like it work well.

LoudLaunch – Compensating bloggers for their unbiased opinions, reviews, and analysis. View the LoudLaunch campaign release this post was based on.

Technorati tags: avatar, video game, social networking

Maven Mapper’s Information is undergoing a review of many different Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing Services, service providers and consultants. 

Today we are reviewing DiscountClick Online Marketing Services.  DiscountClick provides a suite of SEO and SEM services from link building services to SEO consulting to Natural Search Engine Optimization and PayPerClick Management.  Their SEO promotion includes an optimization consultation to analyze a clients company, their website and competitor websites.  From this point they will build a strategy with a targeted cost point to generate results and return on investment.

They also offer a Search Engine Optimization Tutorial guide that can help companies and potential clients gain a better appreciation for the importance of Search Engine Optimization and the work and art combined to create successful Search Engine Marketing results.

Business 2.0 writes a great review of Digg.com and founder Kevin Rose (formerly of Tech TV-Business 2.0 picture ->Right ).

Kevin is quoted in the article as he describes his premise by stating, “My idea was to start a news website where you would give complete control to the community, a site where users could submit stories that would fall into a general queue, and if they were popular enough–if they got enough ‘diggs’ [user endorsements]–they would be promoted to the homepage for everyone to see.”

Digg has grown from a 12,000 user group in its firts 4 months to a 180,000 user group, and a rumored Yahoo takeover target. Why?

Digg noted that popular sites of 2004 (Slashdot-Community ratings) & (MySpace – Social networking) & (Del.icio.us – Tags to let users categorize stories) all offered up great components, which Digg has attempted to incorporate into a news feed and aggregation service where the users provide news items which are rate by the community or a mob of 180,000 editors which based on the movement or trend of the masses, help to identify what’s at the top of the news, and from the flipside the tool lets you dig into which stories are being lost or buried in the background.

Digging up the news – Mar. 27, 2006