Are social networking sites a great way to amke money online and build your business or are they something that is a time waster with no real benefits?

There is a lot of talk about social networking and the benefits to traffic and money with many social networking sites.  In the online world where you need to be seen having a few links on sites such as these can be a simple way to build your business and your traffic to your site you want to promote.

Some sites are the golden “dofollow” sites but most of these social networking sites are the no follow where a link will get traffic but will not get you much in terms of search engine points.  The big thing is if you need traffic, you need links and for most social networking sites, a link to your site is better than no link to your site.

There is just one proviso that needs to be mentioned with a dofollow social networking site (there are a few, but you need to read this next part carefully.)  If you look like a spammer, and do not participate with these social networking sites, you will find yourself banned or your links taken out. 

Therefore, you need to focus on being a good participant and be willing to add others articles to these sites.  In fact, this is a must, or you will be listed as a spammer and your account will be terminated ( this is a possibility especially with dofollow sites).  This is usually all found in the agreement you are supposed to read before signing up.  The Terms of Service (TOS) are vital to knowing what you can and can not do on these sites.

For example, Digg only allows you to add links so many times in a few hours, others such as Reddit are more of a voting style of links, and you get “points” based on added good links from others and not just your own.  Stumble Upon also frown upon self-serving links, but if you have enough followers, they will add your link to their personal favorites.  With all of them it is a social thing, and then you get traffic, and potentially money, but not often as a rule.

Then why should you worry about adding your link to these sites?  The reason is that it does build your online business and if you participate and work at being seen on these sites, you will make money indirectly from the links you have on these sites.  Money is important to think about when doing the next part: participation on the networking sites.  Tehj key to teh social networking sites is that while money comes it is not as fast in coming as getting traffic from the search engines. Your site needs to be Search Engione Optimized for that.

Again, if you are focused on building your work, social networking sites are great, but they do take up a lot of time, and can be a challenge to maintain.  Plan for at least 2 hours a day if you are really serious at building traffic from these sites, but a minimum of 15 minutes a day will help you from becoming a spammer if you add links from others sites on the networking you are on.  In many ways it is like Bukisa the more you put in teh more you will get out of these sites.

In this business the search engines are king, but each place has its own way of increasing traffic and making you money.  Some take a lot longer than others to do this.  Some do not and the point is the more you work on your business from all parts and aspects the sooner you will make money.