How to Find the Best Social Networking Sites

Surely you've heard of social networking sites (e.g., Myspace, Squidoo, etc.). There are now loads of products trying to offer you the best way to make money online using these sites. Well today I have a suggestion on how to decide which social networking sites are worth taking a look at--and how you can find the best ones in the future.

First off, can you even make money using these sites? I mean it takes at least 20 minutes to sign up on a site and personalize it. And to get people's attention you've got to offer something valuable to them. Some of these sites have millions of people online everyday and you've got a lot of competition. But, since there are so many people on these sites everyday, you only need a small percentage to make decent money. And it's worth personalizing your profile, using your blog (if the social networking site offers it), and doing what you think will attract others. You've got to consider why you look at others' profiles. Think backwards from what will attract others and then add it to your site. Once you do personalize your site, you will have an online presence that to some degree you can set and forget.

Now for a great way to find out which major social networking sites you should check out. I just did this today and signed up on a new site because it was ranked number 8 on the top 500 websites according to amount of traffic. Well, it's not Myspace, Squidoo, or a major search engine. It's called Orkut.com. The site I used to find it is Alexa.com. Most internet marketers have heard of Alexa.com before but how often do we check it? Orkut.com has around 50 million online visitors and is affiliated with Google. The point here is not to promote Orkut.com but to point out that a major way to find out where to get large amounts of traffic is through Alexa.com. It is worth checking periodically for new websites with high traffic.