What is a discovery?

You discover a page when you are the first to submit it to StumbleUpon. You can see the member who discovered the page as well as the date when it was discovered to the right of the submission page (http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/url-of-the-submitted-page):

What is a category?

A page is discovered in one of the multiple categories. The category the page is submitted to determines who will see it. StumbleUpon is based on the relevance mechanism: each member is categorized based on his interests – these interests are determined based on the preferences specified by him and also based on the member’s browsing behavior (topics of the articles the member usually stumbles and reviews).

What is a thumb up?

A thumb up aims to mean two important things:

• A thumb-up is a vote: it promotes a post and allows more members to see the post;
• A thumb-up shows SU what you like and encourages the machine to show you more stories of the kind.

What is a thumb-down?

Like a thumb-up, a thumb-down is called to accomplish two important roles:

• It votes against the story (the member doesn’t want more users to see it);
• It tells the algorithm that you don’t want to see similar stories any more.

What is a review?

You can post your comment on the page and this comment will appear on the submission page.

What is a tag?

You can tag each page based on its topics – like the category it was submitted to, tags determine who sees the page.

Building Relationships

Like with all other social communities, connections are everything at StumbleUpon – they determine:

• Your member’s score: the more friends you have, the higher your authority as a member is.
• Your influence: The more friends you have, the more people you can share the story is.

So building connection on StumbleUpon is an essential step to becoming a power member. Most effective methods to do that are:

• Initiate friendship: send friend requests. A friend request may be also followed by a personal message detailing why it would be a good idea to be friends (similar interests, similar stories, location, etc);
• Give testimonials: generously review other members’ profiles and give real, detailed feedback: not just "good stumbles" but why they are good and how they are different from other members’ stumbles.

Sharing stories with friends:

You can share your finds on StumbleUpon using two tools:

• Toolbar share: allows to send a page one friend at a time (with a short message);
• Web share (accessed from "Your Favorites" page when you hover over the page thumbnail): allows to share the story with all/many friends in a bulk (add a short message along with it).

Your friends will be able to see your share twice:

• Toolbar notification: your share will be displayed on your friend’s toolbar
• Email notification: unless your friend unsubscibes from email notification, your share will come to his email address.

StumbleUpon Mathematics

What determines the popularity of each page on StumbleUpon? How to predict the page popularity and traffic? There is no official answers to these questions but there are some educated theories and assumptions that will help you understand StumbleUpon algorithm.

Each time a story has been discovered it ranks on a 0-5 stars scale which makes up the submission score. The submission score is determined by a number of factors, most important of them are supposed to be:

• The reviewers’ and stumblers’ score: each member of StumbleUpon is ranked based on his authority: the number of thumbs-up he gave and reviews he made, the number of testimonials he received, the number of subscribers and friends, his age as SU member, the diversity and consistency of topics he stumbles (diversity in domains and consistency of topics: how many stories from various domains but similar topics he has stumbled so far).
• The rate at which the story is thumbed up: if you keep the momentum, the story might go hot.
• The source of the thumb: I am pretty sure that if the story is only thumbed/up reviewed from the page itself, it might look suspicious. Random thumbers clicking the StumbleUpon button should thumb it up and review as well.
• The submission category: some categories are so unpopular, that the page won’t get much traffic no matter how many reviews and thumbs it may receive – there are simply not enough people interested in that topic to see the submission.
• The submission tags: the more related tags are added to the submission, the broader public will see the page. Besides, like with the category, this also depends on the tags popularity itself.
• The diversity of the stumblers: it looks unnatural if same people stumble same domain again and again.

StumbleUpon represents the page popularity by stars used within Google search engine results page and also on the submission page:

The exact algorithm behind the stars is unclear. It appears to depend on the category and thumb-up rate and members’ diversity.

Find more on StumbleUpon maths here.

Promoting a story on StumbleUpon

How StumbleUpon is different from other social voting sites? The best thing about SU is that it is able to send huge amounts of traffic even to pages that never went hot. Therefore knowing how to promote your site properly there is both essential and useful.

Based on the essential basics outlined above as well on general observations and experiences, here are some tactics you should consider when promoting a story or a site on StumbleUpon:

• Diversifying the discoveries: it is essential to make sure different members discover all posts from your domain;
• Diversifying the reviews: like with discoveries, each post should be reviewed by different members;
• Relevant category: make sure the page is submitted to the most relevant category – this will ensure that people are most likely to like the story and want to share it.
• A lot of relevant tags: apart from preserving the submission relevancy, tags ensure that your post is found using the search feature.

By Ann Smarty, an Internet marketer and social media expert maintaining an SEO consulting blog.

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photo credit: danksy
LinkedIn Guide:

If you have not figured it out by now, LinkedIn is a phenomenal tool. The possibilities really are endless, and if I can become successful from using it, then anyone can. But somehow, people just don’t understand why it’s useful, and how to use it to achieve their professional goals. I know I was unsure about how to use it, and in the first few months I still couldn’t figure out how to import my contacts. Sound familiar?

What does it mean to generate success on LinkedIn?

Success is determined on each individuals professional goals; finding a job, driving massive traffic to your website, generating quality targeted leads, increasing sales of any kind, finding a business partner, finding investors, promoting a company/product/event/service, finding the right service provider, becoming a globally recognized industry leader, and generating more income.

If the above paragraph describes something you are looking to achieve, then read on to learn about how to do this on LinkedIn.

How I Started Out

When I first got “LinkedIn” I didn’t have a job, had zero products or services to provide, and had very little work experience. I was a twenty four year old struggling professional athlete without a college degree and just got out of the hospital from a near life threatening surgery. I would say it was one of the lowest moments of my life, and I wasn’t sure what the future would hold.

One day, however, my most trusted mentor sent me an invitation to join LinkedIn. This was the first time I had heard about the business-networking site, but I figured if my mentor was on it, I knew it was something I should be using as well. I was right. I noticed the potential when I first “linked in”, and the opportunities continue to overflow in abundance today.

The more I figured out how to use LinkedIn, the more opportunities unfolded, and it came to the point where there were to many to manage.

Where You Should Start

I have seen different people succeed from the way they set up their profile, so I am not going to tell you specifically what YOU should write in your summary, specialties, interests, awards, etc… However, I will tell you it is important to fill out your profile 100%. Once you do this, you will want to go through all of your e-mail accounts and add all of the people in your address book that are already on LinkedIn.

I would not recommend inviting people who are not currently on LinkedIn to join, unless you feel they could benefit from doing so. If you have Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook, and anything else, see who is currently on LinkedIn, and send them an invite. If you have an Excel sheet with a list of e-mails, check to see who is on LinkedIn there as well, and add them.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to fill out your profile, and add all of the people you know to your network. After you complete your profile and build up your connections, start making recommendations for quality people in your network. The more recommendations you make, the better.

5 Steps To Creating A Rockstar LinkedIn Profile

These guidelines are the bare necessities for a LinkedIn profile. There are a million ways to make your profile phenomenal. But with these 5 pillars, you will start to build the foundation for a successful profile.

1. Headline

Be descriptive! Pack your headline full of descriptive words that will help people find you. Having “Financial advisor at a lame old company” doesn’t cut it. Instead write something more interesting like “Money Making Expert: Helping Individuals Become Financially Free”.

2. URL

Customize your URL with your name! LinkedIn provides you with a generic URL of numbers and letters. By customizing it to your own name, you brand yourself and also bump yourself up on search results when someone searches for your name. You can also add this to your email signature and other social networking sites for reference.

3. Picture

Let people associate your face with who you are! No one wants to connect with a blank image. So by putting up a photo, you humanize your LinkedIn profile and let people know that there’s a real person behind the profile.

4. Websites

When adding your websites, always click “Other” so you can customize the title of your links. You want to describe the actual URL. For example, instead of clicking “My Company”, I put “My LinkedIn Book”.

5. Summary and Specialties

These are easy to skip over, but they’re very important! In the Summary, tell people a bit about who you are and what you are passionate about. Instead of the “real world” resume, you can be a little more personal on LinkedIn and it actually benefits to your cause. The Specialties section is where you can list all of the things that you do best (ie. Blogging, public speaking, online marketing, sports management, inventing, product development)

There is obviously more one should do once they finish these 5 steps, but this is a must for every profile and a good place to get started.

What’s Next?

Continue to update your profile and add new connections. The more updates you make and connections you add, this will do three things:

1. When you update your profile you are making it more complete and in tune with what your current goals are. You want to make sure you don’t have something on there from six months back that isn’t relevant to your work experience today.
2. When you add new connections you make, this increases your 2nd and 3rd degree connections. For those of you new to LinkedIn, this increases your reach to a larger network where you can find and be found be more individuals.
3. Every time you update something on your profile, or add a new connection it shows up on all of the home profiles of your direct connections. This creates another opportunity for people to read your name, build personal brand equity, and think about your for a possibly opportunity.

Reach The Next Level

The best way to really utilize LinkedIn is to get involved with groups, and Q&A. Lets start with groups. Groups are extremely important when trying to achieve your goals on LinkedIn. We are all trying to achieve something whether its finding a job, finding more business leads, promoting a service or product, reconnecting with friends, etc. The best way and easiest way to do this is to join the groups where the people you are targeting are in.

All you need to do is search groups in your industry, niche, interests, hobby, etc… and join them. It’s that simple.

Why is this important?

Unless you have someone’s e-mail address, you went to school with them, or you are a current or past collogues, you will need to upgrade your profile to contact these individuals. However, you can connect with these individuals easier by joining the same groups and sending them a thoughtful personal message within the group. And if you can create a group and build a large targeted following then you have even more opportunities to enhance yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

Questions and Answers is the other section of LinkedIn that proves to be extremely valuable. The more thought provoking questions you can ask, the more quality answers you will receive and likely make quality connections from those same individuals.

By asking compelling questions, you open yourself up to receive top advice from some of the leading experts on the subject matter. You would have to pay someone to receive some of the great advice you receive in these answers, but on LinkedIn, people freely give you their advice.

Why do they do this? Because answering questions allows you to increase your chances of being thought of as a thought leader, and build your personal awareness with those in your industry. I have encountered a number of individuals who only spend their time answering questions, and in return they receive countless consulting jobs for some large paying fees.

There is much more to LinkedIn including the events section (which I use to promote events and get over 500 people to attend), the news section within the groups (which I use to update articles and drive organic traffic to my website), or any of the well-developed advanced applications that LinkedIn provides. LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool – there is no doubt about that. And as LinkedIn continues to develop and modify its model and applications, it will only benefit you during your quest to achieve your professional goals.

Connect With Me

You can find me on LinkedIn and many other social networking platforms. I look forward to hearing from you!

- Lewis Howes

LinkedIn Website: http://www.linkedworking.com
LinkedIn Book: http://www.LinkedWorkingBook.com
LinkedIn Toolkit: http://www.ultimatelinkedintoolkit.com
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lewishowes
Connect on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lewishowes
Sports Networker: http://www.sportsnetworker.com

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• How to Succeed on YouTube by Sheena Melwani

When I was asked to write a piece entitled: “How to Succeed on YouTube” I was forced to admit that the success I have enjoyed online has been due more to the actions of others than my own. I set a goal of achieving 1 Million video views in my first 100 days on the site and was lucky enough to hit that goal on the 83rd day (which was ironically Christmas morning — Thanks Santa!) and by the time the 100th day came around, I had over 1.5 Million combined video views! I credit the YouTube community for having supported me in achieving this goal, but there are some little things you can do to better the chances of your videos being seen by those who will help you achieve your own goals. Because I have spent more time than I am willing to admit on YouTube, I have a few thoughts on what makes for successful videos and channels. I have broken down this article into two parts. The first part touches on what I consider to be the most popular videos, and the second will cover little things I think you can do to help your videos get the views you are hoping for.

Part I: Popular Videos Elicit A Reaction.

All popular videos have something in common: they elicit a reaction from the viewers. These videos make you laugh, make you smile, make you sing and dance, teach you something, or just simply make you say “Wow, that is amazing!” Such videos come in all forms and lengths, and include the following:

Funny Videos. The funnier we find a video, the more likely we are to share it, and the more likely the recipients are to do the same thing. Humorous videos such as pranks caught on tape, babies laughing, stand up comedy routines and musical parodies are examples of videos that you get as forwards in your inbox on a regular basis, send to your friends because you think they’ll get a good laugh by watching, and even pull up on your computer at home (and, lets face it, also at work) so that you can make your family, friends and colleagues laugh as well.

Music Videos. Many of us wake up to the radio or to our favorite songs, listen to music during our daily commutes and are otherwise fueled by our iPods on trains, buses and at the gym. So, its only natural that music videos get a ton of views online. The record labels provide free “music-on-demand” by posting videos of songs that are dominating the radio waves and topping the billboard charts, and we get the benefit of being able to listen to them whenever we are at a computer. The more we hear the songs, the more likely we are to buy them for our personal collections, and the videos also often include links to other songs or to websites the artists wish for the listeners to visit.

Vlogs. Video blogs are extremely popular as well. But, why would someone want to hear your thoughts on any matter? You may be very informative, funny, shocking, or some mix of all of the above. Again, if you are able to elicit a reaction, people are likely to come back for more. The beauty of Vlogs is that you can jump from category to category, though you are probably likely to gain popularity if you cover topics that are generally of interest to a similar audience (i.e. covering all entertainment areas such as popular music, TV shows and celebs is okay, but covering electronics, history and bird-watching in one video probably isn’t going to get you very far).

Teach Me Videos. In today’s digital age, we have the answer to just about any question at the tip of our fingers. Gone are the days where people invest in an Encyclopedia Britannica collection for information; replaced by an era where ‘Google’ is a verb, as in the following sentence: “Yes, Encyclopedia Britannica is still in business, I just Googled them and found their website.” The only thing better than finding a website with step by step answers to your “how to” question, is finding a video of someone actually showing you how to follow them.

Amazing Videos. This is my catch-all category for videos that I see and immediately hit the “replay” button to watch again. Regardless of what these unique videos are about, they always leave you with a look of shock on your face, saying something like “that’s so cool” or “WHAT???” as you start the video over again, calling everyone around you to watch as well. For the purpose of this article, I’m dropping everything from sports highlights to home footage of hurricanes caught on tape in this category with the crazy snooker shots, animal tricks and amazing human feats that seem to defy the laws of physics.

Regardless of which category you think your videos may fall into (even if they do not fall into the limited categories listed above), if your content is not able to elicit a reaction from the viewer, then short of YouTube putting you on the front page your video will not get too many hits, no matter what you do. So please understand that the following are only helpful points that can help videos that are capable of eliciting reactions reach the eyes of those who will appreciate them.

Part II: Tips for Your Videos

The name of the game when it comes to YouTube is ‘Searchability’. I have no secrets or shortcuts for you, only a few simple points that may seem obvious to some, but are surprisingly ignored by many. Hopefully following these tips will help get your videos in front of people that are interested in your content, and who are likely to leave you a comment, rate your video, and share it with their friends – all of which are important in increasing the likelihood of your video climbing the ‘search ranks’.

Titles, Tags and Descriptions. I am amazed at how often I come across a video that I think is fantastic, and am surprised by the limited number of views the video had received. Then, I look at the Title, Tags and the video’s Description and it all starts to make a little more sense. I pay close attention to all three because I honestly don’t know if any one is more important than another. Just focus on all three! Be sure that your Title is accurate. Being a singer, if I do a cover of a song, I always include both the name of the song, and the name of the original singer as well. Similarly, the Tags to the video should include words that someone looking for your content would search for (including the title of the song and the singer’s name as well). You should also include additional keywords related to your content. Finally, use the Description space to include information you want to share with your viewers, and to provide links to your other videos, your website, etc.

The best approach is to just run the search you hope your video will respond to once its uploaded, and look at the top videos that are recommended as a result of your search. Pay close attention to which of these videos has received a lot of views (sometimes in a short period of time) and read the Titles, Tags and Description used for that video. Then, keep this information in hand when creating your own Titles, Tags and Description. So, if you are singing or doing a parody of a popular song, it is to your benefit to include language in your Description, and keywords in your Tags that relate to the original version. People may love your versions even more than the original, and paying close attention to the information used to describe the original video can help put your version in front of people looking for the original. Even f you have caught something amazing on tape, that you are pretty certain nobody else can upload, you should still be descriptive so that when the word starts to spread on your amazing video, people can just run a search for the keywords that come to mind and easily find it.

Vloggers should especially pay attention to descriptions because you are uniquely positioned to take advantage of media buzz and in any area and discuss it with your viewership. If you are good at what you do (i.e. your viewers continue to support you), before long you will find yourself with a steady following of individuals who come to you to hear what you have to say. Be sure to drop in celebrity names and buzz words of the day in your descriptions and watch your views climb from one video to the next!

Annotations. YouTube now allows you to include annotations on top of the video while its playing to your viewers. I think it’s a great idea to use this tool to increase the popularity of your videos by engaging your audience (i.e. explain what that weird noise in the back was that startled you in the middle of the video), linking to another of your videos, and providing further information like your website, MySpace, Twitter or other social media information you’d like your viewers to have, so as to be able to easily connect with you outside of YouTube.

Be a Part of the YouTube Community. Again, there are many videos on YouTube that have been viewed millions of times, and that were uploaded by users who have no other videos on the site. Such individuals have had videos go ‘viral’ simply based on the content of the video, which is the most important aspect. However, for the majority of YouTubers, the videos being shared need a little help getting off the ground, and being a part of the YouTube community can help. Subscribers are individuals who get an email every time you upload a new video. Your subscriber base is the foundation of your YouTube account, and people are more likely to subscribe to your YouTube channel if they like the content of your videos, and also see that you take the time to interact with other users online. This interaction comes in the form of uploading videos on a regular basis (a rule that I am guilty of not always following!), responding to emails and comments on your YouTube page, along with responding to comments on your videos. While I don’t think it is necessary, and after a while not even possible, to read and respond to all of the comments on your videos, when you do read them, if a particular comment calls for a response that you are willing to share, then do so. People like to be a part of your development on the site, and that’s rightfully so, because these are the people watching, rating, commenting and sharing your videos and thus increasing your popularity on the site. The more people do so, the more popular the video, and the more likely it is to come up in response to searches for the keywords you included in your video.

Invite People to Be a Part of Your Community. Not everybody has a YouTube account, so there may be plenty of people who watch your videos on a regular basis, but who do not want to create an account on the site just to receive an email every time a new video is released. Give people the ability to sign up to a mailing list so they can get alerts directly from you, rather than through YouTube alone. There are various companies that offer mailing list services at no charge, and it is to your benefit to be able to reach your fans directly. Then, be sure to include a link or information regarding your mailing list on your YouTube page and in the videos so people know where to go for more information. I personally include www.sheenamelwani.com in all of my videos now, so it is easy for the viewer to find more information about me if they are so inclined.

Conclusion

After all that, I once again remind you that truly amazing one of a kind videos will spread like wildfire by means of email and forwards even if the video was simply called “INAWLEMANEEHS” and had no Description or Tags. Similarly, you could have the best Title, Tags and Description, but if people aren’t interested in your content, your video will not gain any popularity. The points I have highlighted above are to help those in the gray area in between. If you are going to upload funny videos, do some research as to which Funny Videos have gained popularity, and how they are described. Same goes for the Teach Me Videos, see if someone else has already provided a solution and do your best to make yours even better, all the while keeping your descriptive language similar to that of the individual who’s video seems to be the ‘authority’ on the point. In the music world, look to the language used by the original artist or label that has uploaded the official music video. And you Vloggers, keep your ear to the ground and jump on every opportunity to discuss what Apple is releasing next, or what Brittany wore (or more often failed to wear) with those that come to you for that sort of information. I’m sure you get my point! These are my general thoughts on the subject of YouTube success. Of course, this piece will not answer all of your questions, so feel free to contact me directly if you have specific questions pertaining to your own concept and page. You can reach me through www.sheenamelwani.com, or on Twitter, I’m @SheenaMelwani.

Bio

Sheena Melwani is the quintessential ‘next generation’ multi-media artist, with roots as a singer and songwriter. Sheena inspires by using a powerful blend of New Media technologies and contemporary music to globally communicate and influence with a positive spirit. Her travel and life experiences in Canada, Japan, India and USA have allowed her to develop a diverse international fan-base. What began with the posting of her video on YouTube in November 2007 has in the short period of seventeen months since resulted in over 8 Million views of her videos, and has given birth to SheenaTV—a weekly live internet TV broadcast that features Sheena’s musical diversity, and provocative interactive discussion with the audience (currently made up of approximately one thousand viewers per episode).

Sheena is presently hard at work on her much anticipated debut album, along with a companion iPhone application, both of which are expected to release this year. While attracting a wide audience demographic, her increased popularity among young women is of particular importance as it has given Sheena the unique opportunity to demonstrate that high ideals and personal integrity do not have to be compromised in order to be successful. Sheena truly believes the adage;”actions speak louder than words.”

Connect with Sheena on:

SheenaMelwani.com, YouTube, MySpace, Stickam and Twitter!

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With the seemingly endless number of social sites popping up all over the web, venturing into the world of Social Media and community voting sites can be an exercise in masochism, if you’re not careful. Every site has its own community, its own culture, its own etiquette and its own set of rules & regulations that users are expected to adhere to.

Unlike many social voting based sites, like Digg and Reddit – which tend to have an inherent hostility toward the search marketing industry – Sphinn, which was started by the team at Search Engine Land, caters specifically to the Internet marketing community. Much like other voting sites, the ultimate goal is to generate enough votes to make it to the “Hot Topics” page, which will expose the content to the biggest Sphinn audience.

Being that Sphinn was created by, is moderated by and its community is made up of Internet marketers, it’s no place for the faint of heart. As a rule, the community is somewhat suspicious of newcomers initially and there are some dues to pay before you’re welcomed into the fold. Spammers, the thin-skinned and whiners need not apply. Don’t believe me? Here’s a taste of what my first few weeks at Sphinn were like…

Rookie Mistakes

The first post I submitted to Sphinn was “Must Have WordPress Plugins for Newbies”. The first comment left was deemed negative enough that Sphinn’s moderators decided to remove it and the user’s account was ultimately cancelled. As you can see from the remaining comments on the post, while some are quick to jump on the “YOU SUCK” bandwagon, there are just as many (if not more) who will stand up in your defense – IF the content is worthy of defending.

My second post to Sphinn was “SEO Consultation Ruining Industry Reputation”. As before, and despite the fact that I didn’t even submit the post myself, there were some who elected to – once again – take some pot shots at a newbie. Luckily, the comments roll off me like water off a duck’s back…if you’re not quite as resilient, I’d suggest you tread lightly into the pond that is Sphinn.

It gets better…

I’m sharing my experience with my initial foray into the Sphinn community merely to illustrate the point that it is not for people whose feelings are easily hurt, those who aren’t prepared for a healthy debate or those who don’t understand that there are times to discuss an issue vehemently and times to just walk away. Personal attacks are quickly identified by Sphinn’s moderators and users are typically not around long after they prove themselves unable to work & play well with others.

Even highly respected members of the search marketing community aren’t immune from ridicule at Sphinn, if they hit on a nerve the wrong way. A post written by Kim Krause Berg, “Who Wants to Hire Top Twitter Users?”, generated some contentious conversation and even garnered a Desphinn, as well as an unusually personal comment, from another industry rockstar:

That’s the thing about Sphinn…when you’re dealing with the search marketing community, who you are isn’t nearly as important as the content of the post. If those in the community disagree, they have no problem sharing their point of view.

What’s a Desphinn?

Since I mentioned “Desphinn”, I should explain what it is. If you’re familiar with Digg or Reddit, I’m sure you can figure out for yourself what a “Desphinn” is. It is similar in concept to the “bury” or “down vote” priciples that Digg and Reddit employ. It is important to note that a Desphinn does not equal a full Sphinn – meaning that if the submission has 10 Sphinns, a Desphinn does not take it down to 9 Sphinns. Every two Desphinns is equal to one Sphinn.

It’s also important to note that the Sphinn community doesn’t seem to take the same level of twisted joy in down voting content that users of other social media and voting sites do. While there are some exceptions, the community at Sphinn tends to be less apt to Desphinn content unless it is clearly horrendous and/ or contains wildly inaccurate information. Spam isn’t typically Desphunn – it is merely reported as spam and then removed from the site entirely.

Something else that makes Sphinn a little different is that seven day “probationary” period. During the first seven days an account is active, you don’t have the authority to Desphinn a post. I assume that is Search Engine Land’s attempt to prevent someone from creating multiple accounts with the express intent of targeting a specific post with Desphinn after Desphinn. That’s pure speculation on my part…but that’s at least part of the reason I’d have adopted that policy.

Getting Into the Club

Unlike many other social media and voting sites, the moderators at Sphinn are quick to put an end to a flame war. If the exchange isn’t constructive, they won’t let it go on for long. And if users don’t respect one another and act like adults, it’s likely that their accounts will be closed down. As they should be. This isn’t Digg. This isn’t Reddit. And they – as well as members of the community, for that matter – don’t want it to be.

Sphinn seems to take a great deal of pride in the quality of its content. It is not a place for spam. It is not a place for “sell your timeshare” posts. Users are quick to report such submissions as spam. If the article isn’t specifically about an Internet marketing or search related topic, it has no place on Sphinn…and it won’t be there for long. It will never make it to the Hot Topics page and your time is better spent submitting it somewhere other than Sphinn.

I’ve been hanging out at Sphinn for about nine months now. I’m certainly not one of their top users, but it’s a community I’m now comfortable and somewhat recognized within. Most now recognize that I’m not a spammer, I’m not there for self-promotion, and – perhaps most importantly – I’m not a complete search marketing imbecile. It took some time and effort, but it happened. It likely would have happened more quickly had I not stumbled over some speed bumps along the way due to my own ignorance.

That said, here’s some advice: spend some time reading and commenting on the content at Sphinn before submitting anything. Get to know a few people who have been around the community longer than you have. Read what they read. Comment on the posts. Comment on the comments. Participate in the conversation. And, while you’re at it, start leaving comments on the sites that Sphinn’s posts come from. Participating at Sphinn is great, but participating in the discussion on the blog itself – rather than just on Sphinn – is how you start down the path toward actually befriending the posts’ authors.

Reading someone’s blog and leaving useful comments is the quickest way to build a rapport with them. And isn’t that the whole point of any social site to begin with…to share information, increase your understanding of a topic and build a rapport with people? You can fast track your hazing at Sphinn if you can prove to be a contributing member of the community at large – not only at Sphinn, but throughout the search marketing blogosphere. The more places people see your name (and your face – DO NOT USE THE DEFAULT AVATAR), the more quickly you’ll earn their trust and their respect.

Had I been given that advice in the beginning, I might have had a much better experience at Sphinn initially. To be perfectly honest, had it not been for Jill Whalen, Kim Krause Berg, Tamar Weinberg and a handful of others giving me some worthwhile and constructive feedback initially, I might have walked away from Sphinn altogether. When your first experience with a site’s community is being called a keyword stuffing spammer, it’s pretty easy to get discouraged. Learn from my mistakes.

So, to recap:

1. Introduce yourself to the community by participating in discussions in comments BEFORE submitting your own content
2. Spend some time commenting on other blogs in the search marketing blogosphere – if people recognize your name and avatar from other sites, they’re less likely to be suspicious of your intent
3. Don’t submit topics that aren’t search marketing related
4. Don’t resort to personal attacks or leave flaming comments that contribute nothing constructive to discussion
5. Understand that a thick skin is necessary and if you don’t have one…well, you probably shouldn’t be involved in any social community online if you don’t have a thick skin – I’ll just leave it at that
6. Upload your own avatar – using the default avatar will raise suspicion that you may not be who you claim to be (that is true of ALL social sites, by the way – Sphinn, blogs, Twitter, etc.; register at www.gravatar.com and make your life easier)

Alysson Fergison is a writer, blogger and SEO who has provided hundreds of hours of SEO consultation to small business owners throughout the United States and Canada. As the owner of SEOAly, Alysson provides affordable small business search engine optimization services, such as SEO audits and keyword research

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