I just found out that I am on the million dollar avatar homepage. MillionDollarAvatar is an avatar based social networking platform which allows us to promote our site and communicate with other members using a avatar randomization scheme. This simply means that everybody has a random chance to have their avatar displayed on the front page to generate traffic to their own website.

I am at the centre of the photos. Can you find me?

You might have seen my photo in other social networking sites, like mybloglog, spicypage and bumpzee. The purpose of joining social networks is to generate awareness about my blog and to help me get my content out to everybody to increase my reach. By creating good content in my blog, people will recognize my contributions and become my loyal readers.

Though blogging is not a requirement to participate in a social network, blogging gives you a voice and allows you to participate in discussions and give your own opinions on your own blog. And the best of all, search engines love blogs for their new content which are updated constantly.

Remember that trust is the most valuable thing you can get from your readers. This will in turn get you lots of free backlinks and traffic to help build your site and rank you well in search engines. As your influence grows, your voice becomes louder and your opinions on matters are much more valued than newbies contribution.

I am not going to give you a list of social networking sites to join. But I am going to summarise on the things that must be present for social media optimization to work.

1) Good content is a must.

2) Share your ideas in forum and participate in discussions.

3) Be real and truthful to your readers.

Remember to take note that all the social networking sites have different focus. Some are more effective in certain area as in bumpzee is mainly built for affiliate marketers to participate in discussions. Do not just go into any social network and starts adding many friends immediately. Try to engage in some conversation or discussion before adding them as friends. Install some widgets to facilitate syndications from your blog.

Lastly remember to check out the rules of these social networks before you are treated as a spammer in case you break them.

Tags: Social media optimization, MillionDollarAvatar, mybloglog, spicypage, bumpzee, blogging