Bloggers, internet marketers, social media enthusiasts and people curious about the related topics and about John Chow, the famous A blogger from Vancouver, have been meeting regularly for a weekly lunch meeting for years. Those meetings came to be known as Dot Com Pho. But never before has the mainstream media like TV and radio paid any attention to that. That has changed on April 01, 2012.

CBC TV crew came by to observe what we do at Dot Com Pho and to make a documentary about it. This is not an April Fool’s Day joke. I have a video to prove it.

Why would CBC TV be interested in what local bloggers, internet marketers and social media enthusiasts do around a lunch table eating noodle soup, spring rolls and drinking iced coffe or the house tea? Is there a success story behind it somewhere?

You bet there is. Everybody loves a success story. It’s great that a TV station is paying attention to things other than disasters, crime and horror stories.

The fame and success of John Chow got their attention somehow. As the importance of the internet and social media increases so will the main stream media attention to it. CBC TV is going to run a TV documentary series this summer or late fall about social media.

I have written about the importance of Live Networking and Social Media in several of my posts. For those of you who missed that or ignored it you may want to go and read the posts now. At least read these two: 5 Reasons for Internet Marketing Networking and Social Media Engine Optimization.

When things are on TV it usually means that they are more important than things that don’t make it there. At least that’s how most people perceive it. The masses will certainly pay more attention to what is on TV especially if it’s there often enough.

The coming CBC TV documentary series will be likely an opener for more things to come on the subject.

As far as personalities go the main focus of this coming documentary, the part of it that will be from Vancouver, is John Chow.

The CBC TV crew asked four long timers of Dot Com Pho, those who have known John Chow for the longest time questions about him and how he became successful. To be fair they asked other questions too, having to do mainly with what the interviewees themselves do.

One of the recurring questions was “How would you describe John Chow to your Grandfather or Grandmother?” I personally found it funny. But there were a lot more interesting and deeper questions and no matter which ones will make it into the televised documentary, they will be great to hear and find the answers to by watching the program.

It will be interesting and educational not only for complete strangers but also for all those who have been going to Dot Com Pho lunches all those years or a portion of them and who know John Chow personally like myself. The reason is that those questions or at least some of them were never asked before or even if they were they weren’t answered in such depth.

I found the CBC TV crew very friendly and down to earth. Compared with some big screen movie making people that I had the chance to observe they were refreshingly normal, with no ego of elephant size towering above them.

They were:

Andrew Lavigne behind the camera who also asked some of the questions. Andrew Lavigne is the director and the main guy behind the coming series.

Kemp Edmonds asked a lot of the questions and seemed to be the PR guy.

Ruth (she did the lighting and I never caught the last name) and Jeremy who did something invisible.

The Dot Com Pho people that were interviewed in order of the interviews:

Rainer Schmoll from Thinkreferrals,

Ed Lau, from Ededition,

Michael Kwan, from BeyondtheRhetoric,

Stephen Fung from Futurelooks.

At the urging from our table CBC TV also interviewed Brian, the owner of the restaurant.

We had a normal and fun Dot Com Pho meeting as usual aside from the CBC TV filming crew presence creating a bit of extra excitement.

Watch the video below to see for yourself that CBC TV crew was really there. Andrew Lavigne at the start of the video also outlines the reasons for and the subjects of the coming documentary series.

Now that you’ve watched the video, please do check it out at least the first half of it if you haven’t done so, do me a favor and let me know by leaving a comment about it and the post above.

I’d also like your response to the following question:

If you knew for sure that there is going to be a TV crew filming a meeting for a documentary that will be shown on TV in your state or province and possibly nationwide would you be more likely to attend than if the meeting was to be a private one with just a video from it appearing on YouTube?

I’m very keen to know your answer. Hit the comment section right now and write away.

Have you done it? Great. Now tweet, bookmark, Google+ and Like it on Facebook.

I’ll thank you when I reply to your comment.

One last thing. Learn everything about social media in practice. Check out the most comprehensive course I know of and which I study myself. Click on the banner and take a good look.

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Authored by Vance Sova

There are subtle and rumored signs as well as obvious signs that Google is rapidly becoming a social engine. It will be the biggest social engine of all when everything falls into place.

If you are involved in or interested in internet marketing, it’s important for you to read on. If you haven’t read my post Social Engine Optimization-Social Media Search Engine Optimization-SMEO do so now. Then come back here to read about the obvious signs, the subtle and rumored signs of Google going social and get a few tips on internet marketing interaction and a hot Facebook and Google+ course.

Obvious Signs of Google Turning Social

The obvious signs are both fairly old – YouTube and fairly new – Google+. YouTube and Google+ are social platforms. While YouTube has been around for years it has recently started changing it’s look and tens of millions of dollars are going into making it even more social and interconnected with other social media sites. Google+ is still very new but it has already forced Facebook to be more proactive and even a little bit more pro business.

Subtle, Rumored Signs of Google Going Social

The internal and hidden workings of Google have always been kept secret and mysterious and perhaps rightly so. Things like the algorithm keep on changing to make it virtually impossible to fool the system.

But smart people don’t want to fool Google. Smart people want to do what works.

What works is sticking to the rules, honesty, good content and increasingly, this is the rumored part, interaction.

It seems that Google is now placing a lot more value on your interaction with your readers. In the past it had some value in Google’s eyes and it usually meant comments on your site or blog.

The value of comments is now much higher but that’s not all.

It appears that Google now also values highly your interaction through social media like Google+, YouTube and Facebook as they are connected to your site or blog.

Nobody is going to be able to conclusively prove this unless Google goes out of their way and makes a statement confirming it. They may never do that.

When you look at the signs mentioned above and how Google is in the process of integrating things like Google+ and YouTube with it’s new design into the mix you can’t but conclude that things are getting more social.

Update January 11, 2012: Yesterday a blog post appeared on Google’s blog that is announcing Google Search Plus. That is as obvious a sign of Google going social as you can get. It’s now even more important for you to keep on reading and clicking on one of the links that mention Facebook course or Google+ course or Social Media Course or anything similar.

Internet Marketing Interaction Tips

Engaging your readers and your audience has always been a good idea and it has always worked.

Now there are more ways of doing it than ever before.

Comments on your blog are very important and will always be. Don’t let anybody convince you otherwise. The importance of comments is growing steadily. One tip about comments that many ignore is that in order to interact through comments you need to reply to comments your readers post and keep the conversation going.

Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Twitter and other social media interaction is getting more important and valuable each day now.

Have you been resisting using Google+, Facebook etc. ?

If you use them, do you know how to use them fully, taking advantage of everything they can do for you?

I couldn’t believe it when I read a comment somewhere in which a person was astonished that there are actually courses on Facebook and Google+. To them chit chatting needs no instruction.

There’s a lot more that can be done with social media than chit chatting, of course.

Is every possible way of using them for your business, whether you are an internet marketer or a conventional brick and mortar operation, clear to you?

Unless you’ve devoted a lot of your time to figuring everything out for yourself and keep at it to stay up to date, it’s very unlikely that you know how to use Facebook, Google+ and other social media to their maximum potential.

This is why courses are popping up all the time, especially on Facebook, fan pages and so on.

People need help to be able to use them quickly, properly and fully for their businesses.  Most of these courses are helpful but I find that they are usually leaving out some important  things and sometimes too many. Most of the courses aren’t being updated and often are obsolete as soon as they come out.

There is one course on Facebook and Google+ that is complete and ongoing with constant updates. This course covers Facebook completely and Google+ increasingly. I’m taking the course myself and I’m recommending it to everybody. It’s the best  Facebook and Google+ course that I’ve seen so far.

Click on any of the two links just above or click here to check it out.

Are you currently taking a social media course or thinking about doing so?

What’s your opinion about Google turning into a social media engine?

Respond in the comments section and then like this post on Facebook, Google+ it and tweet the post to share it with others. Be social media and social engine friendly.

P.S. I’ve used a different text spacing for the Internet Marketing Interaction Tips part of the post. You are kindly requested to comment about which spacing you prefer after you answer the questions above. Does the larger spacing make it so much easier for you to read the text that you don’t mind having to do the extra scrolling? I listen, read and pay attention to what my readers prefer to see on my blog so please make your preference known.

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Authored by Vance Sova

Chrome versus Firefox-the Browser Wars

Until not so long ago most people involved in internet marketing in one form or another, including those learning it, were predominantly using the Firefox browser.

It was heavily recommended in different internet gurus courses and it was an undisputed winner.

It worked very well and had a large number of useful plug ins available for it.

When the Chrome came on the scene it seemed like most people didn’t pay that much attention to it at first. I certainly didn’t pay too much attention even though I downloaded and installed it in order to have an idea of what it was like.

But I continued using Firefox most of the time and exclusively for posting new posts on my blog.

Then one day when I was writing a blog post and adding videos to it something strange and weird happened. Without me doing anything to cause it the browser bar from the top of Firefox appeared inside of my new blog post and I couldn’t get rid of it without deleting the whole post. I tried several times to do everything else but the bar kept on reappearing.

So finally I  tried using the Chrome browser, for the first time, to write a post on my blog and it went smoothly. No unwanted bar appeared and my trust in Chrome started growing just as my trust in Firefox was shaken.

As many of you may know a few weeks ago the Google Bar stopped working on Firefox browser because Google won’t support it anymore there.

It looks like a browser war to me. It may or may not be but the fact is that Firefox’s appeal will suffer because of it.

If I were a lone internet marketer who does no live networking I’d be crushed by events like this.

How Live Internet Marketing Networking Helps 

Luckily, doing a lot of live internet marketing networking with local bloggers and marketers I’m able to handle things much better.

You can find out more about the importance of live internet marketing networking in the many posts I wrote about it on this blog starting with 5 Reasons For IM Networking and Meeting People Live.

Another good post to read is Internet Marketing Event Networking that even includes a short interview I did with one of the best known and most successful internet marketers in the UK, Lee McIntyre.

Choosing the Best Internet Marketing Tools is Easier When Discussed Live

As you will see in the video below, it helps to be able to discuss things with fellow marketers. Choosing a browser, for example, is easier when you talk to others and hear what their experience with different browsers is.

Since that discussion shown in the video above, Firefox 4 is no longer the newest version. The browser is already several versions up at Firefox 7.  Update January 11, 2012: Today I updated to Firefox 9.0.1 after strong and repeated urging from them. As usual something is not working as well as it did in the previous version, in my case it was Firefox 8 (one version up from when I first wrote this post). With the newest version, Firefox 9.0.1 the icons in my bookmarks are not showing. Basic stuff. It makes me wonder why they don’t check things are working before pushing it down people’s throats. Update February 12, 2012: I updated to Firefox 10.0.1. The bookmarks icons now show again.

Update March 09, 2012: I have found a flaw or a bug with Chrome for Mac (I don’t use one for Windows), Firefox for Windows and all major browsers for both systems with the exception of Firefox for Mac. What’s the flaw? When you go to YouTube, the new design that everyone started to be changed to as of March 07, 2012 and click on the Most Popular Videos tab instead of seeing the page with most popular videos you will still see the videos page as before except that the number of uploaded videos will be 37. This number 37 shows on every channel regardless of how many videos they uploaded. I have 352 uploaded videos right now for example. The only browser that works when you click on the Most Popular Videos tab is Firefox for Mac. If you use Chrome for Windows please let me know if it works or not. This may not be just a browser problem but since Firefox for Mac works it is at least partly a Chrome for Mac browser imperfection. Other browsers have the same issue. I wonder how long it will take for YouTube and Google to fix the problem. I did send them a bug report early morning March 08, 2012.

Update March 15, 2012: YouTube and Google have fixed the flaw or bug described in March 09 update above. It’s fixed not only for Chrome but for the other browsers as well. It took them a week. Good job.

The above updates just show that no browser is 100 % perfect. A browser may be perfect temporarily until the next issue with it comes up.

Changing versions so frequently is one of the things that I personally don’t like about Firefox. Sometimes the plug ins stop working when you install the newest version.

And when you happen to have an older computer that doesn’t support the newer Firefox version they keep on bugging you to install it anyway for months or even years.

You may be interested to know that John Chow for example doesn’t use Firefox browser at all anymore.

How about you?

What is your favorite browser, is it Firefox or Chrome? Is there a browser other than the two mentioned that you prefer?

Please comment on these things in the comments section and then tweet and bookmark this post to engage others.

How are you doing with social media like Facebook and Google+ ?

You may want to check out my favorite course on Facebook which also has a section on Google+ . All materials are continually being updated as things change so there’s no need to worry that things will become obsolete.

So do check it out.

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Authored by Vance Sova

While I’m not counting myself as a full blown guru, my meeting with these guys and getting to know them and what they do and how they do it is certainly helping.

The top blogging guru that was present was John Chow.

This is a continuation of what is now turning out to be my blog posts series on internet marketing live networking. Reading all my posts on this subject would be an excellent idea.

To start with read these two: Internet Marketing Networking, Facebook and Succeed Online by Networking.

As time goes on I write less and less about the obvious virtues of doing live internet marketing networking and more about what actually happens at the ones I’m attending.

Even better than just writing about it is posting some videos from there. In this post you can find and view three of them.

The first one is about John Chow’s friend Michael Kwan who went to the dark side or joined the ranks of the forces of the light, depending on whether you prefer the iPhone or the Android and which of them you think is destined to win the battle of the smart phones.

Watch Michael Kwan talk about the Android phone whose ranks he joined right below

It is amazing to me that 5 or 6 regular Dot Com Pho attendees are now carrying the Android. They are now in majority.

But not all is lost to the cosmic sounding phone. The iPhone still has its fans and the top gun, John Chow, is not jumping the ship.

John Chow let it be known that he is going to get the iPhone 5 when it becomes available in October.

Watch and listen to John Chow talk about the iPhone 5 just below

Are Dot Com Pho lunches all about business and no fun? I’d say the opposite is true. And to prove it I made a video for you of us talking about beer.

It is important to know what one is ingesting and have an idea where it originated and where it’s made. To no one’s surprise things aren’t necessarily made where they originated from anymore.

Thus not all Japanese beer or Czech beer is brewed in those countries.

Where was the Japanese Asahi beer John Chow ordered and drank brewed?

Was it Japan, the Philippines or where?

Watch the video below to find out where John Chow’s Asahi beer was brewed and more

Now it’s time for you to post your comment.

Tell me which smart phone you prefer and own or are going to get.

Will Android continue to take away market share from iPhone?

Which is your favorite beer and do you care where it’s made?

Are you networking live with other bloggers, if not are you inclined to do so soon?

Post your comments and tweet and bookmark the post to enable others to participate in the discussion.

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Authored by Vance Sova

Internet Marketing Networking at its best just happened at Dot Com Pho in Vancouver’s Happy Pho Restaurant. To market on the net you’ll, more likely than not, need a good camera. Panasonic Lumix GF2 and GF3 were covered by John Chow. The Keys to the City Award privileges mused upon and a lot of fun was had.

Rather than write about the virtues of meeting online people at live events which I have done before several times (read 5 Reasons For Internet Marketing Networking and Meet Fellow Bloggers Live if you haven’t read them yet), I decided to show you and write more about what happens at some of them.

The most recent Dot Com Pho in Vancouver with 10 participants included the famous blogger and internet marketer John Chow.

Asking him questions and opinions and picking his brain is a lot of fun not to mention the value of what one learns.

It’s great to see and actually put your hands on some of the tools of the trade he uses. This time it was the Panasonic Lumix GF2 camera which I held in my hands before. But now we talked about the new Lumix GF3 as well.

It turns out that the GF3 is smaller and won’t have the shoe anymore. Thus it is lighter but otherwise the functionality is the same.

Below is the video of John Chow on Lumix GF2 versus Lumix GF3 which I highly recommend you watch to find out the price of the new model as well as how you can trade in the GF2 camera for a hefty credit towards the new one.

Top internet marketers often receive awards and nice privileges for their achievements. There is one award which very few people know much about and that is Keys To the City Award. While most people seem to have heard about it, they don’t seem to know if it gives any privileges to the recipient.

So Far John Chow has not received keys to any city and it remais to be seen if he ever will.

But what does he know and think about it?

Find out in the video below what John Chow’s views are on the Keys To the City Award privileges:

Since we didn’t get a definitive answer from the very interesting conversation with John you can read what I found later just below.

The Keys To The City Award Privileges

The usually oversized and decorative key is given to honor the person who gets it. It’s otherwise completely useless as it doesn’t open any doors.

You don’t get access to anything that you normally don’t have access to without the key. It doesn’t entitle you to a free stay at any hotel, the city hall, the mayors residence or anywhere else.

The award is purely ceremonial and aside from bragging rights, if you should want to use them, doesn’t provide anything tangible.

The Keys to the City Award is a symbolic gift in the form of ornamental or otherwise pretty key presented to people a city wants to give honor to. It is a symbolic and ceremonial gesture (an empty gesture really) of appreciation and welcome.

No privileges are given to the recipient of this award nowadays.

Historically, when cities had walls around them and were heavily guarded and a permission to enter a city was needed, the Keys to the City Award gave significant privileges.

Would you like to be honored by getting a ceremonial key or would you rather be given a key that opens at least one real door?

How about the Panasonic GF2 and GF3 cameras, do you have or would you like to have one?

What camera are you currently using to make videos and for still pictures, do you use different cameras separately or do you use one camera for both videos and regular pictures?

Please answer at least one of these questions and add your related thoughts in the comments section and tweet and bookmark this post to enable others to join the conversation.

Then check out the course on Facebook that I’m currently taking and which I find extremely informative and helpful.

Click here if you missed the link above.

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Authored by Vance Sova

I wonder what are your views regarding Facebook. It’s interesting that when people are asked what they think about Facebook they almost immediately start the discussion by comparing it to something else, like Twitter.

Soon after I asked this question at the Dot Com Pho lunch meeting of bloggers at Happy Pho Restaurant in Vancouver, one of the keen participants, Aaron Koo proceeded to compare the usefulness of Facebook with that of Twitter.

Those who joined in then continued largely in that vein. Is Facebook only for communicating and sharing things with close friends or can it also be used for building contacts and rapport with acquaintances and virtual strangers?

Can it be useful for business?

This is what was discussed at our recent lunch get together. You can view the video from the discussion below.

You will hear me say in the video that I don’t agree with some of the opinions expressed, at least not fully. I’ll have my say the next time we meet.

Just let me say here a little bit.

I think that Facebook is a great tool to communicate with close friends and it can be very useful for business. Facebook can also be used for email list building.

If you have not read my previous post on Social Media Engine Optimization you may want to do that.

I will write a lot more about Facebook and how to use it in my future posts.

If you want to learn Facebook at a much faster pace you can do so right now and learn from my favorite Facebook course. I’m learning from it myself right now.

Watch the Facebook discussion to see if you agree with any of the bloggers:

Now is your turn to have your say.

What do you think about Facebook and its usefulness apart from staying in touch and sharing things with your friends?

Tell me your opinion by leaving a comment.

Then tweet the post, share it on Facebook and bookmark it on your favorite social bookmarking site to let more people join the discussion.

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Authored by Vance Sova

Are you shaking your head in the affirmative or dismissively? You’ve never heard these terms unless you were at Happy Pho in Vancouver on April 30, 2011 when they were coined at the Dot Com Pho lunch meeting.

Creative things happen when bloggers and internet marketers get together. Being social or socializing live is an important part of a Social Engine.

The horse power of a Social Engine, which of course nowadays is largely formed through Social Media, is greatly enhanced by meeting people live. (If you want to read more about live meetings read my post about Internet Marketing Networking).

Get to know a few people this way and you’ll see a different, much higher quality of communication with them through social media as well.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+?

Yes, it’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ that are most popular and perhaps the most effective social media platforms.

It is these three that are and will be the keys to Social Engine Optimization or if you prefer SMEO – Social Media Engine Optimization.

But you must always remember that this engine will need a regular tune up in the form of live networking or socializing in order to provide the maximum horse power.

Before you continue reading the post, or after you read it, check out the videos below showing parts of the last few Dot Com Pho meetings and the relaxed, creativity supporting atmosphere they provide.

Once you understand the power of live networking, you can then delve into mastering the 3 Top Social Media Platforms.

Facebook Is the Most Popular?

Facebook seems the most talked about and the most popular right now.

Recently I received an email from a very rich and famous internet marketer recommending a Facebook course which made totally ridiculous promises.

Like, “you’ll get 24,000 Facebook likes on your fan page in 24 hours from brand new followers if you do what is shown in the course.”

I think that whoever believes that promise is either totally desperate and totally naive or quite a nut.

I do want to learn everything I can about how to best use Facebook but not from people who make outrageous promises and claims.

Where Can You Learn Facebook?

There are many places and courses. In fact too many to make a good choice easy.

This is what I do to learn Facebook :

I have purchased a down to earth and very helpful and detailed course on Facebook that I can honestly recommend to my best friends without any risk of jeopardizing my relationship with them.

If you have not already clicked on any of the links mentioning Facebook, you can do it below.

The Facebook course I recommend because I own it, learn from it myself and because I like it is Social Networking Academy.

Social Networking Academy course focuses on Facebook but it also covers how Facebook fits with the other Social Media platforms mentioned in this post, YouTube and Twitter.

The name of the course, Social Networking Academy, fits well with what I wrote in this post. Part of the course covers Google+ as well.

Although my intention originally wasn’t to mention it, I decided to include it as I was writing because the course comes closest to showing many parts of what I call Social Engine Optimization or SMEO – Social Media Engine Optimization.

Please remember where you first saw and learned about these terms. They may or may not catch on but what they stand for is already catching on fire and that will be with us for a long time to come.

Make sure you check out the Facebook course here and then tell me how you liked it.

How do you feel about Social Media?  And how about Social Media Engine Optimization? Will you mention it to your friends and even blog about it linking to this post?

Leave your comments, tweet and bookmark.

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Authored by Vance Sova

Unfortunately many people seem to have heard about getting traffic from comments but have no idea about those comments needing to be of value.

It is ironic that in the last 30 days I have received more spam comments than ever on a post devoted to getting traffic from commenting which I wrote and posted on my blog about 15 months ago.

Since there is nothing about encouraging spam commenting in that post I have to wonder where these people posting comment trash learned to do that.

Anybody with an intelligence of a ten year old knows that spam in any form is not welcome.

Why is it then that people who have blogs and bank accounts think that their spam and trash comments will be approved?

They most definitely won’t.

But even if by some temporary inattention or a mistake they were to be approved, why aren’t the authors of this trash smart enough to realize the obvious?

Even if some other visitor to the same blog where the worthless comment found its way reads the trash, they won’t be in the least interested in reading anything else from the feeble-minded author of it.

If you are fairly new to blogging or if you are a prolific blogger but haven’t considered commenting before, you may want to read my blog post that I mentioned above. The title of the post is Get Blog Traffic Increase With Blog Comments.

That post received 75 comments, soon after it was published, which were approved and several dozen of trash comments lately.

It seems that spammers like to post their trash on older posts with the hope of not being caught. Not very smart behavior again.

People who spam comment think that they are smart and everybody else is stupid. They think that if they post 5 spam comments on the same post with slight wording variation that at least one of them will be approved.

People who spam comment are convinced that Google is stupid too. They must think that even if nobody visits their blog due to their worthless comments that at least Google will count their links due to the spam comments that will somehow make it through.

Don’t be a spam idiot posting spam comments that will only end up in trash and will damage your reputation with anybody who reads them and also with Google.

Be smart and post proper and valuable comments on other blogs and you’ll get traffic from them. I certainly have gotten traffic that way and continue getting it.

Have you read the post I suggested to you yet? It tells a story of my getting traffic from posting valuable comments with some concrete numbers.

Before you leave decent comments on this post you may want to watch a video or two, three or even four, if you like, from small internet marketing networking events that took place recently. The most recent ones come first:

Under the Skin Chip, Magnet, Magic Wand Fun Talk Video:

Breffo Spider Podium Tablet, Shot Gun Microphone Video:

Robotix, Transformers, Mexican Food Video:

No Noodles No John Chow Dot Com Pho a la Turkey Video:

What to do now?

1) Leave a comment telling me and the other readers what you think about trash or spam comments and those who are posting them.

2) Add anything else that comes to your mind about commenting and make your comment into a model comment of value of the best quality or, if you are less generous today, of a slightly better than passable quality and state which you think it is.

3) Tweet and bookmark this post for others to find it and leave their own comment or, even better for you, visit your own blog because of the comment you have left here.

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Authored by Vance Sova

Facebook is something that I will be coming back to later in this post and even more so in my future posts because it is a great tool for many things including email list building.

You may or may not recall my post 5 Reasons For Internet Marketing Networking I wrote about Internet Marketing Networking and how important it is to be participating in it.

In that post I also pointed out how Google and all the other search engines aren’t yet able to distinguish it from Network Marketing.

Well, there has been no progress on that yet and the confusion is still being perpetuated.

To make it clear again what the difference between the two is I will try to define them very briefly as best as I can.

What is Internet Marketing Networking?

Internet Marketing Networking is an event or activity during which the participants, who all engage in some type of internet marketing, exchange experiences and contact information with one another.

What is Network Marketing?

Network Marketing is a new better sounding name for MLM or Multi Level Marketing.

Without going into the details of how Network Marketing or MLM works, it is clear to most people that it has very little to do with Internet Marketing, at least originally.

Some savvy Multi Level Marketers or Network Marketers like Ann Sieg have in the last 2 or 3 years started doing the marketing of Network Marketing online and called it Internet Network Marketing.

Just because they use the internet to attract leads and new converts into their business, it does’t change the nature of Network Marketing or MLM completely or even significantly.

Their business and income is still primarily tied with the Multi Level scheme and the products of the Multi Level or Network Marketing company.

On the other hand Internet Marketers aren’t tied to any Multi Level Marketing or Network Marketing company, its scheme or products.

Google and the other search engines should be able to distinguish between Internet Marketing Networking and Network Marketing and even Internet Network Marketing.

Please let me know if my definitions above make it clear enough for you.

Amega Magic Wand and Switch On AMGeneX Demonstrated

Part of the reason why I’m revisiting this subject is the fact that for the first time ever, as far as I know, one of the participants at the last Dot Com Pho, Moneca Yardley, happenes to be a Network Marketer.

All the rest of us at the Pho meeting are, however, just Internet Marketers and so the meeting is still about Internet Marketing Networking.

This brings a question to my mind and perhaps yours too about what the proper name would be for a meeting of Network Marketers, those who do their network marketing with the help of the internet.

I think that it would have to be something like Internet Network Marketing Networking or for short INM Networking.

While it seems that everything will eventually get intricately connected with the internet, the difference between Internet Marketing and Network Marketing will always be very significant and fundamental.

I’ll let the video from the last Pho speak for itself about the products Moneca is promoting. They are carried by a company called Amega Global and the two products we were shown were Amega Wand, (we called it Magic Wand or Amega Magic Wand) and AMGenex also called Switch On.

Just to make it clear, I’m just reporting on the event in which I participated spontaneously without any possibility of financial gain.

I do not sell, profit from, neither have I bought any of the products of Amega Global. The Dot Com Pho is an admission free Internet Marketing Networking lunch meeting where each participant buys their own lunch.

We did have a lot of fun and plenty of laughs. At the first part of the video you will find out about the Flip cameras and a discussion about Facebook. I’ll write about Facebook more in my future posts as this is getting long enough.

Video  from the Packed Dot Com Pho with John Chow, Feb. 19, 2011

What to do now?

Please leave your comments about this post. Do you care about Internet Marketing Networking, as in meeting with other internet marketers and bloggers?

What do you think of MLM or Network Marketing?

What about the products shown in the video above? Is it all a gimmick or is there something to them?

After you make your comments do tweet and bookmark the post for others to add their voices.

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Authored by Vance Sova

I know that this sounds counter-intuitive to most people which is why they are afraid and don’t want to lose traffic to other blogs and websites.

They’d never consider giving a do follow link to anybody, putting links to other relevant sites in the so called blogroll in the sidebar or installing a Comment Luv or Keyword Luv plugins.

I’m here to tell you that if you are afraid of losing traffic to anybody you should consider first if you have any traffic to lose in the first place.

Get More Blog Traffic Linking Out, Not By Being Stingy

If you enhance the experience of your visitors by showing links to other sites they are likely to come back. And even if you do lose a portion of the visitors to your blog by them using the links you provided, do you think that they were going to come back to your blog if it weren’t for them clicking on those links?

By engaging with other blogs and the whole internet community you will gain traffic and visitors to your blog.

Engaging also includes commenting which I have covered in another post: Get Blog Traffic Increase With Blog Comments.

Linking out and giving links through various plugins mentioned above will go a long way in attracting traffic to your blog. I’ll relate a story supporting this further down so keep on reading.

Scared of Google Taking Your Rank Away?

One of my blogging friends Josh Rimer whom I met in September of last year has now decided to do just what I’m talking about. On his own accord without me ever mentioning it since our first conversation in September.

He has been told and believed like many bloggers that having do follow links on his blog would cause him to lose Google ranking.

There is a wide spread belief that Google supports link hoarding by calculating which links are going in and going out and if your blog links out it will lose.

Since Google wants to enhance the experience of people who use it to search the internet such belief is very irrational. It would be working against what Google wants.

There are enough bloggers with high Google rank like Kristi’s Kikolani and Sire’s Wassup Blog that are not link hoarders for you to realize that you can do the same without being paranoid.

A True Story of One Blog That Got Scared of Sharing

I emailed this story to Josh in response to his decision to go do follow etc.

Let me tell you of one guy’s blog that I used to visit and comment on. It used to have a do follow and showed people’s comments in the side bar and even had top commentators. That blog used to have twice as much traffic as mine and ranked higher too. It also had plenty of blogroll links.

Then the guy became paranoid, probably being influenced by some non sharing freak.

He removed everything from the side bar: everything having to do with sharing, went no follow and guess what happened to him: Google stopped liking his blog.

His rank is now 0 and his traffic is 2 to 3 times less than mine. You’d think that he would restore things back to what they were before but no, he’s persisting in hoarding things for himself and keeps on losing more and more.

I stopped visiting his blog (except every 3 or 4 months just to see if he came to his senses) and so apparently did a lot of other people. He used to get more comments than me, now he usually gets none or 1 or two per post once in a while. If he gets 4 comments he probably has a celebration now.

I hope that you’ll at least consider linking out besides of course commenting and giving do follow links. If you’re still scared of doing this at least link out in person by attending live events, even small ones like the one shown below.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, the video and the nice banner.

Tell me and all the readers your view on giving links and getting traffic to your blog.

Leave your comments and do tweet and stumble and digg this post for others to see and share their views.

Authored by Vance Sova