PureBlogging

If you’re like many people, you are beginning to find Digg to be more trouble than it’s worth. I see many bloggers complaining about a certain element at Digg who like to bury stories just because they don’t like the topic and trolls who just seem to want to cause trouble. And unfortunately, the powers that be do not appear to be concerned with the situation.

But, there may be alternative…

JohnTP and Shivaranja have been busy developing Blogg-Buzz, a Digg for Bloggers:

So what can you do in Blogg-Buzz? A lot…you can submit stories in Blogg-Buzz, comment on stories, spy on who is buzzing, find out the Top Buzzers, add friends and even send Private Messages to other Buzzers! So, it can be real fun once you start using it.

Blogg-Buzz can be useful for those who want to find the best content on the Blogosphere as well as for those who want to get extra traffic to their Blogs. And we will also try to improve Blogg-Buzz and make it something more than just a ‘Digg like site’.

I’ve been playing around with it the last couple of weeks and I’m impressed. They have categories set-up for just about any blog topic and if you don’t see one that works for you, just suggest a new one. It only takes a minute to submit your articles and right now it only takes 5 buzzes (votes) to get to the front page.

While the traffic you get from being on the front page is not nearly what you would get from Digg, it does bring you some new visitors and as the site grows the numbers will surely increase.

I suggest you sign up and check it out. And don’t forget to add me to your friends list!

It seems that the moment internet marketers discovered that My Space was a profitable business tool, social networks geared toward business began popping up. I’m not saying it’s a new thing, but lately there have been some great social networks opening that are designed for internet marketers. Though the networks vary in features, they are all based on the same general concept of other popular social networking sites. The two I’m discussing in this article - Apsense and Free IQ - are my favorites of the new IMSNs (Internet Marketing Social Networks) popping up all over the internet.

Apsense

This new IMSN is in pre-launch right now. You need an invite code to join (the link above includes one) for free. If you’re one of the first 2,500 members you will be given the chance to upgrade to a VIP membership for free for one year. The VIP membership costs $19.95 a month. That’s a $240 savings without spending a dime. I honestly can’t figure out what the benefits of the VIP membership are, but I’m guessing it has to do with an increased number of times your ads are shown and/or the number of groups you can create. The site says “click here” for membership comparisons, but there isn’t a link attached.

Aside from the standard social network sites features of messaging, adding friends and customizing your own page, you also have the option to blog on the site. On social networking sites, I tend to create one blog post linking to my main blog. It’s a good way to build some links and also you won’t spread yourself too thin trying to post on several different blogs daily. I think being a member of social networking sites is a great way to build your business, but it’s also very important not to overextend yourself. Be careful that you don’t get caught up and spend too much time on social networking sites. They can be fun and addictive so make sure you remember that you’re there for business.

Apsense has some interesting extras that make it unique. Apsense Express is an application you install on your desktop to serve ads. Desktop marketing tools (like Desktop Lightning) are becoming more popular as people become less wary of willingly installing advertising applications on their PCs. These programs aren’t adware or spyware, they are legitimate viral marketing applications that allow you to broadcast directly to your network. As more and more of these types of applications are created, more people will realize that this is not malicious software. It’s really just the next logical step for internet marketing; joining together traditional ad formats with the ability to deliver instantly and to a targeted audience.

For a site in pre-launch, Apsense is very promising. There are some features that aren’t very clearly explained, but I’ll give the creators the benefit of the doubt and assume that’s because the site is still in development. Overall, I’d recommend joining now so you can get in on the ground floor and watch this site really come to life.

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