Social Networking | Social Media | Traffic Secrets or Scams:

For those just rollin' in to Virtual Felt for the first time and have somehow ended up on this page, what is up my virtual poker friends?!! My name is Brad "geno" Gennaro, and after starting Virtual Felt, my makeshift, garage-for-an-office, poker website around 3 months ago, I thought that I would share with others what I have found to be useful and not so useful when it comes to building you site, building a following, and getting that golden egg - traffic. After receiving endless amounts of advice from countless amounts of resources, and also doing a ton of research around the Internet, I kept hearing the same names and recommendations for socialbookmarking, social networking, and blog promoting, as well as the same concepts for traffic building, visitor retention, and click through rate.

Technorati

Let me put this as nice as I can - Technorati is a joke! You really need to be more established as a webmaster or have had your blog for a long time before you bury your blog in this thing. There are not many newer entries near the top of this bastard and all the power is balanced toward those who were around before Technorati. Of course the older, high ranking blogs tell you to go there for there own sake. I have no problem with that, but I'm done tryin' to mess with my website trying to please Technorati. My blog entries and my updated information always seems to be 3 weeks behind, even after "pinging" this thing. If your new, you have no shot. Conclusion: waste of time.

Delicious

Delicious is also a joke as far as I'm concerned. If you feeling like getting involved with a bunch of melodramatic bloggers and high-school outcasts, go right ahead. The idea behind this is bookmarking (does anybody remember why bookmarking started?), yet it somehow has turned into a no-holds-barred game of king-of-the-hill between social groups. It "feels" to me like it is just a bunch of immature outcasts who laugh and giggle as they go around bookmarking all their friends' websites and blogs with contain content that deals with Hollywood gossip, rumors, moral corruption, and MTV. I have always said that the Internet was the beginning of the Apocalypse, and so far I think that the end is approaching right on schedule! Now if this stuff is your topic of choice, then this is for you, as I think social bookmarking sites are geared for this garbage. More power to you, for garbage reads garbage. However, for the more professional, mature, business geared material, I'm not sold. Conclusion: if you have some time.

Stumbleupon

Nothing changes here with Stumbleupon. Another bust as far as I'm concerned. Think about it this way people. These social bookmarking sites only work if you don't have a job and can be on the Internet all day doing nothing but browsing around bookmarking useless crap that you don't give a damn about. I guarantee you that 95% of the material that gets bookmarked never gets read anyway. If you want to try and put in the work and get your site "stumbled" a bunch of times by joining the "I stumbled you, it's your turn" crowd, that's fine. If you're like me and want QUALITY traffic, however, you will not get it this way. If your offering a product or marketing a service, this social bookmarking phenomenon will not help you, in fact I think it will hurt you, as all you're going to receive is a bunch of crop-dusting traffic that flies by, drops off the number fertilizer, and then disappears into the night. Again, this might be your niche or what your looking for, not me. Conclusion: waste of time.

ProBlogger by Darren Rowse

After the previous 3 lemons, I need to put myself in a better mood, and probably you as well, so I'm finally going to provide something positive! ProBlogger by Darren Rowse is where every beginning blogger or webmaster needs to start! The main lesson that I have learned in the past few months is that you need to build your site, learn how to write, actually write something,and then worry about trying to promote the damn thing. I can't tell you how many potential followers that I probably lost in the beginning because they found my site, noticed that the thing looked like a train wreck, and have never returned. Word to the wise: build first - promote later. Let me mention that I have never met Darren Rowse and he has no idea who I am, but here is the deal with this guy. When I started Virtual Felt around 3 months ago, I knew absolutely nothing about web design or blogging. I had no idea what HTML code was or what the hell a "widget" was. After surfing the Internet daily for some direction, I kept finding myself getting directed to the same site with some goofy looking guy in a green shirt that looked like he was wired on 10 cups of coffee. At first I was frustrated, like "why do I keep ending up here!?" Right away, I must admit, I noticed that his layout and design really stood out from the rest and I felt that if I was going to continue with my adventure then this might a style to emulate. I actually did not read any of his content, however, because I was so pissed at this ProBlogger-guy! I think because I have such big ego and that I sensed that this guy actually knew what he was doing was the reason that my initial reaction was "screw this guy! ProBlogger? Come on, give me a break" You see, I played professional baseball for 10 years, am a bit stubborn, and asked myself, "Are you kidding me? They actually have people out there that consider themselves professional bloggers now?" I laughed at this guy every time I ended up on his site, until one day I got a wild hair and I started to read it. The conclusion I have come to is that ProBlogger is the Holy Grail for new designers / bloggers, and Darren is "The Chosen One". You will get so much useful information from this guy, and you'll get it in a way that is so easy to understand. Darren has this certain ability with his style and writing that really makes you really feel comfortable. No pushy "this is how you do it" type stuff, just damn good material that gives you instant motivation and makes you excited about starting out. There were so many times that I wanted to throw in the towel and get back into the bar scene, but then I would find myself back at ProBlogger buried in the archives and reading a post that would inspire me to get back on track. Your going to hear about Technorati and Stumbleupon which I already "threw under the bus", but Darren gives you so many other options on what to do to get things done right. He never makes you feel like you have to do things a certain way, but he somehow guides you to do them a certain way, the right way. Almost like he is giving you all this information but wants you to have all the credit. That's the only way I can explain it. Sounds weird but if this goofy guy in the green shirt can have this kind of effect on me, I know that this is where you need to start. So if you are somewhat new to this insane, mind-warping world of the Internet, or if you just want to get back on track or motivated again like you used to be, check this guy out, and don't worry, the green shirt grows on you. Conclusion: spend all your time.

Digg

If you want to know about Digg, see the first 3 reviews above. Conclusion: if you have time.

So there you have it. Social media and bookmarking takes a ton of work if you are just starting out. Do yourself a favor and go say hello to Darren at ProBlogger, because it isn't until now, about 3 months in, that I am generating some traffic and it is all due to Mr. Rowse. One more thing. You might be asking yourself why I have these social media icons below if I stated that they don't work? Conclusion: It makes me look like I know what I'm doing. Peace.

poker, problogger, social media, traffic, promote