Tony, today "information" is the key online. People are craving information either through blogs, videos or e-books/reports. If you haven't done much in this area, you may want to give it thought to differentiate your business from the others.
Best, Sharon http://online-business-guide.com edit

Right Sharon. Learning how to use Social Marketing correctly can expand your business by leaps and bounds. Learn how to do it right though.

Joe Villeneuve
http://socialmarketingeducation.blogspot.com/ edit

HI TONY, HERE IS A QUICK WAY FOR YOU OR ANYONE, ALL NEWBIES, MLM / AFFILIATE MARKETERS TO QUICKLY GENERATE SALES FOR [ ANY ] BUSINESS THAT YOU ARE PROMOTING. YOU DON'T NEED A BUSINESS, YOU DON'T NEED A PRODUCT, YOU DON'T NEED A WEBSITE. EXPLODE YOUR LIST!!!EXPLODE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT!!! A FULL 60 DAY TRIAL. GO TO LINK BELOW AND BE AMAZED. TO YOUR MASSIVE SUCCESS......C LAUREN........... http://tinyurl.com/yh9cd4h
edit

There is a simple step by step plan I use to get all my businesses off the ground. It doesn't matter if they are online based or not. It's a simple program based on first educating yourself on the how's, why's, do's and don'ts. Then the startup steps involve setting up your business profiles on the basic SM sites like FaceBook, MySpace (kind of) and LinkedIn. There are more, but this is also a learning process and if you start with too many you'll get overwhelmed and ineffective. Next, join, but DON'T participate (your not ready yet...no matter how hard that might be) at least 3 groups that you think might hold potential clients...and just watch...what they say and do. While your doing this, get your blog(s) going with at least 5 different posts on each. One post means your new, 5 means you've been there a while. Then, start participating in the discussions making sure NOT to market (here is where the education comes in). You'll need an auto-responder to handle allot of the traffic, but this should get you moving forward. You can add video, eBooks (take a look at mine on my blog), article marketing and more down the road. You need to learn how first. Here is my source of knowledge www.automateyourmlmnow.com This site's education and tools is unsurpassed. I use this system and site for all my businesses and can't live without them.

Joe Villeneuve
http://3venterprises.blogspot.com/
joe@3venterprises.ws edit

Sharon,
"Differentiate yourself from the others." That is key. Also as Joe stated it is important not to market in a social setting. One way to be different than the others is to not market in the social sites. Just building relationships and creating trust will grow your business beyond what you can imagine. Just two years ago I was introduced to Attraction Marketing. This philosophy changed my business and personal life forever. Take a look at Attraction Marketing and see what it can do for you.

John Stone
http://JohnStoneBlog.com edit

Sharon, Like John just said, attraction marketing is where it is at. If you've ever experienced a referral you'e seen the power of attraction marketing at its most basic form. Attraction marketing is based on you building a relationship with your viewers/readers/ etc..., that shows you are an "expert" in the field/business. Once you've done that, and that is a continual process, you need to have an automatic way to draw people to your blog and website. I talk about this extensively in that free book I mentioned that's on my blog. One of the examples I give is when I used to be the featured speaker for a seminar on Energy Efficient Homes. I never referred to my company once as in "call me", but by the time they hit 2/3 of the way through the seminar, I was their guy. When I got home my machine (it was over 10 years ago) was full with messages wanting to start, not wanting an appointment to discuss a "maybe start", they wanted to start...now. With the internet, SM, specifically blogging and other media, you can accomplish the same effect without having to schedule a formal seminar. I was able to present to 100's of people at these seminars. Online, you present to 100's of thousands. The seminars were scheduled per month, online you do this every day. I've only discussed the most basic points to get started.

Joe Villeneuve
http://3venterprises.blogspot.com/
joe@3venterprises.ws
(link to book intro): http://socialmarketingeducation.blogspot.com/p/introduction.html edit