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relationships

Get a Facebook Girl Friend for USD5

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Virtual Girlfriend
Facebook Girlfriend

Will it ever end? I mean the need to show the world – at least your world – that you have a girl friend, or a boy friend for that matter? Some time last year, we heard about Cloud Girl Friend, the automated system which can give you a virtual girlfriend so that you won’t come off as lonely on Facebook.

While it did seem that the service held some promise – after all, there is a huge market for a Facebook girl friend, I suppose – Cloud Girl Friend did not really fly. The main reason for this is that Facebook has a ban on computer-controlled accounts, which is rather understandable. [Read more…] about Get a Facebook Girl Friend for USD5

Facebook to Blame for 33% of British Divorces

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Facebook Divorce
Are you really surprised? I think I have written about how the effect of Facebook usage on relationships before, but I can’t seem to find the entry anymore. In any case, this “new” development is the result of a survey conducted by Divorce-Online, an – you guessed it – online divorce service in the UK.

According to the survey, one third of filed divorces in the United Kingdom in 2011 include the word “Facebook”. So what is the relationship between the lifeline of a lot of people social networking site and divorce petitions? In the cases involving Facebook, the people filing for divorce note down instances such as “inappropriate messages to members of the opposite sex, comments posted about each other, and Facebook friends reporting when a spouse has been up to no good”. ((Source: Crave)) [Read more…] about Facebook to Blame for 33% of British Divorces

Geek’s Dream Girl

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Geek's Dream Girl
It looks like the stereotype for the love-hungry geek is not about to disappear anytime soon. If websites and games are any indication, then people still do think that geeks can use all the help they can get when it comes to dating and relationships. There was Cupidtino – the dating site specifically for Apple geeks. Soon, there will be Cloud Girlfriend.

But have you heard of Geek’s Dream Girl? ((Geek’s Dream Girl)) Strictly speaking, this web site is not a dating site. The services that they offer do cater to geeks who are looking to online dating sites to find a partner: “Geek’s Dream Girl is a small business focusing on online dating profile writing for geeks, by geeks. We’re copywriters that know how to make geek guys shine and attract those ever-elusive girls!”

Basically, they’re geeks who are good at spinning words so that they can make you look good online. I guess they are assuming that geeks may not have the skills to come up with a profile that will get the attention of their dream partner. And once you have gotten her/his attention, it is up to you to make things work. Oh, they do profiles for girls, too.

Don’t get me wrong – I can see the value in the service they provide, but the premise might just be wrong. I do believe that there are “geeks” out there who can write kick-a#$ copy that will make any girl/guy drool. More so, if the “geek” is indeed challenged when it comes to communicating, how will he get further than the online profile? The site must be doing something right, though, as they have been in the business since 2008.

Has anyone tried Geek’s Dream Girl yet?

Internet Marketing: It’s About Relationships

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onlinemarketingrelationships.png

Want to get more online traction for your business or product? Then stop sending out cookie cutter e-mails with pathetic pleas for other website owners to mention you, your product, or your business. That approach to marketing is like a door-to-door salesman barging into your house without introduction or invitation.

As someone who owns several websites myself, I’m totally open to engaging in online conversations with you if you approach me in an intelligent, non-sales-like manner. But send me a doofus e-mail that makes it obvious you don’t know a thing about me or my business and you’ll be flushed down the drain quicker than you can say “glug glug.”

Online marketing is a multi-pronged beast. Yes, you should write articles, explore pay-per-click (PPC), get yourself interviewed, do podcasts, maintain an up-to-date blog, AND start building relationships. If you’ve been around the Internet more than 5 minutes, you’ll know from your own experience that a newcomer to any forum or blog who does nothing but push their own product is either ignored, or his posts are deleted. That’s because he has nothing of value to bring to the community. (Kinda like the family who shows up at the potluck without a dish to share.)

I worked with a horror novelist last year whose (successful) marketing efforts were focused totally on building his MySpace relationships. He sought out other MySpace users that were in his niche, or in some way related to his characters; then he simply introduced himself and started a dialog. A year later his books are flying off the virtual shelf because he took the time to build relationships.

Okay, I can already hear you saying “but I’m not an author, I’m marketing refurbished iPods!” Doesn’t matter. Relationships are relationships.

How to get started:

Find the virtual community where your target audience hangs out, and take the time to “build your house.” Engage in conversation, invite the neighbors over for dinner–meaning add interesting posts or comments about other people in the community whose work you admire, or whose comments are witty, or who wrote a brilliant tip. Offer up valuable information without being asked, and make sure what you write really IS valuable and not some rehashed crap that has “SALES” written all over it.

Stumped for how to start the online conversation? Just think about life outside the Internet and the people and businesses YOU respond to.

For example, if you’re out buying a flat screen TV, you’ll ignore the salesman who follows you all around the store and won’t leave you alone. Odds are, though, you’ll enjoy talking to the sales guy who takes the time to engage you in a conversation about your needs, the gear required for hook-up, and where you can get cheap video downloads.

Be real. After all, it’s all about relationships.