BlogWorld Expo is on at the moment and there are several places running commentary on what’s happening. WebProNews has a good summary of the events, one of which caught my eye. It reports on Don Crowther, founder of SMARTS, and his views on using social media to bring traffic to your Web sites.

He quoted some interesting figures. If your primary aim is to obtain traffic from Google or any of the other search engines then perhaps you should consider these statistics:

Statistics show that Facebook is almost as big as Google in pageviews. YouTube is double in page views according to Alexa. Facebook adds 100-250K new viewers each day.

Those number put social media at least on a par with the search engines. The real question is whether or not that traffic can be leveraged to deliver more traffic. Users that access search engines do so because they are looking for information. Users that access social media do so for a variety of reasons including just socializing. Information is not necessarily their prime motive. Having said that, there is certainly scope for trying to market your wares through some of the social sites around.

Crowther suggested a few social media tools that should be used to gain traffic. I am not sure I would agree with all of them.

Squidoo was his number one option. I covered this a little while ago (Have You Researched Squidoo For Social Marketing?). I am not to sure about the traffic generated, however there are a lot of marketers who use it and swear by it.

HubPages was his second tip. The danger with HubPages is that it can quite quickly outrank your own site for the same keywords. That would be fine if you could openly link back to your own pages. Don’t write hubs with keywords that will steal traffic from your own pages.

Create your own wiki was the third option. This may work well for some however it may also be out of the league for many.

There followed the usual players in Twitter, Facebook, Digg and creating your own video. If you are looking for traffic that converts then don’t rely on Digg, or StumbleUpon for that matter either. The reports from BlogWorld Expo make interesting reading and provide an insight into how some of the bigger players use web 2.0 to advance their businesses.

A different marketing gimmick that is creeping into many businesses, particularly bricks and mortar businesses, is to establish a catchy URL, set up a page on Myspace, and have that URL redirect to the Myspace page.

A slightly different twist to alternative domain names that all redirect to the one main domain. It’s a clever marketing ploy, particularly for bricks and mortar businesses as a page on Myspace can be easier to establish than creating a web site from scratch. After all, you are after traffic to your products in the stores, not necessarily your web site.

SmallBusinessNewz has a post on a slightly different topic, making use of your packaging, where they described one company’s promotion of their URL which does redirect to Myspace.

Orbit’s strategy is a little different. The URL they provided does not simply go to the Orbit product page at wrigley.com (the site of Wrigley, it’s manufacturer), it goes to GoodCleanFeeling.com, which surprisingly redirects to a MySpace page.

The Myspace page has video clips, downloadable ringtone, competitions and wallpapers. All promotional material for Wrigley’s. As a marketing move, it is clever. You have the offline promotion of a friendly URL – GoodCleanFeeling.com – A Myspace page that offers a lot to the visitor, and an online promotion tool through Myspace it self. Clever use of Web 2.0 philosophies. No wonder they have over 1300 friends.

Social networking is one of the hallmarks of Web 2.0, however many businesses have found entry into this environment confusing and daunting. Its that first step that has been the most daunting of all, and not without good reason.

The question asked is whether or not they need to be involved in the social networking or social marketing scene or any other aspect of Web 2.0. Most consultants would reply that you can not afford to not be involved. The real truth is somewhere in between, and no, I am not sitting on the fence.

Every business can benefit from involvement in Web 2.0 social involvement. However, not every aspect will suit every business. The key to getting a start is knowing where to start and which of the many social sites could be used to promote your interests.

Professional services can help make those first Web 2.0 steps and help you gain a presence on the sites that will be of most benefit to your business interests. This could, in the early stages, be the creation of a blog with simple submissions to directories and social bookmarking sites.

The future of any online business will now hinge on how well they can use Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, social bookmarking sites along with their involvement in social networking. Is Web 2.0 for everyone, you can betcha blog on it!

Web 2.0 is well and truly entrenched and talk now centers around the where-to-from-here concepts. Web 3.0 or is it going to be web 2.5 – hang on, I am still trying to get used to web 2.0 and the philosophy that drives it.

Whenever we talk about web 2.0 and the flood of social bookmarking sites, the one theme creeps up every time: provide value to your list of social buddies. This leads me to wonder. What is driving web 2.0? Is it the web site owner who is trying to market themselves, and ultimately their web site and its products, or is the consumer looking for information that will validate any decisions they make.

I know many will argue, and quite rightly too, that web 2.0 is not about the commercial aspect, it is all about the social side of things. Being able to connect with anyone around the world. Share information, photos, videos, music (?) and much more. However, let’s be realistic, commerce has invaded the social landscape and is quickly learning how to manipulate it.

My title asked the question, ‘what’s in it for me’ and it seems that this philosophy drives the commerce side of social bookmarking. Our interaction needs to be on a value adding basis. When you request an individual to add you to their list, the value adding philosophy points to the ‘what’s in it for me’ attitude.

If you want me to add you to my list of buddies: Why? What do you have to offer that the other 20 requests don’t? How much value to me is there in adding you to my buddy list?

These questions are rarely thought through consciously, they are generally automatic thoughts that get answered fairly quickly. We humans, particularly males, tend to make these decisions quickly, often on the spur of the moment. Remember, first impressions really do count.

You maybe wondering what the point of this article is. Very simply, as the web 2.0 social environment becomes more and more crowded, you are going to find more reject slips than acceptances. This is going to be exacerbated by the trend of limiting the number of buddies or contacts you can have in your list.

The only way to avoid this is by demonstrating, in very simple terms, what value there is in adding you to my buddy list. If I see no value, I am going to pass you by. Answer the ‘what’s in it for me’ question and you will make friends. Follow through, and you will stay friends.

So tell me, when it comes to web 2.0 and social networking, ‘what’s in it for me?’

“And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.” – from the nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”

If Mary = online technology, then the Lamb = Mashable. If you want to be in on everything in Web 2.0 from the beginning, subscribe to the Mashable feed. You’ll get a bite of information about everything happening in the tech world. You can skim 98% of it quickly, and you can click on a link for the other 2% that really applies to you. Very useful tool.

One feature that you will regularly find some gems in is the Mashable interview. Mark Hopkins goes all over the Web 2.0 landscape to find great, useful information. Some examples of what Mark presented at Mashable in the last week of March:

JamBase: 10 years online, a database of 1 million listings, the original social network for live music lovers & producers. Interviewed the owner of JamBase on how a long-time website adapts to the constantly changing social media.

FriendFeed: Mark talked with FriendFeed founders, Paul Buchheit and Bret Taylor about their new FriendFeed API service.

crowdSPRING: a virtual marketplace to find the creative talent to do any digital job you can think of. Mark interviews Co-founders Ross Kimbarovsky and Mike Sampson to find how they have taken the idea of sites like GetAFreelancer and eLance to a whole new level.

Tremor Media: a video advertising company targeting mid- to large-size publishers. Jason Glickman, Tremor CEO, talks about the challenges of video advertising.

Kidzui: New browser targeted for kids age 6 to 11, Mark interviews AJ, his 6-year-old son, and has him play with the browser for an hour and give his thoughts and experiences.

If you want a wide-view lens capture of Web 2.0, go to Mashable and get their feed. It’s a must.