Social networking is one of the most popular trends these days. Many small businesses and individuals participate in social activities and create lots of user-generated content on a consistent basis. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are all great websites that every small business owner needs to be involved on. In addition to those, there are niche social networking websites that you should take time to get familiar with and expand your presence on. But what if you want to create your very own social networking website? Maybe your niche is too narrow or nobody has thought about creating a social community around it. A few years ago, you would have needed serious funds to get it done, but the startup costs have come down significantly these days.

You won’t even have to start from scratch to go about launching your own social networking website. There are many open source and proprietary solutions that enable you to get the job done. In fact, here are 3 top social networking software that make starting a niche social networking service a piece of cake:

Ning: a year ago, I would have called Ning a service that was only useful to beginners. But the service has been improved in many ways, and it is so flexible anyone can use it to build a social portal or a community around a niche. You can not only create a social community on the site, you can also use your own domain (for some additional fee) to take better control of your social network. Continue reading 3 Ways To Start Your Own Social Networking Website

So you are taking the plunge and starting your own online business? Things look easier and more fun when you are doing them on the paper. But once you get out in the world, things are not as easy as you imagined them to be. Whether you are a blogger, a small online business owner, or own an established e-business, your business is going to be susceptible to lawsuits and all kinds of issues that could pop out of nowhere. You have to take time to plan ahead to stay prepared for tough times ahead.

Thankfully, there are business protection services out there that help you manage these issues easier. In fact, here are 5 services that help protect your business and personal assets so you can focus more on your core competencies:

MyCorporation: don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t need to incorporate. If you want to do business online, the last thing you want to do is leave yourself and personal assets susceptible to lawsuits. LLC is a no brainer for most folks. But do your research and choose the structure that provides you with maximum protection. MyCorporation helps you do the registration, annual reports, and more.

LegalZoom: one of the most handy services for businesses on the market. I am no legal expert and nor most of you. If you can’t afford a lawyer or just want to save some money in the process when it comes to registering your own patents, LegalZoom is a great place to start.

LifeLock: a very popular service that keeps track of your credit history and protects your personal information and your business against ID theft attacks. The last thing you want to deal with in your small business is ID theft. This service is actually very cheap and keeps you protected. No such service is 100% foolproof but this one makes it harder for others to take advantage of your identity. And you are protected by up to $1,000,000. Continue reading 5 Services That Help Protect Your Business Assets

So you own a niche online business? Whether you are selling your own product, own a niche portal, or a niche affiliate marketer, you are going to do your research and put real effort into it if you want succeed online. So investing in a research tool to help you along the way is not such a bad idea. The good news is that there are a few free tools that you can use to help you get a more comprehensive research done. The bad news is there is no way around the process. So if you want to succeed online, you’ve got to do your research and keep track of trends.

If you are a niche business owner looking to take your research to the next level, here are 5 research tools that you should take advantage of:

Facebook Lexicon: a lot of newbie niche marketers are not paying too much attention to social networking sites such as Facebook. But these sites are great places to look for trends and find out valuable information. Facebook Lexicon lets you do just that.

Twendz: Twitter is another place to look for trends and find out what people are talking about online. Twendz is a cool free tool that lets you do your research on Twitter and keep an eye out on the upcoming trends.

Market Samurai: an Adobe Air application designed specifically for portal developers and niche marketers. It’s not a free tool like the above tools, but it brings a lot of things together and lets you better manage your content creation and promotion process. Continue reading 5 Cool Research Tools for Niche Online Businesses

There are thousands of social networking sites available on the Internet these days, and everyday a few more pop out of nowhere. Every business, whether large and small, should take time to get familiar with those networks that can provide it with a decent return on investment. Small businesses, especially, need to be involved in the popular social networking sites in their niche to get the word out about their business and save money in the process. But even if you are not interested in pursuing social networking services at this point, you should take time to register your brand name.

Going through hundreds of websites to search for your name and reserve your name can be time consuming. Not if you are using some of the social media profile management tools that are available. They not only save you time reserving your brand name across the social media, they make the process painless. If you are looking for such a tool, here are 4 social media username tools you should check out:

NameChk: lets you find out whether your favorite username (which should be your brand name) is taken on those popular social networking websites.

My Friends Call Me: very similar to the above tool. I do love the fact that it classifies the social networks so you know which one applies to your niche. It’s pretty slick too. Continue reading How To: Secure Your Name Across Social Media