Many top social sites have Q&A sections that business owners can take advantage of to find out about people’s needs. There are also Q&A only websites out there that can be used to mine product ideas. If you are stuck or are just looking to improve your existing products, these 5 Q&A websites you need to take advantage of:

LinkedIn Answers: the best place to find out about people’s needs and wants. LinkedIn is a more formal network than Facebook and Twitter. That means you are less likely to get silly questions on that site.

Answer Bag: includes plenty of questions/answers as well as polls you can take advantage of to find more business opportunities. The debate section is useful too.

Facebook Questions: an exciting new service by Facebook that will let Facebook community ask and answer questions like never before. Social Q&A is even better for those looking for new business ideas.

Questions.com: a search engine for questions and answers discussions on the Internet. Its premium plan lets you create your own branded Q&A website on your own domain.

Quora: another powerful social Q&A website that is easy to use and has a lot of potential. You can use this service to ask questions, find answers to yours, do your research, and even build relationship with others in this community.

In order to build or expand your business, you are going to need to listen and do it hard. The above services can help you do just that.

You can’t become a Facebook guru in one night. But there are simple steps you can take to take your business to the next level. If you are new to Facebook and have no idea how to get more out of it to take your business to the next level, here are 10 easy-to-implement tactics that should give you ideas:

1. Make a Professional-looking Facebook page: have you seen those Facebook pages that are all over the place. There is nothing wrong with that if it’s your personal Facebook profile that is messy and full of useless content. But your business page should focus on things that matter to your audience. The looks matter too. Your Facebook page could leave a long lasting impression on your prospects, so be careful what you show on your pages. It also never hurts to invest some money to put up a more professional looking Facebook page.
2. Add Interactive Applications: setting up a Facebook page should not be the only step you take to push your business. Don’t ignore some of those apps that can make it all more interactive for your Facebook fans. No silly apps though.
3. Throw Facebook Giveaways: Facebook giveaways can be very effective, if done right. We are not talking about those fake Facebook giveaways. Having exclusive giveaways for your Facebook fans can help spread the word about your business and increase your friends on the site. Don’t forget to read the terms and conditions of Facebook on contests.
4. Optimize Facebook Page for SEO: The text on your Facebook page does matter to search engines. So does the custom URL that you choose for your page. Some FB apps can help you even do more in this regard. It never hurts to get visitors from search engines for free.
5. Measure and track Interactions: this is a no brainer. Why would you want to set up a Facebook page and ignore things that happen on it. Treat it as your own web page. If you go through your website’s statistics on a consistent basis, you should do the same with your Facebook page (using tools such as dlvr.it never hurts).
6. Add a Like Button To Your Website: if you have lots of useful content/pages on your website, you should take time to add Facebook Like Button to those pages. It does help your pages get more traffic and go viral on Facebook.
7. Add a Like Box To Your Web Page: one of the best ways to increase the number of your friends on Facebook is by giving your visitors a simple tool to connect with you and your business. Facebook Like Boxes are a good place to start if you want to use your website’s traffic to enhance your Facebook presence.
8. Promote Business with Facebook Ads: Facebook Ads may not be as popular as Google Adwords, but it could be much cheaper and can give you a good bang for your buck (if you play your cards right). There is no reason not to advertise on Facebook, especially when it can be fairly cheap. Testing never hurts either.
9. Enable Facebook Comments: if you own a blog, you want to take time to integrate Facebook comments into your blog. Your visitors do not want to remember too many things when commenting on blogs. Everybody remembers their Facebook information. Businesses can increase their Facebook traffic by taking advantage of this functionality.
10. Link Other Social Profiles: there is a good chance Facebook is not the only place you are focused on as a small business owner. Twitter, Posterous, and other services have their benefits as well. It never hurts to link all your social media profiles and give your friends ways to follow you on those sites.

There you have it. These tips are not ground-breaking or too complicated, but they can make a big difference. Facebook is still underrated among small business owners. So take advantage your business has fallen too far behind.

Paul Dunay has done such a wonderful job with his presentation on this topic, that everyone should take time to go over his recommendations on this subject.

1. CafePress: I have talked about CafePress and how you can make money from it in the past. By using Facebook, you can sell products on Facebook and put more money in your pocket. Here is the app that lets you do just that.

2. AppBank: lets you create your own Facebook app and make money online that way. You can create your own viral app and make money from ads.

3. eBay: a lot of people are making lots of money from eBay. If you happen to be a power-seller and have mastered the art, you can’t afford to not use Facebook to your advantage.

4. Garage Sale: a cool little app for Facebook that lets you create your e-garage sale event online and sell your items to your friends and those who know you.

5. My Merch Store: if you have used Zazzle in the past, you are going to love using My Merch Store to host your own stores on Facebook and start making some money without taking on too much risk.

Whether you are creating your own product and want to market it on Facebook or just want to gain more exposure for your existing business, there is no reason Facebook can’t help you. And the above 5 methods are by no means the only ways you can make money on Facebook. As long as you are creative and can think outside the box, Facebook is your goldmine.

Driving traffic to your online venture should be one of your top priorities. Your goal should be to get your conversion rates as high as feasible to make a profit with your business, but a conversion rate of 100% does not lead to a profitable business. In fact, any number like that probably means that you are not doing a good job driving enough traffic to your website. You can always try SEO and pay per click marketing to increase traffic to your business and generate leads, but what a lot of entrepreneurs are not paying attention to is the power of Facebook Ads. It’s true that being involved in Facebook and having your own fan page up and running can generate leads for you. But in order to really make it on Facebook, you’ve got to take a more aggressive approach. Facebook Ads is a very exciting ad system that lets you target Facebook users by their birthday, how they are interacting with your pages, their age, and even their marital status. These are all invaluable information that can help you reach a more targeted set of prospects.

There are many Facebook ad strategies that you can use to make money online, but you don’t have to be a genius to get started pushing your brand on Facebook. You do need to create a page for your business before getting started. A lot of entrepreneurs that are using Facebook only drive traffic to their own websites. But you should compare your conversions rates from your fan pages and your home page to find out which one is more suitable for Facebook traffic. Once you have done that, you are ready to take advantage of Facebook’s Ad system:

What I like about Facebook Ads is the fact that is very simple to use. So you don’t have to be genius to get started with it. You do want to take time to read the guidelines to find out what you can and can’t do on Facebook. The people behind this system are very strict, and they won’t hesitate to remove your ads if you are not compliant with their policies. You also want to test image ads versus text-only ads to figure out which works the best for your situation.

So let’s get down to the nitty gritty. You should use the targeting section to maximize your conversion rate and get the most bang for your buck. Unlike other ad systems, you can get lots of clicks in a short period of time, and you are not careful you can burn through a month of budget in one day. So you want to set up your daily budget right, and you also want to make sure that you are not getting useless traffic. The birthday targeting feature is a great way to offer people discounts for their birthday. The same applies to connections. People who are already part of your fan page should be dealt differently than the ones you want to attract to your side.

I usually stay conservative with my bids to test the waters and find out what people feel about my ads. If I get too few clicks, I’ll increase my bids or try a new campaign. You certainly want to test as many things as possible to maximize your band for the buck. You also want to get your campaign structure done right. Don’t every ad under one campaign. It pays to have a clear campaign structure. It not only saves you time but helps you better track things.

All in all, Facebook Ads is a wonderful system for people who need traffic and leads for their business. Unlike what most people think, you can generate a lot of leads using Facebook if you play your cards right. You can always try advanced Facebook strategies out there but first you’ve got to get the basics done. Creating a fan page, your first ads, and testing the waters is the least you can do.

Everybody is talking about the social media these days. Just a few days ago we had Kutcher vs. CNN in the first Twitter challenge. The goal was to reach one million users on Twitter and also contribute to a great cause in the process. The social media industry may be maturing, but there is still a lot of money to be earned. Let’s not forget that as great as Facebook, FriendFeed, and Twitter are, they are not perfect. You all probably remember myspace and its dominance a few years ago. Where is it now? It’s barely holding on. Things change quickly in the social media, and that means entrepreneurs are always going to have the opportunity to make money with their products and services. If you are willing to learn new things and think outside the box, there is no limit to how much you can earn in this industry. With that in mind, here are a few ways to make money online from the social media:

1. Paid applications: writing an application for Facebook and Twitter is one of the best ways to make money online. As long as you provide a unique value, there is no reason you can’t monetize your work.
2. Free applications: free applications can help you get a lot of traffic back to your site and even promote your other products. You can’t beat free.
3. Services: there are many services that you can provide to folks who want to get in on this whole social media thing. You can help them achieve more followers or promote their businesses online. You could teach them how to get started with the social media. Consulting and coaching is one of the best ways to make money in this market.
4. Videos: you can take your service to the next level by creating a video product that shows people how to do things. It’s more than consulting. It’s teaching a lot of people how to get things done.
5. Products: you can always create products that let people do more with the social media. This goes back to item number 1 but these products will address a set of needs. You can create a program that lets people grab information from various social media sites and track their reputation across these networks. The sky’s the limit here.
6. Corporate services: most corporations are still not on board with a lot of things that are going on in the social media. They are proactively looking for solutions that help them manage their reputation and get more out of Twitter and Facebook. What a better way to make money than offering these companies a solution they can work with.
7. Reports: you can always sell reports as long as you provide real value. You can also put together a book if you have gotten real results on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

There are many other ways you can make money on social networking sites. The sky’s the limit here. You can create all kinds of mashups and get more specific with the above tactics. Social media is here to stay. Why not make