Here are the Top 10 Social Networking sites that drive the most traffic, as per Vertical Measures blog post. OK, so there are really 16; who’s counting? This is mandatory reading! Check out these sites and decide which ones make the most sense for your online marketing strategy.

1. LinkedIn

2. Merchant Circle

3. Facebook

4. Twitter

5. Yelp

6. Plaxo

7. Fast Company

8. MyWikiBiz

9. Ecademy

10. Spoke

11. 123People

12. BxBusinessWeek

13. Fast Pitch Networking

14. ZoomInfo

15. Google Profile

16. Naymz

Although poorly written, this is a very good article about the relationship between quality content and link popularity in achieving high ranking in the search engines. Most of us know that quality content – defined as valuable, unique and keyword rich content – is one of the most important criteria search engines use for ranking. Even more important, though, is link popularity. And how are they connected?

That’s the gist of the article, and rather than put my spin on it, I’ll let you read the article and see for yourself how the author cleverly explains the relationship between the two, how good content, in fact, leads to improved link popularity.

So how do you measure ROI for your social media marketing efforts? This is a question all business owners who experiment with social media sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook must ask themselves. Or if you have someone managing your social media marketing campaigns – what criteria do you use to measure results?

In a blog post entitled Looking for clear-cut social media ROI? There’s an SEO for that!, the author, Hugo Guzman, claims that you can calculate the ROI of your social media efforts by correlating the relationship of these efforts with the improvement in search engine rankings. Simply stated, social media marketing improves SEO, which increases website or blog visitors, which increases leads, which increases conversions (or sales).

Truly, it’s a lot more complex than this, and Guzman lays out a very convincing case for the importance of social media marketing. You be the judge, though, and determine for yourself if your business can benefit from marketing on the various social media sites.

In this article, Rhonda Abrams, a writer for USA Today, asks the question that many of us involved in social media are asking:  Is social media money-making machine or is it just a bunch of hype?

Abrams cites the example of small company in California, which has built a thriving business as a result of the owner spending “about five around hours a month” working social media sites.

According to Abrams, “The truth is that social media marketing for small businesses can work. Or, it can be a colossal waste of time. Like every other part of your business, it doesn’t just happen, it takes work and strategy.”

How can you make social media work for your small business? To summarize:

• Get beyond Facebook and Twitter

• Develop a niche

• Keep LinkedIn up-to-date

• Make a commitment

• Understand your goals

• Watch review sites

If you’re trying to figure out a social media strategy for your business this is a “must” read.

With all the buzz about social media marketing, we’re all asking ourselves: How can my business benefit from Social Media Networking? This article briefly touches on three social media platforms – Twitter, LinkedIn, and Blog – and explains how important it is to create the right social media personality for your business. This is not by any means a complete tutorial for using these platforms, but for the novice (or as a refresher) it is has some good information.