When I first started my home-based business, I heard that a great way to market your business for free was MySpace. Was there any better way to connect with millions of people for free? I didn't think so. With that in mind, I proceeded to spend hours making a profile that would portray who I was as both a person and an entrepreneur. Friend requests quickly started pouring in and I accepted only like-minded business people and a few close friends and family. After several weeks, I noticed that my friend profiles were slowly disappearing. I didn't understand why so many people would spend so much time creating a profile only to delete it. Well, it didn't take me long to realize that their profiles and all their hard work was being deleted due to spam.

Ah, spam...those awful e-mails that plague our inboxes trying to sell time shares, medicines from Canada, and many other things that very few will ever buy. So, I decided to take a look at the MySpace Terms and Conditions just to ensure that I too would not get deleted. What I found was a confusing mass of legal disclaimers, limitations, and regulations. Who could understand it even if they did take the time to read all ten pages? As far as I can tell from the Terms and Conditions, you simply aren't allowed to advertise unless you have been endorsed or authorized by MySpace. Since MySpace relies completely on paid advertisements, the likelihood that you will be endorsed would probably fall in the range of slim to none.

Marketing on MySpace really does work. A woman working for the same network marketing company as me made several thousand dollars in one month all with free MySpace advertising. Unfortunately for her, she was eventually deleted due to spam as well. So, after speaking with several people regarding how they market on MySpace and do not get deleted, I have come up with a few suggestions.

First and foremost, when you are setting up your profile, be sure that it not only says something about your business, but yourself as well. In almost any industry, self branding is imperative. Some people accept every person that requests to be on their friend list. Others, like myself, look at the person's profile to find out what we may have in common. I think most people have looked at the profile of a person requesting them as a friend and asked themselves "What interest would you have in requesting me as a friend? We have absolutely nothing in common". Unless I see that we have something in common, I always deny the request.

When looking for potential customers/clients to add to your friends list, try and find something that you have in common with them prior to sending them a friend request. In your friend request write a personalized note and make a comment about their profile. This lets them know that you actually took the time to read it. Example: "Hey John, I noticed that you're involved in network marketing. I would like to have you on my friend list so that maybe we can trade ideas". Using the MySpace search tools make it easy to find a common interest. Robert Kiyosaki, one of the country's best known entrepreneurs, is listed as a friend on my profile. I could also easily find other entrepreneurs and business people by looking through his long list of friends. Although this is obviously time consuming to do, it will result in a more quality friends list.

Targeted advertising is extremely important. Just for the sake of an example, I will explain what happened to me when I first went live with my profile. Within hours, I was receiving messages from people trying to sell their product. I am a single mother of three children and I was receiving e-mails from a scantily clad female encouraging me to go check out her website. She even told me in the e-mail that I just might be lucky enough to see naked pictures of her. Of course, I immediately reported it as spam. Although this is an extreme example, it just shows how not targeting your audience could result in deletion of your profile.

However, it does not end at getting them on your friends list. Many people make the mistake of adding a friend and then bombarding them with information about their business and trying to make an immediate sale. The whole point of taking the time to get to know things about a person through their profile is to really make a connection with them. It takes more than an approved friend request to make that connection. Once you have them on your friends list, get to know the person and let them get to know you before you start trying to make a sale. There needs to be a degree of trust between you and your potential customer/client. Most internet savvy people are well aware of the fact that there are many scammers out there waiting to steal their money. Don't get me wrong...there is no need to get to know a person inside and out prior to pitching your product, but people do need to know that you are trustworthy.

When using MySpace don't forget about the groups. Joining a group is a good way to market yourself and your product. Starting a topic on a forum or posting to an already existing forum will get your name out there as an expert in the field. I do not recommend just posting an advertisement for your business. Research a topic that others may be interested in and then summarize what quality information you found. There are literally thousands of topics that you could write about related to any business. If you are involved in network marketing, such as myself, you could write about keyword research, tax write off's for home based businesses, or even something as basic as a review of a service that network marketers often use such as GoDaddy.com.

Last, but certainly not least, for goodness sakes check the spelling and grammar of anything that you write even if it is just a short email!!! I cannot stress this enough. No one will look down on you for spelling all of your words correctly, but many people will totally disregard you for misspellings and poor grammar. It is important to present yourself as a competent leader in your field. Telling someone you "apreciete they're bisines" will not get you very far.

The possibilities with MySpace are endless and because the advertising is free, you really have nothing to lose aside from your time. While most of this may seem very basic to many, people obviously do not know the information or do not care. In the end, people are simply trying to rush sales instead of taking the time to target their audience, brand themselves, and build a trusting relationship with potential customers.