I find myself actually spending more time in chat rooms these days than at almost any other point in my internet life.. Except for that 2 years where I was completely addicted to Utopia and all communications happened in IRC..

As I find myself spending more and more time in the marketing world I’ve found myself hanging out in the WebMaster Radio IRC room chatting with other marketers and webmasters.. And while hanging out with them is great, I’ve discovered that quite a few of them have actually been turning their chat room hangouts into profit centers as they gather new clients based on online chat.. Who knew??

This got me to thinking, who else is making money through chat?? Turns out the MLM / Affiliate guys are all over online chat.. I’ve managed to find rooms all over the place, but no real centralized MLM / Affiliate / WAHM site dedicated to something other than teen chat and people looking for a hookup.. I wonder if there is a market for it?? And if there is, how do you monetize it other than forcing everyone in to a crappy java client where you can force advertising on them?? Or do you provide it as a free service as part of your affiliate management site for your downlines??

While I’m talking about chat rooms, a friend of mine has opened a portal to another chat service.. Just thought I’d put that out there and give him a little love while I’m debating the merits of stepping into a chat room and asking a/s/l..

Do you know of any industry specific chat rooms or chat servers that focus on various vertical markets?? I’d love to know about them if for nothing else than to just see what’s out there..

Wow, look at all the categories this one drops in to.

Just a quick note to let the loyal readership, all three of you, that I’ve decided to expand my company again and branch out from a single customer jeweler / web guy and hang out my developer shingle again..

Large Orange Pop is the name of my new internet marketing company and will be a sub division of SG Design Studio.. I’ll be offering internet market help, SEO, and web development as appropriate and needed.. While I have no real intention to stop “doing the jewelry thing” I find I miss the fun of helping build up a new business online and look forward to working 90 hours a week again.. Well, maybe not that last part so much..

I expect the marketing / SEO parts of this website to be absorbed in to LOP shortly, and hopefully this site will go back to being a little more fun with some geek stuff and generic weirdness..

I’m off to get my intravenous caffeine port hooked up -

I am constantly seeing articles and blog posts from internet marketers touting the discovery of being friendly online for sales. Advice on how to join a community and be active, for sales. Or simply not being rude, for sales. Why is this news?

There are huge numbers of us that have been, and continue to be, active members of all sorts of online communities, not just because we happen to get a few sales, and maybe a few links, but because we actually enjoy hanging out with the people there. I’m an active member of several online jewelry communities. (Bangles and Brides - Better than Diamond - etc.) I’m actually friends with quite a few people there. And as a nice side effect, some of them actually buy jewelry from me.

But I didn’t go in there hoping to sell them something. I went in there to share what I know, and talk about something that I enjoy doing. To do otherwise is simply using those people to try to make a buck. And, big surprise here, it’s easy to spot when it does happen. I don’t care how subtle you think you are, when you come in to a community with the intent of whoring yourself or your product, it is spotted and the hidden part of the community sees you for what you are, a common shill. And just about any chance you had of selling your product is reduced to almost nothing.

And believe me, we do talk about you and spread the word.

So if you want to join a community, do it. But do it for the right reasons. Go in with the intent to share your knowledge and help others. To share your experiences and your hobbies. Not to try to separate the members from their cash, or their linkjuice. It just makes you a dirty whore.