Secrets to Success Deborah Cole Micek and John-Paul Micek

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How to pimp your space on MySpace

Last week I gave you some hints as to how to edit your profile on your My-Space page. Now let's "pimp" your site to give you more marketing potential.

One of the first things you will see on my MySpace site is a video. It's from when I and my husband, John-Paul, were speaking in Singapore. It allows people to get to know what we're all about.

One of the first things you can do is add a favorite video that has a message -- about your philosophy on life, for example.

MySpace makes it easy because you don't have to do a lot of research. If you see something cool on other MySpace pages, look below and generally you will be able to see how the member set it up. Just copy the procedure.

Another suggestion is to handwrite --yes, handwrite (You do remember how to do that, don't you?) -- a letter, giving your site a personal touch. Scan your handwritten letter to create an image of it; or, if your handwriting is illegible, write a letter on your computer, create a screenshot, and load it on your site. You won't see anything below it, since it's just an image that was uploaded.

Whatever emotion you want to trigger is what you want to implement on your MySpace page. For example, I like making people laugh, I like them to feel good. This is illustrated by the dancing penguin I loaded onto my MySpace page.

Pimped out pages have bullets, colors, quizzes top friends and comments. Comments cannot be "pimped out." The only control you have in this area is to accept or deny a comment.

You can find ideas for anything you may want to do on your page by doing a Google search. Go to ProfileBling.com, Pimp-My-Profile.com, PimpMySpace. com or get videos on How to MySpace at: MySpaceGameGuide.com.

Warning: Some places are not really there to help you "pimp your layout." Any time you go to a site and pop-ups come up, leave it, close it out, delete your cookies, so the pop-ups stop coming up, and don't use their site. They are hackers and they'll grab code.

Avoid getting hacked by changing your password regularly.

Don't be tempted by every pimp-out feature. Don't be too different from the tribe; although originality acts as a persuasion trigger.

A few important points to remember:

Choose a layout that let's your words stand out. Layouts without defined areas for text may cause your text to be washed out.

And last but not least, when the online indicator is active, it provides you with a great opportunity to interact with MySpace Friends. Send e-mails and post comments to their sites. This is word-of-mouth marketing in 2007. Use it. You'll be amazed at the results you get.