You may have tried to market your products, services or business on myspace but quickly became discouraged and determined that myspace marketing "doesn't work".

My guess is you went at it in the wrong way.

When you are marketing at myspace you have to sell YOURSELF, not your stuff. You can sell yourself by using your story. People will identify with you and your story and be more open to what you have to say.

Here are the quick 8 steps to build an effective myspace profile

It's all about the pictures.

The first step is to build a slide show of your interests, family, friends whatever it is you like. Place your slideshow at the very top of your profile.

This does a couple things. It gets people interested (people love pictures).

It keeps them on your page. It makes them want to know more about your ~ or lets them know you have nothing in common ~ which is fine too.

Please don't build a slideshow of a ferrari, and a house in the hills. (unless of course you actually own them). This screams marketer and people will click off your page very quickly. I know I do.

You can make these free slideshows easily, either directly through your mypsace photo section or you can use sites like RockYou, or Web Shots

The next thing you want to do is build some credibility.

This comes from letting people know you are a real person. You can do this by talking about things you have accomplished in your life.

It doesn't matter what it is, whether you won the spelling bee in third grade, or you made double platinum gold star status in your business.

No matter what you have done in your life I almost gaurantee there are others who are looking to do the same, and will relate to you quite well for having accomplished what you have.

Let people know! and NO don't tell them you've come to sell them a bunch of stuff.

That simply won't work.

If you are looking for people with similar interests, or are like minded you can certainly tell them that.

It could be related to your niche, or because you live in the middle of nowhere like me!

This is an important part of my story marketing. Your History. Where have you been and what have you done, and how did it all make you the person you are today.

Did you grow up poor? Did you grow up rich? Did you have 15 dogs and a camel? How did your past shape you into who you are today?

Let people know where you are coming from, it gives them just one more way to connect with you and feel like they know you and can understand you.

This is the part of your profile where you want to share your story. Did you go through ten companies before you found one that works?

Are you the parent of a spirited toddler? Just tell people your story. Be open and honest about your life.

No matter what your story I bet there are other people who have been through similar things.

AND if you are targeting your friends list and looking to connect with people who have similar interests they will connect with your story even better.

So you've been through some stuff in your life, and now I'm hoping things are going better ~ at least for the sake of your story I hope they are.

Now you want to share with people your solution, what it was that turned things around for you.

This is a chance to introduce people to the fact you might be able to help solve their problems.

Please don't put your marketer hat on here and start talking about how great this business is and how it saved your life and let you earn thousands overnight while you slept.

Mention that you found something that solved your problem and how it helped do that.

Keep it low key, and in fact, don't even mention the name of your product, service or business.

What do you want them to do now?

Tell them!

If you want them to call you, visit your website, send you a message it doesn't matter, just tell them what you want them to do.

So many marketers make this mistake. They fail to realize that people often don't know what to do next. If you tell them they will be more likely to do it.

Remember, you are an expert on YOU and you need to sound like one.

No wishy washy calls to action.

If you want people to call you then say call me now. Go for it!

I always give people an out. If they are uncomfortable with calling, or are just worried they are going to get "sold" when they get on the phone I give them a website they can go to and get some initial information.

This site is NOT my business site. I have created a free blogger blog where I talk more about my experience with the product/service/business. I answer frequently asked questions on that site, and let them go to the product from there and I give them another call to action to call me.

They either call me where I can talk to them and let them know I REALLY am a real person, or they go and buy my product and get started.

The most important part of myspace markeitng ~ after building a great profile is having a great friends list.

It is best to create a targeted friends list. This means look for specific people with specific interests or needs, and invite ONLY those people.

It is much easier to market to a targeted group of people, than to a list of people who have nothing in common.

Here's how I figured this out. I had a myspace profile with a bunch of different people on it, men, women, parents, non parent, breastfeeders, forumula feeders.

I am a huge proponent of breastfeeding and frequently send out breastfeeding related comments. I use a myspace friend adder software to send my comments and quickly realized it was very difficult to send out a comment without possibly offending someone!

So I went through the profile and deleted all the men, and non parents. I then targeted breastfeeders and attachement parents for that profile.

I hope this hub has helped you learn a little more about effectively marketing at myspace.