I wanted to do this blog to include just some basic Do�s and Don�ts of Yuwie that I follow. You can read Yuwie all day and get conflicting information and be more confused than when you began. That�s why I always laugh when someone says �Listen to me, I know what I am talking about� because you can really only talk about what works for you. You cannot say it is the only way, or best way. You can just say it is your way. So I am not trying to say that my guidelines are right, I�m saying they work for me. Use what you want, discard what you don�t want. I hope that makes sense. I apologize for it being long. Just read it in stages or skim the bold sections to see if it interests you or not. I know it is a lot to digest all at once, but this blog will be here for reference in the future too.

Friend Requests � Whenever you request a new friend, the email serves as a reminder to go and leave that new friend a comment. Some people think that the new friend should leave the comment, but if you have a lot of friends in your list, it will be too difficult to remember all the names of the new friends you just accepted. Whenever I accept an add request, I wait for the new friend to comment me because I know they have received the reminder email to tell them I approved it.

Treat your page like a storefront window - Your page is your prime real estate. Remember for most of us, this is a business. Treat your page like a business. I realize you want your page to reflect your individualism, but you can limit your resources by turning people off to your page by putting offensive materials on your page. If you owned a brick and mortar business, are they things that you would put up in your storefront window for customers to see? If a customer sees something offensive or unprofessional, they might just take their business elsewhere. If you keep your page limited to only close friends, then it is fine to put whatever you want up within Yuwie rules, but if you have a diverse group of friends then consider this when placing items on your page.

Layouts & Backgrounds - While I agree that everyone should have backgrounds to their profile and put some personal pizzazz on it, too much can take an extremely long time to load, and I for one will not visit a page regularly that locks up my system. At the top of your page is a clickable icon titled �layouts�. You can click on that and it brings you up to all the layouts available on Yuwie. You can search by subject to narrow it, or even by category to the right of screen. Make sure when you find one you like you click �Use this layout� or it is just a preview. You can also create your own layout if you have a code or are creative, just go to edit your profile and choose layouts template there.

Html comments � I realize that some of you are going to say how much you despise them, they are not personal, or they are too big sometimes. Again, if you are keeping your circle of friends just to people you know then this is fine. But if you are trying to build up your network of friends and page views, you are throwing away money by not allowing Html comments. I try to leave tons of comments everyday to give my friends page views. To accomplish this, I generally duplicate my comment in the form of an html comment. If I come to someone�s page that does not allow html frequently, I eventually stop going regularly and only go when I have the time to leave a written comment, which decreases their amount of profile/page views. I know there is a lot of Yuwbie�s just like me who do the same, so multiply those lost comments and you can be losing a significant number of views. Having said that though, use good judgment in choosing your html comment. If I am leaving them to people I don�t know well, I avoid comments with cursing, alcohol, politically incorrect, or risqu� people. I know you will NEVER PLEASE everyone, but just use your best judgment, think of it this way, would it be appropriate in the workplace? If not, then don�t leave it on everyone�s page, save it for people you know really well.

Photos � For me, when I read someone�s comments or email, I associate the personality of the comment along with the photo they have posted. It�s almost a connection you have seeing the person and reading the words. It is very hard to establish this connection if someone does not have a photo up, but rather the basic generic Yuwie default. The same is true for unmemorable photos of objects. If your photo is bland or boring, then it might not stick out in people�s minds to where they remember you as often to comment. Changing your photograph up from time to time will also help remedy this. But have something versus just the basic Yuwie default. Keep the photos in your album and your profile tasteful. If you are only marketing to one class of people, then you can be more edgy, but if you are trying to appeal to the masses, you have to consider this with your photos.

Communication � This is probably my biggest pet peeve with all social networking sites, specifically this one. I think sometimes we get far too comfortable sitting privately behind a computer screen and forget that basic communication rules apply when interacting on this site. I have witnessed people use very degrading tones and offensive lingo when trying to get across their point to an issue. There is a way of getting your point across without sounding condescending or arrogant. Just because you have a long downline, or you have been doing this longer than someone else, or because you just know you�re right, that does not give you the right to speak to people in a negative tone. In fact, if you are someone who has clout on Yuwie because of your status or results, you should hold yourself to an even higher standard of communication because you could turn people off to Yuwie much easier than someone who does not possess that same status. Treat people like they are YOUR customers to YOUR business. Hopefully you would NEVER talk to your customers in a degrading or holier than thou tone, don�t do it on Yuwie either.

Also, if someone sends you an email asking you questions on how to do something, be cordial and patient when explaining. I have actually emailed certain successful people on here to ask them questions and they either do not respond at all, or they respond so hurriedly they don�t even address what it is I asked in the first place or they type one sentence responses as if it was all they could do to manage that, which then makes me feel like they are too busy to help, so I never email them again. I believe in paying it forward. You got where you are for a reason, now pay it forward by sharing your knowledge, POLITELY and PROFESSIONALLY with others. But make sure it�s asked for too, don�t just take it upon yourself to start emailing everyone and tell them what they are doing wrong if they didn�t ask you in the first place. I have seen this happen too.

Patience and Understanding � Try to be more patient of other peoples differences. Allowing yourself to get upset over the trivial things, can quickly turn something fun into something you dread doing. I won�t go into them, but I�m sure you can think about it. Ask yourself, is this something that really is worth getting that upset over? Or is it something that I can just ignore and keep my focus on my business? I DESPISE being declined by people. I think it�s rude and no matter what people say, I do take it personal. But I can choose to get angry and start a discussion group about it going off, or I can choose to look at it with humor and get my point across by making people laugh, i.e. my �Declined� blog that everyone for the most part has loved.

Referrals � The main places that I get referrals are from MySpace, Facebook, CraigsList, and posting my links in discussion boards on the Internet. I also keep my top list reserved for my referrals so that they can get more promotion from my friends visiting my page. I also keep a referral add tree on my page where people can click and simply add my referrals with the click of a button. Before you start pimping out your referrals, first find out if they are here to make money or if they are here just to keep it social. I learned the hard way by promoting referrals who in turn declined several of my friends and then got emails from my friends asking me why I sent them to add someone who was going to decline them. This has also happened to me with others. Being declined is not a fun thing, so try to help your friends avoid it by not promoting one of your referrals who has no intention of accepting all requests.

Friends adding � I do not really participate in a lot of the Friend adders, or friendship chains, mostly for lack of time. One that has been really successful for me was the Wall of Friends. I don�t get as much from it now because I joined in the beginning, so my brick is buried among hundreds, but if you join now, your brick will be closer to the top and your potential for adds will be far greater. You can search it, or find it on my page in my clubs sections. I am sure there are others as well.

My order � Everyday, I sign on to my account; I first accept my new friend request for the day. Then I go to emails and comment all my new friends, rate anyone who has rated me, and respond to any emails that have been sent. Next I go back to my control panel and look at the blog comments and picture comments. I then check my referral tree to see if there are any new referrals I need to contact or add. Then I go to my comments and attempt to reply to all the comments that have been left. During this process, if I run into the �Captcha� security code, I move on to something else and come back because in a short while, the code goes away again. Once this is all done, I then start recruiting referrals. Some people do this the other way and that is fine for them. I feel though I should work with the people I already have first, they are my priority, and then go on to recruit new ones. It won�t do me any good to ignore my current referrals in the interest of building up my referral tree quick and fast. I can have the same results doing it slow and building a strong foundation of referrals. That�s just my opinion and I know there are those who disagree, which again, how you choose to do it, is up to you.

Page ranking � This is a very sensitive topic. A debate I have been involved in several times on Yuwie. There are those who say that if you are going to rank someone�s page, you should rank it honestly. Don�t give them all 10�s if you do not think it warrants a 10 or you are abusing the system in how it was intended!! Why would they put a 9, a 8, or lower if they wanted everyone to get 10�s. Well this is what I say to that. The guidelines for Yuwie in their help section say �page rankings serve no purpose, they are just for fun!!� So tell me, you�ve just spent 20-30 minutes on your new profile page, you�ve got everything where you want it, you are so proud of it. You open your email to a nice wonderful page ranking and there it is. A big ole fat 8. Is that fun? What fun is that?

I literally had someone say to me, �If someone gets upset over getting lower than an 10 on their ranking, then they have SEVERE ISSUES�, to which I could throw back at them �If someone puts so much emphasis on NOT RATING someone a 10 because they are abusing the system, then they have SEVERE ISSUES�. Seriously guys, did any of you receive special training to formally judge people�s profiles? I think it�s all subjective here. If you did receive special training, then I want to see you credentials first and then you can rate my page. Otherwise, if you feel it is morally wrong to give a 10 to someone�s page you do not like, just do not rate them at all. It�s more about respect and building positive relationships than it is making sure that person knows their page is too busy, or not creative. I would never go in someone�s house and start critiquing their decorating, so why would I go to their page and start critiquing it. I�m going to have fun, show you I was on your page, and give you a 10 because you deserve it. Just for being you.

Blogs � If you go to your control panel, then click on the �blogs� icon, and then click on �settings� you can set your page to show up to 10 blogs on your page at once, instead of the default 3 it gives you. In reference to blogs, use catchy titles that gather people�s attention. If you just put a boring title on the blog, it doesn�t entice people to want to go read it. It has to catch their attention and give them a reason to go read it. While I do think it�s important to post blogs regularly, do not just post blogs to post them, otherwise people will just get numb to reading them because you post more blogs they aren�t interested in than one�s they are. I have to be careful myself because I have two types of readers, I have readers who read my comedy blogs for entertainment, and readers who come to my page to find advice on Yuwie. So I have to appeal to both readers as often as I can. It is a challenge.

Content Layout � If you go to �edit profile� and then click on �layout� there will be a section to re-do the layout of the content on your page. You can move your comment box to the top of page, your friend�s list, put your blogs at the bottom, or your shout box? You can also move the stuff on the right of page around too. You just can�t move sections across. Find out what your main focus of your page is, and make the first thing people see. For me, it�s blogs so that stays at the top of my page.

Referral page views � One of my first questions when I first started was �Why does my home page referral views count NOT MATCH the total counts when I click on my referral tree levels and add them up. The number on my home page was always higher. I was surprised that no one had the answer to this question (or at least no one who answered). I did find out. The home page referral views are the most current and up to date count of your referrals page views. It updates every couple hours. The referral tree page count per person only updates each time that referral signs in. So when Jane Doe signs in on Monday and has 200 views, she plays around online and racks up another 500 views and signs out. The system will still show 200 for her until she signs in again the next time and then it will update to the 700 views. If you have a referral that is doing a great job, compliment them often. Don�t assume they know they are doing a good job.

Am I going to make any money? � You will get this a lot. It�s hard enough getting people you are trying to recruit to believe you are not crazy or trying to scam them, but sometimes you might end up with referrals who sign up, but still aren�t buying into the whole money making concept. They will tell you frequently that the system is too slow, they don�t like this, they don�t like that, or it�s just too hard to get referrals. Funny thing is, they will usually say this in their first month or two. Just politely say to them something like �This is not a get rich quick scheme. This takes work and commitment but the more you put into early on, the more it will give back to you later. What�s your alternative, quitting and going back to ________ (MySpace, Facebook, etc) where you do it all without ever having hopes of making any money and you still get the same errors and system issues.� When human beings are skeptical of something, they always look for the first thing that confirms their suspicions that it�s too good to be true. You will have some, you will lose some, and you will get through to some. Just keep on going and don�t get discouraged by them. Move your efforts to someone else if you can�t get across to them.

Referral Errors - Make sure you potential referrals are careful when they come to sign up under your referral link. Each computer has cookies that remember the pages you view. So If I came to sign up under you, but before I do I see John Doe on your page and I go to his page to look around, then I decide I am ready to sign up...when I click sign up sometimes the system might show up that I am signing up under John Doe, not you. The error code is in place to tell me "are you sure you're signing up under ____" but if they aren't paying attention they might not catch it. If this happens and they do catch it before they click �ok�, they can simply clear out their cookies and start over and it will sign them up under you.