The pictures you choose to post are the most important factor. Especially your main picture. When you invite someone to be your friend, the first thing they look at is your picture. If it's a dull, stuffy, business-like picture, the chances are that person will not approve you as a friend. But if you look like a real, friendly person, your chances of being approved increase dramatically. In other words, the better the picture, the more friends you'll have.



Your main picture does need to be a picture of you, and you can use the same picture for all ten profiles. I recommend, however, that you test different pictures before choosing one to represent you.

To test, experiment with different types of pictures. Take head shots, upper body shots and full body poses. Take pictures in your yard, at your office or on your bike. Have fun with it. Remember, this is a social site. Look like a sociable person!

Upload a different picture to each account, then track how many friend requests you send as well as the approval rates for each picture. If you find that one picture averages a higher approval rate than the rest, make that picture your main photo for your accounts.

What do you do with the rest of the pictures? Add them to your space! Adding pictures makes your space more attractive. You add pictures by going to your home page and clicking Add/Edit Photos to the right of your main picture. Here you can upload pictures of your family, your pets, your house or anything else you find interesting. The more pictures you have, the more friendly you appear.

The next step to making your space attractive is to tell a little about yourself. To do so, click Edit Profile on your home page.

For starters, just fill in the Headline and About Me sections. Eventually you'll want to go back through and fill in the other sections to showcase your personality a bit more in depth. This strengthens your image as just another MySpace user rather than a marketer, so people will be more willing to add you as a friend and allow you to comment on their spaces. And you want to be able to comment on lots of spaces.

Like with your pictures, test different headlines in each account. And like with any headline, write something that grabs the attention of your target audience. Write something funny about yourself or comment about something your group is interested in. If you have a great picture but a lousy headline to go along with it, your friend approval rates will plummet.

In the About Me section, write a few sentences about yourself. Humor is a great tool to use in this section, especially self-deprecating humor. Making yourself the butt of a joke disarms visitors, creates laughter and builds relationships. When people see that you can laugh at yourself, they see you as a real, likable person who would make a great friend.

Basically, have fun with your profile. Don't worry about trying to sell people or be uptight about driving them to your site. The more relaxed you are, the more real you are. The more real you are, the more traffic comes your way.

Take advantage of all the media types available to tell people who you are. Post videos, audios and lots of pictures. Show off your family, your pets, your vacations. Share your background, your interests, your goals, your dreams. Relate to people so they can relate to you.

Be helpful as well. Give away free information on your space. Your generosity shows your "friends" you want to help them learn and grow. So share your knowledge. The more you give, the more you'll get.