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Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Business Networking
Business Networking
By Anna-Marie Stewart
To do business successfully, you need to learn to network well with others. There’s lots of great info to be had for both online and offline networking, and there’s quite a few useful networking sites.
A few places to go for networking and contacts are:
http://www.ryze.com
http://www.ecademy.com
http://www.linkedin.com
http://www.adlandpro.com
Sites like these can be great for gaining contacts, business partners, joint venture partners, customers and friends etc., if you use them correctly.
I've joined just about all of them at one point or another (including more than I've listed here). Not all of them suit my needs, a few of them are even annoying but some of them are really good at the point in time when I need them.
The worst thing about places like these is that people seem to think of them as shortcuts. It's as if they think 'Ooooh! Tons of business people, I can promote EVERYTHING to them!'In reality that's not the way it works.
Take for example one that I joined a year or 2 ago, I won't name it, but it IS a good place apart from all the spam. I never actually used my membership until recently and as soon as I started using it I was bombarded with people requesting to be my friend.
While some of them are truly like-minded individuals, most of the requests were purely pitches for businesses of one type or another (mostly affiliate programs), and it's easy to see that a lot of the users haven't been doing business online very long.
What happens to the friend-requests that do nothing but pitch to me? They are either ignored or deleted. I haven't joined the program just to be spammed to death, I've joined purely to network with as many people as possible!
Networking is exactly what it says: Networking. Working together towards a common goal, and not bombarding each other with sales pitches in the very first contact.
If you're going to use networking sites it's really important to understand that you HAVE to build and nurture relationships to reap any rewards. If you're lucky you might make some sales or get some new recruits further down the line, but like everything else it's about creating relationships, mutual respect and gaining trust.
To all who are thinking about using networking sites like these: Stop! Think about what you want from the site, think about what you need. Think LONG TERM. Get to know the people you contact, post to their forums, their blogs or whatever other options the site gives you.
Always make meaningful contact and never, ever pitch in your first contact. Build up a rapport with your contacts. They may eventually feel comfortable enough to do business with you or sign up under you in programs etc. If you spam them, I'm sure most of them will be like me and either ignore you, block you or just plain and simple ignore you.
===============Resource Box===========
Learn the single greatest skill for real success!
Breakthrough book reveals how to end the cycle of
failure and meet your goals, again and again.
http://www.annamarketing.com/FTS/
-------------------------------------------------
This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine, web site or
ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the
RESOURCE BOX MUST be included. (c) 2006 AnnaMarketing.com. All Rights Reserved
By Anna-Marie Stewart
To do business successfully, you need to learn to network well with others. There’s lots of great info to be had for both online and offline networking, and there’s quite a few useful networking sites.
A few places to go for networking and contacts are:
http://www.ryze.com
http://www.ecademy.com
http://www.linkedin.com
http://www.adlandpro.com
Sites like these can be great for gaining contacts, business partners, joint venture partners, customers and friends etc., if you use them correctly.
I've joined just about all of them at one point or another (including more than I've listed here). Not all of them suit my needs, a few of them are even annoying but some of them are really good at the point in time when I need them.
The worst thing about places like these is that people seem to think of them as shortcuts. It's as if they think 'Ooooh! Tons of business people, I can promote EVERYTHING to them!'In reality that's not the way it works.
Take for example one that I joined a year or 2 ago, I won't name it, but it IS a good place apart from all the spam. I never actually used my membership until recently and as soon as I started using it I was bombarded with people requesting to be my friend.
While some of them are truly like-minded individuals, most of the requests were purely pitches for businesses of one type or another (mostly affiliate programs), and it's easy to see that a lot of the users haven't been doing business online very long.
What happens to the friend-requests that do nothing but pitch to me? They are either ignored or deleted. I haven't joined the program just to be spammed to death, I've joined purely to network with as many people as possible!
Networking is exactly what it says: Networking. Working together towards a common goal, and not bombarding each other with sales pitches in the very first contact.
If you're going to use networking sites it's really important to understand that you HAVE to build and nurture relationships to reap any rewards. If you're lucky you might make some sales or get some new recruits further down the line, but like everything else it's about creating relationships, mutual respect and gaining trust.
To all who are thinking about using networking sites like these: Stop! Think about what you want from the site, think about what you need. Think LONG TERM. Get to know the people you contact, post to their forums, their blogs or whatever other options the site gives you.
Always make meaningful contact and never, ever pitch in your first contact. Build up a rapport with your contacts. They may eventually feel comfortable enough to do business with you or sign up under you in programs etc. If you spam them, I'm sure most of them will be like me and either ignore you, block you or just plain and simple ignore you.
===============Resource Box===========
Learn the single greatest skill for real success!
Breakthrough book reveals how to end the cycle of
failure and meet your goals, again and again.
http://www.annamarketing.com/FTS/
-------------------------------------------------
This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine, web site or
ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the
RESOURCE BOX MUST be included. (c) 2006 AnnaMarketing.com. All Rights Reserved
Comments:
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Hello Anna
Excellent article. A lot of people separate the terms "network marketing" and "internet marketing". However, for most of us (the ones who cannot afford multi-million dollar ad campaigns), one of the major means we have of spreading our message/program/project/business over the vast seas of the internet IS by networking with others.
Best of luck,
Don (your friend on AdlandPro)
P.S. Please drop by my blog at http://www.donovanbaldwin.blogspot.com.
Post a Comment
Excellent article. A lot of people separate the terms "network marketing" and "internet marketing". However, for most of us (the ones who cannot afford multi-million dollar ad campaigns), one of the major means we have of spreading our message/program/project/business over the vast seas of the internet IS by networking with others.
Best of luck,
Don (your friend on AdlandPro)
P.S. Please drop by my blog at http://www.donovanbaldwin.blogspot.com.
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