A beginners guide to networking

You will not have worked on the internet for long before you start to read about networking.
To be successful in business it seems you must participate in the art of networking
if only you knew how or what it meant.

Networking

Is the proactive marketing of yourself and your business. It is all about
communication and getting your name and that of your business known. It
is the art of meeting people and benefiting from the information and links that
you establish.
People on the net are real people with real everyday problems
and lives of their own. To network successful you have to establish and build
relationship with other people. You must remember that people are not machines
and what you say on the internet can make you friends or enemies.

Some of the ways we network are:

Email
Place a signature onto your emails.Every time you email someone you are advertising your business.
messenger boards/chatslines
A great place to get your name known.
Web sites
Reciprocal linking to other websites will put your name and your business all over the net.
Forums
These are meeting places for like minded people.Offer advice,give out information.You cannot openly advertise but can add a signature
once again getting your name known.
Articles
Start writing some articles.Put your signature at the bottom
and submit them everywhere and anywhere.

We often make the mistake of viewing the above as sales vehicles. We use them to sale our products or services.
We should be thinking of them as communication vehicles first and sales vehicles second.
Use them to communicate with people, swap useful and interesting information. Send details of useful free software. Exchange ideas and advice.
All ways of building a relationship.

We need and want to sell our products or services which is why we are in business
on the net in the first place. To do this successful we have to learn how to build
and maintain professional relationships. We have to understand that first we network
and then we sell. In other words we have to find cultivate and nurture relationship with other people so that we become like a friend who they can trust. Only by building trust will we get people to part with their money.

All the best Sue