The Networking Blog

In our last post about networking via linking in blogs, we’ll discuss the highest level of linking adding to the blogroll. Contrary to all the other methods of networking through links, this is a static link, that appears in ALL the pages of your blog.

Adding a fellow blogger to your blog roll is a big step in your relationship with the person. When you add such a link, the link appears in all of your blog’s pages, and every casual user will see it. This is much more significant than linking to the blogger in a post. Read more…

Your blog can be utilized for networking, especially by linking to other bloggers – your potential connections. In two previous posts, we’ve discussed two methods of linking: a short link post and “linking by the way”. Both methods discussed linking to a single post. This time, we’ll explore a different approach – linking to the whole blog.

Linking to the whole blog means linking to the home page. The main drawback of this method is the lack of focus. Your readers aren’t directed to specific content but to a person.

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The web is rich with ‘How To’ guides. I also read some of these articles and posts every now and then. You can probably find endless blog posts on ‘how to network ‘ online. I chose to publish here the first official ‘how to’ post to be on 5 things you should try NOT to do regarding your network. Remember, we all learn from mistakes, why not learn from others’ mistakes?

Don’t miss opportunities – When does that big opportunity come? You could never know. In order to avoid missing opportunities, there’s only one thing to do. Take part in activities related to your business and personal life as mentioned here before. Any occasion or person you meet, could easily become a great opportunity  for a big client or  a new contract, or finding the perfect candidate for a job your hiring for.

Then again, some meetings just bring up too many bad memories

Don’t force your  business – Your product is great, I’m sure of that. But try to understand the event you’re participating in. Timing is everything (along with a good product,creative  marketing and some luck…). Sometimes you might just have one opportunity to introduce yourself to someone relevant to you -  don’t blow it. If you speak about your business in the wrong place, you might be considered rude and maybe even boring. From my experience, always introduce yourself first as a person, an individual. Don’t talk about your business straight away. People like to connect with people, not companies. Start by a short introduction about yourself. People will remember you but they will seldom remember a company name. If people will remember you it doesn’t matter which business it is, They would be interested in YOU.

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In this post we will continue reviewing LinkedIn as part of our networking activities. Execpt for growing your connections on LinkedIn and joining groups, there is a lot more we can do to contribute to our growing network. Now, we will review how to connect to people we don’t know but would like to meet.

How to connect to unfamiliar people: LinkedIn is a great and fast way to connect to people you would like to do business with, but haven’t met before. Here are a few ways on how to do it.

First of all, I recommend as a prior step to get connected to all your existing connections as described in my last post: LinkedIn – Increase Your Networking. After doing so, the LinkedIn system will automaticly suggest people you might know, and can be used to connect to people you might want to know. This appears on the upper right side of your screen titled “People you may know”.

LinkedIn - People you may know feature

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Linking to a fellow blogger can sure contribute to healthy networking. In the introduction post to this issue, we outlined four ways of linking for networking, and last time we took a dive into writing a link post. This time, we focus on a better way of linking, by doing it “by the way”.

This type of linking method isn’t that complicated. You write a post that relates in one way or another to what someone else wrote. It’s better to focus on something that you would write about anyway. And while you’re writing your post, you link to your fellow blogger’s post when you relate to the topic he wrote about.

This method is the best way to link, and you can repeat it as many times as you wish. Here are the main advantages:

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Not everyone is  your customer, and not everyone is network connections material. But they are all  PEOPLE. In this post I would like to continue my last post about business networking and focus on network connections, and their part in your network of customers and business network.

This business has a great product, with a slight problem with customer support…

A lot of businessman are self-employed, which usually offer some kind of service. Unlike owning a store, usually customers wont bump into your business and buy something, Usually you would have an office somewhere or even be working from home.

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Using links in blogs is very useful for networking. In the initial post post about this matter, we’ve briefly discussed 4 ways of linking for networking. In this post, we’ll dive into the first method – a link post.

When I talk about a link post, I’m referring to a very short post, which is usually not longer than 100 words. This kind of short post focuses solely on the link. You can look at such a post as a road sign. It briefly tells you where to go.

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You just opened up a new business. Best of luck to you!

Well, luck isn’t really the key for success here. A good idea is important, timing people will say is crucial, and of-course L-O-C-A-T-I-O-N (usually said three times). But is that all?

We think not.

As a partner in more than one business I think one of the most important things is to let people know you have a business. It’s not that obvious: most people would think that they need to talk (or write for that matter) about their business only with customers and suppliers. This attitude could be the downside of your business, Let’s review this:

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After mapping the first places to start your network, we can be creative on the next places to look at. The idea is that networking should be part of your day and spotting opportunities  everywhere. If all this doesn’t make sense to you, that’s OK.  In this post I’ll try to  demonstrate from my personal experience and the people around me, which are naturally part of my network, how to establish first connections outside your family and friends.

The first thing to remember and to understand is you must be active and consistent about your growing network. This means that connections in most cases won’t built up by themselves. Let’s review the possibilities:

How active are you physically? Do you work out? jog? swim or cycle? If not, you should, and for more than the one reason. Put a side the obvious health advantages  of being fit and the pleasure of it, taking part of any sport is a great way of getting to know people. In other words – establishing connections.

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Everybody heard about Twitter, the ultra-viral micro blogging service. In future posts we’ll show how to use Twitter for networking. Today we’re going to focus on a by-product of Twitter – Tweetups, or Twitter meet-ups in human language.

Twitter is young: it aired only in 2006, when other social networks were already strong in the market. In the last year or so, it’s popularity leaped worldwide.

The short 140 format makes it easy to use and easy to follow. Naturally, you follow and get followed by people you know. Later you become exposed to more people that share a common interest.

After reaching a critical mass, communities began evolving around the “Twittersphere”. This critical mass means that not only geeks use it, but the general public. So, people that get to know each other via very short messages want to get together in real life. So, tweetups were born.

A Tweetup is a Networking Event

Tweetups are usually held once a month during the evening at a bar. This allows for a relaxed and not to formal atmosphere. But the attendants of this event didn’t solely to drink a beer before going home.

Attendants of tweetups are usually people who want to connect. They come also for meeting their virtual friends in real life, but they usually come with an agenda. The name tags with the @TwitterUser mean that a tweetup is a networking event, not a geek get-together.

Many times, the audience of tweetups has a tendency towards the internet sector, and internet marketing in particular, but it’s not a bunch of programmers…

So, tweetups are significant networking events, and especially important for those of you who want to connect to people in the internet sector.

How can I find out about upcoming Tweetups?

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