Networking Your Way to Online Success

Forums, groups, boards, and loops; they’re all synonymous for
online locations facilitating online networking. Some are
entirely public, where everyone and anyone can click to the URL,
read the messages and if they have no interest in contributing,
they can just lurk. Some require active participation and others
require registration before members can participate. These
online forums, groups, boards or loops are different from paid
membership sites in that there is no cost to network at these
websites.

Some are active, some are sleepy. Some are strictly for business
related topics; some allow more OT (Off Topics) and social
interaction. There are forums for every imaginable topic:
Entrepreneurs, International business, Health related fields,
Technology, Copywriters, Web Designers, Work at Home Moms,
Programmers, Finance, Ebay, Job Seekers, Internet Marketing,
Writers, Inventors and Virtual Assistants, just to barely scratch
the surface of what’s out there on the World Wide Web.

Time management skills need to be paramount when participating in
online forums. You can very easily get swallowed up and spend
hours and hours online networking with others who have online
businesses, yet you miss real opportunities to get some
productive work done!

From a business standpoint, there are two areas you should
consider before participating in a loop. It’s always good to
have a network of like-minded business people. If you’re a web
designer, hang out with other designers. You can help and
support each other. If you’re just starting out, you can learn
from the pros.

Don’t get stuck though, just hanging out with your own kind.
You’re not going to be very successful trying to promote your
design services to other designers. This is where balance comes
in. Pop into the boards, check new posts of interest, ask or
answer questions, then get out. Then move onto groups who need
your services or products. Who is your target market and where
do they hang out? Go there. Word of caution: Do not go to
these forums with the sole purpose of SPAMMING the group. You’ll
be tossed out on your ear quicker than you can blink if that is
your sole purpose. People like to do business with people they
know and trust – or at the very minimum have at least heard of.


If you’re trying to sell your curriculum to a group of home
school parents and you just pop in, spew your sales rap all over
the boards then expect any sort of return, you’re missing the
point of online networking. It’s networking – not advertising.
You need to build a rapport with your other “loopies”. Then if a
need arises and they know one of their own fellow networkers has
that special skill or product, guess who they’ll call first? You
hope it’s YOU.

For starters check MSN, Google, Yahoo, AOL, and Ryze. Inside
there are literally hundreds and thousands of groups just waiting
for you. Start networking your way to success today!