Networking on the Net
C.J. Hayden, MCC
Networking is one of the most effective ways to find clients
for any consulting or professional services business. But if
you limit your networking to only what you can do in person,
you’ll be missing out on a huge number of possibilities.
Networking is more than entering a room full of people and
exchanging business cards. It’s creating a pool of contacts
with whom you can exchange clients, referrals, resources,
ideas, and information. Networking can happen by phone, by
mail, over coffee, and increasingly, over the Internet.
The growth of the Internet has created many new ways to
network without ever leaving your home or office. Pick a
topic, any topic, and there will be multiple web sites and
online communities devoted to it. Almost any type of
Internet presence offers opportunities for networking.
In your favorite search engine, type the name of your
profession or specialty, e.g. “interior design” or
“marketing communications.” Or, if you have a clearly
defined target market, you can use that, e.g. “baby boomers”
or “biotechnology.” Skip the sponsored links or banner ads
and focus on the detailed results. What you will find is the
following:
Professional Associations & Schools — Many association or
school sites provide member rosters, resource pages, back
issues of newsletters, event calendars, and bulletin boards
or discussion lists. Not all of these features will be
restricted to members or students.
Resource Sites & Online Communities — These include
directories of people in the profession, vendors, articles,
event calendars, bulletin boards, discussion lists, live
chats, and links to even more resource sites.
Publications — Magazines and newsletters maintain sites
that offer everything from back issues to complete online
communities.
Job Postings — These may appear on any of the above sites,
and often include opportunities for independent
professionals, not just those looking for full-time
employment.
Colleagues & Competitors — Colleagues and competitors may
be exactly the same people, depending on your relationship
with them. Their sites will tell you more about them and
their work, and may offer many of the same features as
resource sites.
Potential Clients — Their sites will tell you about the
work they do, current and upcoming projects, and even the
names of executives and managers.
Also, if you subscribe to an online service offering
interactive “channels,” like America Online, CompuServe or
MSN, there may be an entire area dedicated to your
profession or target market. Some of these resources are
available to non-members as well.
Now, how can you use all this information to network? Here
are some of the most common ways:
Bulletin Boards — These are web pages where you can view
and post questions and comments on a specific subject.
Answering a posted question is an excellent way to
demonstrate your expertise, become known to the people who
frequent the board, and get to know others in your field.
Don’t be overly self-promotional when posting, just include
a signature line at the end of your post, e.g. “Ingrid
Gustafsson, Nordic Design.” If you see someone else on the
board who you would like to get to know in a collegial way,
e-mail them. But never directly approach for business the
people you find there. You might find yourself banned from
membership.
Discussion Lists — These are like bulletin boards, but are
e-mailed to members of the list daily, weekly, or whenever a
new posting arrives. When posting to these lists, you can
include more information about yourself in a signature box
at the end of each e-mail. Keep it short, but include some
reason for people to get in touch with you outside the list,
such as, “Subscribe to my free newsletter,” or, “Visit my
web site for a free resource guide.”
In addition to locating discussion lists through search
engines as described above, you can find them through online
community hosts such as Yahoo Groups or MSN Groups.
Live Chats — Many online communities sponsor real-time
chats on specific topics. Participating in these chats is an
excellent way to meet people interested in the subject being
discussed. Chat rooms that require membership are best,
because you are more likely to encounter professionals
seriously interested in the topic instead of people just
looking for a date.
Attending chats featuring a guest speaker can be more
valuable than you might think. If you ask a question during
one of these, don’t be surprised if people contact you by
e-mail during or after the chat to offer you more resources
related to your question. You can make exactly the same type
of contacts when you are the one who has something to
offer.
Articles — Notice who is writing them and who is being
written about. These people are likely to be leaders in your
field, or at least highly visible. That makes them good
contacts for you. Send them an e-mail complimenting them on
the article and suggesting you get acquainted for mutual
benefit. Make a specific suggestion about what you can
offer, e.g. referrals or resources.
Others in Your Field — These may be colleagues,
competitors, vendors, or potential clients. Approach them
collegially with ideas about how a relationship could
benefit you both, such as exchanging referrals, pooling
resources, links on each other’s web site, or trading
endorsements or articles in each other’s ezine.
If you can’t find a board, list, chat, or site with the
exact focus you want, consider starting one of your own.
While hosting one of these communities takes time and
effort, it will also put you in the center of the network
that forms around it instead of on the outskirts.
C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands of
business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales
and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a
free copy of “Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You’ll
Ever Need” at Get Clients Now.
