NETWORKING WAHM

Posts Tagged ‘business expert’

Knowing where to effectively market will take a little research. Knowing your target market will have a big benefit as you find places that you can use your networking skills, but may also bring you some sales. Social sites, forums, and blogs are great ways to get free publicity and put your expertise to work.

Social sites have become all the rage. One such site that is built to help other work at home Mom’s is www.MyWAHMSpace.com. Networking needs to be your focus even though there is room for more personal information as well. Join in groups and really get into the social sites. Not only do these sites have many members, but the visitor traffic is very high. Use your profile page and site blogs to get across what you are an expert in and make the best use of the traffic to your page with clickable links to your sites and blogs.

Forums have been around as long as internet marketing. I love the forums that I frequent. I have learned invaluable information and made lifelong friends on these forums. Every friend I have made is now another marketer for me because when someone asks about a subject in my area of expertise, my friends will send them to me and vice-versa. Forums are where you have to be careful of looking like a spammer. It is important to be active in the forums and make helpful posts. My favorite forum is www.MommysHelperCommunity.com. It is a friendly environment that is all about working from home with just enough personal talk to get me away from business for a few minutes a day. No one likes a spam and go poster. So find some forums that are a good fit for you and visit them weekly. It only takes a few minutes a week to get some good posts up. And don’t forget to use your signature line to it’s fullest with taglines and links.

Blogs are an easy way to work on finding networking opportunites. Find your target market and do a search for that term with the word blog added to the end. For example: women’s weight loss blog. Now I can find some blogs specifically about that topic. I’ll comment on those that I feel I can leave some good information at and a link back to my women’s wellness blog will be included in the reply post. Make sure that you are actually leaving information, not a simple, “great information, thank you for the post” comment. Those are also considered spam and many bloggers won’t approve your post without relevant information included.

These three quick networking areas can help you get a big jump on targeted traffic to your site. Use them appropriately and you will see heavier traffic to your site. Targeted traffic will bring you more sales because they knew what they were clicking to get more information about.

We’ve talked on how networking is all about talking with other people and not being pushy. Then you should be sharing ideas and not just selling your products and services. Now consider the expertise you can bring to conversations and really make people want to read your blogs and message board posts, therefore signing up for your newsletters to get more info.

Map out all that you do in regular life and in business. You will be amazed at how much you know how to do. Just because it isn’t something in your field of business does not mean you can not promote your ideas and therefore promote your business link. Some of you are much better housecleaners, organizers, or cooks than the rest of us. Every time you post a recipe it leads people to your signature line on message boards or to your blog with new traffic.

Research your field of expertise. Now that you have a list of things you enjoy or are already good at, do some research. I like to set up google alerts to be sent to my inbox so that I know the latest news on topics of my interest. This in turn gives me ideas to write about or share. It may be as simple as a quick google search to get you a couple of newsletter or magazine articles to dissect with your opinion.

Write articles and post them to your forums and to article directories as much as possible. Make up a good bio line that talks about yourself and your business expertise. This will bring a ton of traffic back to your business as others use your article to add great content to their sites and blogs. This is also more targeted traffic, which is the best kind. You know if they liked your article enough to click the link in your bio then they are looking for more information in your area of expertise. Keep an eye on your stats to see which articles are bringing you the best traffic and then you know what people are hungry for.

Being an expert does not require a degree. Being an expert can happen through life experience and research. Make the most of what you know and people will look to you for more info on your favorite topics.

Everyone has heard of spam. There are many that do not know what spam can encompass. Spam is unsolicited ads, no matter where those ads are posted or to whom. Your friends and family don’t deserve spam in their inbox. Message boards do not deserve unsolicited ads in inappropriate forums, and your newsletter lists are definitely a bad place to post ad after ad with no content. You may not even understand that you are hurting your business and wasting your time with bad networking techniques that are actually spam.

I’ll start with message boards because that is my biggest pet peeve. I teach people to not click on any links unless they know the user. By knowing, I mean the user has been active on the boards for a little while or you have had direct dialogue with them. Many WAHM’s are especially wary of clicking on links, so you are wasting your time if you haven’t participated in the community yet. None of us can afford the time or expense of being downed by a virus.

Don’t waste your time going from board to board and only posting in the ads forum. The majority of users that are viewing the ads forum are only there to post their own ads. They aren’t very likely to click on your ad. Instead, use your time more wisely and be active on a few boards. Build some relationships with other users and you will see better conversions from your traffic.

I have a “friend” that spams me with email periodically. I get emails about helping this family or that family. Not even people in our area usually. Or I get emails about Mary Kay sales because she is an assistant for a few of them. I was never asked if I’d like to receive these emails and quite frankly I don’t open anything from her anymore. These are unsolicited emails and while she may think they are ok, they actually aren’t. They fill up my inbox and take time out of my day to go through. So ask your friends and family if they’d like updates from you. Don’t alienate those that are closest to you.

Your email list is an iffy place. Yes, they signed up to get updates from you about a subject or company. But you have to watch that you don’t abuse that. Make sure that you are giving them the information that they signed up for and not just constant ads. If they did sign up for updates about your company, then try to put some tips in your newsletter as well. Also be wary of sending out emails too often with just an ad for a company that they did not sign up to hear about. It’s very tempting to email your list about a new company you signed up with or a new affiliate. If they start getting too many emails about subjects they didn’t ask for they are more apt to delete them without opening and unsubscribe from your list. Converting every subscriber is a big key to online business. You don’t want to tick off those that have already shown interest.

Spamming is not just those using hacker software to mass email and post to boards. Many small business owners do it every day and usually just out of ignorance. Don’t be one of them. Use your time productively and wisely. Make good business relationships from the get go and then work on turning them into sales.

Having been online for many years now I’ve witnessed a serious decline in networking. I have a feeling it is because the majority of the online community no longer markets offline as well. This has led to less one-on-one personal contact and the feeling that they must hit as many people each day as possible with their site info. I’m here to explain how networking truly works.

Webster’s Dictionary defines networking as: the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically : the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business. If you notice, nothing in this definition says that you will use communities for nothing more than links to your site.

Exchanging information with other business owners sets you up as an expert in your field. By helping others, you will put yourself and your sites at the front of their mind when they are looking for your products and services. In return, you will be picking the minds of many and getting a lot of useful information to grow your business.

The key is the exchange of information. To effectively network you will need to regularly visit the site. Stopping by only once a month will not build you business relationships. Visit the site a minimum of once a week and make sure to add forum or blog posts and comments that are useful and informative. Do not just add an “I agree” or “thanks for the info” comment so your signature line is on the post. Pull from information you have learned whether from others or through experience and pass this on. By giving useful information you will have more views.

Remember even if you haven’t been online for very long, you have useful information to share. There are others that haven’t even chosen their business yet reading or even those of us that have been on for a long time and simply forgotten some of the simpler things. Share and you shall reap the benefits!