Carroll County Times Articles
Business Networking Websites
by Richard Lord – March 13, 2008
Are you a business owner looking for new ways of marketing your product and services? Have you thought of investigating Business-networking Web sites? Have you resisted the temptation in past? Are you wary of disclosing too much to potential competitors? It also doesn't take much reading in the news to see executives and employees both embarrass themselves and their companies online. Not only do we have to worry about ourselves, what about those we are mingling with? How well do these services' weed out impostors?
Not everyone you meet will be known to you personally. Still, now may be the time to look at these again and see what unique benefits are out there from the right site. There are literally thousands of networking websites to choose from. Here are a few geared towards general businesses and offer some time type of free core business networking services.
LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) - If one only has time for just a business-networking site focusing mainly in the USA, for this simple fact, other professional and social networks sync with this one. LinkedIn is an online network of more than 19 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries.
Xing (www.xing.com) is a Germany-based business-networking site with more than 5 million members and a greater global focus. Xing offers advanced contact-management tools that other sites don't have and helps members discover professional and business opportunities across international borders.
Ryze (http://www.ryze.com) boasting 500,000 members in 200 counties, Ryze helps people make connections and grow their networks. You can network to grow your business, build your career and life, find a job and make sales. They can also join specialized networks related to their industry, interests or location. More than 1,000 organizations host Networks on Ryze to help their members interact with each other and grow their organizations.
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) has been primarily a social network service with more than 66 million active users, but has recently added professional network features allowing members to choice the type of network they wish. One can post resume or use credits to view resumes in the professional network of others.
Visible Path (http://www.visiblepath.com) helps business people build, manage and capitalize their network of professional relationships. They focus more on strengths of relationship between contacts to determine who can add whom to their contact list. This effort precludes "contact farmers" from adding you simply for the sake of adding someone.
Before signing up for any business-network, here are a few social skills boundaries we might all want to keep in mind. The goal is to put information into the profile which helps finds potential customers, provides a service or subject experts, and for new business opportunities.
- Don't give away specific proprietary information about your company.
- Don't offer to do business with someone you meet immediately.
- Do share your perspectives on news that's already public.
- Do continue more detailed discussions over email, on the phone, or a face-to-face meeting.
A presence on the right sites can help you build business and professional relationships; generate leads, links and traffic to your Web site; market your products, services and expertise; and extend your brand.
About the Author
Richard Lord is the Principle for Information Technology and Security Solutions, LLC, and a Board member of the Carroll Technology Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating businesses, government and residents about technology issues. Questions are welcomed and may be addressed in future articles. Email mail@carrolltechcouncil.org or go to the Tech Council website, www.carrolltechcouncil.org, for more information.
