What sort of business owner are you – the complete extrovert? Do you have hundreds of people in your network with whom you only have a passing knowledge? There is nothing wrong with developing a broad network of contacts. However, it is often more beneficial to develop a sound relationship with a group of individuals.

Generally speaking, a network is a one way operation. You make contact with a wide range of individuals in the hope that one day they could be of help to you. A relationship is a two way operation. You’re there to help them when required, and they are there to help you when required. Networks are easy to develop. You can do a little research, discover all the movers and shakers who could be of use to you, and you add them to your list of contacts. You may even add them to your social media accounts.

Relationships require work. They don’t happen overnight. In many cases, relationships are one sided – you’re doing all the helping, promoting their cause, even through social media. Relationship builders are by no means selfless. In fact, the art of building relationships still revolves around promoting yourself and building your business. The difference between a relationship builder and a networker is longevity – relationship builders are looking at the long term benefit to their business.

In the long term, relationships will survive the ups and downs of the business world. People in a network will come and go whenever it suits them. They generally don’t stick by you during troubled times, or help repair your reputation when a dissatisfied worker or customer goes on a social media rant. Those you have built up a relationship will, and where possible, help you to negate the effects of that hit to your reputation. Why? Because they know you, and they care – as you would if the same happened to them.

There is room for both, and it’s certainly a good idea having a strong network of people who could be of use to you. While networking, consider taking the next step and developing a strong relationship with those who really matter – it may only be a handful, however, the benefits will far outweigh a hundred in a network.

Social media is certainly dominating people’s minds when it comes to online marketing to consumers, but are they the best places to network with other business owners? There is an interesting article on The Next Web highlighting the demise of local social media due to the dominance of Facebook. Whilst there is a lot of hype surrounding Twitter, it fills the number two position in only two countries, the U.S. and the U.K, admittedly big markets. LinkedIn is the second choice in many other countries, yet it is not really designed for consumer marketing.

LinkedIn has become a powerful force when it comes to networking and business-to-business marketing. Professionals appreciate the tighter security surrounding who can link to you, and who is able to see your complete profile. This means you can concentrate on those who interest you, or who are in the same niche as yourself. Where Facebook is all about gaining as many followers as possible, LinkedIn is more about connecting on a professional basis – the heart of networking for small business.

Whilst LinkedIn does offer an opportunity to network with others from all over the world, it’s not the only opportunity. In fact, more traditional methods often have a much more lasting effect. It’s interesting to look at the online marketing industry as an example. Whilst day-to-day contact is maintained through social media channels, online marketing professionals take advantage of every opportunity to meet in person. International online marketing events draw crowds from around the world, all looking to network face to face, all looking to ‘humanize’ their online networking activities.

For small businesses, social media channels such as LinkedIn offer a great opportunity to connect with similar-minded business people. However, if you get the opportunity to meet in person, grab it. Chambers of Commerce, trade associations and state or national conferences are all important areas to develop a network. While you may think that you can’t spare the time, the connections you make could well save you a lot of time.

A guest blogger at Copyblogger likens small business prospecting with gardening. That’s funny, most of us use those over-used war cliches. But I like the gardening analogy.

If you think about it, it’s a useful analogy. Small business prospecting is more like growing than killing. Here’s how:

1. You’re not in control. You can try to control the conversation, but more than likely you’ll drive prospects off. If you respond to their concerns, then you are more likely to meet them at their point of need.
2. Disappointment and surprise go hand in hand. You never know what your clients will ask for. When I first started my business, I wanted to take what I learned as a blue chip marketing expert to the table for small businesses. But then I kept getting requests for online marketing initiatives. So my business transformed. Yours will too.
3. Get rid of the weeds. It’s bound to happen. You’ll have bad customers. Identify them quickly and let them go. There are ways to effectively do this so that you don’t make an enemy. But if you don’t kill the weeds, then they can kill your business.
4. The death of something great is not the end of your business. You might think that a certain practice, business partner, or customer is necessary for your business, but what if wasn’t there any longer? You’ll make it. It will take adjustment, but capture the vision.
5. Persistence wins the prize. Like gardening, small business prospecting is about persistence. Overcome the obstacles and you’ll survive.

If you prefer the gardening analogy, you can use that to build your business. Fight the soil within your niche, not the enemy that can destroy you.

I was reading an interesting piece from Lee Odden about social media marketing strategies. What he was talking about made perfect sense to me – but then, I am a professional in the business. It struck me early on in the article that most business people, especially those new to online marketing, would have been lost after the first two or three paragraphs.

There are a lot of online business owners, and I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that it’s the majority of online business owners, that know little about online marketing or SEO and even less about social media marketing. I could flippantly suggest they engage a professional like myself to help them through the maze, but that is not always a viable option.

What is a viable option is to use the one resource that many offline businesses rely on, and that’s networking with other online business owners. Networking can be done in a number of ways. You can get together with other business owners in your community, in an offline environment, and compare tactics and different approaches. You can then invite guest speakers to come in and discuss tactics with the group – I have been a guest speaker at several of these over the years to great effect.

You can also meet online with like-minded people in a variety of online forums and social media environments. Facebook and LinkeIn are two popular social sites that provide great networking opportunities.

If the online world is proving to be a frustrating and confusing experience for you, find a way to network with others of varying Internet skill levels. You will find you can learn quite a lot from your peers, and that over time, your confusion will start to clear, and the online world will actually make a lot of sense.

In my marketing practice, something I encounter periodically are business partnerships that just aren’t working out as the owners had originally planned. Next to marriage, a business partnership is the most intense and collaborative-dependent and interdependent relationship you can have. And, like marriage, over 50% of them fail. That’s a staggering statistic by any measurement.

If you are a part of a business partnership, have you ever imagined that you could have discussions that ended in decisions rather than arguments with your partner? Or have you wondered how to stop communication from being a barrier rather than a tool for success? Or, are you considering a partnership and aren’t sure how to determine if there is a fit, and how to make sure you have shared values, beliefs, goals – before you enter into the partnership?

A colleague of mine, Linda Finkle, has written a new book that addresses these issues. The book, “Finding The Fork In The Road,” is sure to help make your business partnership more successful and more rewarding.

Linda’s book covers such topics as:

• How to recognize symptoms and stop treating them as if they were the problem
• When the problem is communication and what to do about it
• Secrets to successful partnerships and what that means to you
• How to determine partnership fit if you are considering a partnership
• The realities of family businesses and how they affect the business and partnership
• And much more

Linda Finkle’s book is titled “Finding The Fork In The Road.”

Avoid the problems I mentioned above and get a TON of gifts from amazing leaders in their fields. Buy Linda’s book today and get your partnership started on the right foot.

Networking, online and off line, is a time-honored business practice. Business owners have been engaging others through social networking ever since they’ve been doing business. The only difference has been the strategies employed.

Online, social networking has come to a different age. It’s as much a necessity of doing business as SEO and paid search. But how much time should you spend networking online and where should you go to do it?

Those are perhaps the two most important questions to ask yourself when you embark upon a new strategy for your business. How much time is enough time to network, and where? On the time question, I would say you want to spend a good amount of time networking, but don’t overdo it. Of the time that you spend marketing your business, maybe 30% of that time should be spent networking. That means 30% (or 25%-35%) the time you spend on activities like PPC, SEO, and social media marketing should be spent on networking specifically.

Now, on the where question, that’s a little more difficult to answer. It really depends on your business and who your potential customers are. If you cater to a consumer-oriented crowd that spends time playing Zynga games on Facebook then you should spend time on Facebook. If your audience is on Twitter then be on Twitter. If you cater to businesses or a more professional crowd then spend time on LinkedIn.

It is important to define and narrow your goals for networking when you decide to start your networking plan. Otherwise, you’ll spend a lot of time doing nothing and wasting time.

You may remember that I have a chapter in an upcoming book titled Age Of Conversation III: Time To Get Busy.

Well, the other authors and myself are planning a bum rush on Blog Action Day, which is slated for October 15, 2010. This year’s action item is water.

You see, every year participating bloggers blog on the same theme. The idea is to spark a little action and to bring a particular issue to light. Charity Water is a nonprofit organization that brings safe and clean drinking water to developing nations. I’d like you to know that every sale of Age Of Conversation III: Time To Get Busy goes to support Charity Water and help developing nations get clean, safe drinking water.

But I’d like to ask you to do something to support blog action day. Join our bum rush!

Specifically, here’s what I’d like you to do. Help us raise money for Charity Water by generating more sales of Age Of Conversation III: Time To Get Busy at Amazon.com. Here’s how you can help us raise awareness and money for Charity Water:

• Buy the book. Also, encourage others to buy the book. And if you work for an organization that hands out Christmas gifts, get your organization to purchase multiple copies and give them out as gifts. One caveat: Please only purchase 1 copy at a time because Amazon.com counts bulk orders as one. Purchase the Kindle version here (Charity Water affiliate link). Purchase the paperback version here (Charity Water affiliate link). Purchase the hardback version here (Charity Water affiliate link).
• Register for Blog Action Day.
• Blog about Blog Action Day and mention Age Of Conversation: Time To Get Busy. Use the same affiliate links that are in this post so that Charity Water can get its contribution.
• Join the conversation on Twitter. Use the hashtag #aoc3 if you mention the Bum Rush.
• Trackback or comment on the October 15, 2010 post about the Bum Rush at http://ageofconversation.com.
• Digg, Stumble and bookmark on Delicious.com all the posts you see about the event, including yours.
• Become a Facebook fan of AoC3 and interact with us on Facebook.
• Send an e-mail to all your friends and get them involved too.

If we all band together and work for a common cause, we can make a difference. Join us in the bum rush on October 15, 2010 and help us raise money for Charity Water.

Many online businesses have figured out that networking off line can be just as effective, or more so, than networking online. The advantage to networking off line is you get to meet people face to face and develop relationships in person. By that, you can establish trust a lot more easily. This is the perfect way for local businesses to network and secure more business. They’ve been doing it for years.

Some of the tools that you can use to do more off line networking for your online business include:

• Meetup – Start or join a local Meetup group. These groups can be centered on any topic and are usually run by a local person with an interest in your niche. If you don’t find a local Meetup group in your niche then start one.
• Tweetup – If you Twitter, start or join a Tweetup group. It’s like Meetup, but for Twitterers.
• Facebook – Facebook is an online social media marketing tool, but it does have a local networking function that allows you to meet people who are local to you. Use it to establish relationships then meet your friends off line for some real world local fun.
• Trade Shows – Just about every industry sponsors periodic trade shows. Find one in your area and attend.
• Chamber of Commerce – Join your local Chamber of Commerce.
• Charity or Civic Service Organization – Get involved in a local charity.

The idea behind meeting people of line in the real world and doing business with them online is to build trust. Develop relationships with people in your area. Use your imagination and find creative ways to develop relationships with people in your area and invite them to do business with you online.

You were told to Twitter, to get a Facebook and a LinkedIn account, to join a few business based social media sites and create a social media campaign to get your name out there. So you did–and now you’re overwhelmed. People want to be your “friend,” they keep answering you, asking questions, inquiring about your small business and you feel obligated to write them back. But there’s that business thing you’re running that’s getting in the way of your social media life! How to manage it all? Create a social media desktop.

A social media desktop will help you keep track of all your posts and who comments at one central place. It will also help you keep track of what’s going on with other social media sites who are also focused on your topics and keywords. What makes it so easy to track is RSS feeds. That’s Really Simple Syndication, which will allow you to follow many sites and keep them in a single place.

Which sites would you like to follow? Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, blogs and news updates from Google or MSN are good choices.

Why is this important? Because a social media desktop will help you start to know how your efforts are paying off. You will get to see a running commentary of what people are saying to you, about you, and your business as well as what’s happening in your field.

The major RSS services are iGoogle, MyYahoo! and Netvibes. You can set up an iGoogle, MyYahoo! or Netvibes homepage, and once you do this, you can list websites, blogs, or social media sites you’d like to follow–and many of them will have an RSS feed icon, which all you have to do is click on it and it will be added.

Your social media desktop can help you streamline your online efforts, but once again, so RSS feed every site you like or you’ll be right back to being overwhelmed. Only list the ones you are compelled to visit again and again. Enjoy viewing them all at once, and at your convenience. That’s online marketing and networking at its best.

Have you hit a blogging wall? Out of ideas? Not comfortable with writing in general? You’re not alone. Small businesses have plenty to do–online and elsewhere–and we tend to avoid something that “feels like work.” There is another way around this dilemma and generate an online presence that’s beneficial to you.

How? By visiting other blogs and leaving comments. You’re networking, passing along helpful tid-bits in much smaller writing quantities than blogging yourself, and leaving a trail back to your site. Smart, huh?

First, you have to find relevant blogs and website content to comment about. You do this by creating Google Alerts. Take your keywords and keyword phrases and visit Google Alerts and set up an account. Google will send you email updates on when anyone writes about the keywords you listed. Google Alerts will list newspaper and magazine articles, television and radio announcements and recaps of shows in which those topics are discussed, and it will also list blogs that mention the words you listed.

When your email box fills up with Google Alerts, you’ll feel a little overwhelmed at first. That’s okay, it’s worth it to start reading. The online world has just opened up to you. You will literally see how relevant your topic is. You’ll be able to start to track who’s hot, which keyword/topic phrase generates the most hits, who your competition is and who you should be networking with. In the beginning, you need to dedicate some time every day, or a large chunk of time once a week to begin to gather information and know who’s out there and who is making it happen on the Internet.

Create a folder of the best Google Alerts and save the ones you want to get to know.
Follow your gut reaction and visit the blogs or articles that pique your interest. Did you know that you can leave comments on many newspaper and magazine sites as well? You can, and they get read by thousands, and get indexed well because these companies have the money to spend to get that valuable SEO (search engine optimization) placement needed to get noticed online.

Next, leave a comment–and not just “Fantastic!” That won’t get you much. Leave a couple of sentences that actually has to do with the subject they wrote about. Comment about something they said, specifically. Add to the conversation–in a friendly tone. Don’t sound like a know-it-all. Sound humble. Sound generally interested. Sound like you know what you’re talking about and you’re glad to be a part of scene, but you’re not taking over. Sound nice.

How? Tell them something they said or did right. Tell them you like their blog and their content is good. Leave one or two small bits of info that’s helpful. You can even politely disagree or offer another opinon, but do it respectful. You can even comment about another comment, which can create a conversation. At first, keep it simple and get used to the system. Your goal is to make connections, get known, and quietly point someone your way. At the end, sign your name, and under it leave your website, and that’s it.

Can you link back to your website within the body of your blog comment? Yes, but don’t go heavy handed, and only if it’s not really relevant. But sometimes it really is relevant. You have content on your site or blog that adds to the conversation–then go for it.

Chances are, the blogger/owner of the site is going to come over and check you out. They do–a lot of the time. Be sure to respond, say thanks for stopping by. This is n’etiquette. People online like to know their effort isn’t going unnoticed.

It might even lead to a guest blog. If you like someone else’s style, invite them to guest blog on your site–or you guest blog on theirs. This gives you fresh content, and it also does something else that’s really cool. They’ll advertize it on their site, and their readers will come over to your site. Cool. If you do decide to guest blog, or ask for another blogger to guest on yours, talk about how to handle links and promoting ahead of time so that everyone’s on the same page.

Another great way to build an online relationship with another blogger is to request to use their content on your site. Ask ahead of time. Tell them that you really like their blog on X, and can you quote part of it and link to their site. Nine times out of ten they’ll say yes because you asked ahead of time, complimented their work, and will attribute them.

Commenting is so smart and so easy. Three to four sentences on other blogs allows you to respond to a topic already generated, network, get your name out there, and build an online presence. The old adage, “Work smarter, not harder” definitely applies.