Linking to the Best

Be picky about who will link to you; shoot and scatter does not always work.

Just having a website is not enough to get yourself noticed. You will need to do a number of things in order to have your site better known. Here are three ideas that you may want to use.

First, find another business that is a good fit for what you do, and have your information displayed on their site; you will probably also need to display their information on your site. Do not just pick any site to exchange information, make sure they have the same business values as you. I personally do not use other sites unless there is value in it for both parties.

Second, make sure you are active in newsgroups such as Yahoo Groups in your area of expertise. Newsgroups are not a place to tout your business but they are a place to give free advice and get yourself known in the process. Just make sure the group you join and the advice you give fits in with your business model.

Third, you will need to have your website address printed on everything, and I mean everything you give out. The website should be on your business cards, letterhead, envelopes, brochures, white papers, articles you write, on all your advertising materials, on donations, and any business listings. Besides promoting yourself on the web, you need to promote the web on everything you do. You want to drive people to the site to learn more about you and what you do. Just make sure you have a separate website for each line of business.

Some people sell goods on their sites and join a group such as the Commission Junction. Commission Junction allows you to choose what other products you will sell by placing a banner on your site. You can also place your goods in the listings for others to choose. You will not make a great deal of money this way but it is an avenue for selling products.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people's attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the "Networking Queen". Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com