My Two Cents
I’ve been spending a LOT of time on the internet lately, hanging where the networkers hang – letting you know about my blog and learning what it is you want to know about these days.
I’ve noticed a trend toward the quick connect and the desire to be a bit blatant about whatever people are promoting. The key on the internet is to cultivate relationships. The web makes it really easy to find people, but connecting still has to be done the old-fashioned way: considerately and in the time it takes.
One of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes: ‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’ resonates here. May sound corny, but it’s true. And, you need to know who you’re dealing with to know how to approach someone. I’m a seasoned networker, and although I’m not actively building a network right now, I get multiple offers to join things every single day.
Very rarely do any of those offers have anything to do with me, or does anyone take the time to try and ‘get in’ with me so that I might be interested in them or what they’re doing. The culture on the internet is cultivate, cultivate, cultivate. In-your-face doesn’t work any better on the net than it does anywhere else.
In fact, it might be more of a turn off than it is in person. To ‘play’ on the web, try and conform to the culture – it’s a give to get world out there and the more you give, the more you get. You can’t go out asking and looking for what people can do for you. You need to find people and visit their world a bit, get to know them, see who you’re dealing with, and contribute if you can.
Basically it comes down to being businesslike and professional. You want to make an impression on someone. I know, there’s a lot of in-your-face stuff out there, but the real pros, almost to a person are turned off by all that NOISE. They get pretty good pretty quickly at knowing what’s for real and what isn’t and who just wants what they can get, but isn’t offering to give.
So, think about that when you’re sharing your business with someone – how can you add value for them? What will compel someone to feel good about you and then grow interested in looking at what you’re doing because of who you are?
Don’t be looking to show up and put a sig file with a url on every site you visit – webmasters don’t appreciate it UNLESS you’re offering something of value, and that usually has to happen over time – I’m not saying huge amounts of time, but going in for the one shot post ain’t gonna cut it on most websites. Make an impression. Be the person who shows up and adds value without looking for something in return. Network. Cultivate. Be a little patient (not always easy for this writer!) and you’ll get way more mileage and better results out of the time you spend on the web.
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