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Think "Networking" and grow Link Partner relationships and opportunitiesOne of the most important Internet marketing questions you will ever ask yourself is, "How can I create my own personal networking group on the Internet?" Ask this question daily and you will experience remarkable growth of your contact/client base and sales. In my experience as president and founding member of a local chapter, and later, assistant area director, of Business Networking International (BNI), the world's most successful networking organization, I've had a lot of opportunity to both learn and teach state of the art business networking principles and skills. Lately, I've been intensively asking, "How can I translate these winning business networking skills to the Internet? The primary key to networking success is building a relationship of trust with business associates whose business compliments and does not compete with your own. That's why BNI allows only one member of each profession in its local chapters. But how do you build a relationship of trust on the Internet? Where do you start? You can't just go emailing people you don't know. Even in the unlikely chance that you DON'T get spam-blocked, your message will be deleted by a recepient who is sifting through hundreds of daily emails. Wasted effort! There's a better way. You need to find an open door on the Internet--a way your email will instantly pass sophisticated spam blockers, and the recepient will instantly put you in the "must open" category. That open door is your link partners. The majority of business professionals will give you their attention if you come to them asking to swap links. Once you have swapped links, you are in their inner circle. Now ask yourself, "How can I turn this core group of my link partners into my own Internet networking group?" Begin building a relatuionship of trust with your link partners, just as you do with your local networking group. How to build a relationship of trust? Use the same approach you use with any business associate in a networking group. Begin by thanking them. Warmly thank them for swapping links with you. It's a mistake to just grab links and move on. Swapping links is not a game of monopoly: Winner gets the most links. These are going to be your core Internet networking partners!! Thank them! Take time to view their Web site, and give them a compliment. You are probably in communication with the Web administrator who posted your link. That's the gate-keeper. That's huge! Give that person a specific compliment about what you saw on their site. Compliments are one of the greatest trust-builders! It takes time, but what are you going to do with 1000s of links and no relationships? Finally, note some way your businesses compliment each other. Plant a seed intention to explore that. Make regular, but not too frequent follow-up contacts with your link partners. Send them an item of value that will help them in their business. At some point, you will see a joint venture opportunity developing. To make this strategy work, you will need a good automated link management tool. You will need a tool that:
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