Networking is about building connections. There are two aspects to networking:

1. expanding your network; and
2. strengthening your network.

A good and sustainable online campaign is about more than just building links. In fact, when you think about it, building links is part of networking. Why need a strong network? Because it will increase your presence on the Web and your credibility amongst other bloggers. Take this scenario for instance: You have an announcement to make, but have no connections online. You probably will have to issue a press release. Press releases only reach so many people. The other scenario: You have a strong online network and send an e-mail to all the members of your network asking them to spread the word. What happens? You tap into their readership. Want to go further? How strong is your network? If it is very strong, you can ask them to forward your e-mail to their network and so forth. That’s how a “word of mouth” campaign is built online. Add this to your press release campaign and you have a better/ far more reaching online marketing campaign.

So for those focusing only on “link exchanges,” this is not the way to go. And, as a last note, nothing bothers me more than someone suggesting a link exchange and not following up on it or suggesting a blatantly unfair/unreasonable/unjustifiable exchange (i.e. home page link vs. resource page link)… duh!

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Online Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.