Networking has moved online, and businesspeople are connecting globally and locally to create client relationships and expand into new geographies. Here are the essential tools for jumping into the virtual business network:

LINKEDIN

Basic membership in LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) is free, and gets you connected to members around the world. One great LinkedIn feature is the Colleagues function that lets you reconnect with people you've worked with over the years.

WORLDWIT

WorldWIT is a the free, global online community for professional women (men are welcome, too) that provides member-to-member answers on career, business, technology, financial and "life" topics. A membership in any local WorldWIT community (like ChicWIT in Chicago or BritWIT in London) lets you reach thousands of businesspeople to get answers to anything that's on your plate or on your mind. WorldWIT chapters have live events, too. (Full disclosure: I lead this group.)www.worldwit.org

FRAPPR

Visit

YAHOOGROUPS

Yahoogroups is the granddaddy of online networking tools, and as simple as it is, the site connects millions of people on zillions of topics. Email groups on marketing, web design, or any other imaginable subject connect practitioners and newbies to share knowledge and advice. www.yahoogroups.com.

Get online, jump in, and start networking!

Liz Ryan is a former Fortune 500 HR executive, a workplace expert and the CEO of WorldWIT, the world's largest online network for professional women. She lives in Boulder, Colorado. http://www.worldwit.org

• The Logic of the Action


• Your Web Sites Success: Are You A Perceived Expert?


• Why 95% of Online Businesses Never Make a Dime!


• Powerful-Yet Simple-Persuasion Techniques to Improve Website Marketing


• Everything Needed To Optimize Your Web Site


• The Most Underused Component in Web Site Advertising Web


• Web Site Credibility: Top Ten Checklist


• Internet Marketing: Promote Your Business Within Your Site


• Viral Marketing Made Easy


• Can 50 Well-Written Marketing Articles Make You $50,000 or 1000 Articles Make You $1,000,000?


• Internet Marketing Strategy - A Good Way to Start


• Building a Profitable Online Personal Training Business


• Make Money on Internet: Promote the Product Not the Program


• Increasing Sales Through Strategic Internet Marketing


• Overcoming the Advertising Challenges of Time and Space