[Login / Register]

Menu

Forums

error

This forum is not active, and new posts may not be made in it.

Trina 1049 784 Nucla	Social Networking Business Communities 10/5/2007 1:42:34 PM
	Online Business Communities Trina L.C. Sonnenberg Social networking is all the rage these days. Internet marketers have been flocking to these types of sites in droves, hoping to make business connections and money, promoting their opportunities. Are these networks for business or fun? Sometimes I have to wonder. I have joined many of the newer social networking sites myself. However, I am not yet sure whether they are helping in my business promotion. You see, many of the people I've run across in these networking settings, are more socially oriented than business oriented. Whereas I have met several professional people in these networks, it has become painfully obvious that a great number of members are just having fun, not really building a business network. When I am not being slammed with business opportunity offers, I am inundated with cutsie graphics being added to my profile pages. Now don't get me wrong, I think it is very nice that people want to wish me a nice day, or other pleasentries, but being that I am there to make business contacts, it isn't appropriate to fill my comment space with glittery graphics, which distract potential partners from the message contained in my profile. I have joined communities like Adland Pro, Bizpreneur Network, Lazzeo, and Rotatrix, and find all the people there quite nice. The sites themselves are great, and I enjoy my memberships with them all. I recommend them to anyone wanting to meet people and promote their opportunities. For the last couple of years, I have been asked by scores of people to join Direct Matches and post my free profile. I checked it out, but until recently, I could never find how to post a free profile. Every link I would click on would ask me to sign up for a paid membership, so I never bothered. Well, just the other day, I received yet another invitation to post a free profile, clicked the link, and to my utter surprise, I found out how to join for free! So, I joined. I set up my free profile, and within hours, I had people asking to be added to my contact list. I'm not talking about just a few invitations, but more than 50 in 24 hours. I began thinking that this was a gold mine resource. Not only did I get all of these invitations, but these folks were sending me welcome emails through the Direct Matches internal mailing system. I wasn't getting blasted with ads, but actual correspondence. I was actually gleeful about it all, until... Until I started answering all of these emails. I sent out five responses, to the first five I had received, and then I could respond no more. I was informed, through a little error message, that since I was a free member, I could only send out five emails, and if I wished to reply to the rest of my welcomers, I would have to upgrade to a paid membership. What is that all about? Here I thought I was inside an incredible network, I had established 52 contacts within 24 hours; but, all those contacts are useless to me, unless I pay for an upgraded membership. I have all these contacts that I cannot contact. I have never encountered such a situation with any of the other networks I belong to. Now, it isn't that I am a cheap-skate, it's just that I feel their methods at Direct Matches, are a little underhanded. I can see not offering an income stream to free members, but to not allow free members to send out more than five messages without upgrading? What a crock! Guess who is going to leave her free profile up there, until they take it down, and who is not going to upgrade. I will not be held hostage. I can make many business contacts without the help of Direct Matches; I've been doing it for years. To the person who I signed up under: I apologize, but there will be no commission earned from my account. If you'd have told me about the email limit, I would not have even looked into the site for the hundreth time. I guess I should've just went with my first impression of the site, and stayed away. And for all of you at Direct Matches that sent me warm welcomes, I am sorry that I could not reply. There are plenty of networking sites out there that don't practice bait and switch tactics, and I'll stick with them. I'd rather deal with glittery graphics being posted to my profile page, than be tricked into paying for a membership just to communicate with other members. Copyright © 2007 The Trii-Zine Ezine www.ezines1.com About the Author: Trina L.C. Sonnenberg Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. Serving online professionals since 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276 http://www.ezines1.com/triizine http://www.ads-on-q.com/intro Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse http://stores.lulu.com/triizine Keywords: social networking, online business communities, networking sites, direct matches
	Trina L.C. Sonnenberg Freelance Commercial Writer TLC Promotions & The Trii-Zine Ezine ISSN 1555-2276 http://www.tlcpromotions.net http://trii-zine.com http://FAA.tlcpromotions.net
	+0

Beryl 689 2592 Horse ...	Re: Social Networking Business Communities 10/6/2007 2:04:31 PM
	Hello Trina, I know exactly how you feel and what you are talking about. They did the same thing to me, and I check back every now and then and even get emails asking me to go there and see who has sent me a new message. Directmatches is not it for me either. I still keep keeping links from some here in Adlandpro to go and sign up under them. I refuse to have someone try to trick me into having something I can get somewhere else without them. Believe me I am not the one who sent you the link, I am only sorry you took your valuable time to find out how they are and wasn't warned in advance. Beryl
	This Is The Healthy Lifestyle Feature-rich Information Website - Family Owned and Operated Vial Virtual Solutions Helping Business to Achieve Their Dreams
	+0

Trina 1049 784 Nucla	Re: Social Networking Business Communities 10/7/2007 2:55:34 PM
	Thanx, but I don't feel like it was a complete waste of time. I look at it as research. I wrote an article about it. Perhaps my article will save someone else time. Have an awesome week! Trina http://www.trinaschiller.ws
	Trina L.C. Sonnenberg Freelance Commercial Writer TLC Promotions & The Trii-Zine Ezine ISSN 1555-2276 http://www.tlcpromotions.net http://trii-zine.com http://FAA.tlcpromotions.net
	+0

Susan 41 2 Orlando	Re: Social Networking Business Communities 11/1/2007 9:17:15 AM
	I enjoyed your article about Social Networking and I can relate to a lot of what you said. I love social networks and I am a member of all the communities you mentioned including Direct Matches. It's pretty hard to find business contacts in these communities. But it is possible. I believe Apsense and Sales Spider are more business oriented but as with any social networking community, you will receive your fair share of spam. Apsense has a lot of experienced marketers sharing their knowledge in the community. You can also take advantage of their Assist.com affiliation as well. Both offer great means of networking your business professionally without out all the glitter effects. Sales Spider has an option to generate leads for you. You can also create groups and place free classified ads. They just started something new called live events. I am a little behind on all the latest trends in both communities because I recently moved. I would love to use your article on my Social Networking Blog I found your article very amusing because I'm not a big fan of Direct Matches either. Just let me know if it's okay and what you would like in your signature line.
	http://www.yousaytoo.com/?541
	+0

Trina 1049 784 Nucla	Re: Social Networking Business Communities 11/1/2007 12:02:23 PM
	Thank you for the kudos! Of course you may re-print my article. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Please use this for the resource box: Copyright © 2007 The Trii-Zine Ezine www.ezines1.com About the Author: Trina L.C. Sonnenberg Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. Serving online professionals since 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276 http://www.ezines1.com/triizine http://www.ads-on-q.com/intro Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse http://stores.lulu.com/triizine Have an awesome day! Trina
	Trina L.C. Sonnenberg Freelance Commercial Writer TLC Promotions & The Trii-Zine Ezine ISSN 1555-2276 http://www.tlcpromotions.net http://trii-zine.com http://FAA.tlcpromotions.net
	+0

Like us on Facebook!