Marketing online is a lot like marketing offline. One of the most valuable tools you can develop is your relationships with other people. These people can provide a lot of great business-building effects for you including information and help.

For example, today I saw a post at SEO Refugee that talked about a strange occurrence on Google’s Belgian site. I translated it and posted it here and then sent an email to Bill asking for his opinion and he responded here.

This sequence of events started with a community of like-minded people (in this case SEOs, specifically SearchEngineNerds of The New York Nerd fame) who get together to talk about things like search engines. “SEN” started it and then Michael Vandemar asked what it said and then I translated it and then I realized I still didn’t know what it said so I tapped Bill who I met at Cre8asite Forums and had interviewed about SEO and his background in law that has made him an expert in reading search patents… So of course he could explain this issue too, right?

*Whew!*

It sounds like a lot went into this but I bet Bill made the biggest time investment (thanks Bill!). It took me about 5 minutes to get the info, translate it, post it and send Bill an email. But now we all benefit because we know that Google possibly skipped a court date and the consequence is they have to post a lengthy legal document on their site and still face a possible fine and potential change in how they add web site content to their database - which could affect all of us.

Another example is my interviews series. Most of those people I’ve been in touch with in some fashion through online communities. These people were easy to approach because they already knew who I was and what kind of person I am.

There were also interviews conducted with people I didn’t know. I learned about them through the people I interviewed and by asking at various forums I participate in. These recommendations were awesome! It wasn’t just “you should talk to this dude,” it was “I think this guy would be a great addition to your project, here’s why and here’s how you can contact him”. This was a huge difference in time-savings for me and much more qualified leads. When I contacted these people I was able to tell them how their contribution would be beneficial. This made approaching them much easier for me and the odds of them saying “yes” much greater.

I also get work from people I’ve met online and advice on anything I think of. I also send work to other people and give a lot of advice. My philosophy is simple: what goes around comes around.

So how can you develop online relationships? There are “social networking” sites like MySpace, Facebook, Linkedin, and Orkut.

These sites are ok but I think sites dedicated to your industry are better. You can do a search for [your industry OR topic + forum OR blog].

Tips for making friends online

1. Be courteous. The people you meet online have their own rules and manners. Browse for a while to see how they engage with each other. Look for a “rules” link on forums.
2. Be of service. Jumping in and asking a bunch of questions is a bit rude. See if you can benefit the community in some way - it makes for a much better first impression.
3. Introduce yourself. Some forums have a place where you can post a “hello”. Give a little background about yourself and what you hope to give and get from the site.
4. Ignore the spotlight. Every site has people looking for attention. You will get the best results by just offering advice if you have it. Don’t post just to post. Be willing to work with people privately not just publicly.
5. Know when to have fun. This will depend on the site’s culture but there are appropriate times to goof around and then there are times to be serious. Learn the difference.
6. Do your homework. Most sites offer a “search” feature. Look to see if your question has already been answered before you ask it. People participate in online communities for many reasons -none of which are for you to be lazy.
7. Push your products respectively. Sites have different rules when it comes to this but find out what the link policy is and don’t constantly promote your stuff. It becomes a real turn-off after a while and becomes filtered out as *noise*.
8. Be receptive and gracious. When you do ask questions be thankful for the advice and actually implement it. Otherwise other people won’t see a reason to help you in the future.

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