Networking Online
November 28th, 2006 | by Mitchell Allen |Well, now that I’ve taken the first steps to rid myself of Functional Inertia, I’ll keep the stone rolling with a post about Working at Home.
I’ve come to the conclusion that networking websites are the most useful online resource for me.
Blogs and forums provide an awesome interactive format for building relationships, establishing credibility and generally, helping others.
Ryze.com
my Ryze Profile
In August, 2005, I finally responded to one of the many invitations from friends. I hadn’t started my website design business, yet. I was nearly drowning in business opportunities; however, I figured Ryze.com would be a good way to learn about even more! Plus it would be great to join forums and get those burning business questions answered.
At one point, I hosted my own forum: The Vertical Blog Tunnel Network. It was part of a social outgrowth from another networking website (see WritingUp.com, below.)
I’m no longer actively networking on Ryze, but I correspond via the guestbook feature.
AtHomeResources.com
http://athomeresources.com
I found this site after meeting the webmaster, Erin, on Ryze. I joined a week before Thanksgiving, 2005. I had more fun here, chatting in the forums with different work at home moms from around the U.S. This was Erin’s first forum site and we all pitched in to help her out.
WritingUp.com
My blog on WritingUp
I literally stumbled onto this site, during Thanksgiving weekend, 2005. I had never blogged before. John, the webmaster, made it sound so easy to get started. The real incentive for me was that I could finally get the coveted Google AdSense publisher ID, without having to wait until one of my marketing sites was large enough to be considered. (At the time, I believed that my tiny sites would be rejected out of hand.) I met so many people from around the world, all of them passionate writers and internet marketers.
Shortly after joining WritingUp.com, I decided to upgrade my Ryze membership, in order to host a forum dedicated to the members at WritingUp.com. I created The Vertical Blog Tunnel Network in order to provide a way for the members to communicate with each other privately. I think it was successful but, as the WritingUp site grew, it became more feature-rich, rendering the VBT obsolete. I continued to blog there and I was even considering building blogs for my clients on the site. Unfortunately, it crashed too often.
I no longer blog on the site, though I continue to support it.
EntrepreneurDad.com
http://forums.entrepreneurdad.com
Fast-forward seven months. Another Ryze member told me about a forum for Work at Home dads. When I joined in June, 2006, I was only the 22nd member. I thought it was nice to get involved near the beginning. Justin, the webmaster, was very cordial, and we posted quite a view conversations.
Justin is very creative. He drives members back to the forums by posting a “Question of the Week” and hosting contests.
FanStory.com
www.fanstory.com
Although this is not a work-at-home site, per se, it is a great resource for writers, who tend to fall into the work-at-home category. I just joined this site in October, 2006 and I’ve found myself drawn to the camaraderie amongst the writers, much as I did on WritingUp.com.
I get to express myself as a writer and to receive constructive criticism from professional reviewers.
Writing is a useful skill and FanStory is a cool place in which to practice.
What’s Yours?
Do you have a favorite place to network? Leave a comment to let us know what makes it special to you.
