It amazes me how many people fail to realize the true value of networking. No I’m not talking about getting on Twitter and tweeting back and forth between one another, I’m talking about branding yourself offline and connecting with people related to your niche. It amazes me how damn lazy people have gotten. People think since we have all these social networking sites Twitter, Facebook and forums there is no need to build relationships offline. If you think that, you need to break that mindset immediately. Part of social networking is to build relationships with other people online, but the initial goal is to eventually take these relationships offline.

When you’re reading this post continue asking yourself “am I networking effectively?” if not why? And if you are how  is it working out for you. Join the discussion by commenting on this post.

Have you networked offline?

Networking offline in my opinion will be far more powerful than ever networking online. I mean. . . don’t get me wrong. Networking online is amazing and I love it. I’ve built very close and personal relationships with many people just from networking online but I’ve also taken a lot of my relationships I built online and taken them offline.

Travel with friends

Meeting with your friends you met online is a great way to connect on a more personal level and building a stronger relationship. I have already booked 3 trips with friends I met online for us to go and travel this year. Are we going to sit down and talk about our websites all day? Hell no, that’s boring we can leave that for when we get back to our home and start working. We’re going to enjoy ourselves, network with other like-minded people we meet and yes we will discuss our businesses over a breakfast, lunch or dinner. But besides that, the point is to network with each other and take your relationships to the next level.

Go out to dinner with like-minded people

Chances are there is someone who is in your niche that lives close to you. If they do give them a call or shoot them an email and ask them if they want to have dinner with you. Now you may be thinking what the hell can you achieve during a dinner? Awhile ago I met up with an old time friend of mine for a dinner at TGF Friday’s (Great place to eat) and during that time we we’re there, I learned information that tripled the growth of my business and he is on his way to making a full-time living just from selling apps for Ipod and Iphones. If all this stuff can happen to me and my friend in an hour dinner, why can’t it happen to you?

Attend conferences

Conferences are one of the best ways to network and build offline relationships with others. You’re in area with hundreds and sometimes thousands of people who are in the same niche as you. Now obviously there is no way you will be able to connect with each and every person at the conference. Well. . . unless your superman that is. Being able to connect with at least 5-10 new people and establishing a relationship can take you a long way in the long run and you’ll leave learning a lot of new valuable information.

Go to local networking events

Going to networking events in your area are a great way to connect and build relationships with like-minded people who live around you. One of the reasons I’ve really come to like local networking events is that since these people live in my area I can meet up with them more often.  Now you’re probably wondering, “Rob, where the hell am I going to find these networking events at.” It wasn’t until a couple months ago I found out about meetup.com, a site that allows you to search for local networking events in your area, or host one yourself. During a conversation I had awhile ago with Robb Sutton, he shared with me his experience with an event he went to found through meetup.com. After hearing some positive feedback about it, I decided to find an event in my area and join it. What I thought was going to be an ordinary dinner with a bunch of marketers trying to sell me pitch me their products, came out to be a very laid back event where we built relationships and shared information with one another.

Group Discussion

I’m interested on getting a discussion built on Robswebtips about this topic. Are you networking effectively? Go ahead and share your thoughts, while commenting try to ask yourself “am I networking effectively?” if not why? And if you are how  is it working out for you. Maybe you know some good places or event’s we should attend, go ahead and share your wonderful knowledge.

Tagged as: building relationships, networking