I’ve been discussing ways to use community and relationships to build your business. I truly believe it is the best way to build a long term solid business.

I was recently talking to a friend of mine about another mutual friend of ours and how fast her business is growing.  What I had not realized is most of her new business partners and customers are coming from a yahoo group she built.

It all started with her wanting to connect with other people  interested in spirituality, as she was.  She started a yahoo group. They talked about money mindset, spirituality, law of attraction all kinds of things.  Yahoo, for some reason, deleted her group after years and years and she decided to move it to Google.

Google groups have some functions that Yahoo groups don’t but the basics are the same. The idea is to find other people who are interested in the same thing as you.

She is very active in that group and others I’m sure. People really get to know her through her posts. She is also very open and willing to help anyone who needs it. Many of her group relationships move off list and she talks with them on the phone and even visits them in person.

People in her groups really like and respect her.  So it’s not surprising when she finds something new ~ a new tool, business, game to play, whatever it happens to be, and announces it to her group there are a LOT of people willing to follow her.

In fact, she found this guy who makes these amazing Mandala’s for people, businesses, even Yahoo groups. She fell in love with his work, had him do her Mandal and had him do one for the yahoo group.  She was very vocal about how much she loved this guys work. I can’t even tell you how many messages came through that people on the group had gone and gotten theirs done.  That’s the power of a Yahoo or Google group.

You don’t have to start a group to tap into the power of Yahoo and Google groups. You can find a few, there are millions to choose from, that you enjoy and then PARTICIPATE. Become an important part of that group.  Become the person everyone looks forward to hearing from, and wants to know what you think.

Don’t talk about your business, don’t plug anything you’ve got going on. Just participate actively in the conversation.

Since these are email groups, the messages come and go through your email. This is good for you because your email signature will be attached to each and every message you write to the group.  Each time you post, everyone will have the opportunity to click through and look at what you’ve got.

Let’s talk about email signatures for a second.

Simple is better.  You also want to give people some sort of idea where they are going, either through html or through your url.  A good signature leads people to a place where they can find out more about you.  You may want to direct them to a Myspace page, or your homepage on your favorite community.  If your page is written well it will move them to ask you about your business/service.

Depending on the community you may have an ad on your page or you may not. I have found ads on myspace pages seriously turn people off.  At myspace you are better off using YOUR STORY to get people more involved.  At Powerful Intentions however, I find that if I have an ad in my sidebar, people will often click it and get in touch with me that way. You really have to experiment and see what works best and where.

Back to signatures. You don’t want to write a book in your signature.  A quick question with a link or even just a couple links to pages is more than enough. For example you might say “Who is that Jackie Lee anyway?” using your name of course then link that phrase to your home online wherever that may be.  You can also just put in a couple links if your URL explains where they are going. For example: www.5DollarBlessing.com or www.ItsaWahmLife.com. This gives people some idea where they are going as well as provding an element of curiosity to your signature.

Another great idea for a signature is sending people to see pictures. I have a friend who built her entire business just by asking people to check out her pictures in her email signature.  Of course in your profile wherever you keep your pictures make sure you have some way for people to contact you.

Keep your signature simple, and conversational and you’ll do well.

Yahoo groups and google groups are very similar to online communities, except the messages come through your email.  They are communities nonetheless, and you must behave in an appropriate manner or you will be banned for spam.

You may already belong to some Yahoo or Google groups, and maybe you are only READING the messages. That doesn’t work. (I must admit I’m guilty myself and partially wrote this post to kick myself into gear!)  Get in there and converse, get to know people and let them get to know you. You will be well on your way to building your business with yahoo and google groups.

[tags]yahoo groups, build business with groups, google groups, email signatures, social networking, adding pictures to signature[/tags]

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