Many people who take Business Network seriously insist that personal interaction is crucial. Others consider online networking to be a valid alternative.

The people who prefer direct face-to-face interaction surely have their case made. How can you expect to learn much about a person, and about the personality, from exchanging emails?

Although I take part in both types of Networking, I tend to prefer Online Networking, mainly because it suits my character and way or working more. However in order to network effectively online you need a good web site to facilitate this. What features are necessary in such a web site?

Firstly there should be a way of learning more about each member of the Networking group. This information could be held in a variety of forms, for instance in a database or even as spreadsheet entries. It is more useful if the information is in a less structured form, as a profile which the individual can fill in as she feels is appropriate.

Usually there will be contact information; a summary of the persons character and achievements; accompanied by a brief description of the persons business.

It is all very well having profiles for each member of the group. However there also needs to be a way of finding the profile of particular members. For instance, you might already know of a members name and want to learn more about that person.

Alternatively you might want to access a list of members who share a particular characteristic; for instance, the type of business they work in, the locations of where they live and work, or a specific personal interest.

Although being able to access information about other members is probably the most important function of an online networking site, other functions can be valuable as well. Well consider just a few of these now.

As very few people will want to confine their networking completely to online, it is helpful to have an updated list of networking events taking place in your area. These will give you the opportunity to actually meet some of the people who you had previously only known through their online profile.

You probably want other members to know more about you. The usual way of doing this is to encourage people to check out your web site. An alternative way is to write Blogs in which you can offer useful information and advice while at the same time discreetly promoting your business. This promotion can be simply done by putting relevant details in the signature at the end of the Blog.

Or there can be opportunities to directly plug your business in a marketplace-like location. This can be compared to the newsletters or magazines of professional organizations which have relevant articles, as well as advertisements directly promoting products and services associated with an individual member.

Here I have touched on just a few of the useful features that any quality Online Networking web site should make available. It is worth spending the time investigating the range of features on offer, and deciding which are potentially the most useful to you and your business.