Networking is an essential skill for most business people, but especially for entrepreneurs. The strong association between the entrepreneur as a person and his or her business demands that entrepreneurs get out into the world and create and maintain business relationships. Here are some tips and resources to help you improve your networking skills and extend your reach.

How to Profit From Networking
Sales are frequently developed through the relationships we have created with other people. Networking functions provide the opportunity to expand our contact list, particularly when we create and nurture quality relationships. Here are five strategies to make networking profitable.

Networking Points & Tips
A range of very interesting articles and resources about business networking.

Basic 'How To Networking Tips'
If you were to ask ten different people what networking means to them, you would probably get ten different answers. So when it comes to finding out what networking means, a better question is: what does networking mean to you?

The Importance of Being Memorable
Have you ever attended a networking event, collected a bunch of business cards, and when you go through them the next day, you can't remember who many of them are? Well, you certainly don't want to be one of those that other people can't remember, do you? Here are five tips on how to make yourself memorable when meeting other people.

Learning through networking with others
Most businesses recognise the benefits of developing their employees' knowledge and understanding of the industry and markets they work in. Networking with others allows smaller businesses to share experiences and ideas and to improve in-house knowledge. Businesses can network with educational establishments, trade organisations and other businesses. Businesses that actively participate in networks generally find the partnerships more effective than passive participants. This guide explains the workings and benefits of networking, the forms networking can take and how to make the most of active participation.

Do You Make Your First Impression Your Best Impression?
The first impression process occurs in every new situation. Within the first few seconds, people pass judgment on you – looking for common surface clues. Once the first impression is made, it is virtually irreversible. Guest author image consultant Michelle Sterling offers tips to make sure your first impression is your best impression.

Networking Like a Pro: Make a Lasting Impression
Networking is less about meeting new people than having them remember you after the fact. So how do get someone to remember you from the other ten people he met that very same night? Try these three simple questions to make a lasting impression.

How to Cultivate a Network of Endless Referrals
Instead of thinking of "networking" as something you go to "networking events" to do, make it an integral part of your everyday contacts. Develop win-win relationships and let the referrals come to you.

The Grand Paradox: “Real-World” Giving and Receiving
In this excerpt from the newly updated Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales, Bob Burg explains how giving a great use value for a small cash value is the fundamental key to creating wealth for yourself.

Giving First: A Personal Experience
In this fourth excerpt from the newly updated Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales, Bob Burg shares his personal experience of The Law of Successful Giving and Successful Receiving in action.

Why I Network
Ecademy founder and marketing guru Thomas Power shares his thoughts on the importance of networking. Ecademy is certainly one of the largest (if not the largest) online business networks, with over 13,000 members around the world.

Ask the Networking Expert - Dr. Ivan Misner
Dr. Misner, the founder of BNI, answers questions for Entrepreneur Magazine readers about networking. Topics include the six types of networking groups, how to network with a large group, the ROI of networking, and networking with confidence.

Effective Networking
Diane Darling's free monthly newsletter, "The Net Effect", covers such diverse and creative topics as "What Dogs Can Teach Us About Networking", "What I Learned at MIT Charm School", "Holiday Party Networking Techniques", and "The Rolling Stones Know How to Network, Do You?". Archives of past newsletters are on the Web site.

Networking Articles from Susan RoAne
The best-selling author of "How to Work a Room", et al., offers more than twenty free articles and tips on networking, with a particular emphasis on the social skills - how to converse with contentious people, mingling, schmoozing, and how to avoid being a sleaze.

Networking Articles from Donna Fisher
The internationally renowned speaker and best-selling author ("Power Networking", "People Power", "Professional Networking for Dummies") offers full articles and excerpts on networking, word-of-mouth marketing, and breaking out of your comfort zone.