Women Internet Marketers Network: Helping Women to Succeed in Online Business

photo credit: where are the joneses

“We like to talk. We like to get together. We like to support.”
- Diane Corriette

I recently joined an excellent forum/social network for women internet marketers. I’m not usually one to split things up by gender, but women seem to be so outnumbered by men in online business, at least when it comes to being social about it, and I felt the need to connect with my sisters.

The network, launched last July, is managed and moderated by Diane Corriette. A trained life coach and successful internet businesswoman, Diane created a trio of sites designed for women to connect, share their business experience and help each other to succeed. The three sites consist of a directory of online businesses, a social network and a membership site that is currently under review.

In my opinion, the Women Internet Marketers network fills a void that had, up to this point, only been growing deeper. Most of the social networks and online forums designed for women just are not the same type of social networks as those geared toward men. Sites like Team Sugar and All Women’s Talk just aren’t the right place for serious business. This is made clear right away with the introductory message at All Women’s Talk:

“There should be a place in the Internet, where all women issues, like fashion, style, make up, diets, relationships will flourish. And that’s how the idea of All Women’s Talk appeared.”
Sure, there should be a place for that stuff, but there should also be a place for women that isn’t about make up, fashion and diets. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with being concerned with or discussing those subjects, they just are not at all what I was looking for in a social network. I have a very limited amount of time to spend networking and I don’t want it clogged up with Jimmy Choos and Lancome. That’s why, after much searching, I was so excited and relieved to find Women Internet Marketers Dot Net.

The site is easy to navigate, has tons of great information for internet marketers at all stages and it is not just one endless sales page. In certain places and situations, selling is allowed on the network, but you won’t find a pitch around every corner. Mostly what you’ll find is a great group of women who are serious about creating successful businesses online.

That said, I have to wonder why these types of venues are so few and far between. As Diane Corriette’s quote says, women like to talk, get together and support each other. Diane qualifies this by saying that she understands this to be a broad statement and not all women necessarily fit into that category. I agree with her on that, but given this natural urge in many women to be social and engage with each other, it seems that we would naturally gravitate toward social networks.

And yes, there are plenty of women being social online, but not very much of that socializing is what you can really consider networking as it relates to business. There are sites like BlogHer that provide places for business networking and advertising, but they also nearly always provide a lot of female-oriented distractions like entertainment blogs, horoscopes and so forth. You don’t see those types of things on men’s business networks. A business network for men is just that. A business network. It doesn’t have sports scores or fantasy football leagues or anything else except perhaps in the paid advertisements. It is a place for men to make connections for their businesses.

What I wanted to find was a social network that was about serious business endeavors for women. I was seeking like-minded businesswomen who wanted to make connections and leverage relationships online. Women have a built-in compassion that just lends itself beautifully to helping each other out, in business or otherwise. I found exactly what I was looking for with the Women Internet Marketers network. Yes, you can be casually social if you choose, but the objective of the site is women helping women to succeed financially online.

I haven’t yet figured out why more sites like this don’t exist. Perhaps many women don’t mind being outnumbered in those male-dominated social networks or maybe they don’t even notice. It seems to me that networks like WIM are long overdue and I am very glad to have found a clean (I don’t want to have to weed through ads and adult content when I’m working on my business), business-oriented forum that is closely moderated by a woman who definitely knows her way around internet business and sincerely cares about helping others succeed.

You can truly hear this sincerity in an excellent interview Charly Leetham conducted earlier this week with Diane Corriette: Diane Corriette: Helping Women Develop Online Businesses. Diane shares her plans for the trio of WIM sites and a lot of great ideas and experience in internet marketing. The full sixty minute teleconference is available for free on Charly’s blog, The Keys to Internet Marketing. I’d like to personally thank Charly and Diane for creating such a helpful resource. Keep your eye on Charly’s blog for more of these types of teleconferences.

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