"Creating A Virtual Handshake and Engaging Content"

Since the Internet came online in the early 1990s, communications as we know it has changed in so many ways. Now instead of people talking in person to one another or on the phone, texting and email is now the daily method of communication. However, email is now considered cumbersome and time consuming in today's business world too.

There has also been a change in our linguistics which causes a breakdown in our communication skills called tech talk, which causes a void in how we communicate or rather don't! Because the Internet has become so fast paced, it no longer allows us to utilize our Professional Communication skills to build a trusting relationship with our clients. This is now considered old school. Unless people are current with the short forms and how to use the social groups used in today's online business world, their mandate can get lost in translation. How then does this affect people who are trying to promote their business online?

Before email and texting, we had the luxury of integrating our social graces, allowing us a face to face experience that complimented our intellect with our clients. In doing so, we build lasting relationships that are congenial, and over time, develop into a trusting rapport between the two individual parties, validated by a strong handshake!

Now it has fallen upon us to develop a lasting business relationship via creating a Virtual Handshake. So how do we accomplish this?

There is a way for the online businesses to still build a lasting relationship of trust with their readers that can be extremely effective by creating a virtual handshake. The way to do this is to transform our Professional Communication Skills into a verbal medium that compliments our content. By using our social graces as well, we can marry the three together and now the translation becomes much more transparent and easier for all to understand.

It's important right from the start of creating your content to speak to your reader, not at them. You will want to relate to them by first getting a good understanding of what they are searching for. Once you identify what that is, it's important to focus on how you can help them. Be sincere in your communications and present them with options so they can see you're for real and there for them! You will want to build a friendship first and foremost with your readers upon first contact in order to eventually gain their trust. What the reader is looking for may not be what you provide, but it's in your best interest to help them just the same, if you can. Why? Because they will remember you and will come back to your website or they may refer someone to you. So it's a Win, Win, situation!.

In creating this marriage of the three methods of building a lasting relationship, you have made a connection with your readers by using your social graces and putting them back in place. To give your readers that face to face experience, make sure your Gravatar (A full frontal smiling photo of you) is everywhere. You will want it to be on your WA Homepage for first contact when your readers make the decision to come through to join. So your smiling face should be there to welcome them and it will be right beside your sign up box. Equally as important, always have your face (Gravatar) beside your comment box on your website. There's nothing better then putting a face to a name.

Make sure you create engaging content through your comments to ensure feedback. For example. when you receive a comment on your website, you may want to ask the reader an open ended question that will encourage them to interact with you. This in turn will show other readers that visit your site, that you have an ongoing active website and that people have returned to you for help and/or advice.

If their comment doesn't allow for this kind of response, then you can speak to the reason why they came to your site. For example, they may be interested to know about a product or an idea that you know about that will be of help to them. If your comment has been of service to them, this would be a good time to ask them to feel free to share your Website with their family and friends. Always try to engage them in conversation, even if they mention something off topic. This way you are establishing a relationship that will help you to gain your reader's trust, because you're not just interested in what's in it for you, but you care about the reader.