(article is not written by Ryze but by Rebecca White with Administrators permission from Ryze in August 2004)

Are you not a member of Ryze yet? It's free with the option to upgrade for only $9.95 a month. I am presently taking the free account, as that is what so many networkers have when they first start out.

Go to http://www.ryze.com and sign up for a free account. FYI, I don't receive anything for talking about Ryze or sending people to Ryze, but because I have made excellent contacts for Advantage Marketing, Support for Moms and Experts for Wahms as well as new friends, I like to refer others there.

Sign into Ryze. This will take you to your Ryze Page.

To change any information, such as your personal information, photos, preferences, etc., you will see links to the left of your screen. Click on those and it will take you directly to where you can change your information. Everything is self- explanatory from there.

Under the "Communicate Title” on the left hand side you will see "Private Messages,” "Contact Manager,” and "Network with Me” links. The Private Message button is where you can see if anyone has PM'd (private messaged) you.

The "Contact Manager” is a place for you to "bookmark” people you would like to have information on later, whether it be to talk about your business if you already have done so or if later you may want to contact them about their products or services. This makes looking for someone later on easy.

You can upgrade your membership later if you choose. I wouldn't unless you want to have your own network or if you want to use the HTML editor to change items on your home page or add more than one picture to your Ryze page. If you do not know HTML, basically there are a few nice features to upgrading. It is $9.95 a month. You can try it for a month and see if it is worth it. I do not have one for me personally, but I do have the Gold membership for The Perfect Image so we can have a network. Now look at the top of your page and you will see the different tabs for different areas to go to.

#1—Ryze Home

#2—Invite Friends. This is if you would like to email people who you think would benefit from joining Ryze in order to network, etc. You can send them an email that Ryze created already that explains what Ryze is all about.

#3—Networks. This is the tab you use either to edit the networks that you belong to or search for other networks to join. I personally joined two to three the first week and got the hang of it. Then I visited a couple of other people's personal pages and went to look at what networks they belonged to. You can find this information at the bottom on the right side of anyone's page. Then you can click the link to each network to see if the group would be of interest to you.

#4—Friends. This is another way you can see who you have added as friends to your page. Friends are people you know and want to network with or already have done business with. In order to have friends join, you have to know their email address. When I joined all you had to do was hit a link that said Add as Friend. However, people were just spamming others instead of really being interested in learning from each other and helping each other. So in order to protect its members, Ryze changed it so now you have to know the email address of the person you want to add as a friend.

#5—Events. This lists events all over the country that people have posted or are Ryze events offline.

#6—Classifieds. You can post here for free or pay $9.95 a month for an ad to stay top place. The best way to learn how to use this function is just to click on it and explore.

You can go into your network tab and scroll down to the list of your networks and click on the Edit Networks and change your settings so you don't get emails. Some networks I suggest you do this as your email box may get very full and just go to the actual network once or twice a week to see if any of the posts interests you.

Let's get back to your Ryze page. Look at the very top of it and you will see little "ads.” These are not really ads unless you pay to h

ave one on the top of the pages. The $9.95 a month fee (not the upgrading fee) from the classifieds section. You can click on those links and it will take you to that person's Ryze page. This enables you to identify others you would like to get to know, as they may offer something you are looking for or may even do the same thing as you. If you want to ask questions or give advice you can go to their Ryze page and click on private message at the top of their page. This will open another screen for you to type your message to them; it's very similar to an email.

Also, by the Private Message button is an "Add as Friend Button.” You can click this BUT you need to know their email address in order for them to be added as your friend.

Go to one of the network pages. Let's use The Perfect Image since I am familiar with that one.

#1 RULE before posting is to, please, read when they have advertising days. Some network owners are very strict and will either ban (remove you from their network) or politely tell you to not advertise on a non-ad day. So to save face and a little embarrassment, read the front page of each network you join so you know what to post on what day. I know it's a little confusing, but once you become familiar with each network it's really easy. At the end of this chapter, I have included a worksheet to help you keep track of ad days.

Ok, now take a good look at our Front page and you will see a list of days of the week and what topics are discussed. You will want to check regularly as we do change the days. Ad days are everyday, as long as you are an active member.

Now as you look over the page, you will see advertisements or events listed and you will see our moderators. These are people who have volunteered their time to post a topic at least once a week. I have found this to be very beneficial in order to "establish” yourself as an expert in your field. Let's say as an example, you are an expert at make-up. You can post make-up tips and include your signature. Your signature is the information about your company after you sign your name. Most networks let you post your companies URL under your name. But again check, some let you do small ads, others are no URL's just your name, while others are only your name and URL. Don't worry you will get the hang of it.

Now under every main part of the front of a Ryze network there will be a couple links you will see, a Post a Message link and a Search Archives link. The Post a Message link is what you hit if you want to post something, whether it's a question or you want to do an ad, or start a topic. This will take you to another page where you can post your message.

The Search Archives link will take you back to all the messages posted on the network in the past.

Under those buttons you will see other blue links with people's names next to it. Those are messages others have posted. In order to read them, click the link and this will take you to their message. You can reply to other's messages by going to the bottom of their post and clicking reply, than you can post your message.

So that is basically it. Once you post a few times and become familiar with your networks, it will be second nature to you.

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