Bizmeed Basic User Guide

1.Register to access services/ products and start networking.
2.Once you have registered as a member, you can tell us a bit about yourself and your business by creating a 'My Bcard'.

Firstly you need to identify what you want to get out of the Bizmeed networking experience, in order to develop your profile to reflect these needs and define businesses and professionals you would like to meet who can form valuable and effective resources.

My Bcard and profile

• Your profile and 'My Bcard' is essential to your networking experience, the more detail you add the more effective your profile will be.
• Other users will be able to target you and your business according to their interests far more clearly/ easily.
• 'My Bcard' profile is a short description of your business and personal/ professional profile. To make your profile most effective use specific words to target the kind of business to want to network with.
• Also use poignant words to describe the nature of your business as it will help to make it clear what you do and help others to find you easily.
• You want your profile to reflect you and your business in the right way so watch out for things like:
  • spelling
  • Don't over complicate things, use specific descriptive words in your profile.

Upload photos
Be mindful when uploading a photo that you pick an image which presents the image you want to convey to others. Thinking of both networks and contacts you want to attract to join your group.

CSS
You have the option to customise your profile page using CSS to reflect the image you want to convey of yourself and or your business. You may choose to reflect your company branding through this, which is also beneficial in making your profile stand out and be easy to find for other users.
(See, Introduction to CSS, external site)

Refining profile
It is beneficial to refine your profile from time to time in order to target particular types of people or businesses, and keep your network growing.

Key areas you may want to change are;

• Company description
• Words that describe your business
• Businesses you would like to meet.

Making alterations to these areas can help to gain new people in your network and build a strong resource of contacts for the projects your business is involved in.

Personal Profile/ Meeting People

• It is important to clearly differentiate between the 'businesses you would like to meet' option and the type of people you would like to meet.
• In the personal profile section you can define the type of business you would like to meet. Consider this in terms of business areas you are interested in and would like to build networks with, this may not necessarily be businesses in your area as yourself
• Think about the areas that your business may want to progress into or become stronger in.
• 'People you would like to meet' should be thought of in terms of professional people you want to form relationships with of the purpose of creating specialists contacts or for support and advice.
• You may want to consider forming connections with people in terms of creating support or resource contacts.
• Using these two options you can define the types of groups want to form or be a part of.

Schedule builder and Calendar

• Utilise the tools available to organise the seminars and events you want to be a part of.
• It can be a good strategy to try a range of seminars and events initially and work out which one suits your networking objectives.
• Choose from a range of events options and consider the type of event in relation to the area that best reflects what you are trying to achieve through networking at the time.
• You also have an option to create an event which could mean branching outside of the group/ groups you are involved in and in order to expand the network or diversify contacts and resources.
• Sharing your event with new users outside of your established groups opens opportunities to bring in new ideas and resources into your network, or even start a new network.
• If you feel you have something you would like to share with others why not set up your own support network through the group home page?
• Use the schedule builder to create a structure and focus your networking activities.

If you have any problems or questoins about Bizmeed, please contact the Bizmeed support team.