Women’s Networks Online

I’ve come across a number of women’s networks and blogs online recently, with the focus on business, enterprise and professional networking. This seems to be a growing niche - and no doubt, a fairly large market niche - and will be of interest to businesses and communicators who are looking at connecting with the female market. And especially given the research from BurstMedia in June 2007 which finds that the web is women’s favourite place to shop.

You may like to explore some of the online women’s networks below:

REAL Women
An online community for Rising Entrepreneurs And Like-minded women.

This is a community created by Zena Hockley, a British entrepreneur based in the Netherlands. The site features business-related articles of interest to women and interviews with real women entrepreneurs, asking them how they developed their businesses, the challenges they faced and their advice to other business-women. It’s good to read real stories from business women who are not necessarily celebrities but who are talented and persevering, sharing their experiences and advice.

Diva-Biz.com
The heart and soul of business - from a woman’s perspective

British entreprenuer Fiona Price created this online network for women in business, launched in Sept 2007. It features videos of interviews from women leaders such as Sarah Deaves, CEO of Coutts & Co as well as a forum, mentoring sessions, group discussions. It is currently free to join but they may charge a fee later as the project develops. Also, it looks like it’s not exclusively for women as “MEN who are interested in understanding more about women’s leadership style and what they contribute to business, are also welcome to join!”

Expat Women
Helping women living overseas

This is a fairly big, corporate-looking site - and very pink - developed by Andrea Martins, an Australian, and Jill Lengre, an American, to help expatriate women share stories, network globally and find resources. There are also volunteer mentors, forums and a huge women’s blogs directory (by country).

BlogHer

The community for women who blog

This is a huge and high-profile community of women bloggers with an annual conference in the US, founded in 2005 by Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort Page and Jory Des Jardins. It’s free and you can add your blog to a vast array of others, listed under topics ranging from Astrology and Horoscopes to Travel and World. It is strong on discussing blogging related issues with a women’s perspective eg monetizing your blog and business blogging. I’ve signed up my blogs and joined this community.

Do you know any other women’s networks that have a strong online presence or community? Please do add a comment or email me using the Contact link above.

Photo: shows the three founders of BlogHer, from their website