Ever wish there was a place you could go to find new employees, colleagues or even jobs? Wish there was a magic key that opened the door to thousands of different companies? There is... The best business networking site on the Web should be able to do all of this and more, and the team here at Star Reviews set out to find it. In our quest for the best, we came across the XING.com website. We thought, “Hmm... What's a name like XING anyway, and what's it got to do with business networking? We were about to find out...
What's New?
- Open up new sales channels with with XING's business accelerator.
- Manage and expand your network with professional contact tools.
- Use your XING profile as an online business card.
Star Reviews' Favorite Feature:
The 6Star team was really impressed with XING's user forums. Can you believe there are more than 25,000 of them? Wow – talk about active networking at work. Honestly, you can spend days going through that treasure trove of useful information and, better yet, you can get to know other XING members while you do it. When it comes to our favorite XING feature, the forums win by a mile.
About XING:
Imagine taking your Rolodex, making it interactive and putting it to work for you. That's kind of what XING is, summed up in a nutshell. XING offers its members the ability to find professional contacts, opportunities and privileges through the tools and resources it offers its members.
The XING Experience:
When you arrive at the XING website, the first thing you'll want to do is sign up. Thanks to XING's easy-to-find “Sign up for free now” link, that won't be a problem. Simply click that green button and the XING website will take you to the form you need to fill out.
The XING registration form is a 1-2-3 process, but it's a bit longer than the registration processes of some of the other business networking sites on the Web. First, you fill out a page containing your personal information. XING wants details like your name, email address, and birthday right up front. Then you're brought to a page that asks for your business details, such as the name of your company and what your title is as well as your educational background. Once that is submitted, all that's left to do is confirm your sign-up by clicking on the link in the mail they'll be sending you.
After we confirmed our XING.com registration, we were given the choice of joining as a premium member (which costs money) or a basic member (which is free). We decided to test drive the basic membership before making any commitments. After you've made your selection, you're taken to the XING member start page, where you can create your profile, locate friends and co-workers and make new contacts by networking with other XING members.
We suggest tweaking your profile before doing anything. The more attractive your profile is, the more XING members there will be who are interested in getting to know you and adding you to their network of contacts. Once you've filled out your own profile, search the profiles of others and see if there's anyone you'd like to get to know. Then, if you're interested in finding a new job, maybe check out the XING Marketplace where you'll find listings that match your personal XING profile. It's a great way to get a head-up over the competition.
XING Pricing:
XING.com offers two levels of membership – a basic membership and a premium membership. A premium membership costs $8.21 per month and includes access to the XING.com website and network as well as:
- Contact other XING network members with secure private messages.
- See which members have recently viewed your profile.
- Perform advanced searches by location, company or university.
- Post offers on the XING marketplace.
- Benefit from discounts only offered to XING premium subscribers.
XING Customer Support:
XING offers customer support via a web-based email form and an brief (and we mean very brief) FAQ section. Web support, while not timely (it took about 3 days for them to get back to us) did answer our questions adequately. However, we would have liked to see more in-depth FAQ content and perhaps a phone-support option or at least a live chat.
Upside:
Free to join, premium membership is very affordable, extensive member forums.
Downside:
Limited customer support.
Summary:
We really liked the XING business networking site and think it's a great choice if you want to meet alot of people. Not only are their member forums extensive and popular, you can create and expand your business network with professional contact tools. The membership is free here, but if you upgrade to a premium account (for $8.21 a month) you can perform advanced searches by location, company or university and post offerings on the XING marketplace board. If you like alot of networking capabilities, XING is a good site for you.