Many small business owners are so focused on the day-to-day of their business that they forget about actively networking, Misner comments.

"Be visible. Networking is a contact sport! You have to get out and connect with people," he says.

"Trust is key to networking," says Misner.

You have to cultivate real, deep relationships with your contacts before you can ask them for a favor or expect them to send you business.

"It takes time for people to have confidence in you and have a relationship with you -- you have to invest in them," he continues.

One of Misner's favorite acronyms is "VCP," which stands for:

Visibility: "They know who you are and what you do."

Credibility: "They know who you are and what you do, and they know that you're good at it.

Profitability: "They trust you enough that they're willing to do business with you."

How do you develop these networking relationships? You approach your professional contacts as you would any other relationship, Misner says. "You have to sit down and learn about the individual."

Try connecting with them on a level other than business -- people bond over overlapping areas of interest, no matter what they are.

When you start to care about one another, you've developed a solid professional contact.

Having a diverse network is just as important as having a large network. 

If you only know people who are like you -- i.e. in your industry or social group -- "your network becomes insular," says Misner.

But when your network is diverse, you're more likely to know "connectors," or those who can put you in touch with people you never would have met otherwise. And those people will be able to help you in different, better ways.

In an interview with Inc. magazine, networking guru Keith Ferrazzi says, "Every free moment is a chance to E-mail or call someone." According to the profile, "He makes hundreds of phone calls a day....He sends E-mail constantly. He remembers birthdays and makes a special point of reaching people when they have one."

Your network will be useless if you don't maintain it -- that means constantly reaching out.

For beginners, Misner suggests making a game plan with a "scorecard" of networking points. Whenever you actively make an effort to reach out to a contact, you get a point.

Sending a thank-you note, making a phone call, arranging a meeting, sending an article of interest to someone, displaying someone else's goods in your store, putting someone else's link up on your Facebook... all of these count as networking, and you should be doing these as often as you can.

"Count those touchpoints! How many times are you reaching out?" Misner asks. "With the technology we have today, there is no excuse not to stay in touch."

According to the Inc. profile of Ferrazzi, "Successful networking is never about simply getting what you want. It's about getting what you want and making sure that people who are important to you get what they want, too."

Rothenberg recognizes that "it's easy to drop off when you're not actively in need of something." But you need to remember that networking is a perpetual give-and-take.

He continues, "You want to be the one people go to when they need something. That means suggesting somebody else for a job when you can, putting them in touch with an acquaintance they should know... You have to give, give, give."

Misner's cardinal rule of networking: "Never, ever ask for anything from someone you've just met, who you don't have any relationship with."

"Networking goes bad when a complete stranger says 'let's do business together, hook me up, etc.... That's not networking, that's direct selling."

Above all, Misner repeats that networking isn't about passing out your business cards or asking people you don't know well for favors. "'Coin-operated networking' is bad for business. It doesn't work in the long-run."

The key to successful networking is to remember that you're working on building real, deep relationships with your professional contacts.

Your network won't do you any good if it's full of lots of people who you don't know very well; cultivating both the depth and width of your network is extremely important.

"Networking is more about farming than it is about hunting," says Misner. "It's not just about who you know -- it's about how well you know them."