I gathered some tips and ways to take your LinkedIn profile up a level. Here are a few of them…

1.  Change the standard URL from linkedin.com/in/13?3a&3d  to a “vanity URL” so instead change it to this style: linkedin.com/in/blakeimeson This will allow you to rank for your name in the SERPs.

2. Use keywords you want to show up in LinkedIn search results for. Use these keywords naturally in your “summary” and list them in your “specialties”.

3. Great tips from Chris Brogan: For your summary…

• Lead with what I do most.
• Lead with the type of business I want to do.
• Move into the reasons why you’d do business with me.
• Move from there into all the nuances of what I do.

4. Put your LinkedIn URL in your email and forum signatures…

Cross-posted > Finish reading at blakeimeson.com -21 LinkedIn Hacks, Tricks and Ways to Make Your Profile Better

I like the idea of linkedin as a way to connect with others in the professional world in order to show your network and strength, but I also have many reserves about this principle. First off, I really do not want other people knowing everyone in my network because well my connections are my connections. It is almost like giving away your advantageous network for anyone that is friends with you to use. If you or your other connections abuse your contacts and connections then eventually they will not be their for you when need them.
Next, honestly you may be able to do the initial connection to the person with linkedin, but then all communications after should be a more formal way. Our society is becoming a society that is to informal and it is not a move in the right direction. Certain styles of communication are appropriate for certain things. Email is not not an appropriate form of communication for all business related activities. One of the reasons why face to face meetings as well as letter writing will never go away is the personal factor that gets added and gets appreciated by both sides.
Linkedin will aid in the way executive recruiting is done but it will never replace the old way due to its in-formalness. Linkedin is a grand idea on paper but I do not think it will pan out completely. Last I saw they had 9 million users which is impressive, but not sure how it is profitable as a company. In December of last year they brought in a new CEO formerly of Procter and Gamble in hopes of turning the company around. Only time will tell if they are successful, but I think a lot of these sites were developed out of side projects not as a business initially and that the plan never becomes truly profitable.

In today’s age, there seems to be such a large desire to be able to communicate with anyone at the drop of a hat. With facebook taking over the younger generations, this leaves older folk wanting something for themselves. Of course why would they want something that merely serves as a form of communication though, when they can use so many facets of the internet to help them out.

This is where LinkedIn comes into play. This website is like other job search websites in that it is an easy way for employers to find employees, but it offers so much more. You are able to connect with others that you may know, and the more people you know, the more job opportunities are available to you. At the same time though, you are able to communicate in many of the same ways as are offered by facebook.

This is a much more practical social networking website for older generations, and I predict it will become much more commonly used in the near future.

Business professionals are starting to turn to LinkedIn for networking and other business needs.  But how did LinkedIn start, and what were some of the goals of founder Reid Hoffman?

According to an interview conducted by Nathan C. Kaiser, Hoffman had previously started a company called SocialNet, which was a dating, professional networking, activity, and roommate search website.  Over time, Hoffman realized why the professional aspect of SocialNet did not succeed and he decided to start a new company.

The original idea behind LinkedIn was to link people who had jobs and money with the people that lacked jobs and money.  Having both types of people join the site was key to the success of LinkedIn.

LinkedIn.com says that it was founded in Reid Hoffman’s living room in fall 2002, along with co-founders Allen Blue, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Eric Ly, and Konstantin Guericke.  Hoffman metaphorically describes the differences between social networks by saying that LinkedIn is the social media’s office, while Facebook is a barbeque, and MySpace is a bar.

To get a better picture of Reid Hoffman, watch the video below.

To sum up Hoffman’s personality, he seems like a CEO that understands how businesses work.  He is completely down to Earth and has a witty, sarcastic humor.  He knows his product and has clearly defined long and short-term goals.   His idea of connecting the two types of business people has worked very well through the creation of LinkedIn.

Facebook….MySpace….Twitter…..LinkedIn, and that is just naming a few of the many social networking sites that have become popular in the past few years. What makes one more valuable than other? Should I belong to multiple networking websites? Which one best fits my needs?

Someone who is new to the idea of social networking via the Internet, could easily be totally overwhelmed by all the possibilities out there to connect with people. Facebook right now is all that anyone ever seems to talk about…your grandma has a facebook, your aunt has facebook etc, it seems like everyone you know has a facebook. Many would say that facebook is losing its appeal, because it allows for so much complexity on an individuals page that it searching for people can be next to impossible…for young college age students who are looking to make a connection to people in the business world what is the best social networking answer?

LinkedIn. LinkedIn offers a great opportunity to connect with people that you barely know, or know well and can use them to add to your personal network. Making a LinkedIn profile that will bring in the kind of traffic that you want can be tricky. Here are some tips from “How to Change the World”

• It is very important to make connections! People with more than 20 connections are over 34 times more likely to be approached than those with less than 5.
• Do not just limit your profile to where you are currently working or going to school. It helps people to connect to you better if you put places where you used to work also.
• When you have an interview, try to find the person on LinkedIn so that you can find some common ground where you can relate to each other…it’s ok to stalk a little.

To find some more tips on using LinkedIn read the article. LinkedIn has helped many people to find jobs…so fix up your profile so that you can be one of them too!