LinkedIn is one of the best places for you to showcase the professional that you are.  I often tell my audiences that one of the reasons that LinkedIn is so important to your success is because Google is so twentieth century.  When someone Googles your name they see a lot of information and some of it may not show you the way you would prefer.  By creating a robust LinkedIn profile you can present yourself in the most favorable light while increasing your visibility, showcasing your credibility, gaining clients or locating and securing your next position.  You have the ability to allow people to write Recommendations for you on your LinkedIn profile.  This is a good thing.  A very good thing.  Of course you paint yourself in the best light when you create your LinkedIn profile.  You’re biased because you’re you.  By having people who have done business with you …

LinkedIn is the world’s largest and most successful networking site.  There are over 70,000,000 people using LinkedIn.  The average LinkedIn user is 42 years old and earns $107,000 per year.  Not a bad demographic. If you’re working, a LinkedIn profile is a must-have, not a like-to-have.  This is because just about all savvy businesspeople go to LinkedIn to do their due diligence in regards to who to do business with, sell to, buy from, etc.  This is not about spam or stalking.  This is about adding value to every relationship because (and you can write this in stone) “All things being equal, people do business with and refer business to people they like, know and trust.”  My friend Bob Burg came up with that quote back in the early 1990’s and I use it every day all over the world, because it’s as true as gravity. In upcoming newsletters, I …

LinkedIn is the world’s best online business networking platform with over 65,000,000 professionals using it and the average user being 41 years old and earning $109,000 per year.  Not a bad demographic for doing business with.   As the world is getting smaller, the number of professionals using LinkedIn is getting bigger.   Unlike a number of other networking sites, this is not an electronic bathroom wall.  Professionals who use LinkedIn most effectively realize that LinkedIn is a Social Media platform but in reality it’s really a database.   It is a database in the most literal meaning of the word.  You can strategically search through LinkedIn and identify people and organizations that you want to sell to, create alliances with, hire, refer business to, network with, and add value to as a professional.  One of the most attractive features of LinkedIn is the merging of the users’ contacts.  We’re all familiar with …