Are You Linked In?

There are a host of social networking sites including MySpace, Facebook and Friendster. Each of these is designed to bring individuals together. In the right scenario, these sites can be used to find business relationships. However, their feature sets are best suited for more casual relationships. Fortunately, there is one social networking site geared specifically towards business professionals that is continually gaining popularity. LinkedIn now boasts over 30 million profiles, including high level professionals from all Fortune 500 companies. Perhaps you already have a profile on LinkedIn. If so, are you getting the most out of your membership?

Here are several valuable ways to take advantage of the LinkedIn Network:

Increase Your Visibility
Did you know you have the option to make your LinkedIn profile available to search engines? LinkedIn profiles generally receive a pretty high page rank in Google. By creating a profile complete with applicable keywords and exposing it to search engines, you can greatly increase your visibility.

Promote Your Website and Blog
You can increase your visibility even further by adding links to your website and blog within your profile. Since your profile is visible to search engines, provided you took the above advice, these links will also be indexed.

Research a Business Partner
There’s little doubt that LinkedIn can assist in locating potential business partners, but did you ever consider researching the stability, reputation or expertise of a potential partner? LinkedIn offers a reference checking tool that allows you to find individuals who have worked with a particular individual or company. This provides a unique opportunity to gain insight about a potential business or partner by hearing from those who know them best.

Get Business Advice
Whether you are starting a new business or are a seasoned professional, there is immense value in getting advice from those who have walked the same path. LinkedIn Answers provides a forum for asking questions and soliciting advice from other business professionals. Since you can review the profiles of those responding, you can accurately weigh the value of the response.