10 LinkedIn Tips to Grow Your Business

1. List every important detail
Include your complete work history. You will likely remember colleagues and classmates you may have forgotten. Those contacts will be able to search for you based on what is in your profile and most social networking sites will suggest people that share these groups or interests.

2. Add updates regularly
By adding connections and editing your profile, you are more likely to be at the top of the list when somebody searches for a company like yours. Each time you edit your profile, the information will be circulated to your network, which regularly puts your name in front of your contacts.

3. Let people know what you’re doing
Use the status field to put in updates. This information is usually sent in emails to others that are connected, share an affinity group or are following specific people.

4. Join Groups
Joining professional groups within LinkedIn gives you opportunities to provide input and gain exposure. Whether it’s your own industry, or one your business serves, professional groups are an excellent way to generate new contacts through the online Q&A section.
5. Become known as an expert
By posting answers in the questions online, you can share with others what you know. If you have good answers, it will create an interest in knowing more about your services.

6. Get recommended by peers and clients
Recommendations are always an excellent source of credibility and your recommendations are always there for anyone to see.

7. Research new opportunities
If you keep abreast of your affinity groups or browse the profiles of competitors, you will likely find new ideas. This can be done by searches online, but the content is distilled better in social networks.

8. Find the leads you seek
If you know of specific business that fits your target market, you can learn a great deal about them in social networks. In addition to knowing the background of the key people, you might be able to find shared connections or shared affinity groups e.g. alma maters. This can make your first contact much smoother.

9. Improve your search engine rankings
If your public profile is set to “full view,” Google will index your profile and your Linked In page will draw more traffic. If you use Linked In to showcase your talents well, your website will gain traffic. You can increase traffic to all sites by cross-linking from social network sites, your own blog and posts you make to other blogs.

10. See what others see
Google yourself and see what shows up. If your online strategy is working, you should see more links and more relevant information show up first. If your own website is not at the top of the list, consider some new strategies for enhancing the virtual you.