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The Well-Connected Solopreneur:
5 Tips for Marketing Your Business with LinkedIn
 Last time I looked, there were more than 20 million LinkedIn users. LinkedIn offers huge opportunities for users who know how to leverage online networking to grow their business. And the best part: most small biz owners will do just fine with the free membership level.
Many people think of LinkedIn as a place to connect with someone-to track down a job, find a lost classmate, make a sale. But LinkedIn can also help you, the solopreneur or small biz owner:
· Expand your connections and increase your visibility. With its network of millions of professionals, from CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to solopreneurs, LinkedIn allows you to strengthen existing relationships and build new connections, so your message travels farther and faster.
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· Get your personal brand and business identity in front of lots of potential clients and customers. Social media like LinkedIn can be incredibly useful in sharing your unique brand and allowing the "real you" to shine.
· Build your credibility as an expert in your profession or field. This is your chance to let others know just how good you are at what you do. By interacting and answering questions on topics in your field, you can drive traffic to your Linkedin profile.
5 Tips for Marketing Your Business with LinkedIn
The easy part of LinkedIn is creating the connections. Here are some tips for taking it to the next level:
1. Educate yourself about the community. Know what your goals are before you jump in. Browse the site to understand all the benefits and ways to become involved. Select the ones that will help you reach your goals.
2. Optimize your profile. Put as much information in your profile as you can, including education, background, skills, and interests. Help people find you while improving your Google page rank by: 1) making your profile information available for search engines to index and 2) registering for a LinkedIn URL with your name. Promote your blog or website within your LinkedIn profile categories, such as "My Website" and "My Company." (Be sure your profile setting is on "Full View.")
3. Invite people you know to join your network and spend time at least once a month to search LinkedIn for new contacts you've met in real time. Be selective, though. It's not a popularity contest. Most social media experts advise that LinkedIn is best used to invite-and accept invitations from- people you know and trust. But one of the primary benefits is that, through these established relationships, you will be able to meet many new people and widen your networking circle.
4. Get involved. Like anything else, you get what you put into it. Offer to exchange recommendations for the people in your network. Strengthen your brand and show your knowledge and expertise by participating on the forums. Use LinkedIn Answers to respond to questions in your area of specialty. Pose problems you are having and ask for advice. And leverage your LinkedIn involvement. For instance, talk about your LinkedIn networking experiences on your blog.
5. Be a good member of the community. Stay true to the facts when creating your profile. Follow the rules. For instance, don't include your e-mail address in your LinkedIn name. And, above all, show that you value people over sales by building relationships and giving back.
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