Yes. Apparently I do.  Do you still have a Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo or Go Daddy e-mail address that you use in your professional life? If so, it's time to upgrade to a professional e-mail address.  Please get over the, "Gmail is the standard of the industry and it's free!" mentality.  If you want to be taken seriously, you must set up your business e-mail address on a website domain that you own.  And guess what, it's ok to have more than one.  If you have a specialty it's something you might want to look into to.  You can have various domain names point to specific pages on your primary web site which can help maximize your site traffic and enhance your ranking on the various search engines.

Of course you'll keep your old accounts. I tend to use my Gmail account to register on sites where I know someone will spam me.  These generic accounts are also good if your host's server goes down, or has some other issue that stops your e-mail service.  It seems a bit archaic to be having this conversation in 2011, but each week I'm surprised by the number of emails I see from professional people who still don't have a highly professional web site and email.  Please don't be one of them.

So while I've just spoken about something that seems like a topic from 10 years ago in tech years, how about a brief blurb on a topic that's more current?  A couple of weeks ago I shared with you some information about Realcomm.  It's just around the corner (6 days to be exact) and if you're anywhere near Orlando, Florida you might want to stop in.  (PS:  If you want to come by just email me I can make some cool special arrangements for you.)  We continue to hear that the economy is stalled and that things continue to be slow in our industry.  While there's no doubt that that is true, that's not what is on the minds of the 21st century thinkers that you'll be interacting with at this conference.  Nope.  These are the people who can see farther than most and can help you do it too.  Just the fact that the GSA - is playing a big role (they have millions of square feet in their portfolio that needs retrofitting, leasing and management) should be enough to make your eyes light up.  The energy will be high and so will the potential for making connections that mean business.  I hope to see some of you there!
     

Click here to join our blog discussion or simply shoot me an email when you get a chance.

Last week: LinkedIn exploded on May 19, opening at 84% above its initial offering price on the first day of trading.  It closed the day valued at an impressive $9 billion.

This week: Those who have no clue about LinkedIn's 1 million+ member site, scramble to finally link up with LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a professional networking site. It lives inside of the social media universe but, rest assured, this is the one site that is universally accepted in the workplace. (In other words, your boss probably has a LinkedIn profile). This is not one of the social media sites that spur fervent philosophical debates about blurring the personal/professional identity lines.

Both in personal interactions with clients and friends, and when presenting social media to large groups, the universal questions I consistently answer are why and how to use LinkedIn?

For the why? Simply put, LinkedIn is your virtual résumé on steroids. Your virtual résumé (AKA profile) allows users to see your experience and credentials, and more importantly, your connections. Seasoned business professionals understand, it's not who you know - it's who knows you and your LinkedIn connections can open doors. It's like going to a traditional networking event and having an entourage consisting of every person you know in the business realm. If that new person you want to network with recognizes so and so in your entourage, they are more likely to engage you.

The sheer size of the LinkedIn website network (1,000,000+) commands a formidable presence online and as such, users with profiles enjoy the opportunity to piggy back on the site's presence and realize higher search engine rankings. Try it now. Enter 'Stephanie Darden' in your web browser and see what comes up. By virtue of LinkedIn, I reap the search engine ranking rewards that help me become discoverable. Out of sight, out of mind is reality and to succeed in business, you need to be discoverable
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Take the time to complete your profile thoroughly. Pay close attention to strategic words, titles, positions, etc. so others (future clients, employers, and employees) are more likely to locate you in the World Wide Web, which helps prevent the needle in the haystack situation. As in everything you publish virtually, words matter. They are the breadcrumbs search engines zealously seek out to locate you. But please, one word of crucial advice: use a photo of yourself as your profile pic. You are not a gray, bald-headed, ambiguous man, so why let him represent you on LinkedIn? People will be more likely to connect with you if they recognize you.

For the how? I will delve deeper in my next column for RealWired, but in a nutshell:
·    Posts/updates (which can be linked to your Twitter account) are immensely important.
·    You can breeze onto the site and into new connections in minutes, but daily diligence is key.
·    There's an app for that-great, free applications can be utilized to create a more intuitive and magnetic profile.

So, if you are not already on LinkedIn, create your personal profile now, and stay tuned for tips and tricks on staying top of mind inside your professional network.