I have already received a message from one of my groups that they will no longer accept “news” posts. The reason, and it is a valid one, is that they muck up the discussions with all kinds of non relevant stuff.

If the groups allow these posts they will significantly dilute the discussion board. I believe this is not a good decision on LinkedIn’s part as it will put the group owners and managers in the position of either allowing the discussions to be polluted or doing as my group did simply refusing news posts.

If LinkedIn holds to this policy your profile is going to become a lot more important.

Why?

Because attracting customers clients and opportunities will be much more difficult without the availability of the news sections.

Not that you shouldn’t constantly review your profile and tune it to be more effective but now it may be necessary.

To help out here I have put together a collection of 7 great articles on empowering your profile.  The final PDF file is still being formatted but should be available in the next couple of days.

If you’d like a copy of this free collection of articles please add your name and email below. You will be notified by email as soon as the report is ready:

ONE: Create a powerful profile that engages the reader by providing direct value
(I can help you here come to my free webinar next week.)

TWO: A profile that brings readers closer to your business.
(If you can get people to investigate you, you won’t get business.)

THREE:  Grow/have the largest possible network
(Gives you visibility and accessibility to others.)

FOUR: Develop lots of valued connections
(A valued connection is one that is connected due to the value you provide or have provided them.)

FIVE: Make sure you have a healthy level of activity on LinkedIn so you are visible to others.
(This would include participation in the question and answer forum and group discussions.)

SIX: A pure networking pro active engagement policy that helps you grow both the number of people in your network and the quality of those relationships.
(If you aren’t actively growing both connections and quality you will have to attract all of your business. This is a workable but slower route.)

SEVEN:A marketing strategy for your business (specifically for your website) that supports and engages those you attract. “Engages” in this context means putting you in direct communication with the readers.
(It does no good to bring people to your website if you don’t engage them. To read more about this read my article on list building www.flynpenoyer.com/list-building.)

Doing all of these things correctly is a surefire way to get lots of business from LinkedIn. Consider the following options to help you master these skills an be more successful on LinkedIn:

Read this blog.

Get a charter membership in my Power Networking Profit System for LinkedIn course. You can get started for just $1. www.onlinebusinessnetworker.net/charter

Get my new enhanced LinkedIn Mini Networking Power course (FREE) www.onlinebusinessnetworker.net/minicourse

However, there are different levels of quality of visibility. One of the biggest advantages LinkedIn has over a website or a resume is social proof. Social proof is where we use what others think to be correct or good to make our decisions.

The question and answer and group discussion forums gives you the chance to show your level of expertise and business savvy. This happens when you give high quality answers and others start to agree and complement you on what you’ve said.

In networking you will find that people like to attach themselves to “bright” people. More importantly they like to be connected to people who appear to be “valuable” in some way.

The point is that as a salesperson you should be participating in questions that give you a chance to show your expertise or general business wisdom. If there aren’t questions on subjects you think your prospects would be interested in, you should post such questions.

One note about posting the questions; make sure they don’t sound like a prospecting lead in such as – What problems are you having with your manufacturing…?” or “What kind of help do you need with your marketing?” These types of questions tend scare participants away where opinion questions are far more popular.

These kinds of activity will attract connections. Not all of them will be prospective clients, but they will all increase your visibility and help to establish you as a knowledgeable and valuable connection.

From Flyn

Another key way to attract and help yourself get business is by having a powerful profile. You still have time to register for my upcoming free webinar “LinkedIn Profile Strategies” coming this Wednesday at 1PM PST.  Click here to register

With the link feature you have more room in the status field for copy and the link feature allows you additional copy as well.

To start you must have some sort of a value offer on your site. This could be an educational or informative video, an article, white paper, or even a useful resource such as an educational quiz.

Once you have created or picked the resource (make sure it’s NOT sales oriented) simply put some information about its value and the link in the “Activity Status” section of your header. This can be edited from your Home page.

Since the link has its own text you could potentially change your “Activity Status” message and leave the link to stand on its own. The fact that the status is posted to the updates means you will get continual visibility from this activity and for your value offer.

From Flyn

One of the things that will make all of this more successful is to have a powerful profile. I invite you to register and and attend my free webinar “LinkedIn Profile Strategies” coming Wednesday 4/27 at 1PM PST 3PM EST. Click here to register.

I define a “LinkedIn power user” as someone who is generating opportunities and business successfully.

Participate Very Actively

Participation is the first and most important key to becoming a “LinkedIn power user” and getting more business from networking efforts..

If you are not participating and engaging others, you will not likely be a success. Since LinkedIn is a “networking” site and prospecting methods do work as well as building relationships, you need to be engaging others and creating valued relationships.

What to do:

• Ask and answer questions in the question and answer forum
• Participate in group discussions taking the opportunity when you can to engage others in conversations.

Be Very Visible

LinkedIn is in many ways an advertising media. Thus as I advertising being visible is one of the keys to generating opportunities. This is another reason participation is so important. Being a power user on LinkedIn is just as much about being active as about understanding the tactics and strategies that make things happen.

What to do:

• Update your profile and rotate your picture regularly – at least once a month.
• Make sure you are regularly getting connected to new people
• Use your “network activity update” regularly.

Continuously Export Value

You should be seen as the source of value everywhere you go on LinkedIn. Your profile should contain something of value for the reader, you should give value in your participation efforts, and you should provide value as the first communication with a new connection.

What to do:

• Answer questions with your best stuff – act like you were getting paid to answer (and you will),
• Send new connections something of value such as another connection or a resource and don’t try to sell anything. When you come across things in your connection’s profiles that allow you to make suggestions forward those to them – such as typos or things that don’t read well, or things that might be missing.

If you do these things regularly you will be a power user. You can then up your power by increasing your knowledge of how to apply networking and marketing strategies to the resources LinkedIn provides. My blog and courses will help you here.

From Flyn

If you are looking for more success on LinkedIn — your profile is key. Attend my “LinkedIn Profile Strategy” seminar — it’s FREE and you get a great report on promoting yourself for attending. The seminar is being held on 4/28 — Click Here for info.

]]> http://onlinebusinessnetworker.net/blog/2010/04/how-to-be-a-linkedin-power-user/feed/ 0 http://onlinebusinessnetworker.net/blog/2010/04/some-key-things-you-can-do-to-build-a-better-network/ http://onlinebusinessnetworker.net/blog/2010/04/some-key-things-you-can-do-to-build-a-better-network/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:47:21 +0000 Flyn http://onlinebusinessnetworker.net/blog/?p=626 Constantly building your network is one of the keys to success on LinkedIn. Networking is all about visibility and the more people in your network the more potential and visibility you will have.

The first thing you must do if you haven’t is become an open networker. For the scoop on what this means and why you should do it read the following article on my blog. The Open Networker Debate

Leverage

The first thing to consider, and especially when starting out or putting on a push to grow your network, is making an effort to go after those with the biggest networks. Doing this quickly increases your second and third levels giving you more access and visibility to others.

There are a number of ways to do this. The first is by using a very simple resource that lists the top networkers on LinkedIn (Click Here). On this page you’ll find the people with the 50 largest networks on LinkedIn. To the left is a menu of other useful items such as recommended reading and how to get on the “invite me list” which takes us to the second point.

Growth on Autopilot

If you join the open networking groups, they can be found by searching “open networking” from the group’s page,” each has a discussion item for those looking to connect – and invite me list.

If you put your name on the TopLinkedIn list and others you will probably get 5-10 invites per day.

On the other side of that is that these lists represent a place you can go to find the kind of people you wish to connect to and be able to invite and connect with them easily and reasonably safely.

Remember that you should still do a proper job inviting them – don’t send the default message. There are still some open networkers who IDK, not many but there are some.

Here are some blog articles related to this subject.

Suggestion for Your LinkedIn Invitation Acceptance Message

A Fatal Omission On LinkedIn

Don’t Use the “I don’t know you” option on invitations

From Flyn

For those of you that are serious about building opportunities on LinkedIn and haven’t grabbed my FREE power networking mini course you should do so. For information on the course go to: http://onlinebusinessnetworker.net/minicourse. The 4 reports and 8 videos will be hugely helpful to your efforts.

]]> http://onlinebusinessnetworker.net/blog/2010/04/some-key-things-you-can-do-to-build-a-better-network/feed/ 0 http://onlinebusinessnetworker.net/blog/2010/04/do-you-believe-these-two-linkedin-profile-myths/ http://onlinebusinessnetworker.net/blog/2010/04/do-you-believe-these-two-linkedin-profile-myths/#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:43:08 +0000 Flyn http://onlinebusinessnetworker.net/blog/?p=606 Myth #1: Your LinkedIn profile should be about you.

Myth #2: That the function of your profile is as a brochure, website or information piece.

If you answered “Yes” to one or both questions, this is the most important LinkedIn article you will ever read and here’s why.

If you believe your LinkedIn profile should be about you, you probably included things like where you’ve worked, studied.

If you believe the function of your profile is a brochure, website or information piece, you likely filled it with facts about what you did.

Unfortunately both of these myths couldn’t be farther from the truth. I’ll explain why.

If you are a regular reader of my blog or other materials you know I make a diligent effort to publish truly useful and workable content. I don’t state platitudes, or give the obvious I provide real strategies and tactics to facilitate your success. That said I consider this one of the very most important videos I have done. It addresses the essence of your success on LinkedIn; your profile.

You probably never heard what I am about to tell you. Many of you may disagree. But the fact is that what follows is in fact correct and it works when you get it right.

Do you really know what your LinkedIn profile is? Do you understand the real function of your profile and what it should do?

These are critical questions to your LinkedIn success here’s why.

The key to answering the riddle of your profile is to go back to the root and understand the LinkedIn environment. Where is it? It’s on a “networking” site. I put quotation marks around networking because it is critically important to everything you do on LinkedIn and that includes how you construct your profile.

The first thing you must agree on here is in networking the key to success is developing “valued relationships.” A valued relationship is one where people are connected to you because you provide or provided a value.

If you believe that prospecting approaches will get you better results, you will not agree with what follows. I personally don’t believe prospecting is the most effective way or method to use on LinkedIn. I won’t make the case here but you can certainly find it by reading my previous posts.

So now I pose to you the logical question: “What value to anyone is a profile about yourself?” Does it help them better their current situation in any way? Does it differentiate you from your competition that has the same background, work experience, capabilities, and expertise you do?

I would say that it does not.

The question you should ask here is “Do you believe that the reader of your profile can look at a competitor’s profile and truly tell the difference between you? I don’t.

This brings us to the next question: What is your profile?

The answer to that question is: Your profile is a “marketing piece” and that its total function in life should be to get readers to engage you (that’s what marketing does – create a demand for goods and/or services).

I further submit to you that engagement is the only valid profile objective when it comes to receiving business on LinkedIn. Why? Because if others don’t engage you, you’ll never get to tell your story and without your story you’ll never conduct business.

To be successful on LinkedIn you MUST design your profile so it brings immediate and real value to the reader (building a valued relationship). If you succeed in this task, you will have earned the right to ask the reader to take on more baby step and engage you (the goal). And they will. This engagement may simply be getting connected or any of a number of things but getting the engagement is critical to success.

When you do the above you put your profile in alignment with the LinkedIn environment. When you make your profile a resume or a website you fight the nature of LinkedIn and impede your success. Resumes and websites are not what networkers are looking for – they’re looking for valued relationships, so provide VALUE.

From Flyn

The new revised and updated version of my “Success Kit” called: The LinkedIn Power Networking Mini Course is now available.

If you really make yourself invaluable your connections will take the opportunities they get to tell others about you. But you can get that done proactively yourself.

This is an approach one would only use with their closer connections.

Find a non competing connection and invite them to join a relationship where you promote each other. Here are some of the things you can do for each other.

• Comment on each others blogs
• Tweet or otherwise promote their content on the social media sites
• Give out their name to specific types of individuals as a “valuable connection”
• Exchange profile content ideas
• Participate in each others discussions

Just one note to the last entry, if they notify you of the question being posted you can be the first to answer which represents much higher visibility. You can even check your questions off of each other.

This co-marketing approach can be a very powerful asset to your own networking environment.

From Flyn

I have been holding on to an article for the last number of days as I have been trying to decide if it should just go to my paid members. I have decided to release it either tomorrow or Wednesday. Don’t miss it. I think it’s one of the most important articles I have published.

One other thing, I have completely updated my SuccessKit now known as “The LinkedIn Power Networking Mini Course.” I have enhanced and redone all of the reports and videos. If you want to lean some things about using LinkedIn you’ll love this course with it’s 7 videos (actually 8 there’s a bonus video as well) and 4 power-packed reports.

It will be release in the next 2 days and you can learn a bit more about it in the following video:

http://www.onlinebusinessnetworker.net/minicourse/LPNMC_intro_movie.html

“I participate in a lot of groups fairly actively but its not leading to any business. What can I do to get business out of my efforts?

I think this is probably a very common question so I thought I would share my answer.

The first thing you need to realize about using LinkedIn is that participate is primarily “visibility.” Though you can get business by being visible (more on that in a moment) that isn’t how you get business.

The way you get business from visibility is by demonstrating your wisdom and expertise. This is why I tell people when they answer questions or participate in discussions don’t hold back or be lazy in what you say. Take the time to give a serious answer that really gives value.

Many people have questioned me on this in the past saying you can’t give away everything – or no one will ever do business with you. To this I say, not true. By giving real value you develop reciprocity in others. You also develop a very solid reputation for being an expert.

So let’s get back to how you go about getting business.

Business is developed by cultivating “valued relationships.” This is a relationship where someone is connected to you because of the value you provide. If you bang out enough great answers in the forums and question and answer sections of LinkedIn you will start to get a constant flow of people who connect simply because what you say is of value to them and they want to stay close.

Now that you have a “relationship,” a connection you can continue to build value and in that process put yourself in a position to talk business. Getting in that position is accomplished by being able to make helpful recommendations and supply useful and valuable resources on that subject.

These specific business items give you the opportunity to talk business with your valued relationships.

From Flyn

I have gotten hundreds of wonderful comments about the quality of the material in this blog. I truly hope that my material is helping YOU get more business on LinkedIn.

I would also like to encourage you to ask questions. I am happy to help in any way I can and I will respond to your questions. Please send them to Flyn@OnlineBusinessNetowker.net.

If you like this blog please publicize and tell others about it. Feel share my name with anyone that may need help or has questions about LinkedIn. And don’t hesitate to give my name and invite others to connect in your thank you note to those that connect with you. It’s a great way to develop value in those new relationships.

Thank you.

Remember here that we’re talking about someone that really doesn’t know you yet – a first contact so to speak. So what you share with them has to be of a general nature, but yet it must have real value.

Sometimes depending on the subject it is easy to find things to share. For example my knowledge of LinkedIn and marketing allows me to easily share a suggestion for my new contacts profile or website that will be of real value.

In the case were you don’t know someone or there business directly you must find information that will be of real value. This can be a very difficult challenge in many cases and we must default to an introduction or the sharing of a resource.

Some simple examples might be; a recruiter sharing a tip or two related to the person’s profile or resume; or a writer or marketer suggesting a different sentence or message within a profile.

I apologize for not being able to provide more examples but this is a very individualized thing dependant on both the giver and the recipient’s businesses. You may have to really dig depending on your area of expertise to figure out what kind of tip or suggestion you can make.

The secret here is that finding something will make a huge impact on your first contact with those to whom you connect.

As for resources and people, on LinkedIn someone like myself that can help others succeed on LinkedIn is a great thing to provide. The second thing I have found people really appreciate is the recommendation of a great book (make sure the subject is relevant of course).

From Flyn

Just in case you aren’t aware I am running my Free LinkedIn Power Networking seminar to day at 2PM PST – you can still sign up at:

www.OnlineBusinessNetworker.net/webinar/6

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