3 Keys to Using LinkedIn Wisely For Business

* Prospecting Effectively

- Maintaining a Positive Image
   Just as a business card is a representation of a professional, an online profile takes it one step further. This is especially true when it is an online profile located on a business network like LinkedIn. It's true that the measure of service rendered truly defines the value of any given company or professional. However, getting to the point of sale and then continuing the point of loyal customer begins someplace. It could very well begin viewing of your profile.
Although it can be considered to be of a passive nature, maintaining a professional and up to date profile can help form a complete and positive image accenting your prospecting efforts. Furthermore, pay special attention to any comments you make while participating in groups as well as any updates you post to your profile. All of these are contributors to a professional image. The desired result of prospecting is most likely a sale and anything you can use some work that goal must be held to the highest of standards.


* Job Search Advice

- Maintain an Updated Profile
   Any busy job seeker knows that full days can be sacrificed in search of employment. With all of this activity, it is easy to lose track of or neglect to keep your LinkedIn profile current. A position may be acquired but it may not be the position one would like to remain at long-term. Because of this, an individual may leave a job and start another one, sometimes a few times within a year. This could happen until a person lands in the position they feel they will have for years to come.
Because of so much chaos a profile neglects to be updated and an employer or colleague viewing your profile can get confused by the misinformation. This can cause opportunities to be missed and also make a statement about your organizational skills. It could possibly brand you as unorganized. Remember, especially when seeking a job, your LinkedIn profile serves as an online resume. It should be updated regularly to represent you well.

* A Great LinkedIn App

- Reading List by Amazon
   A large part of business networking is the sharing of good information. Sharing books you aspire to read or have already read is an excellent form of information exchange. Sometimes the reading of a good business book can be the turning point in a person's career and or business. Furthermore, since the reading of books is an essential part of being successful, this LinkedIn application deserves a lot of credit.
With this application, by Amazon, you can check and see books that your contacts are reading and you may need to invest the time in. You can also upload a list of books that you have read, are reading, and plan to read. This is also a great networking/connection tool because you can follow specific connections who share your interests in certain books. These are great opportunities to begin conversations which can lead to the development of relationships. Developing relationships with like-minded connections can be very powerful when it comes to assistance in career growth.

How to Find a Client or Get a Job With LinkedIn

As someone self-employed, the way you make money is by getting clients. In some ways, finding clients can be hard to do, but LinkedIn makes that chore easier. LinkedIn has a job section that can help you find clients. How?

Here are two ways LinkedIn can help:

• You can take advantage of connections inside the company you are interested in. This way you can let the connections know about you and they can refer you to their boss or the hiring manager.
• You can tap into a network of over 55 million professionals to find clients. Someone may know someone who could use your services.

What makes LinkedIn so good is they have a Jobs tab you can click on when you sign up, that will take you to a page, where you can find the work you are looking for.

Based on your profile, this jobs page will list jobs you may be interested in. Look around or use the Search for Jobs search tool near the top of the page to find work that fits a certain keyword you enter.

For instance, if you are looking for ghostwriting assignments, you would type in “ghostwriting” or “ghost writing” as the keywords. You can also do other type of searches including: Location, experience level, date posted, title, company, job function, and industry.

If the above methods do not appeal to you, you can always find jobs based on what your skills are. When you begin your search, if LinkedIn does not have any listings based on your keywords, they will look on the web for ads that match your keywords. For instance, when I typed in the keyword “ghostwriting” LinkedIn had no listings. So they searched on Simply Hired website and found about three listings.

The one good thing about LinkedIn, is that when you get results, and click on the lead, you not only get to see what the job is about, but you also see who in your network and work at the place. This way you can get in touch with that person or persons and request a recommendation to the hiring manager.

There are two different types of clients. One is someone who hires you are a self-employed person. You get to work on a project at your home. The second type of client is one where you work onsite as a contractor. You work under a 1099 form.

If you are the contractor looking for a company to work for, you can use LinkedIn for this purpose. LinkedIn provides job listings just like if you were self-employed. In fact, to LinkedIn, a job search is a job search, no matter whether you are self-employed or a contractor.