Archive for September, 2009
5 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Build Your Business
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Of all social networks, LinkedIn seems to be the most confusing to most people. Many users create a profile and they think they are done. As with any social network, you must network in order to make the most of your membership. Only by networking with those involved with LinkedIn can you realize its benefits.
Today we are going to discuss 5 ways you can use LinkedIn to build your business.
1. Create a Killer Profile
Resumes are typically boring. Rather than copy and paste your resume into LinkedIn, take time to spice it up a bit. Use action words to define your accomplishments. Numbers don’t lie. Use them as much as possible to quantify your results and expertise. If the company you worked for used job titles that were proprietary to the company, list them as something most others would recognize. If you were a clerk 3 or a Supervisor IV, explain exactly what it is. However do not stray from the truth. Be sure to include your picture and all relevant contact information. Ask previous companies for work endorsements to be included on your profile.
2. If You Build It They Will Come…
your network that is. Find fellow LinkedIn users from your community and connect with them. There are also many different groups catering to LinkedIn connections like: LinkedIn Lions () and My Virtual Power Forum. Once you begin making connections and adding people to your network, start looking through their connections for relevant users to add to yours.
3. Start Connecting
There are many different types of groups on LinkedIn that are relevant to your industry or the industry you are targeting. Become active within these groups and start asking and answering their questions. If you know of someone who could instantly fix the situation that a fellow LinkedIn user is experiencing, go ahead and connect the two. As with all networking, you must give in order to receive.
4. Keep Up With It All
There is nothing worse than creating something and then walking away from it. Think of fresh cut flowers. For awhile they are beautiful, but the longer they sit unattended the uglier they get. The leaves die and the water becomes stagnant. In the same vein, your profile can become ugly and stagnant. Be sure to keep your profile up to date. Review it every month and make changes and add to it. Continue to add new connections and foster existing connections at every turn. Once your business gets busy, the sad fact is we stop participating and making sure that our content is fresh and alive. Make LinkedIn part of your weekly networking routine.
5. Increase Your Search Engine Rankings
Did you know that LinkedIn gives you the option to have your profile made available to the many search engines including Google? To make this active, make your profile public and choose “full view” and also customize your URL. Because LinkedIn is well known and regarded by the search engines it’s a good way to influence what searchers see when they search for your keywords/phrases.
Profiting from Social Media
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Lately on the Solopreneur.Biz blog we have been talking a lot about different aspects of social media. This is the topic that creates the most confusion and frustration these days in the minds of many of my clients.
Where should I market my business online?
How do I know how to do all these different sites?
Do I have to spend all my time on this?
There are lots of myths and misconceptions and it is time to learn exactly what works with social media.
Join me on Thursday, October 1st at 6:00pm ET for the free call Tips for Profiting from Social Media: Clear Up the Confusion and Get Going. We’ll be discussing strategies for social media, what you need to do BEFORE you begin, and how to maximize your use of your time on the sites. Learn what social media WILL and WILL NOT do for your biz. We’ll cover tips for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more. Please join me for ideas on how to leverage these hugely powerful tools to benefit your business.
Register for the free call here: http://www.solopreneur.biz/teleseminar
I really hope you can join me live for this event. If you can’t be there, just go ahead and register so that after the call, you will automatically get the information on how to access the recording. Here’s your opportunity to find out what works for business in the new world of social media. Learn how to use these tools effectively and profitably. Don’t miss this chance.
Again, here’s that registration link: http://www.solopreneur.biz/teleseminar/
Social Bookmarking
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Along with social networking sites, there are now a number of social bookmarking sites on the Internet. While social networking sites build upon relationships between members social bookmarking sites create connections through the types of content generated by members. It is these connections that make social bookmarking such an effective business tool for Internet entrepreneurs especially.
Maybe you have read a blog post or article on someone’s website. At the end of the article or blog post, you’ll see a host of different little pictures or characters. Run your cursor over them and names like Technorati, Digg, and Delicious pop up.
What are these characters and what do the names mean?
These are links to social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking is much like what you would do with an actual bookmark. Physical bookmarks are used to mark a page or a passage that you want to find again at some point. This goes for social bookmarking icons as well. If someone wants to find that particular article again or let others know about it, they can bookmark the address on a site and mark it with keywords for future reference.
Not all social bookmarking sites are the same. The principle is the same across the board, but some social bookmarking sites specialize in different media. Squidoo specializes in creating lenses that showcase an area of expertise of the lens owner. Flickr concentrates on photos. Some bookmarking sites deal with movie or music reviews in contrast.
Before choosing a bookmarking site, find one that caters to the content or type of business that you conduct. That will draw the most traffic to your business. If there is more than one, then join all that apply. One thing to remember is to create content that people will be interested in and use to track back to your business website. Remember that your site readers will mark your pages and posts on these sites because they find them informative and useful and think others will too.
Through quality content, a business owner can easily create a nice following of readers and possibly higher search engine rankings with the use of social bookmarking sites. For the purpose of content, look around the more popular bookmarking sites and see what others are viewing and find interesting and useful. That is the type of content you want to focus on with your websites. Investigating the more popular social bookmarking sites will make it easy to track down competitors and find out what your target market deems as useful information. Using these bookmarking sites will increase the visibility of your content and make it easier to market to your specific target customer or reader.
Social bookmarking is a simple, but effective way to bring traffic to a business website. Add bookmarking icons to your blog or website to help increase the chances of someone adding it to their favorite list of content.
Register Now for our FREE teleseminar “Tips for Profiting From Social Media: Clear Up the Confusion and Get Going” on October 1st!
Solopreneurs and Facebook
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Have you been to our Facebook Fan Page recently? I highly encourage you to go to http://www.facebook.com/solopreneurbiz right now and share your business insights with us. We have been getting a lot of interaction lately and it really makes for a lively yet meaningful discussion.
Recently we’ve talked about:
Protecting Your Computer
How Interested People Find Your Business
Exploring the Internet Marketing Frontier
and so much more!
I also encourage you to take a few minutes and go to our discussions page and add your business to “What is Your Solopreneur Biz?” While you are there, visit some of the awesome businesses listed!
If you’re not already, go on over to our Facebook Fan Page and become a “fan” today! We would love to have your input in our discussions.
Marketing with Autoresponders Pt. 2
Posted by: | CommentsInteract to Get a Reaction
It’s one thing to read great content emails; it’s also a great option to get your list involved as well. You can really increase the interest and actions your list takes when you ask for their opinions and input. You can offer polls, ask for discussion on a blog or forum, or use a whole host of other ideas to get people to interact with you.
I’m sure you’ve signed up for a list where the messages seem cold and impersonal. Like you, many people on your list will realize you are not jumping online and “writing” an email to them every single day. However, when you offer your list a chance to interact and share their feelings you’ll set yourself apart and give them a reason to want to open your emails first.
This is an excellent relationship builder. It’s also a great way to get into the minds of your prospects. Think of it as built in market research!
Tell Them What to Do
Calls to action are what create customer action. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your readers will recognize what to do next. Tell them!
A call to action can be as simple as giving them a link and telling them to click it. While they KNOW you want them to click the link, the chances of them actually doing it will improve if you give them instruction to do so.
Marketing with autoresponders is a great way to increase your reach online. Remember to be consistent, offer high quality content and create an interactive experience for the members of your list. Once you get these tips fine-tuned, you’ll have a responsive group of people who can’t wait to open your next email.
