Category Archives: Business

An Internet Marketers Guide To Using LinkedIn Effectively

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By using LinkedIn effectively, it is possible to open doors that otherwise would not be available and to build relationships that can lead to bigger profits. Read on to find little known tips and techniques.

By using LinkedIn effectively, an online marketer can generate many leads for the products that they sell. In this article we look at how you can use LinkedIn to build relationships and bring traffic to your website.

There are various levels of membership sign ups on LinkedIn. Each offer a number of credit for directly emailing to people that you don’t know or are not connected to. Another point of difference is that you can also elect to receive a higher level of search results.

By starting with the free membership, it is possible to build a powerful profile with a keyworded link back to your site and to network and create groups. Once you have spent time working with LinkedIn, then it might be worth your while to upgrade to benefit from the extra credits.

Profile

Complete your profile with as much information as you can. There are sections for education, previous roles as well as what you are hoping to gain from being on LinkedIn. By providing as much information as you can, you will allow people to know your history and your skill set. This will help them feel more comfortable with you as they will know your full background. Upload a professional looking photo of yourself in a head and shoulders style, as people prefer to do business with people that they have seen, even if it is only online. Use a photo that says ‘approachable and friendly’ for the best results.

Connect

The more people that you can connect with on LinkedIn – the better. If you are in position to, spend time giving recommendations and asking for recommendations from your contacts. These personal testimonials will support your credibility and sales efforts. Adding more connections, means that more people will see you.

Optimise Your Profile

By optimising your profile for the search engines, you can get onto the front page of Google for a name search. Add your profile name like this: http://uk.LinkedIn.com/in/yourname, where ‘yourname’ is in this URL should be your own name once you’ve set it up. It is changeable – so you can add your business niche instead of your name if you prefer at a later date.

Then within your profile, under the Website section – select other and add a keyword for your website. Then add the http:// url address to your website, so that it will work as another link for SEO purpose to your site. The result is a nice PR8+ backlink to your site from LinkedIn affirming the keyword for your site. You might want to add your social networking pages to the other sections.

Groups and Answers

Using the Answers and the groups sections are a great way to build your reputation on LinkedIn. You can share your knowledge, your blog posts for more traffic and generally help people out so that you can connect with more people and be seen as a valuable contributor of LinkedIn. Don’t spam and interact in a professional and positive manner for the best results. You can ask your own questions too, make these short and to the point and don’t waste time by asking for information that you can easily find with a Google search.

By using these tips and techniques, you will soon be using LinkedIn effectively to build your connection, your reputation and your profits.

Copyright (c) 2010 Andrew Holtom

Social Media Marketing – Are Your Systems Working For You? 3 Benefits to Make Sure They Are

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Creating systems for your business can be a real life saver in the long run. Even better when you have a system or procedure to follow because you do not have to remember all the steps, you wrote them down. I was recently challenged as to how I was going to provide written social marketing information to participants in a teleseminar. I personally love it when teachers and mentors provide a written guide to an audio program.

I learn better when there is also written material to follow along, Do You? It has something to do with the fact that we are receiving the information using two different senses; listening and reading.

Whether it be a live teaching or an audio CD I have found that my customers and clients learn more and retain the knowledge even better. I had been stressing about something this week and low and behold I found it in my notes, if only I had been smart enough to go to the notes first, because I had written it down.

Three benefits of having written procedures in place for your social media marketing…

1) You don’t have to remember how to do everything. I am sure you will agree that it is very frustrating to go and do something you have not done in a while and not remember all the steps. You know you did this before you simply cannot remember all the details. From that frustrating experience I decided to create index cards on how to do specific actions. Outline the steps and even in some cases what buttons to push and in what order.

2) Reduce your own stress. When you have things written down and stored away in a safe place you don’t have to remember! This little habit all by itself can really reduce the stress. You know you have to get something done, you haven’t done it for a while but you’re not concerned about it because you know that the directions are within your easy grasp. One of the more frustrating things about social media is that there is so much to learn and sometimes remembering it all is not easy.

3) You can easily outsource the task to someone else. When you are ready to have other people take care of your social media marketing you have great directions all ready to go. One of the biggest challenges with outsourcing is the initial training period and with your “notes to self” you are already half way there. OR you can take all of your notes and create an eBook or a workbook.