This is a high level guide to the basics of LinkedIn that all professionals need to know. This guide addresses what LinkedIn is, the benefits for any professional being on LinkedIn, how to get started and some recommendations to get the most out of your LinkedIn profile.

1. TheWebMarketer
LinkedIn 101 Guide
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is the world’s largest social network for professionals with over 120 million members and
growing rapidly. LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, and
ideas with a broader network of professionals.
Benefits
• Establish/Control your professional identify: LinkedIn gives you the keys to establishing and
controlling your online identity. Have you Googled yourself lately? You never know what may
come up. LinkedIn profiles rise to the top of search results, letting you control the first impression
people get when searching for you online.
• Stay in touch with colleagues and clients: In today’s professional world, people change jobs
and locations constantly. By connecting on LinkedIn, your address book will never go out of date.
Your contacts update their profiles, keeping you current with their latest jobs, projects and contact
info. You can stay in closer contact with tools to communicate and collaborate.
• Find experts and ideas: Sometimes your immediate circle can’t resolve a unique business
challenge. Tools like Answers and Groups let you locate and interact with experts through trusted
introductions. LinkedIn Search lets you explore the broader network by name, title, company,
location, and other keywords that will help you find the knowledge you’re looking for.
• Explore leads: Whether you’re looking to build your professional reputation or winning new
clients, LinkedIn connects you to sales leads and ideal business partners. With the LinkedIn
search engine, and company research tools that shows who you know at listed companies,
LinkedIn is the place to turn for researching new client and partner leads.
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2. TheWebMarketer
LinkedIn 101 Guide
Getting Started
Sign Up
• Go to LinkedIn website: www.LinkedIn.com
• Enter the required information in the sign up form
• Click the Join Now button
Your LinkedIn Profile
The first place to consider is the build-out of your overall profile. It's a very good idea to fill out as much
information as possible. Although it is not necessary to have a professional and formal photo taken for
your profile, your profile photo should be professional in tone (photo of you on a lounge chair and a drink
is not appropriate). This alone will say much about who you are as a professional, which essentially
constitutes your personal brand.
If you haven't started yet, you can use the profile completion tips that LinkedIn provides to help you get
to the 100 percent completeness level. Once you achieve this, your visibility and credibility will increase.
Here are the things you will need:
• Your current position
• Two past positions
• Your education
• Your profile summary
• A profile photo
• Your specialties
• At least three recommendations
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3. TheWebMarketer
LinkedIn 101 Guide
As you work on building or rebuilding your profile, you may want to consider some of these points below
that will help make a good profile even better.
Identify Your Keywords
Take the time to do a little research on keywords you want to be known for. Think about what keywords
potential clients and business partners might use to find you in a search. So you should anticipate the
words they will use in their search.
As you then work on building out your profile, make sure you use these keywords. By doing so, you
should get a higher rank for those terms when someone does a "people" search on LinkedIn. Higher
rank means more visibility and may lead to more opportunities.
Position Yourself in Your Headline and Summary
Consider your headline to be a personal branding statement. So project yourself as you would want
people to perceive you. You can edit your profile manually in the "edit profile" section. So take the time to
craft a statement about yourself that will be distinctive and unique using your targeted keywords.
Next, your summary should add clarity and detail to your headline in just a couple paragraphs. Think of
this as your elevator speech to send the kind of message that supports your personal brand.
Customize Your URL
Do you know what your LinkedIn URL is? Having your name in your LinkedIn URL provides you a better
opportunity to be found in search engines as well as in the LinkedIn search bar.
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4. TheWebMarketer
LinkedIn 101 Guide
To find out, go to "edit profile." Then look down to where it says "public profile." See screenshot below:
It should appear to be "http://linkedin.com/in/yourname." If it's something unrecognizable, then you
should change it. Just click on the edit link next to the URL. Then you will have the opportunity to input
your name. If you have a common name, you may need to provide more detail to secure the URL you
want, like a period between first and last name or adding your middle initial.
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5. TheWebMarketer
LinkedIn 101 Guide
Take Advantage of LinkedIn Applications
There are many applications you can use to help enhance your LinkedIn profile. Check out the
Application Directory (http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=application_directory) to see a full list of these
apps. Here's a short list of those that you may want to look at first:
The SlideShare app will allow you to link to your SlideShare presentations to share with others. If you or
participate in many events, then Events might be an app you can use.
Recommendations
More and more professionals are turning to network sites like LinkedIn to get the information they need
on people, potential clients, and business partners. Having positive recommendations will help you leave
a great impression.
Take the time to reach out to business colleagues and past clients to make a recommendation for you.
The more recommendations, the more believable it will be.
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6. TheWebMarketer
LinkedIn 101 Guide
Groups
One of the best features of LinkedIn is the opportunity to join professional groups that relate to your
business, industry or profession. Joining groups allows you to keep up with industry news and to make
new connections (you’ll be able to view the profiles and chat with other group members, even if you are
not personally connected)
Participation: Ask Questions, Answer Questions
As with most things, the more you put into something the more you get out of it. If you want to be found
and be viewed as a leader in your industry, you should take the time to participate. Share your thoughts,
and ask and answer questions. Some successful people on LinkedIn take the time to answer questions
and help others daily.
LinkedIn can be a very powerful tool to help you build your personal brand. It's a great idea to have a
LinkedIn profile that's polished and up-to-date.
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