The reputation of MySpace, the social networking site, is such that most people consider it a tool for teenagers to write unintelligible things to other and post silly pictures. But as social networking in general has evolved, so has MySpace. In fact, you might even consider it when developing your search engine optimization strategy. It’s a great way to network with others and drive traffic to your site. Here are four considerations to keep in mind:

1.Networking. It doesn’t take any time at all to set up your MySpace profile, and once that’s done you’re ready to start making connections with people. That’s the point of social networking of course—to find people you already know and to find new people that you’d like to know. You can invite people to join your own network, and you’ll soon see that others are inviting you to join their networks too. You can use the social network in one of two ways. You can expand your network to include anyone and everyone who wants to be included, or you can limit your network so that only those who fit your target audience are in it.

2.Share Yourself. People will be more interested in your products and services if they know a little bit about you and feel like they can trust you. So share a little bit about yourself and let people get to know you. Be sure that your sharing remains professional but include things about yourself that people might not find out if they only visited your business website. Photographs should be tasteful and interactions should be ethical and professional.

3.Increase Your Traffic. Once you feel like the people in your network have gotten to know a little bit about you, you can start sharing more about your business. Post a link to your business website on your MySpace page. Not only will the search engines see this as a valuable link, but it will also drive traffic to your site. You can also cross-post your business blog at your MySpace page, which will definitely attract the attention of the people in your network.

4.Sell Stuff. If you have a product such as an ebook, article, or recording that you believe would interest the people in your network, promote it on your MySpace page. MySpace also gives you the capacity to send announcements to people in your network. So if your business is having a sale or if you have a new promotion, you can send that announcement and let everyone know quickly and painlessly.

MySpace is a little less formal than many of the other social networking sites. While you may initially see this as a disadvantage—after all, you’re probably more interested in a refined crowd—it can also be a good thing. There isn’t as much stigma surrounding self-promotion on MySpace as there is on other social networking sites and online communities. Just be careful never to give the impression that you’ve created your account and invited people to be in your network simply because you want more customers. That can be very off-putting and can limit your network very quickly.

If you’d like to know more, a local internet marketer or search engine optimization professional can help you determine how to use social networking sites like MySpace to increase your search engine ranking and drive traffic to your website. Just don’t dismiss MySpace as the realm of teenagers who have neither the inclination nor the disposable income to pay attention to your business. Once you take a look around you’ll see that plenty of business owners and internet marketing professionals are using it to promote their businesses and build important networks that will impact their success. So join today and see what a difference it can make for you!

• Search Engine Optimization and Social Media: 5 Keys to Good Content
• Search Engine Optimization and Social Networking: 3 Places to Start
• 5 Keys to Success in Marketing with Social Media
• 5 Ways to Make Social Media Work for Your Business
• 6 Reasons to Avoid the Social Media News Release
• Using Social Media as an HR Tool
• 7 Ways to Make the Social Web Work for You
• Can Social Media Tools Like Linkedin Help Your Business?

A quality search engine optimization campaign these days must include social media. Social media is becoming more and more mainstream and is becoming a more and more popular place for individuals to get information as they make decisions about a variety of issues. So if you’re not using social media as a search engine optimization tool already, you should consider making it part of your SEO campaign as soon as possible. But before you jump right in, remember that you would never walk right up to a group of people you don’t know and just butt in to their conversation. Likewise, you would never join a social media site and start talking about your product or service to a group of people who have already built relationships with one another and have no idea who you are. So start slowly. Lurk for awhile and then introduce yourself. Add relevant and helpful comments that have nothing to do with your product or service. Once your community trusts you, it’s time to start adding some content. But what kind of content, you ask? Here are 5 keys to good content for social media sites.

1.Personal stories. Personal stories are great because they make you seem more human and therefore more trustworthy. And people are more likely to purchase a product or service from someone they know than from a complete stranger. Just make sure the storytelling you do is appropriate. Don’t share too much personal information that may make others feel uncomfortable, and don’t tell stores that are nothing more than bragging. Tell stories that are relevant, interesting, and useful.
2.Interviews. Interviews are great tools for social media sites. Interview an expert in your field, someone whose advice your community would value. If you’re new to your industry and don’t have anyone to interview, consider someone with whom you already have a relationship who could offer valuable information regardless of whether or not he or she is well-known. Good information is good information, no matter where it comes from.

3.Expert Advice. If you yourself have good information or tips to share, turn that into content. You’ve probably learned some good lessons or gleaned valuable wisdom during your years in business, so share what you’ve learned. Again, be careful when touting yourself as the expert. Your online community doesn’t want to hear about you incessantly, so make sure that you offer expert advice, not information that centers on you and your brilliance or success.

4.Controversy. If you have thick skin and don’t mind making waves, consider creating content that will get your community debating. This should never be personal, nor should you ever encourage personal attacks. The point is simply to bring up something potentially controversial, take a side, and invite the input of others regarding that topic. Controversy for the sake of controversy isn’t necessarily helpful, but good controversy can make everyone in the online community consider their positions and think critically about alternative ideas. And that strengthens each individual as well as the community as a whole.

Other keys to good content include giving your content an attention-grabbing headline, and then making sure your content delivers on whatever your headline has promise. Good images help break up the text and make your content more visually appealing to your visitors. And if you’ve taken the time to include good images, you give your community more reason to think that you’ve spent some time preparing your content instead of just throwing it together at the last minute. Give your content more credibility by quoting outside sources and citing your references.

If search engine optimization is important to you, be sure that you’re using social media sites to their fullest potential to increase your search engine ranking and drive traffic to your website.

• Search Engine Optimization and MySpace: 4 Considerations
• Search Engine Optimization and Social Networking: 3 Places to Start
• 5 Keys to Success in Marketing with Social Media
• 5 Ways to Make Social Media Work for Your Business
• 6 Reasons to Avoid the Social Media News Release
• Using Social Media as an HR Tool
• 7 Ways to Make the Social Web Work for You
• Can Social Media Tools Like Linkedin Help Your Business?

Many business owners look askance at social networking as a search engine optimization tool. But the truth is that social networking has become mainstream, and many businesses are quickly learning just how important it is to connect with their target audience using social networking sites. It is particularly important for small businesses that need all the help they can get to compete with larger competitors who have enormous marketing budgets. So just accept the fact that social networking needs to be part of your overall marketing campaign and start here:

1.Facebook. Facebook is very user friendly and popular across demographic groups. Start by creating a business profile. Fill out as much as you can on the profile and start getting Fans. Fans are the equivalent of Friends in Facebook-ese, but Fans are friends of a business while Friends are friends of individuals. At the very least you need to start with your logo, your business description, and your contact information. Then ask your friends and family on Facebook to become Fans of your business. When a critical mass of your friends becomes Fans of your business, Facebook will start suggesting that their friends become Fans as well. It a great way to get the word out about your business without having to do all of the work yourself.

2.Twitter. Twitter is like a miniature blog in which you answer the question “What are you doing right now?” You are allowed a message consisting of no more than 140 characters, and that message is called a Tweet. Tweets can help you promote special offers, share information with your followers, or send links for coupons. The key to using Twitter effectively is to avoid turning your Tweets into hard sell promotions or blatant sales pitches. Make sure the information you share is valuable and you’ll find that your followers will spread the word about you to their followers. Get started by filling out a profile with as much information as possible. You’ll find that you can also use Twitter as a customer service tool. If you read a Tweet that concerns your business, you can respond immediately, which is particularly important if someone has something negative to say about your company.

3.LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals and can also be useful for search engine optimization. LinkedIn users connect with their own colleagues and friends, and can also see their connections as well. That’s really helpful if one of your connections in connected to someone you’d like to meet or do business with. You much start on LinkedIn by creating a personal profile, but once that’s completed you can create a business profile as well. As you connect with people, information about your business will spread quickly.

The best part of social networking, of course, is that it’s free, which makes it an effective search engine optimization tool for even the smallest businesses. The key to make social networking sites work for you, however, is to remain active on those sites. There’s nothing more annoying for a Facebook user than to become a Fan of a business only to see that the business never has anymore activity on the site.

If you’re still not sure how to make social networking work for your business, contact an internet marketing professional or search engine optimization expert. They can help you with everything from setting up your profile to using the different applications offered by each of the sites listed above so that you can get the word about your business to as many people as possible. Remember that the whole point of using social networking sites for search engine optimization is to create personal relationships with people so that they will trust you and eventually become your customers. So start today!

• Search Engine Optimization and MySpace: 4 Considerations
• Search Engine Optimization and Social Media: 5 Keys to Good Content
• 5 Keys to Success in Marketing with Social Media
• 5 Ways to Make Social Media Work for Your Business
• 6 Reasons to Avoid the Social Media News Release
• Using Social Media as an HR Tool
• 7 Ways to Make the Social Web Work for You
• Can Social Media Tools Like Linkedin Help Your Business?

If you’ve been paying attention at all as a small business owner, then you know how important it is to make social networking sites an integral part of your online marketing strategy. The one question you may still have is how to measure the success of your online marketing campaign. Given the current economic situation, you’re probably concerned with making every marketing dollar count, so how can you make sure you social networking efforts are worth the effort? Here are five easy keys to guide you.

1. Listen to Your Audience. Given the number of social networking sites on the internet, it’s completely unreasonable to utilize all of them. Start by finding out which social networking sites are most highly populated by your target audience, and then listen to what your potential customers are saying.
   
2. Involve Yourself. Once you’ve found your target audience on a few key social networking sites, start engaging your target audience. The first step is to listen to what they are saying about your company. If you find that what you hear isn’t positive, find a way to help the customers that aren’t happy with the products or services that you provide. Do what you can to make things right. If you find that your target audience only has positive things to say, continue to engage them, listening to what they have to say. You’ll find that their positive attitudes about your business will only grow.
3. Give Back. Social networking sites are great places to post information that will lead to positive customer attitudes about your product or service. Start a business blog, tweet on Twitter, put photos on your Flickr site, and create Podcasts. These types of activities will drive potential customers to your site, and if your site is optimized to make leads out of visitors, your sales will increase!
   
4. Use Your Tools Wisely. Making your social networking strategy mesh with your business strategy is critical, but that can’t happen until you’ve become familiar with how each social networking site works and how it can best benefit your business. How does each site connect you with clients and potential customers? Which sites specialize in the kind of customer contact that is most beneficial to your business? How can you use a variety of different social networking sites together to find potential customers and engage them? Answer these questions and watch your social media marketing strategy work for you.
   
5. Measure, measure, measure. You’re running a business, and the bottom line is determining the return on your investment in social media marketing. But the good news is that social media marketing has a significant impact on the inbound marketing techniques that you’re already using. For example, social networking can increase your search engine ranking, your inbound links, and the number of customers who subscribe to your RSS feed. You will notice that it increases the comments left on your blog, the number of times that your brand is mentioned in cyberspace, and first time visitors. In other words, social networking enhances the strategies you’re already using. You can use a good analytics package plus tracking codes and closed loop marketing to find out the number of visits and sales that occur as a result of your social media marketing strategy.

What you’ll find in the long run is that social media marketing can have a huge impact on the success of your business if you use it the right way. And the right way includes finding your target audience on a small number of appropriate social networking sites, listening to what they have to say, humbly and graciously joining the conversation they’re having about your industry in general and your company in particular, and righting any mistakes that you’ve made in the past. Find the right places to frequent and the right conversations to join and your efforts will pay off in the end!

• 6 Reasons to Avoid the Social Media News Release
• Using Social Media as an HR Tool
• Can Social Media Tools Like Linkedin Help Your Business?
• Search Engine Optimization and MySpace: 4 Considerations
• Search Engine Optimization and Social Media: 5 Keys to Good Content
• Search Engine Optimization and Social Networking: 3 Places to Start
• SEO and Social Networking: Creating Good Content
• 5 Reasons to Avoid Twitter, and Why You Shouldnt Join
• 5 Ways to Make Social Media Work for Your Business
• 5 Reasons to Avoid Twitter, and Why You Should Not

Owning your own business is difficult enough without having to worry about finding the perfect balance of marketing strategies. Stick solely to traditional marketing strategies and you’ll find yourself potentially missing an enormous demographic. Try to milk the internet for all it’s worth and you’ll find yourself completely overwhelmed by the number of tools and application available for internet marketing. But what if you used social networking sites as a happy medium between traditional and hard-core internet marketing strategies? Using this one tool could make a huge difference in your business without overwhelming you altogether. Here are 5 ways to get started using social media in your marketing strategy.

1. Create a Strategy. Your competitors have already created a strategy for using social media, so chances are you’re already behind. This means thinking intentionally about how to use social media instead of randomly opening an account here and joining a group there. Spend some time determining the kinds of sites available and evaluating what role they might have in your marketing strategy. Then make a plan to use them consistently and effectively. If you just “go with the flow” you’ll be wasting your time and effort.

2. Brand Building. Social media marketing is like having one enormous billboard advertising your company. Everything you post, every tweet you write, and every comment you make should be treated as a chance to show your audience what your business is all about, what you value, and what you stand for.

The first step to consider is creating a business blog. Chances are you have employees who are already involved in social media in one way or another, so ask them to post some articles to the blog. Be sure your blog includes your logo, a picture of yourself, and any other tools that will help you promote your brand. Use your company’s colors as background on your blog and as wallpaper on your Twitter profile.

3. Choose Wisely. Don’t feel like you need to use every single social media site available. Stick with a few and spend time using them to your advantage. Choose sites that help you connect with your target demographic, that help you show off the components of your business that interest potential customers, and that will be most helpful in connecting potential customers to your business.

4. Find the Right Balance. Social media is so popular that it might initially be difficult to find the right balance between it and traditional marketing strategies. In the end, they should all work together to serve your business effectively. Start with LinkedIn and create a business profile where you can post testimonials and make connections with your customers. Then create a Facebook group tied to your industry or product.

Finally, use Twitter to create a village of those with interest in your industry. Connect traditional strategies with online strategies by printing your Twitter ID on business card and make a place on your website that shows visitors where they can connect with you using social media.

5. Mobility. Many platforms allow you to communicate in real time by downloading applications to your phone. Imagine what you could do as a business owner attending a conference. Sharing with your readers what you’re learning, as you learn it, is a great way to build rapport with and interest in your customers.

Overwhelming or not, young people are exchanging information and making decisions based on social media sites. If you’re interested in connecting with them as they age, procure more discretionary income, and spend money on things that interest them, then you need to find a way to connect with them now. And you need to make sure you’re defining your business online rather than waiting for others to define you in your stead. Get connected online and let the world know who you are.

• Using Social Media as an HR Tool
• 6 Reasons to Keep Marketing, Even During A Recession
• 7 Top Tips for Writing Blog Articles
• 3 Reasons to Invest in a Premium Domain Name
• Can Social Media Tools Like Linkedin Help Your Business?
• 4 Keys to Link-Building for SEO
• SEO: 5 Tools for Analyzing Your Website
• Search Engine Optimization: 4 Keys to Convincing Visitors That You’re “The One”
• SEO and Article Marketing: The Anatomy of a Good Article
• SEO and Conversion Rates: 9 Points to Consider

The Social Media News Release is a template available for the sole purpose of incorporating social media and multimedia into press releases. And while it may sound like an absolutely ingenious idea, it probably isn’t the best use of time and money for your business. Here are 6 reasons why using a SMNR may be one of the biggest mistakes you’re making.

1. People Don’t Read Them. Let’s face it, this is not the best way to get your information out to the general public. The number of people who actually view releases on news release websites is quite small. There are better ways to reach your potential customers that aren’t nearly as expensive or time-consuming.

2. They’re Expensive. The optimal use of an SMNR is to send a Social Media News Release with Multimedia, and it’s expensive. Even a limited distribution will cost you hundreds of dollars at minimum. Compare this to the cost of writing a blog, which will also allow you to include images and video. The blog is far cheaper and gives you a much higher return on your investment.

3. There’s No Critical Mass. One of the most important aspects of marketing with social media is that you can gather a huge number of like-minded or like-interested people in the same place. If you use an SMNR to send your information out to 500 websites, you may only get one or two comments on each website. If that’s the case then your interested parties aren’t talking to each other, which defeats the purpose of social media marketing. Not to mention the time and tedium involved in responding to comments on each of the 500 websites to which your release was sent. Consider instead how you might get those 500 commenters to have a conversation with each other.

4. They Don’t Help Your SEO. The whole point of news releases in general is to get inbound links to your site. And while SMNRs contain links, those links are not optimized and generally link to resources other than your website. Use the online Press Release Grader to see how your SMNR release stands up. You’ll most likely find that you have too many links, and that diminishes the effectiveness of your release greatly.

5. They Don’t Help You Reach Your Goals. The whole point of marketing your business is to get people to come to your website and get them to buy your products. So why would you spend money to put your information on another website? We’ve already noted that SMNRs generally don’t result in optimal links to your site, so there’s really no sense in using them for that purpose.

6. They Don’t Allow You to Use Your Own Mutlimedia Accounts. Did you know that if you want to include a video in your SMNR then you have to upload that video to the news release service’s YouTube account? That’s right! Never mind that you’ve already uploaded the video to your own account; now you have to upload it to theirs as well. This means that your video is sitting in an account with thousands of other videos that aren’t at all related to your product or service. So if a potential customer actually finds your videos and wants to see more from your business, he has to search a lot harder than if all of your videos were lumped together in your account. Another problem is similar to the one we mentioned in #3. The comments left on the new release service’s account are separate from the ones left on your account, so your commenters don’t have the opportunity to interact with one another. And you have to visit your video in both places to respond to all of the comments.

You’re much better off simply creating your own release, without images or video, and sending it over the wire, specially if you don’t have the know-how to optimize them. Save the really cool release for your own website where you have control over what happens to it. You’ll save time and money, and the results will be greatly beneficial.

The Response was as expected … rightly so to a certain extended that is why there is a second part on how to do it right! Checkout the second part of this post Social Media News Release Part II

• 5 Reasons to Avoid Twitter, and Why You Shouldnt Join
• Using Social Media as an HR Tool
• 5 Keys to Success in Marketing with Social Media
• 5 Reasons to Avoid Twitter, and Why You Should Not
• The 4 P’s of Inbound Marketing
• 7 Ways to Make the Social Web Work for You
• Can Social Media Tools Like Linkedin Help Your Business?
• 4 Keys to Link-Building for SEO
• Search Engine Optimization and MySpace: 4 Considerations
• Search Engine Optimization and Social Media: 5 Keys to Good Content

If you’re a business owner, have you considered the myriad of ways that social networking sites can help you in your hiring decisions? Given the number of individuals using social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, it’s almost foolish not to do a little digging on such sites when you’re looking for prospective employees. In the past, many employers have entered prospective employees’ names into search engines, but social networking sites are a whole different ballgame. They encourage users to post personal information and have broken down the barrier between what is kept private and what is shared with everyone.

CareerBuilder recently released survey results showing that 22% of the respondents check social networking sites when considering adding a prospective employee to the candidate pool. And almost one-third said that information they had found on social networking sites caused them to release employees from the pool of candidates. Respondents said that information most likely to influence them included alcohol and drug use, poor communication skills, negative information about coworkers and employers, and inappropriate photographs.

Twitter, the newest of the highly-popular social networking tools, also offers employers a way to obtain information about employees. Twitter displays the time and date of each post, giving employers invaluable information when they read that Employee X is “sneaking away for an hour” while he’s supposed to be working on a project. Can you imagine how it will affect your hiring practices to know what your prospective employee has tweeted in the days and hours before her interview?

Social networking sites can play a huge part in your hiring practices. But what if you’re the one looking for the job? Keep these 5 rules in mind:

1. Be Picky About Your Friends. No matter how clean you keep your comments and your profile, you may have friends who post those photos from last weekend when you couldn’t even stand up straight. If you have friends whose discretion leaves much to be desired, at least request that they not provide compromising content about you.

2. Be as Professional as Possible. It’s fine to chit-chat with friends on your profile as long as you keep it to a minimum and as long as your banter is innocuous. Be careful about everything you post.

3. Ponder the Details. Part of the fun of social networking sites is adding interesting applications and updating your status. But think about how a person who hardly knows you will interpret your applications and updates. If it’s at all questionable, leave it off of your profile.

4. Use Your Time Wisely. If the social networking site you’re using has a time stamp, current and potential employers can quickly see how long you’re spending online. So minimize that time.

5. Check Regularly. You don’t need to check your accounts every five minutes, but be aware of what’s going on as much as possible. If a “friend” posts something embarrassing and you don’t notice it until three days later, a potential employer might have already seen it and made a decision based upon it. Likewise, if you have older accounts that haven’t been updated in awhile, delete them or update them. Potential employers should have the most up-to-date information possible.

Social networks are a great tool for getting “insider” information on potential employees, that information that you always wish you’d known before you made a hire. Don’t hesitate to use it to your advantage and weed out candidates before you have a chance to waste your time interviewing them. And if you’re really excited about positive information you find on a candidate’s profile, use that to guide conversations once you actually have the chance to talk to them. Social networking is an invaluable tool, so use it!

• 5 Ways to Make Social Media Work for Your Business
• 6 Reasons to Avoid the Social Media News Release
• The 4 P’s of Inbound Marketing
• 7 Ways to Make the Social Web Work for You
• Can Social Media Tools Like Linkedin Help Your Business?
• SEO and Social Networking: Creating Good Content
• 5 Reasons to Avoid Twitter, and Why You Shouldnt Join
• 5 Keys to Success in Marketing with Social Media
• 7 Keys to a Successful Community Website
• 7 Top Tips for Writing Blog Articles

If you haven’t yet realized that social networking is now the focal point of internet marketing, then you haven’t been paying attention. Utilizing social networking is more than creating a group on Facebook or opening a MySpace account. A business owner who truly understands social networking has a gift for taking a broad view of the internet. Where do people gather on the internet? What do they talk about?

How do they talk to each other? The difficulty with using social networking as a marketing strategy is that social networking requires marketers to step outside of their comfort zones and find new ways to deliver their messages. It doesn’t require a total rejection of traditional marketing techniques, but if you’re unwilling to follow your gut and build authentic relationships, then it might not be right for you.

Potential customers are constantly bombarded with marketing messages in some form or another. What they really want is to make authentic connections with other people, which is why social networking is such an overwhelmingly popular phenomenon. To be successful, you have to make those connections instead of simply throwing your message out there to see where it sticks. In fact, if you’re using social networking the right way, you might not even feel like you’re “marketing” anymore.

Here are 7 keys to building authentic communities on the internet:

1. Create of map of your customers. Keeping your niche market in mind, find the places on the internet that have the most influence on your potential customers. What are your potential customers and your competitors talking about? Does your company have anything to add to the conversation?

2. Recruit. Now that you’ve figured out where your potential customers are and what they’re talking about, invite them to talk with you.

3. Determine the appropriate platform(s). Which of the following will work best for your goals: social networking sites, e-communities, blogs, or reputation aggregators?

4. Engage your community. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is the place where you have to put your most authentic self out there and engage the people you’ve recruited to be part of your conversation. Be real and be genuine. Make this about a conversation, not about selling something. Mostly importantly, find a balance between content generated by your users and content generated by your enterprise.

5. Measure involvement. Watch your community carefully over time and pay attention to what resonates most with them.

6. Promote, promote, promote. Your site may not need much promotion. If that’s the case, then consider yourself lucky. But if you find that you need to promote yourself, go seek out places where that can happen. Invite yourself to someone else’s place and then invite them back to yours.

7. Give incentives. Once you have a quality community, focus on giving people a reason to stay. Be aware of what works and what doesn’t, what people enjoy and what they don’t. Always look out for ways to make your community more friendly, useful, convenient, and rewarding.

The most important part of marketing through social networking is to make sure that your community adds values to its users. If your users feel like they’re getting good advice, good information, and making good connections, then they’re more likely to stick around. And it’s your job to facilitate a quality community. It may not feel like marketing, but it may be some of the most important marketing you ever do.

If you’re not sure whether now is the time to make social networking part of your overall marketing strategy, go ahead and take the plunge. Climb the learning curve now, ahead of your competitors, and build your communities. You’ll be glad you did

• Using Social Media as an HR Tool
• 5 Ways to Make Social Media Work for Your Business
• 6 Reasons to Avoid the Social Media News Release
• The 4 P’s of Inbound Marketing
• Can Social Media Tools Like Linkedin Help Your Business?
• 4 Keys to Link-Building for SEO
• Search Engine Optimization and MySpace: 4 Considerations
• Search Engine Optimization and Social Media: 5 Keys to Good Content
• Search Engine Optimization and Social Networking: 3 Places to Start
• Search Engine Optimization and Social Networking: 5 Keys to Success

How many emails have you received from friends or colleagues inviting you to join LinkedIn? More than you can count?  Join the club.  If you haven’t spent a lot of time learning about LinkedIn then it may just seem like another way to spend time you don’t have, but SEO experts advise that LinkedIn can be an excellent tool for growing your business.  Here are 5 reasons why LinkedIn can work for you.

1.      It’s a Great Business Development Tool.

What business owner doesn’t love a warm lead?  Much more pleasant than cold calls, warm leads allow you to contact people whom you already know are interested in your product or service.  If you’re interested in doing business with ABC Company, you can find their employees on LinkedIn.  When you go to meet with the president of the company, you can use LinkedIn to find out about her background and her interests.  You can also find out if you have any contacts in common.

In your search for employees of ABC Company, be sure to find former employees as well as current employees.  Get information about the company that the company may not want you to know.

2.      Off-Site Factors are Important for Your Business.

Google ranks your website based on the quality and popularity of the relevant websites that link to it.  This is far more important for getting top rankings than a lot of what you include on your website.  One of the easiest things you can do with your LinkedIn profile is to include your business website. 

Another thing you can do is write articles and send them to online magazines, making sure to include a link to your website in your signature.  This is all hard work, but it will definitely pay off in the end.

3.      It Helps Increase Your Credibility

We live in a world where your potential customers can easily find a lot of information about business owners.  A high-quality LinkedIn profile that includes recommendations and information about your background can be invaluable.  You may even find that you receive calls from people who found you on LinkedIn and are interested in hearing more about your product or service.

4.      It Showcases Your Website.

Once you’ve created a LinkedIn profile, log out again and then search for your LinkedIn profile.  Copy the address in the browser bar and add it to your signature for sending out emails.  You’d be surprised at the number of people who, just out of curiosity, click on the link.  Even someone who may not have known she was interested in your website may find that she wants to know more about your product or service.

5.      It Can Help In a Job Search

Whether you’re looking for employment yourself or need to hire someone for your business, LinkedIn can perform for you.  If you’re looking for a job, include your LinkedIn profile address on your resume.  If you have the right kinds of recommendations in your profile, it can benefit you a great deal.  The best way to get good recommendations is to write good recommendations for other people first.

Social and business networking sites may initially seem fluffy and just another way to waste valuable time, but they can actually be a great business tool.  Whether you’re looking for a job, for employees, or simply looking to get connected with other people, LinkedIn can be a very valuable internet marketing tool.  If you want more information on how LinkedIn can work for you, consult and SEO or internet marketing company.  Professionals in the field can get you started in right direction, both by helping you design a quality website and by helping you create a LinkedIn profile that will get results fast.

• 5 Ways to Make Social Media Work for Your Business
• Using Social Media as an HR Tool
• SEO and Social Networking: Creating Good Content
• 5 Keys to Success in Marketing with Social Media
• 6 Reasons to Avoid the Social Media News Release
• 7 Keys to a Successful Community Website
• 6 Reasons to Keep Marketing, Even During A Recession
• 3 Reasons to Invest in a Premium Domain Name
• The 4 P’s of Inbound Marketing
• 7 Ways to Make the Social Web Work for You