These days just about everyone has a LinkedIn account. LinkedIn is an excellent site to promote and sell yourself as a professional, and your company, or organization. Follow these steps and you will be way ahead of the crowd when it comes to using LinkedIn for personal branding.

• Step #1

Determine what you want your LinkedIn profile to do for you. LinkedIn is about much more than posting a picture. It is a chance for you to stay connected to people, showing them who you are and what your goals are.

• Step #2

  Don’t be boring. There are 40 million members. Make what you have to say interesting enough to get read. Stand out in a very big crowd! You can pull in other content such as your blog, books you are reading, etc., to keep things interesting.

• Step #3

  Now it’s times to write a summary, rock it! You can write it in the third person if you like. It may feel strange like you are bragging about yourself. When you write in the third person, it gives you the opportunity to write your full name. Of course, you can always write in the first person too. Remember to incorporate your company name, your keywords, and anything else you want associated with your LinkedIn profile.

• Step #4
  A photo is important. Even if you are self-conscious about how you look in a photo, remember this ñ those that are thinking of working with you. If a person is going to pass judgment on you by your appearance then they might as well do it right away rather than later. Have a headshot taken if you must. Professional photographers can get a good shot of everyone.
• Step #5
  For your url get a vanity url. For example, if your LinkedIn profile looks a bit like this

  http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joe-blow/3/231/438

  you can make it available at

  http://www.linkedin.com/in/joeblow

  This is much easier to remember than the first url.
  There are steps on how to do this on our blog post : http://www.linkedintraining.ie/469/how-to-brand-yourself-in-linkedin/

• Step #6
  Show our profile to another person and get their feedback. Then you can tweak it. In fact, show it to a few people. At least once a month you should tweak your profile.
• Step #7
  Now it is time to start using LinkedIn. You can begin to recommend people who you work with, look for old co-workers that you really liked and respected.

There you have it, Seven simple steps to help you create your personal brand using LinkedIn.

If you own an online business you can create a company page on LinkedIn.com. The importance of having a company page is that it establishes your business entity as separate from your personal profile, and people who have done business with you can add your company to their profile. This is one more way to connect with others, and to promote your online business.

Simply go to your Home page of LinkedIn.com, and then click Companies. Look for the “Add a Company” link, and click it. Simply fill out the information provided. You must have the right to add a company so do not do this for companies you do not own, or manage.. Then click Continue.

Fill out your company profile, add a logo, and information as fully as possible. You can add in a Twitter account, add employees or contractors, and grab your LinkedIn button code to put on your company website so that you can get more followers. Fill out each section completely from the overview to the Products & Services area. From here you can list your products as well as a link to the product and / or service. You can also add photographs for your product or service and a disclaimer. Once you add one product or service, you can add more.

Adding your company page is very versatile. Aside from promotions, you can even add in a YouTube video to talk about your products and services. Make sure to choose your keywords well, and try to fill out this page completely. Don’t be scared to make a YouTube video for this area, it will increase your sales and it doesn’t have to be perfect. From here you can promote your product or service too with just a few clicks.

A really awesome feature of the Company Page is that you can also see the analytics and know at a glance how many people are looking at your company, who is following you, and see an entire overview of the analytics at a glance. Analytics are very important to ensure that you are using methods that work to advertise your goods and services.

Some rules about creating a company page. Make sure you don’t already have a company page. In order to create a company page you must have an authenticated company email address that is not a free email address like Gmail or Yahoo! Mail.  You can only create a company page if you’re an employee or an owner of the company in question.

Once you create a company page you can post jobs to your company page if you’re hiring. Click on Careers then click Post a Job. Then fill in all the areas. Don’t worry you can pick contractor too. Fill out the information listing an email address where people can apply for the job, or link them to a specific website for applications. Choose the rate you’re willing to pay for the job listing. Then click Next and follow all the instructions for payment processing.

Social networking sites are playing a crucial role in making businesses successful. To own a business is easy, however lots of strategies are required to make it lucrative. In current era, more and more business owners are utilizing social networking sites for business promotion. LinkedIn is a famous site which has been used by unlimited business professionals and those who are looking for a job. It has gained popularity as users get an opportunity to showcase their competence in a particular field. Accounts of this site are based on two formats i.e. personal and business.

This site has given a boost to the recruiting industry. Every user can learn plenty of professional things about other users by viewing their profiles. On this site, professionals are identified for their experience and skills. Members of this site can find jobs and apply directly. It offers an ideal opportunity to those who believe in building up business relationships. Credibility of a person is enhanced when he gets recommendation from other person. Creating an account on this site is not at all a time-consuming process. After creating a profile, an individual can leverage his connections and resources. Moreover, profiles can also be updated if required at any point of time. In the profile, achievements, awards, areas of expertise, current designation in a company, certification courses and additional information can be mentioned. If you are searching for a job, it is assured that reputed companies will approach you when you have an account on LinkedIn. In relevant groups of this site, anyone can write articles and blogs which are thought-provoking. It has been observed that majority of business owners are not aware that they can reach investors and business partners by having an account in LinkedIn.  In addition, one can also view that how many connections a user has.