Jazz up your LinkedIn profile in 5 easy steps

If you are going to use your LinkedIn profile to promote yourself or your business, be sure you jazz it up a bit. Make sure your content is informative and interesting and that you use the new features and tools to add color and content.

Even if you don’t want to spend much time on LinkedIn, try our 5 easy steps. They will give your profile depth and make you more interesting to your connections.

1) Make sure you profile is complete with present and previous positions, education, awards and specialties.

2) Give and request recommendations. Write thoughtful recommendations for connections that point out an exceptional or unique circumstance or attribute. Don’t be shy, request recommendations from connections that will share your talents and achievements.

3) Add your Blog. Under More… go to Application Directory and add your Blog. Use WordPress or Blog Link to display your Blog on your LinkedIn page. You can show the recent posts or choose those that will be fed to LinkedIn. Blog Link will allow you to add blogs from your connections. If you don’t have a Blog, add your Tweets to LinkedIn. If you don’t have Tweets, you better get with the social media program!

4) Put a couple of interesting books that you have read in your Reading List. Choose books that are unique and distinctive to add depth to your online persona. Books with lively covers will add colorful graphics to your profile. Change your books periodically to keep it interesting.

5) Upload a presentation about you, your company or a topic you have presented. Use Google Presentation to upload or create presentations in .ppt format. Google Apps costs $50 per year there is a trial version available. But if you don’t want to buy anything, use Slideshare to upload up to three presentations - it’s free.

These are 5 easy steps to jazz up your LinkedIn profile. For more ideas, go to the LinkedIn Application Directory. Experiment with the other applications like Polls and Events. If you don’t like the result, applications are easy to remove.

If you have questions or suggestions for other topics, please leave a comment or contact me at mary@lansystems.com.