Learning LinkedIn Get Started & Build Your Foundation

Get Started &Build Your Foundation

Leveraging the power of LinkedIn begins with building a solid professional profile and presence. As a professional, how do you stand out from the crowd on LinkedIn? How do you differentiate yourself from the millions of professional users on the network? What will make your profile visitors want to learn more about you and your business to ultimately connect with you? You must first establish a foundation in order to begin building your influence, generating introductions and

referrals, and uncovering valuable business opportunities.

LinkedIn suggests that having a completed profile provides you with a 40% greater chance for networking success, and they make it easy for you to understand how to achieve that

100% completion.

Having a completed profile is the most effective way to showcase all of who you are

through your talents, background, experience, passions, interests, and areas of

expertise. In addition, a completed profile is going to make you appear to be a more

competent user in the network.

Your LinkedIn profile may be the first stop for a new introduction. With a solid foundation,

you will be well positioned for the next phase, where you can grow your influence and

build your business.

Checklist to Achieve a Powerful and Complete Profile

Upload a professional image

This is your best opportunity to make a great first impression, and it is essential

to attracting connections.

Create a compelling headline

You only have 120 characters at the top of your profile to describe what you

do to the world and grab their attention. Use brief, descriptive, compelling keywords

so the right professionals on LinkedIn can discover you.

List your current position and at least two past positions

Use descriptive keywords that you quoted in your headline if possible, and be

sure to describe your role for each position.

Complete the “Summary” section of your profile

This is your chance to really describe who you are and how you help people. I

recommend that you write your summary in the third person. Otherwise, you’ll

be using the letter “I” quite a bit, which can be off-putting.

Complete the “Specialties” section of your profile

Utilize customer-focused keywords, as these are the terms that will help you

show up in search results within LinkedIn. When thinking about these keywords,

brainstorm words and phrases that people in your target markets

might search for to find someone with your background, experience, and service

offering.

Give recommendations first

Request recommendations that can be displayed on your profile. The best way

to receive recommendations is to first give them! Hint: You will need at least

three recommendations in order for LinkedIn to label your profile “completed.”

Complete the “Interests” and “Groups and Associations” sections

Each of these terms will be hyper-linked and will take you to other users in the

network who share these interests.

HINT

You will need at least three recommendations in order for LinkedIn to label

your profile “completed.

Optimize Your Profile to Get Found by Contacts

By now, you probably realize the importance of adding relevant keywords that your

target markets may search for to your headline, summary, and specialties sections of

your LinkedIn profile. Here are some pro tips to optimize your profile to get found by

great new contacts:

Optimize Your Profile to

Get Found by Contacts

1 )Edit your public LinkedIn URL

An example is my personal LinkedIn URL, http://www.linkedin.com/in/chandrakamal

Such customization will optimize your LinkedIn profile to show

up in search results on major search engines when someone searches for

your name. It is important to claim those results for your name as they provide

a gateway into your personal brand.

2)Customize your “website” listings

Under the “websites” section of your LinkedIn profile, you can list up to three

URLs. Choose the “other” option when setting up each of these links and

describe them with relevant terms. For example, rather than using the terms

“my website,” I use “Smart Social Pro Blog.” Not only is this more descriptive,

but it also gives me a better opportunity to rank for these keywords in search

engines.

3)Include a link to your Twitter profile

You can have more than one Twitter account listed. Give folks an additional

method to use to connect with you!

4)Make your entire LinkedIn profile publicly visible to everyone

You want other professionals on LinkedIn to be able to find you and contact

you anytime. Being invisible won’t help you build your network.

Get plugged in with linked in APPLICATIONS

To build a truly vibrant and influential profile on LinkedIn, you will want to take advantage of the

applications that are available. My personal favorites are listed below, but feel free to choose the

applications that are the best fit for you!

SlideShare

I use this application to bring in presentations that I've uploaded to Slide-

Share. It gives me a chance to show my expertise visually. Also, you can embed

video or audio into your SlideShare presentation that will automatically

play when someone visits your LinkedIn Profile. This can certainly be an effective

way to make your profile stickier. Most likely, if the visitor hears your voice

they will scroll down to this part of your profile.

Reading List by Amazon

We are what we read. Don’t miss this opportunity to create a window into

your passions and interests by showcasing and reviewing your latest reads.

Alternatively, when you are searching through profiles on LinkedIn for potential

connections and introductions, you can glean the same insight about others if

they have this application installed.

My Travel and Events

Personally, I love these two applications because they give me the opportunity

to showcase the part of my schedule that mostly involves connecting! I want

my connections to see where I’m traveling and also the events I’m attending.

Don’t miss any opportunities to meet a LinkedIn connection face-to-face.

WordPress or Blog Link

With these applications, you can automatically pull blog posts into your profile.

If you are taking the time to create great content on your blog, you must get it

out into the world.

Polls

The LinkedIn Polls application allows you to essentially conduct your own research,

either simply within your own network or to a more targeted audience

of professionals, which is a paid resource. I have found Polls to be an effective

tool for understanding my audience. You must make sure that your poll is

simple to understand and that your questions are compelling. Otherwise, you

may not get much response.

Running Multiple Sites with WordPress

Exploring the Merge from Multiuser to Network

Running multiple sites under one installation of WordPress was not always
possible. From August 2005 until July 2010, there was a completely separate
software package called WordPress MU. In July 2010, the codebase
of WordPress MU and WordPress merged, meaning that the features of WordPress MU were included in the WordPress software, rendering the
WordPress MU software package obsolete. The merger of codebases
brought several advantages, including
✦ One codebase: Having the multisite feature available in one piece of
software completely eliminates user confusion on which version of
WordPress they need to use. Now, you use the same software package
regardless of whether you want to use the multisite feature. If you do,
just a few minutes of configuration can make it happen.
✦ Bug fixes: WordPress MU was not as popular as the original WordPress
software; therefore, the MU project didn’t attract as many developers
to contribute code, fixes, and additional feature development. When the
merge occurred in July 2010, the multisite feature gained the massive
WordPress developer community, making bug fixes and new features a
quicker and easier process.
✦ Easier interface: If you worked with MU, you know what we mean
here. The interface and Dashboard features for the multisite feature
in WordPress is much easier to work with, mainly because it works in
tandem with the other WordPress settings and features you’re already
familiar with.
In the past, the WordPress codebase would be updated and those
changes would be rolled over to WordPress MU with any additional fixes.
Occasionally, WordPress MU users had to wait two to four weeks or longer
for updates. Because the number of users familiar with WordPress MU was
far less than WordPress, feedback for bugs was also slow. Even though more
than 95 percent of the two codebases were identical, the remaining code in
WordPress MU did the bulk of the work maintaining multiple blogs.
Understanding the Difference between Sites and Blogs
With the merger of WordPress MU and WordPress came a name change.
Each additional blog under WordPress MU is now a site. But, what’s the difference?
Largely, it’s one of perception. Everything functions the same, but people
can see greater possibilities when they no longer think of each site as “just”
a blog. Now, WordPress can be so much more:
✦ With the addition of the Domain Mapping plugin (see Chapter 6 in this
minibook), you can manage multiple sites with different, and unique,
domain names. None of them has to be a blog. They can have a blog element,
or just use pages and have a static site.The built-in options let you choose between subdomains or subfolder
sites when you install the network. If you install WordPress in the root
of your Web space, you will get subdomain.yourdomain.com (if you
choose subdomains) or yourdomain.com/subfolder (if you choose
subfolders). Chapter 2 of this minibook discusses the differences and
advantages.
After you choose the kind of sites you want to host and create those
sites, you can’t change them later on. These sites are served virtually,
meaning that they do not exist as files or folders anywhere on the
server. They only exist in the database. The correct location is served to
the browser by using rewrite rules in the .htaccess file.
✦ The main, or parent, site of the network can also be a landing page of the
entire network of sites, showcasing content from other sites in the network
and drawing in visitors further.

Discovering When You Should
Use the Network Feature

Determining whether to use the multisite feature depends on user access
and posting. Each site in the network, although sharing the same codebase
and users, is still a self-contained unit. Users still have to access the back
end of each site to manage options or post to that site. A limited amount of
general options is network-wide, and posting is not one of them.
You can use multiple sites in a network to give the appearance that only one
site exists. Put the same theme on each site, and the visitor doesn’t realize
that they are separate. This is a good way to separate sections of a magazine
site, using editors for complete sections (sites) but not letting them access
other parts of the network or the back end of other sites.
Usually, for multiple users to post to one site, WordPress is sufficient.
The multiuser part of the WordPress MU name did not refer to how many
users, really. MU was always a bit of a misnomer and an inaccurate depiction
of what the software actually did. A network of sites is a much closer
description.
Another factor to consider is how comfortable you are with editing files
directly on the server. Setting up the network involves access to the server
directly, and ongoing maintenance and support for your users can often lead
to the network owner doing the necessary maintenance, which is not for thefaint of heart. Generally, you should use a network of sites in the following
cases:
✦ You want multiple sites and oneinstallation. You’re a blogger or site
owner whowants to maintain another site, possibly with a subdomain or
a separate domain, all on one Web host. You’re comfortable with some
edits to files, you want to work with one codebase to make site maintenance
easier, and most of your plugins and themes are accessible to all
the sites. You can have one login across the sites and manage each site
individually.
✦ You want to host blogs or sites for others. This is a little more involved.
You want to set up a network where users can sign up for their own sites
or blogs underneath (or part of) your main site and you maintain the
technical aspects for them.
Because all files are shared, some aspects have been locked down for security
purposes. One of the most puzzling for new users is the suppression
of errors. Most PHP errors (say you installed a faulty plugin or incorrectly
edited a file) do not output messages to the screen. Instead, what appears is
what we like to call the White Screen of Death.
Knowing how to find and use error logs and do general debugging are skills
needed when you are managing your own network. Even if your Web host
will set up the ongoing daily or weekly tasks for you, managing a network
can be a steep learning curve.
When you enable the network, the existing WordPress site becomes the
main site in the installation.
Although WordPress can be quite powerful, in the following situations the
management of multiple sites has its limitations:
✦ One Web account is used for the installation. You cannot use multiple
hosting accounts.
✦ You want to post to multiple blogs at one time. WordPress will not do
this by default.
✦ If you choose subdirectory sites, the main site will regenerate permalinks
with /blog/ in it to prevent collisions with subsites. There are
existing plugins available to strip this.
WordPress MU had quirks in the software. The www was stripped from the
domain name, for example, and you couldn’t install on just an IP address
or by using only localhost as the name. These issues are addressed in
WordPress 3.0.Setting Up the Optimal Hosting Environment
This chapter assumes that you already have the WordPress software
installed and running correctly on your Web server, and that your Web
server meets the minimum requirements to run WordPress.
Before you enable the WordPress multisite feature, you need to determine
how you are going to use the feature. You have a couple of options:
. Manage just a few of your own WordPress blogs or Web sites.
. Run a full-blown blogging network with several hundred different blogs
and multiple users.
If you are planning to run just a few of your own sites with the WordPress
multisite feature, then your current hosting situation is probably well suited.
However, if your plans are to host a large network with hundreds of blogs
and multiple users, you should consider contacting your host and increasing
your bandwidth, as well as the disk space limitations on your account.
The best example of a large blog network with hundreds of blogs and
users (actually, more like millions) is the hosted service at WordPress.
com (http://wordpress.com). At WordPress.com, people are invited to
sign up for an account and start a blog using the network feature within the
WordPress platform on the WordPress server. When you enable this feature
on your own domain and enable the user registration feature, you are inviting
users to
. Create an account.
. Create a blog on your WordPress installation (on your domain).
. Create content by publishing blog posts.
. Upload media files such as photos, audio, and video.
. Invite friends to view their blog, or to sign up for their own account.
In addition to the necessary security measures, time, and administrative
tasks that go into running a community of blogs, you have a few more things
to worry about. Creating a community will increase the resource use, bandwidth,
and disk space on your Web server. In many cases, if you go over the
allotted limits given to you by your Web host, you will incur great cost. Make
sure that you anticipate your bandwidth and disk space needs before running
a large network on your Web site! (Don¡¯t say we didn¡¯t warn you.)Checking out shared versus dedicated hosting
Many WordPress Network communities start with grand dreams of being
a large and active community. Be realistic on how your community will
operate in order to make the right hosting choice for yourself and your
community.
Small blogging communities can be easily handled using a shared-server
solution, whereas larger, more active communities should really consider a
dedicated-server solution for operation. The difference between the two lies
in their names:
. Shared-server solution: You have one account on one server that has
several other accounts on it. Think of this as apartment living. One
apartment building has several apartments for multiple people to live,
all under one roof.
. Dedicated-server solution: You have one account. You have one server.
That server is dedicated to your account, and your account is dedicated
to the server. Think of this as owning a home where you don¡¯t share
your living space with anyone else.
A dedicated-server solution is a more expensive investment for your blog
community, while a shared-server solution is the most economical. Your
decision on which solution to go with for your WordPress Network blogging
community will be based on your realistic estimates of how big and how
active your community will be. You can move from a shared-server solution
to a dedicated-server solution if your community gets larger than you
expected; however, starting with the right solution for your community from
day one is easier.
Exploring subdomains versus subdirectories
The WordPress network feature gives you two different ways to run a network
of blogs on your domain. You can use the subdomain option or the
subdirectory option. The most popular option (and recommended structure)
sets up subdomains for the blogs created by your WordPress Network.
With the subdomain option, the username of the blog appears first, followed
by your domain name. With the subdirectory option, your domain name
appears first, followed by the username of the blog. Which one should you
choose? The choice is yours. You can see the difference in the URLs of these
two options by comparing the following examples:
. A subdomain looks like this: http://username.yourdomain.com
. A subdirectory looks like this: http://yourdomain.com/username

                                                                         .............TO BE COUNTINUED

HOW TO USE WORD PRESS

WordPress is the most popular blogging software on the planet.
Between the hosted service at WordPress.com and the self-hosted
software available at WordPress.org, millions of bloggers use WordPress
today! That’s impressive. And with WordPress, you can truly tailor a blog to
your own tastes and needs.
With no cost for using the benefits of the WordPress platform to publish
content on the Web, WordPress is as priceless as it is free. WordPress
makes writing, editing, and publishing content on the Internet a delightful,
fun, and relatively painless experience whether you’re a publisher, designer,
developer — or just blogging as a hobby.

Introducing the World of Blogging

Blogging is an evolutionary process, and blogs have evolved beyond personal
journals to become tools for real journalism, business, and authorship.
A blog is a fabulous tool for publishing your diary of thoughts and ideas;
however, blogs also serve as excellent tools for business, editorial journalism,
news, and entertainment. Here are some ways that people use blogs:
. Personal: A blogger can use a blog as a journal or diary. You¡¯re considered
a personal blogger if you use your blog mainly to discuss topics
related to you or your life . your family, your cats, your children, or
your interests (for example, technology, politics, sports, art, or photography).
Lisa¡¯s blog, which you find at http://lisasabin-wilson.
com, is an example of a personal blog.
. Business: A blogger can use a blog to promote her company¡¯s business
services or products. Blogs are very effective tools for promotion and
marketing, and business blogs usually offer helpful information to readers
and consumers, such as sales events and product reviews. Business
blogs also let readers provide feedback and ideas, which can help a
company improve its services. A good example of a business blog is
ServerBeach, which you can find on the hosted WordPress.com service
at http://serverbeach.wordpress.com.
. Media/journalism: Popular news outlets, such as Fox News, MSNBC, and
CNN, are using blogs on their Web sites to provide information on current
events, politics, and news on a regional, national, and international
level. These news organizations often have editorial bloggers, too. CNN¡¯s
Anderson Cooper, for example, maintains a blog on CNN¡¯s Web site at
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com, with news and commentary from the
Anderson Cooper 360¡Æ television show. Readers are invited to join in,
too, by leaving comments about the news stories.
. Government: Number 10 (www.number10.gov.uk) is the official site of
the British Prime Minister from his headquarters at 10 Downing Street
in London. (See Figure 1-1.) The Prime Minister and his staff provide
content by way of blog posts, photos, and videos, and integrate feeds from
their Twitter and Facebook accounts. Governments use blogs to post news
and updates to the web quickly, as well as integrate social-media tools as a
means and way to interact with their citizens and representatives.
. Citizen journalism: Blogging has provided people opportunities to
report and analyze news and information on a national and international
level. Citizens are using blogs with the intention of keeping the media
and politicians in check by fact-checking news stories and exposing
inconsistencies. Major cable news programs interview many of these
bloggers because the mainstream media recognize the importance of the
citizen voice that¡¯s emerging via blogs. An example of citizen journalism
is Power Line at http://powerlineblog.com.

Professional: Professional bloggers, a category that’s growing every
day, can blog for companies or Web sites. Blog networks, such
as WeblogsInc.com, hire bloggers to write about certain topics.
Additionally, several services match advertisers with bloggers, and the
advertisers pay the bloggers to post about their products. Check out
Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger blog at http://problogger.net. Darren
is considered the grandfather of all professional bloggers.
The Web sites and blogs we provide in this list run on the WordPress platform.

Using WordPress as a Content Management System
You hear it a lot if you browse different Web sites that publish posts about
WordPress: ¡°WordPress is more than a blogging platform; it¡¯s a full content
management system.¡± What does that mean?
A content management system (CMS) is a platform that lets you run a full
Web site on your domain. This means that WordPress, in addition to a blog,
allows you to create pages and build additional features into your Web site
that have nothing to do with the content on your blog.
A Web site and a blog are two different things. Although a Web site can contain
a blog, a blog cannot contain a full Web site. We know it sounds confusing,
but after you read this section and explore the differences between the
two, you¡¯ll have a better understanding.
A blog is a chronological display of content . most often, written by the
blog author. The posts are published and, usually, categorized into topics
and archived by date. Blog posts can have comments activated so readers
can leave their feedback and the author can respond, creating a dialogue
about the blog post.
A Web site is a collection of published pages and different sections that offer
the visitor a different experience. A Web site can incorporate a blog but usually
contains other sections and features. These other features include
. Photo galleries: Albums of photos uploaded and collected in a specific
area so that visitors can browse through and comment on them.
. E-commerce stores: Fully integrated shopping area into which you can
upload products for sale and from which your visitors can purchase
them.
. Discussion forums: Where visitors can join, create discussion threads,
and respond to one another in specific threads of conversation.