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Saturday, 17 April 2010
Are You Making the Right Connections? Boost Your Home Based Business Sales With LinkedIn.
Are you wondering how to reach out and connect with thousands of prospects quickly, without a massive marketing budget? Well, we have the answer for you, and it might not be what you were expecting.
Home based business owners, please listen up. The key to reaching the masses quickly, and with limited funds is social media, and one of the best sites for connecting is LinkedIn.
The reason why this may be surprising to many is simple. Unlike other social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn is exclusively a directory of business professionals, connecting more than 8.5 million people in over 130 industries. Because LinkedIn is primarily focused on business professionals, many home based business owners overlook this powerful site, and as a result, fail to include this terrific prospecting tool in their marketing efforts.
To get started, begin by creating your LinkedIn profile. Remember, however, that this social networking site is quite different from Facebook, and because it is used exclusively by business professionals, personal information such as hobbies and interests are really not appropriate to include in a LinkedIn profile. Instead, information such as past experience in your industry, a listing of your home based business websites and the products you promote/offer should be the focus of your LinkedIn page.
Establishing a LinkedIn profile has several key benefits. For example, LinkedIn profiles enjoy a high PageRank on Google, which means that your profile will appear at the top of the search engines when your name is searched on the internet. To increase page rank, create a public profile in LinkedIn, and then select "Full View." In addition, it is best to customize the LinkedIn URL, rather than simply using the default assigned when you create your profile page. Customizing the URL with your name will increase your visibility among the search engines when your name is searched on the web.
A LinkedIn profile also allows you to publicize websites, which is an excellent way to promote your home based business website or blog to search engines such as Google and Yahoo! LinkedIn has a few pre-selected categories such as "My Website" or My Company." If you select "other" you can modify the name of the link in order to connect to your personal home based business blog. To further strengthen the visibility of your LinkedIn profile in the search engines, remember to use your link in other places on the web. For example, each time you comment on a blog or other website, include a link to your profile in your signature.
You can also increase your presence on LinkedIn by participating in the Questions & Answers section. Answering questions about a particular topic related to your specific niche within the home based business industry or product category can establish you as an expert in your field, and ultimately drive prospects to your website. Increase your network even further by starting or joining industry or alumni groups, or by starting and managing a group page for your home based business or products. LinkedIn also provides a feature that allows recommendations, so reaching out to satisfied customers and requesting that they recommend you on their profile pages is a great way to boost visibility within the LinkedIn community.
LinkedIn has the power to put you in touch with potential customers or business partners, and can be a valuable tool for those who are looking to make contact with other home based business professionals. For more information about LinkedIn and how social media can boost your business sales, visit http://www.thehomebasedbusinessreview.com
Nikki Morgan, Sr. Editor
http://www.TheHomeBasedBusinessReview.com
Nikki@thehomebasedbusinessreview.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nikki_Morgan,_J.D.
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