Linkedin.com -  I hope this hub will be worth as much to you as Linkedin is worth to me. I need to be using it more myself...but as with everything online; it seems so easy to get side-tracked these days.  Things like business getting in the way. :}

Having searched far and wide, I have finally found over the course of several years that linkedin.com is by far and wide the best site for businesses. Hubbing is all good fun and that; but it really hasn't got the pointed direction a business requires.

If you are interested in growing your business, you need to find other people who are in the same business you are or who can send business your way. The search engines these days are IMO pretty much a waste of time unless you are willing to pay through your nose for a high ranking. I know what I am talking about here ~ I held the #1 to #3 spot for 3 YEARS for keywords and all in one day I was de-indexed! NO reason at all.

Above all - please remember Linkedin is a Business Site! It is Not a blog, not a hub, not a facebook, etc.....it has primarily One objective. To link businesses together to help each other out.

Here are some of the ways you can use Linkedin to better your business:

#1 - Obviously, you need to get an account! Sign up and create a page about your business. This is called your profile. Think of this page as your resume; why? Because it IS. Be creative but be honest. Nothing will turn off a potential JV (joint venture) person than finding out later on you are not competent or cannot produce what you have said you can. Being honest is of KEY importance.

#2 - Start looking around Linkedin for Groups with which your skills or company have a commonality with and request to join some of them. Join a few a first. Don't over do it joining 15 at once or you won't really get anywhere. The reason for this is the way Linkedin works. You need to read emails and reply via the links in them that go to the website. It can be too time consuming if you join too many groups. Just begin with a few that are a good FIT for you.

They also have internal email boxes. It is Very Important to pay attention to your inbox as this is where postings will show up when members wish to join your group or say something to you. You can set your groups to auto-accept but I would not recommend this.

#3 - Within the groups you join there will be discussions going on. These are posted by people in the group. Read them for a bit before you just in and start any of your own, but please feel free to introduce yourself! Members also post news articles of interest and you can write opinions on those as well.

#4 - On your profile page you will see a lot of links on the left. One of these is to your profile organizer. This is a handy page you will use to organize your contacts, it lists all of your contatcs so someone is easy to locate and among other things, it shows you your network statistics. In your network stats page, you see statistics about your network, including how many users you can reach through the connections you already have. Your network grows every time you add a connection! It takes a bit of time but it very worthwhile to build solid connections.

#5 - There are many catagories at Linkedin. Within these are many sub-catagories. These are very handy in helping you navigate into the exact niche you want/need to be in. For a generic example, there may be a Group called Insurance. This is Very Generic, but within that group there will be sub-catagories which will narrow down to your profession such as adjusters, careers, office services, retirement planning, Appraisal & Valuation; the sub-groups are Enormous!

#6 - In the groups there are postings for jobs, news, discussion and more...there is so much you can do there to further your business! The overviews will show you all recent activities in case you have opted to not receive emails from your groups. I recommend setting your subscriptions to at least once a week and daily for the ones that you are really interested in getting to know the people.

#7 - You can create your own groups. I find this to be a most excellent method of obtaining contacts. You can see who is *following* you - meaning here (fobid, NOT like twitter) they are following your discussions as they are interested in what you have to say on certain topics.

#8 - You can ask and answer business related questions. This is an important aspect. Good answers concerning your business will promote replies and many new connections. Each connection you have makes you certain *degrees* away from other connections.

#9 - The *company buzz* lets you see what's going on in any group at any given time. You can share on these buzzes too. It also has a search function. Most of the pages do have a search function.

#10 - You can also recommend people and they can recommend you! This is Great! Your recommendations are people giving you their thumbs up and complimenting you at what you do because they know your work.

I have probably just scratched the surface here but this is enough to get you going. Using Linkedin will benefit you and your company - trust me. Use it well and you will be well used!

A few links to work tips; online and off:

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-get-noticed-at-work---Tips

http://hubpages.com/hub/-How-to-Start-a-Successful-small-businessl-on-a-Shoe-string-Budget

http://hubpages.com/hub/Guide-To-Awesome-Backlinks

I'll add more soon....