LinkedIn is the number one professional social networking website, which offers business opportunities to freelancers, small and big business owners, writers, consultants, job hunters and recruiters and others who like to connect with other professionals. Other social network websites are Xing (former Open BC), Ecademy and, on the more personal side, Plaxo, Facebook, MySpace. Xing and LinkedIn are the most business oriented social networks with LinkedIn leading in popularity worldwide, and Xing more spread in Europe. Many people therefore join both networks.

Why is it useful to join an online social network like LinkedIn or Xing and what do you need to do to make the best use of it?

Many books were written about online networking in general and LinkedIn specifically. I will share some of the benefits I have experienced myself and which have been useful for me for those who are not yet sure whether virtual networking is for them or don’t know how it works.

You can publish your profile including your resume, strengths current focus of work and what you are looking for at the moment. This is like an extended business card plus elevator speech. Your profile and its elements can be searched in LinkedIn and – if you allow it to be “public” via search engines. Potential business partners or former colleagues or friends can find you and get in touch with you.

Take at least as much time to create a profile as you would for an important job application, give it a professional yet personal touch. Make sure you mention the keywords potential partners are likely to search.

Once your profile is online, beware that others can read it and are likely use it to get an initial impression about you and your business or career. And often it is the initial impression which decides whether or not there will be a second contact. This is true for career related networking as well as for small business networking. Don't publish anything that should not be read by everybody.

An advantage of LinkedIn is that you can update, unpublish or republish your profile very easily (unpublish means your profile is only visible for your contacts and contacts of your contacts and you cannot be googled).

Once your profile is up and running you can start building your virtual network by inviting other users or non-users to connect with you. To build your online network you can use your email list to check who is on LinkedIn or search for specific people, people in a company, a university etc.. Then send them a personalized invitation to connect with you via LinkedIn. This will allow you to not only see their profiles but also the profiles of the contacts of your contacts. And there it becomes interesting, because you can find people who share certain skills, experiences or interests and “meet” them. You are now ready to start your small business networking or job hunting.

While connecting in person has all the advantages of face to face conversations it rarely offers you this kind of transparency of the contacts your friends may have. If you want to get in touch with people you don’t know already you ask your direct contacts to connect you.

You can search for people and for job opportunities in LinkedIn directly via the search function. You can also check your whole online network (i.e. contacts of contacts) for business opportunities or people who are potentially interesting for you to connect, e.g. a potential employer or a potential client or supplier or a business partner. Say you want to work for company X, and would like to speak to the head of department Y, have a look in LinkedIn whether one of your contacts is connected to someone who might work in company X and could connect you to someone who might be able to help you.

The more mobile you or your connections are the more online networks can help you to get back in touch and stay in touch, no matter where you live and how often email, address and phone change (provided that you keep your profile updated, of course). I was surprised to see how many people in LinkedIn and Xing I already knew but lost sight of because they moved to another city or country.

You can recommend others for the job they have done or the business you have done with them, and you can ask for recommendations yourself. Similar to references recommendations can enhance your profile with other’s opinions about your professional services and achievements.

LinkedIn is full of interest groups, and new ones are created every day. By joining a group you can meet people who share your professional interests or your topics and find a forum to share your ideas, ask questions or discuss projects. If you don’t find the appropriate group you can start one of your own.

If you are a business owner or recruiter looking for employees or freelancers you can do two things: search for certain profiles to contact directly or place a job and wait for interested job hunters to contact you.  I used LinkedIn groups for example to recruit experts for interviews.

You can use online social networks to promote your business, explain what you are working on and update your profile with what is new. As a default (which you can disable) your contacts will receive a newsletter (unless they unsubscribe from it) with your LinkedIn activities and profile updates.

You can include your website links in your profile and direct readers to websites and blogs, for example to hubpages.

One of the biggest success factors of networking is giving.

Good networking practice is NOT to pop around look over top of the head of the person who is just talking to you in order to see if there is a more interesting person around, and then say “nice to have met you” to rush on.

Effective networking starts with making presents to people who may not appear important to you at first sight. Useful presents don’t need to cost money. Listening can be a present as can connecting that person to someone who may share her interest more than you do.

Giving can be very fulfilling and it can make you feel valuable and good about yourself. In addition it will show your commitment and passion for your business and your clients, and slowly but surely it will build trust and a positive image of yourself. Your contacts know more other people and may tell them about you. This is work-of-mouth reputation, and it is a valuable asset for you. Giving is both fulfillment and investment. It is a long-term investment, NOT a quick win. This means networking requires quite some patience and persistence before it pays off.

So far this is true for both in-person networking and virtual networking.

When doing virtual networking you can make presents by responding to people who contact you, by recommending people, by sharing your knowledge, experience and expertise in group discussions, and by connecting people. Your network can grow very quickly with people you have never met in person. Get them to know you better by staying an active member of the community, sharing and participating in groups, forums and discussions.

Of course virtual networking does not replace your personal contacts, which remain invaluable, but virtual contacts can complement them in a very fruitful way.