LinkedIn presents a wealth of untapped potential for non-profits. It’s the most respected professional social networking site with over 55 millions professionals from 200 different countries. Their tagline says it all: <em>”<a href=”http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=company_info&trk=hb_ft_abtli” target=”_blank”>Relationships Matter</a>”.</em>
Here are a few more tips on <a href=” http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhaydon” target=”_blank”>using LinkedIn</a> to promote your blog.<h3 style=”text-align: left;”>Title Are Everything</h3><p style=”text-align: left;”>The short <a href=” http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhaydon” target=”_blank”>title of your LinkedIn profile</a> is the first thing that gets seen in searches. Make it interesting.</p><p style=”text-align: left;”><img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2719/4312996494_5f251ccdf3.jpg” alt=”titles are everything” /></p>
<h3 style=”text-align: left;”>List Prior Lives</h3>If your profile only lists your current position, you’re limiting the power of LinkedIn.
When you include past employers in your profile, LinkedIn automatically alerts you of past colleagues. Including your complete professional history will help you build a network of those prior connections.<h3 style=”text-align: left;”>LinkedIn Email Signature</h3>An embedded email signature is an easy way to promote your skills and experience (and your blog) in the course of doing business.<h3 style=”text-align: left;”>Improve Your Google Rankings</h3>Because LinkedIn profiles <a href=”http://www.johnhaydon.com/?p=185″>rank very high on Google</a>, exposure for your blog goes along for the ride. However, to maximize this potential, select “<a href=”http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhaydon”>Full View</a>” in your profile settings. Also, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name – then put this link on your website and use this link when you comment on blogs.
<img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/4312974616_2db0d94261.jpg” alt=”LinkedIn URL” /><h3 style=”text-align: left;”>Edit “My Website”</h3>LinkedIn profiles allow you to list blogs or websites. Edit the <em>“My Website”</em> section and include your non-profit (select “Other” from the main menu). In addition to your url, edit the text to include keywords for your organization. Again, this will help SEO.
<img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2768/4312974584_3499709830.jpg” alt=”LinkedIn Anchor Text” /><h3>Import Your Blog</h3>LinkedIn has several applications, including a WordPress blog import. This allows you to feature your most recent blog posts on your LinkedIn profile.
<img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4312996360_eecde1e353.jpg” alt=”wordpress blog” /><h3>Tweet Your Status</h3>You can also post your tweets to your LinkedIn status. But be careful with this one – especially if you’re on Twitter a lot. Select the option that allows you to pick which tweets you wanted copied over to LinkedIn.<img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2736/4312260963_58b24a1c06.jpg” alt=”selective tweets” /><h3>What cool thing have you done with LinkedIn?</h3>
