There is a recent post by Colin Alsheimer where he says that LinkedIn is dead.

Now I’m sure Colin may be misguided like most of the people I encounter who don’t “get” LinkedIn.

And that is OK.

I’m not going to get too heated on this debate, because I realize that everyone has different goals and objectives, and some sites may be better than others in helping you achieve your goals.

Still, I have yet to find someone who is unable to achieve their professional goals on LinkedIn.  And if you are not currently achieving something you want in business yet, please write it in the comments section below and I will do a brief personal video showing you how to achieve it on LinkedIn.

Of course, as with anything, you get out of it what you put into it, and Rome wasn’t built in a day so there may be some grunt work needed to achieve your goal.  But with the size of LinkedIn, and the power of its network, I’m more than convinced you can achieve any business goal you have if you approach it right.

Check out my video response above where I show how LinkedIn is alive, and I hope you check out some previous videos on this site where I go into more detail on LinkedIn’s greatness.

Oh, and Colin, I know you quoted Chris Brogan in your post also, but I just did a video response on how Chris should be using LinkedIn to grow his business.  I hope you get a chance to check it out here and let me know if you still think LinkedIn is dead, as I enjoy the friendly debate.

Have you ever had to sleep on a couch?

Not much fun is it?

Not even if you are on the most luxurious 20 cushion couch, it still doesn’t feel as good as the California King that makes you sleep like a baby.

Sometimes, however, we are forced to sleep on a couch on our own journey to success.  I can’t tell you how many couches I have slept on during my travels to attend conference and events.   It’s just something you will have to do if you can’t afford the expense of a hotel.

Have you ever had to sleep on a friends couch while traveling?  Did it make you want to work that much harder so you wouldn’t have to sleep on another couch again when you traveled?  I would love to hear some of your experiences.

It’s a fact that Gary Vaynerchuk is completely dominating almost everything he is involved with.  He is a NY Times Best Selling Author, runs a killer media agency with cool and collected brother A.J., has a unique wine show, and everything he is passionate about seems to crush the competition (except for his NY Jets, lol).

However, Gary made some comments a while back saying he was going to start taking LinkedIn to the next level this year, and in my opinion he hasn’t done it yet.

I know Gary is one of the busiest people on the planet right now so I understand this may not be a top priority.  I do believe Gary could really start taking all of his projects and businesses to the next level if he implements 13 of the things I noticed wrong with his LinkedIn profile.

This video was created (out of pure love) specifically to show Gary what he can do to improve his profile and start helping that playoff beard fulfill its real purpose, but I want the rest of you to pay close attention to some of the slight changes you could be making as well.   These changes I demonstrate may just give you that extra opportunity you need to take things to the next level this year.

I realized I left one BIG point out of this video, and that was using the events section on LinkedIn.  I know Gary has a number of book signings, speaking gigs, and wine events around the country and he has not used the events section to its fullest potential.

I recently helped promote an event he had during his book signing in St. Louis.  I sent out a few messages and was able to get over 400 people to RSVP on LinkedIn, and there was a great turnout during the event (see 413 RSVP numbers in image).

I don’t think he was able to get that many to ever RSVP for an event on Facebook, and we all know Twitter doesn’t have an option for events.  Using the events section on LinkedIn is the 13th point of this post.  Think LinkedIn isn’t worth paying attention to? Look at the numbers and think again.

Do you see anything else Gary should be changing or implementing on LinkedIn?  Better yet, were there things I mentioned that you should be doing to your LinkedIn profile that you didn’t think about before?  If so, please let me know what they are in the comments below and start crushing it on LinkedIn.

Chris Brogan recently said he was thinking about deleting his LinkedIn account.

I was shocked when I first read this, but I also understand that he must be getting overwhelmed by the amount of people reaching out and asking for favors.

Since Chris has given me amazing advice, and I consider him to be a mentor of mine,  I decided to create a video to show you (and Chris) why I think it would be a mistake if he deleted his LinkedIn account.

The message in this video is not only for Chris, but for everyone who isn’t using LinkedIn to its fullest potential yet.  I urge you to start using it more aggressively, as you will see what the benefits are in this video.

Staying On LinkedIn

Here are my 8 main reasons I feel Chris Brogan should stay on LinkedIn:

1.    Google Juice: LinkedIn is one of the top search results for Chris (and most of us)

2.    Recommendations: With 145+ recommendations you create more authority and social proof

3.    Build and Manage a Powerful Database: More powerful than with Facebook and Twitter

4.    Exporting Contacts: No other *top* social networking site does this

5.    Driving Traffic: Your status updates, links, and WP blog app drives organic traffic to your site

6.    More Followers: People will follow you on Twitter, join your newsletter, and subscribe to your blog

7.    Sells Books:  Need I say more?

8.    Decision Makers: Higher net worth of people are on LinkedIn over the other traditional business sites

Do you think Chris should delete his LinkedIn profile?  Are my points compelling enough to keep him (and YOU) on LinkedIn?  I hope Chris decides to give it another chance and think about it differently from here on out, and I hope the rest of you understand how powerful LinkedIn can be for your business.