I’m a big fan of LinkedIn (if you didn’t already know) and I get asked a ton of LinkedIn questions.  I also receive a number personal emails from professionals who see a tremendous amount of success while on the worlds largest professional networking website.

However, most of these success stories come through email and I’d like these stories to be shared with the world.

This is your opportunity to showcase how successful you have been on LinkedIn, or share one instance where LinkedIn has helped your career or business.

Please take a moment to write in the comments below what your biggest success story is on LinkedIn.

If you got a job, generated more leads, made a huge sale, got a referral, sold tickets to an event, drove traffic to your site, built a big LinkedIn group, or did anything else on LinkedIn to help you in your business or career then please share.

I look forward to hearing about your success stories so please take a moment to share them below so others may see how great of a site LinkedIn really is.

What is Your Biggest LinkedIn Success? is a post from: Lewis Howes

It would be amazing, and that’s why brands spend a lot of money every month to SEO agencies in hopes of making the front page of Google for a certain keyword.

I knew this concept was powerful as well, but realized the more I taught others this concept of ranking high on LinkedIn, they got excited about it!

Ranking High on LinkedIn

When you look at the image below, you will see that I rank first when you type in the keyword “sports” on LinkedIn.  For me this is very important as I want to dominate the online space with my site SportsNetworker, and the Sports Executives Association.  I want to be known as a credible resource in the sports industry, and by ranking first out of over 600,000 results for the word “sports” on LinkedIn this allows me to stay at the head of the pack in the sports business world.

5 Keys To Rank #1 On LinkedIn

This is a simple process to rank on the first page of search results in the “people search” section on LinkedIn.  Although this doesn’t work every time, it works most of the time and I’ve seen it well over 100 times happen for people in real time.  There are five places you need to put your keywords when you use this strategy:

1.  Headline

Your headline is the first thing people see when they go to your LinkedIn profile, therefore (in my mind) it’s the most important or most relevant part.  If your headline doesn’t have your keywords in it, then you are missing the biggest section of the equation.

2.  Current Work Experience

Your current work experience is the next most relevant thing because it is what you are currently doing in business.

3.  Past Work Experience

You start to notice that this works in the top to bottom approach within your profile.  Start from the top, and working your way through your profile to the bottom.

4.  Summary

Your summary is the meat of your profile, or the body of your speech.  Make sure it looks clean and you don’t just add a line of key words next to each other or it won’t represent your personal brand well.

5.  Specialties

This is the section you want to add a number of different keywords to showcase your talents in short phrases.

I go into more detail about each section during my video interview with the sassy Amanda Coolong and good friend Efren Toscano on the TechZulu show below.

There are a number of other reasons LinkedIn can help you improve your reach within your industry or niche, simply starting a LinkedIn group will help your build a loyal fan base of potential customers in no time.  Take advantage of this powerful site by optimizing your profile full of key words, then start using the other amazing features it has to take your brand or company to the next level.

How to Rank Higher On LinkedIn is a post from: Lewis Howes

There are a number of questions people have about using LinkedIn.

What are yours?

LinkedIn is a valuable resource for most people, but many still consider it the “ugly stepchild” compared to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social networking sites.

Why? Because they don’t understand how to best use it to achieve their business goals.

Lets make this post a place to ask your questions and get them answered.  Post your biggest questions on how to use LinkedIn below, and I’ll respond there or create a detailed video response for those that need more explanation.

And please chime in and give your own answer to questions becasue I would love to hear your point of view.

What is Your Biggest LinkedIn Question? is a post from: Lewis Howes

For a few years now I have been preaching about LinkedIn, and it’s metaphorical holiness.

Yes, LinkedIn has a number of bugs and issues that many users dislike.  They are also constantly changing and updating their platform which upsets even more professionals trying to figure out the site.  Sometimes you think you know how to use something within the system, and the next day you can’t do the same thing.  Sound familiar?  (Those who own or manage groups know exactly what I am talking about)

Over the next few months I will be writing more about LinkedIn, and why in my mind it is the best social networking site on the planet, and how it is better than the holy Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube knights.

It is true, there can only be one King, and that King (at least in the social networking world) is LinkedIn…. for now.

I will break down LinkedIn in many ways, the good and bad, and share with you some things you probably weren’t aware of with LinkedIn, or how you can use it to build your business and achieve your professional goals.  My ultimate goal is to make you believe that LinkedIn is the sexiest social networking site, even though you may think it is just a glorified resume.

I hope LinkedIn learns to be more “kingly” as Chris Brogan puts it best, and takes the criticism from some of it’s users over 2010.  I sense LinkedIn making a number of changes to improve and update it’s platform to keep up with some of the other social media knights.  Bear in mind, that with change always comes criticism.  As long as LinkedIn continues to keep the users best interest in mind, and not their own, the site will ultimately rise to the top, and even Facebook and Twitter advocates will start to see why the number one business social networking site will be your most useful online tool in the coming years.

More points to come soon, until then, all hail to LinkedIn, the social media King!

LinkedIn IS King! is a post from: Lewis Howes

The Cleveland LinkedIn networking event last week was a huge success.  Over 400 people attended throughout the night and we added our first ever speed networking portion to spice up things during the night.

Many of you said the speed networking part was extremely fun because you were able to meet so many people in such a quick amount of time.  Some of you said that it was good because you could figure out who you wanted to connect with right after the event.

Check out the slide show below to see what was going on during the upstairs portion of the event (sorry I didn’t take many pictures of the action downstairs this time) and also watch the quick video to see what speed networking is all about.

Want to learn about how to get the most out of LinkedIn to find a job, generate new business, make more money, find an investor, or build your credibility?  If so, make sure to watch this video where I give away my top LinkedIn tips.

Cleveland LinkedIn Event Recap is a post from: Lewis Howes