LinkedIn is a social networking website for people in professional occupations. You create your profile with your personal information, your education, your experience etc. On LinkedIn you can join groups, follow companies and look for job opportunities. Here are some tips to make the best out of it.

Make sure your profile appears in search results by searching on keywords, looking at the top results and noting the location and frequency of keywords.

Your profile picture

Use a professional looking photo, not a holiday picture in your swimsuit. Adding a profile picture makes your profile 7x more likely to be viewed by others.

Optimize your location

People search for professionals in specific locations. Be found and help LinkedIn find contacts close to you.

Brand your professional headline

Include information designed to encourage your potential visitor to find out more about you. You've got 110 characters. Make them count.

Align your industry

Be found by the right people by being specific about your industry(s).

Embrace the visual

Show examples of your work like presentations from Slideshare, documents and videos.

Fully connect with your past

Connect the dots with your past as much as possible to allow as many people from your past to find you.

Get connected

If you don't have enough LinkedIn connections, you simply might not show up on as many LinkedIn searches as a 2nd degree connection as you should.