Of all the online networking sites (and there are hundreds targeting niche markets) available to you, I recommend that small business owners register with and get involved on LinkedIn. While Facebook  and MySpace are more for social networking, LinkedIn was developed and is totally used for business people. The site is user-friendly and offers opportunities to really connect with other business people.

Make sure that your profile is 100% complete including a professional looking photo. Add your work or business background, your education, your various websites, and your career summary. LinkedIn now allows you to add your Twitter id so people can easily follow you. Another feature is recommendations. The fastest way to get recommendations is to give them, BUT I caution you to only recommend people that you truly believe in. Don’t just give in order to get. You can recommend colleagues as well as subordinates.

There are a large variety of groups on LinkedIn to interact in. I belong to Finance and Accounting Professionals, the International Business Valuation Association and many more. This gives you the opportunity to connect with people in your industry and to build a referral network. I search for appropriate group members to add to my personal network. Each group has a discussion area where you can ask or answer specific questions.

Don’t confuse this with the Question and Answer area which is available to the entire LinkedIn community. It is broken down into general categories like Human Resources, Education and Marketing. You can either post a question or answer a question. Answering questions builds your reputation as an expert and is a great way to promote your personal or business brand.

There are a lot of small tools that LinkedIn offers. If you use WordPress as your blogging platform, you can have it show up on your profile page. You can list your favorite books from Amazon (and follow other people’s lists for inspiration) or add slide presentations via Google Presentations or SlideShare. Finally, you can list your own events or search those posted by other people to allow you to find out about conferences and meetings in your area.

Don’t lose out on the opportunities for small business networking that LinkedIn offers. If you want to connect with me, you can find me here.

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