As I have said before, the world wide web is a place of infinite marketing possibilities. Self promotion and business promotion are arts, and they have become as simple as paint-by-numbers for the layperson in recent years. There is a social networking site exclusively for professionals. The fact that it is a professional site is one of the more appealing attributes. The place I speak of is LinkedIn. The service is free, but it could prove to be an invaluable tool for your business. Once you create an account, the system will guide you through various aspects of your profile including your name, job title, work history, education, websites, blogs, summary of your information, your specialties, people who recommend you, and your connections (people you know).

The system will always let you know how close your profile is to complete. In order to earn a 100% complete, you must have 3 recommendations. If you don’t, it’s not a big deal, you will just see an “85% Complete” graphic when you sign in. Then, once you’re all the way set up, start looking for people you know. You can search by email address, or name, and you can narrow your search by geographical location. Then, you can look through the connections of the folks you’re already connected to, and see if there is someone you have heard of, or who may benefit from your services. You can contact them directly to become connected or you can request that someone you know “introduce” you.

photo credit: PROhumana