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October 13th, 2011Sociopath Test | Sociopath Definition
October 10th, 2011
Many people have come up with a great business idea only to realize that they don’t have all of the skills or experience necessary to turn their idea into a thriving company. Having the right partners is essential to getting many companies off the ground, but finding the right people has always been a huge challenge for most entrepreneurs.
Doing business with a sociopath for example can cost you dearly and is a key consideration that you need to make when choosing your business partners.
Are you or someone you know a Sociopath? Take our sociopath test and find out the sociopath definition and sociopath traits.
Are You Doing Business With a Sociopath?
Sociopathy is a complex personality disorder. Sociopaths exhibit a wide variety of maladaptive behavior which makes the condition difficult to diagnose. Sociopathy is not one trait; it is a syndrome—a cluster of related symptoms.
Sociopath Test
The following questionnaire is based on research and experiences of socialised sociopaths. For each trait, decide if it applies to the person you suspect may be a socialised sociopath, fully (2 points), partially (1 point) or not at all (0 points).
1) Do they have problems sustaining stable relationships, personally and in business?
2) Do they frequently manipulate others to achieve selfish goals, with no consideration of the effects on those manipulated?
3) Are they cavalier about the truth, and capable of telling lies to your face?
4) Do they have an air of self-importance, regardless of their true standing in society?
5) Have they no apparent sense of remorse, shame or guilt?
6) Is their charm superficial, and capable of being switched on to suit immediate ends?
7) Are they easily bored and demand constant stimulation?
8) Are their displays of human emotion unconvincing?
9) Do they enjoy taking risks, and acting on reckless impulse?
10) Are they quick to blame others for their mistakes?
11) As teenagers, did they resent authority, play truant and/or steal?
12) Do they have no qualms about sponging off others?
13) Are they quick to lose their temper?
14) Are they sexually promiscuous?
15) Do they have a belligerent, bullying manner?
16) Are they unrealistic about their long-term aims?
17) Do they lack any ability to empathise with others?
18) Would you regard them as essentially irresponsible?
A score of 25 or above suggests strong psychopathic tendencies. This does not mean the person is a potential mass-murderer: socialised psychopaths are not mad, nor do they have to resort to violence. Even so, a close professional or emotional relationship with a socialised psychopath is likely to prove a damaging experience.
Sociopath Definition
Glib and superficial
Sociopaths are often witty and articulate. They can be amusing and entertaining conversationalists, ready with a quick and clever comeback, and can tell unlikely but convincing stories that cast themselves in a good light. They can be very effective in presenting themselves well and are often very likable and charming.
Typically, Sociopaths attempt to appear experts in sociology, psychiatry, medicine, psychology, philosophy, poetry, literature, art or law. A signpost to this trait is often a smooth lack of concern at being found out that they are not.
Egocentric and grandiose
Sociopaths have a narcissistic and grossly inflated view of their self-worth and importance, a truly astounding egocentricity and sense of entitlement. They see themselves as the center of the universe, as superior beings who are justified in living according to their own rules.
Sociopaths are seldom embarrassed about their legal, financial or personal problems. Rather, they see them as temporary setbacks, the results of bad luck, unfaithful friends or an unfair and incompetent system.
Sociopaths feel that their abilities will enable them to become anything they want to be. Given the right circumstances—opportunity, luck, willing victims—their grandiosity can pay off spectacularly. For example, the psychopathic entrepreneur “thinks big,” but it’s usually with someone else’s money.
Lack of remorse or guilt
Sociopaths show a stunning lack of concern for the devastating effects their actions have on others. Often they are completely forthright about the matter, calmly stating that they have no sense of guilt, are not sorry for the pain and destruction they have caused, and that there is no reason for them to be concerned.
Sociopaths’ lack of remorse or guilt is associated with a remarkable ability to rationalize their behavior and to shrug off personal responsibility for actions that cause shock and disappointment to family, friends, associates and others who have played by the rules. Usually they have handy excuses for their behavior, and in some cases they deny that it happened at all.
Lack of empathy
The feelings of other people are of no concern to Sociopaths. Sociopaths view people as little more than objects to be used for their own gratification. The weak and the vulnerable—whom they mock, rather than pity—are favorite targets.
Sociopaths display a general lack of empathy. They are indifferent to the rights and suffering of family members and strangers alike. If they do maintain ties with their spouses or children it is only because they see their family members as possessions, much like their stereos or automobiles.
Because of their inability to appreciate the feelings of others, some Sociopaths are capable of behavior that normal people find not only horrific but baffling. For example, they can torture and mutilate their victims with about the same sense of concern that we feel when we carve a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.
However, except in movies and books, very few Sociopaths commit crimes of this sort. Their callousness typically emerges in less dramatic, though still devastating, ways: parasitically bleeding other people of their possessions, savings and dignity; aggressively doing and taking what they want; shamefully neglecting the physical and emotional welfare of their families; engaging in an unending series of casual, impersonal and trivial sexual relationships; and so forth.
Deceitful and manipulative
Lying, deceiving and manipulation are natural talents for Sociopaths. Given their glibness and the facility with which they lie, it is not surprising that Sociopaths successfully cheat, bilk, defraud, con and manipulate people and have not the slightest compunction about doing so. They are often forthright in describing themselves as con men, hustlers or fraud artists. Their statements often reveal their belief that the world is made up of “givers and takers,” predators and prey, and that it would be very foolish not to exploit the weaknesses of others.
Some of their operations are elaborate and well thought out, whereas others are quite simple: stringing along several women at the same time, or convincing family members and friends that money is needed “to bail me out of a jam.” Whatever the scheme, it is carried off in a cool, self-assured, brazen manner.
Shallow emotions
Sociopaths seem to suffer a kind of emotional poverty that limits the range and depth of their feelings. While at times they appear cold and unemotional, they are prone to dramatic, shallow and short-lived displays of feeling. Careful observers are left with the impression that they are play-acting and that little is going on below the surface.
Laboratory experiments using biomedical recorders have shown that Sociopaths lack the physiological responses normally associated with fear. The significance of this finding is that, for most people, the fear produced by threats of pain or punishment is an unpleasant emotion and a powerful motivator of behavior. Not so with Sociopaths; they merrily plunge on, perhaps knowing what might happen but not really caring.
Impulsive
Sociopaths are unlikely to spend much time weighing the pros and cons of a course of action or considering the possible consequences. “I did it because I felt like it,” is a common response.
More than displays of temper, impulsive acts often result from an aim that plays a central role in most of the psychopath’s behavior: to achieve immediate satisfaction, pleasure or relief. So, family members, employers and co-workers typically find themselves standing around asking themselves what happened—jobs are quit, relationships broken off, plans changed, houses ransacked, people hurt, often for what appears to be little more than a whim.
Sociopaths tend to live day-to-day and to change their plans frequently. They give little serious thought to the future and worry about it even less.
Poor behavior controls
In Sociopaths, inhibitory controls are weak, and the slightest provocation is sufficient to overcome them. As a result, Sociopaths are short-tempered or hot-headed and tend to respond to frustration, failure, discipline and criticism with sudden violence, threats and verbal abuse. They take offense easily and become angry and aggressive over trivialities, and often in a context that appears inappropriate to others. But their outbursts, extreme as they may be, are generally short-lived, and they quickly resume acting as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened.
Although Sociopaths have a “hair trigger” and readily initiate aggressive displays, their ensuing behavior is not out of control. On the contrary, when Sociopaths “blow their stack” it is as if they are having a temper tantrum; they know exactly what they are doing. Their aggressive displays are “cold;” they lack the intense emotional arousal experienced by others when they lose their temper.
It’s not unusual for Sociopaths to inflict serious physical or emotional damage on others, sometimes routinely, and yet refuse to acknowledge that they have a problem controlling their tempers. In most cases, they see their aggressive displays as natural responses to provocation.
Need for excitement
Sociopaths have an ongoing and excessive need for excitement—they long to live in the fast lane or “on the edge,” where the action is. In many cases the action involves breaking the rules.
Some Sociopaths use a wide variety of drugs as part of their general search for something new and exciting, and they often move from place to place and job to job searching for a fresh buzz. Many Sociopaths describe “doing crime” for excitement or thrills.
The flip side of this yearning for excitement is an inability to tolerate routine or monotony. Sociopaths are easily bored. You are not likely to find them engaged in occupations or activities that are dull, repetitive or that require intense concentration over long periods.
Lack of responsibility
Obligations and commitments mean nothing to Sociopaths. Their good intentions—”I’ll never cheat on you again“—are promises written on the wind.
Truly horrendous credit histories, for example, reveal the lightly taken debt, the shrugged-off loan, the empty pledge to contribute to a child’s support. The irresponsibility and unreliability of Sociopaths extend to every part of their lives. Their performance on the job is erratic, with frequent absences, misuse of company resources, violations of company policy, and general untrustworthiness. They do not honor formal or implied commitments to people, organizations or principles.
Indifference to the welfare of children—their own as well as those of a man or woman they happen to be living with at the time—is a common theme among Sociopaths. Sociopaths see children as an inconvenience. Typically, they leave children on their own for extended periods or in the care of unreliable sitters.
Sociopaths are frequently successful in talking their way out of trouble—”I’ve learned my lesson;” “You have my word that it won’t happen again;” “It was simply a big misunderstanding;” “Trust me.” They are almost as successful in convincing the criminal justice system of their good intentions and their trustworthiness. Although they frequently manage to obtain probation, a suspended sentence or early release from prison, they simply ignore the conditions imposed by the courts.
Early behavior problems
Most Sociopaths begin to exhibit serious behavioral problems at an early age. These might include persistent lying, cheating, theft, fire setting, truancy, class disruption, substance abuse, vandalism, violence, bullying, running away and precocious sexuality. Because many children exhibit some of these behaviors at one time or another, especially children raised in violent neighborhoods or in disrupted or abusive families, it is important to emphasize that the Sociopaths’s history of such behaviors is more extensive and serious than that of most others, even when compared with those of siblings and friends raised in similar settings.
Early cruelty to animals is usually a sign of serious emotional or behavioral problems. Cruelty to other children—including siblings—is often part of the young Sociopaths’s inability to experience the sort of empathy that checks normal people’s impulses to inflict pain, even when enraged.
Adult antisocial behavior
Sociopaths consider the rules and expectations of society inconvenient and unreasonable, impediments to their inclinations and wishes. They make their own rules, both as children and as adults.
Many of the antisocial acts of Sociopaths lead to criminal convictions. Even within prison populations Sociopaths stand out, largely because their antisocial and illegal activities are more varied and frequent than are those of other criminals.
Not all Sociopaths end up in jail. Many of the things they do escape detection or prosecution, or are on the “shady side of the law.” For them, antisocial behavior may consist of phony stock promotions, questionable business and professional practices, spouse or child abuse, and so forth. Many others do things that, although not illegal, are unethical, immoral or harmful to others: philandering, cheating on a spouse, financial or emotional neglect of family members, irresponsible use of company resources or funds, to name but a few. The problem with behaviors of this sort is that they are difficult to document and evaluate without the active cooperation of family, friends, acquaintances and business associates.
The complete picture
Sociopaths are not the only ones who lead socially deviant lifestyles. For example, many criminals have some of the characteristics described above, but because they are capable of feeling guilt, remorse, empathy and strong emotions, they are not considered Sociopaths. A diagnosis of psychopathy is made only when there is solid evidence that the individual matches the complete profile—that is, has most of the above symptoms.
Suggested reading: “The Secrets to Promoting Your Website Online” by VodaHost web hosting
12 Things Your Website Needs in 2012
October 4th, 2011Get Up-to-Date! – 12 for 2012!
Here we are in the latter half of 2011 and there are an incredible amount of Websites on the Internet; each one unique in its design and functionality, its content, markup, features and in loads of other ways too. However, even though each website is completely different, there are certain needs that must be fulfilled pretty consistently, right across the Internet and regardless of the website. This article aims to examine 12 common elements that your website MUST have just right, to compete. They are in no particular order of importance (because they are ALL important!).
1) A Great Navigation Menu
A website is any domain on the Internet that consists of more than one page and since you want people to be able to find the other pages easily, your website must be easily to navigate! This may seem pretty obvious, but even so we encounter many sites with some pretty mysterious navigation or, on a deeper level, are inaccessible because they need JavaScript or images so that they work. Your website MUST make an easy to use and completely accessible navigation menu available. There are other concerns that you should address as you work towards building a proper navigation menu, as well, such as…
- Its link styling – the :hover, :focus, and :active elements.
- The logical and meaningful use of lists to properly organize your links into a great and wholly understandable menu.
- You should even go so far as marking the current page so that the visitor knows where they are NOW.
You must get your visitors navigating around your website smoothly making sure they are always aware of where they came from, where they are now and where they are going to navigate away to, based on your menu-structure.
2) A Simple, Meaningful and Well-Formed Title
By “meaningful title” I am specifically referring to the title element of your website (that is the words that are contained within the <title></title>); it is this that’s shown in the title bar of your browser. Ideally the content title should come before the site (this helps search users find stuff like your main content heading, instead of seeing your site name over and over again) and, if at all possible, each page should have its very own title. An example of an effective title is shown below:
<title>12 Things Your Website Needs in 2011 | VodaHost web hosting</title>
The Title element should also always contain one of your keywords as a great deal of SEO comes from the title element of your website. Your title must always be relevant to the content that follows it and should always be simple and descriptive, so that the Googlebot and the other Search Engine spiders can pick up on the meaning of the content that follows and better place it in their results.
Note: You can use a “hyphen” ( - ) to separate the parts of the title but the “vertical bar” (or “pipe” ( | ) used on this site is our favorite way of doing things.
3) A Method of Contact
Offering a means of contact is ALWAYS necessary. It gives all your website visitors a feeling of legitimacy and security; it’s a really great thing to do as a service to your visitors (if they want to contact you they should be able to).
Offering a phone number and address is good, if possible and a contact form is a nice option instead of a mailto: email link that not all your visitors will be able to use anyway (because they may not have set-up a mail client like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird).
Unfortunately you should use a secure form since some visitors, robots or people are just up to no good. It has been argued that client-side spam filtering negates the need to protect your email address on the Web, but your address can still be harvested and put into use. There is no winning this war — not as long as common account names like info@yourdomain.com, contact@yourdomain.com, and admin@yourdomain.com can be put to use as soon as you register a domain name — but it doesn’t mean we should make it easy.
4) A Sitemap for your Visitors
Please Note: In this section I am referring to a HTML sitemap for human visitors NOT an XML sitemap for the Search Engines.
You must have a sitemap, even though not all of your website visitors will be well-served by a site map; Say, for example that you have a basic, five page site with a clear, consistent and readily available navigation menu. You could probably do without a site map (surely it can’t be too hard to find all those five pages). How many sites stop growing at five pages, though? Experience over time has taught me that domains tend to grow as new needs inspire new pages or applications.
You should start your site map as soon as it starts to grow, or consider adding it to your site from the beginning. At first you can link to it from the footer and then later move the link to a more obvious location as the site grows, since more visitors will find it useful. On small you might incorporate the site map into a “site help” or “site info” page, killing off numerous birds with a one stone — accessibility and copyright statements, privacy policy, etc.
If you aren’t yet convinced, also know that many users will seek a site map first since it gives them a snap-shot of the domain’s offerings, so to speak.
A site map can be as simple as a Web page with an unordered list (<ul></ul>) and maintaining it can be quite simple: add a new list item when a new page is added. It’s as simple as that. The hardest part is actually remembering to update it and updating it properly. That’s where the beauty of dynamic sitemaps really shows itself. Applications such as WordPress give users the opportunity to create everything from simple to complex sitemaps with not much more than a few clicks of your mouse. “Plugins” are also available further simplifying the process for novice users and if you want to step it up a notch, you can also offer an XML sitemap but know that a HTML site map is what I am referring to. People should come first, not robots and spiders!
5) Boost your Search Engine Rankings
Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is extremely important to your websites exposure on the internet. SEO is the “tweaking” of your websites content so that your website appears as far up the search results page as possible when a search engine user enters a specific search phrase into Google Search. So, if you have a website about software flight simulators (just for example), you would want the searching population to type the words “flight simulator” into Google and for your website to appear right at the top of the list of websites Google returns!
This can take a huge amount of work. You must get as many one-way links to your site from quality and reputable websites as possible and make sure your website’s content reflects the topic that you want it to be found for… This is done by “Keywords“, which the search engine spiders use to get clues as to what your website is about.
Keywords should always be used in your websites but while you may think you are doing the right thing by adding more keywords to your content, unfortunately this can make your website’s content read badly. You MUST never sacrifice your website’s content to reach a certain mathematical keyword density.
A full overview of optimal SEO practices are impossible here (waaay too much information) but it is a combination of your websites content and your website’s relationship (through links) with other reputable websites on the internet. Please see the eBook at the bottom of this page for tons of SEO information!
VodaHost’s VodaHits service provides a flexible and full solution to the effective SEOing of your website to bring in far more visitors to your website. Visit http://www.vodahits.com/ to experience the Search Engine Boost your website can get from taking up just a few services.
6) Use of Google Analytics
Your website must be connected with Google Analytics – you can get some great information from it to help you improve your website especially with regards your traffic and how effective the marketing you’re doing is. Google Analytics helps you buy the right keywords, target your best markets and engage and convert way more customers. Google Analytics offers website tracking statistics very similar to the statistics that you receive from within your web hosting account (how may unique visitors viewed each page, etc…) Best of all, because it’s a free service, there is absolutely no reason that you should not take it up right now.
Just visit: http://www.google.com/analytics/
The most common use is probably checking on how much traffic a website receives, along with the source of the traffic and which keyword someone has typed, if they have arrived via a search engine.
However Google Analytics can provide so much more relevant and useful information, for example, ‘Bounce Rate‘ can be a very important piece of data, this means the percentage of single page visits where the visitor left your site from the landing page without continuing to view any other pages of the site. So you might have lots of traffic, but if your bounce rate is high then this would suggest the page is not relevant to visitors and your site is probably not working for you. Conversely, this may be the very page your specific campaign is targeting. In this case the ‘bounce rate’ should not be discouraging.
You can also view the average time people are spending on your website, again if this figure is low and you are not receiving enquiries, just like ‘bounce rate’ this might suggest that your site is not perceived as being relevant by your website visitors. It could also be an indication that navigation to other relevant pages, for instance a ‘contact us’ feature, is not clear.
Top Exit pages can be another great piece of information, if visitors are browsing various pages of your site, but you are losing them without receiving enquiries then you may need to review your top exit pages and try tweaking/improving these.
Google Analytics is an amazing and under utilized tool with features that could completely fill a user-manual.
7) Small Webpages that load quickly!
I started using the Internet with dial-up and it was a completely miserable experience. Back when it seemed that every site I visited required some sort of plugin or add-on to make it work and frankly, the slow-moving Internet was a pain. This has changed on some levels. The need for plugins or add-ons is greatly reduced what with operating systems pre-loaded with all the necessary support; the kicker is that some people still have dial-up. For the last six years we’ve used broadband and it’s a dream; we’re spoiled and it’s easy to forget the less fortunate and load pages with heavy graphics. It’s easy to forget how doing this will make for a less-than-happy experience to traditional dial-up and distant DSL users. You have to keep the weight down!
I’m not saying the Web isn’t a place for heavyweights, it is, but with due consideration. If you want to offer heavyweight graphics and whatnot, let visitors navigate to them, instead of offering them on the initial page load. And warn users if something big is coming up. It’s only fair to allow those who want to opt out the opportunity to do so.
I suggest aiming for an upper limit of 100kb per page of combined background and embedded images (this is testable). You can buy a lot for a 100kb. To get the most bang for the buck, reduce the overall number of images, optimize them exporting only flattened, compressed files, and please pre-size embedded images for their location (being sure to add the height and width attributes to the image element). I’ve seen thumbnail-sizes that were really 900kb monsters with styles off! That’s just wrong!!!
8) A Helpful Error Page
If you’ve ever been lost, it’s always nice to see some helpful soul willing to give directions (assuming you are willing to admit you’re lost – I am never lost, for example). On the Web you can be that helpful soul. Not only, as mentioned in the last installment, can you offer a site map to proactively guide your visitors, you can offer a friendly, styled “404” error page (or pages if you want to cover more errors). Your error page should offer at the very minimum offer a link home, a navigation menu, and at least a link to the site map. If you want to be a really helpful soul, though, try combing most if not all your nav tools and putting them on one page. Make a perfect 404 page offering a site map on the page (easy with dynamic site maps), search, even contact info, and more.
This is not hard to do. Ask your Web host for starters. Specifically ask them about custom error pages since you’ll want to provide something useful and most default server error pages, even styled ones, aren’t really very helpful at all.
9) Really Good and Consistent Headings
I have written here of the importance of using the right mark-up for the purpose at hand. I mentioned headings but didn’t go into detail. That’s because headings are so important that they deserve a heading of their own. The use of headings is logical, and styling them is wide open, just use your imagination.
What good are they? They offer section demarcation, semantics and ordering, beauty in the right hands, a search indexing benefit, greater accessibility, and even a navigation source for some users of assistive technologies like screen readers. What more incentive could you possibly need to act on this recommendation?
10) A Great Domain Name
Never ever hurry to register a domain name and always take the time to choose it wisely because a great domain name is an extremely valuable asset to your business. Always take the time to consider the many and varied options available to you. Ideally, your domain name should be:
- short
- memorable
- easy to spell & type
- descriptive of your website
Choose a common domain name extension such as .COM, .NET or .ORG. I’d also strongly recommended that you perform a little keyword research prior to registering a domain name as a keyword-rich domain name can help you rank better musch better in the Search Engines. For example if you want your site to rank well in the Search Engines for “kite boarding”, you should try to get a domain name that contains the words “kite” and “boarding”. Once you have a few ideas in mind, go to a domain name registrar and perform a few searches. Once you found one you like and which fits all the requrements above, register it!
11) Social Media Marketing
A golden rule of S.E.O. states that: The more quality links coming into your website from outside, the better. Marketing your site through the social media and bookmarking websites can be a very powerful and really subtle method for optimizing Search Engine results as a vast amount of links to your site can be created by your social media users. The best part about Social Media is that you do not have to create any links yourself at all. It’s pure S.E.O. on autopilot. For example, when you socially bookmark a blog or web-page, an incoming link is created from the Social Bookmarking site to the website with the blog/page that has just been bookmarked. The more people that socially bookmark the blog / page and the more incoming links that are created, push the bookmarked website further and further up the page ranking of the Search Engines.
Create new social bookmarks to social or public bookmarking sites and they will generate a great deal of new traffic to your website as well as Search Engine exposure. Eventually, as time goes on and your visitors are finding new interesting information they will decrease in efficiency, making it necessary for you to find new means of driving increased traffic. You should always make it possible to socially bookmark new content on your website in order to keep the new traffic moving at a steady pace. You should be constantly marketing, updating and making your website better and then getting your users to socially bookmark the content. If it becomes boring and cluttered with old information, you can be sure that the website of someone who is always making improvements and modifications will slip past you towards the #1 spot.
12) Your robots.txt File
I feel that it is very helpful and important to have a robots.txt file for your website. The robot.txt file provides instructions to honest indexing robots and spiders (like the GoogleBot), telling them to stay out of certain directories you don’t really want them in anyway… There’s no reason to have your bandwidth wasted needlessly.
Some people, I’ve heard, want to disable right-click on their sites thinking that they may somehow actually succeed in stopping people from copying their images (really can’t be done, sorry…), yet for some reason they don’t have a robots.txt file to exclude their images directory. Doing this would be far more worthwhile. It’s very easy to make one, there are even tools you can use to help you get the job done.
Am I Done? – Is There More?
The short answer is, yes, of course. ALWAYS! Though looking into all the 12 suggestions above and making the appropriate changes to your website or blog, you will have done very well! You’ll find that with a little diligence you’ll be offering a quality site that is a cut above many sites of the Web. And the benefits, you may find, will actually be noticeable, and perhaps even tangible. Happy website building!
Suggested reading: “The Secrets to Promoting Your Website Online” by VodaHost web hosting
How to use LinkedIn
September 21st, 2011
Get Linked In!
More and more people are using social networks to promote their online businesses every single day, to build relationships, meet new contacts and to market themselves and their enterprises. If you’re a beginner, getting started and diving into the virtual meet-and-greet in an arena the size of the Internet can be a daunting thing to do; many ask the question “Where do I begin?!?” For first-time users of social networking, a fantastic answer is LinkedIn.
What Is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social network developed specifically for business and the network separates your professional life from your private life. Joining a network like LinkedIn is simple (that is, it is easy signing-up with LinkedIn), but turning it into a powerful networking tool takes a little bit of extra effort and nous. This article will show how to set up your LinkedIn profile, build a network and put it all to work (saving you a little social-networking stress).
Let’s Get Started! The first thing to do is to register for a free account on LinkedIn:
- Visit LinkedIn.com and click “Join Now”
- Register both your personal and business email addresses (you might consider creating a separate email account that you can use for social networking.)
- Create yourself a public profile and choose “Full View” so you can be sure everyone out there can find you
- MAKE SURE to create yourself a custom URL for search engines (e.g., linkedin.com/vodahost)
Do your best to fill out your profile as completely as possible; according to LinkedIn, users with complete profiles are nearly 40 times more likely to find opportunities through the site. As you work, LinkedIn has a neat tool that informs you how complete your profile is and gives suggestions on what else you can do.
Make sure you always make it clear what you’ve done in your career —and what you want and intend to do in the future!
LinkedIn Profile Tips
- Use the profile to brand yourself and keep that branding constant through your LinkedIn profile.
- Add ALL of your employers, education, memberships, and interests -not just your current ones! This will make it easier to connect with former colleagues, classmates, coworkers.
- Make sure your profile sounds human and interesting (you may get discovered!).
- Use colorful and exciting adjectives, an active voice, and a variety of verbs.
- Use smart keywords which are relevant to your experience and your skills.
- Always write in the first person.
- Make sure that you link to your blog, personal, company or organization site so that your contacts can further research your business and to get a few backlinks for the SEO of your web property
Defining Yourself on LinkedIn
When you have finished filling out your LinkedIn profile, you will find that directly underneath your name is a short descriptive headline. The words here determine how people find and actually define you.
For example, if you are seeking to connect mainly with others in your field and industry then a simple, explanatory headline like “Senior Project Manager at Airbus” is best. If you are looking to branch out into other areas, you might pick something like: “Leader of High-Performing Aeronautical Engineering Projects”. This is a great headline that you might use to let others know of the value you would bring to an organization.
Regardless of how you phrase your headline, make sure to use keywords that will help make sure that the right people find you.
Checklist Controlling Your Professional Brand on LinkedIn
Your LinkedIn profile can be found through millions of searches engines as well as on LinkedIn. You’re in control over what others see on your profile, so you must use your profile to display your skills and talents so the right opportunities and people find you.
Make Sure You Include:
- A solid headline with keywords relevant to your industry
- A picture
- How you prefer to be contacted
- What you want to be contacted about. At the bottom of your profile, you can select interests like reference requests, consulting offers, or career opportunities.
Make Sure You DO NOT Include:
- Any contact information you’re not comfortable having your contacts see. Your contact information will be visible only to those you are connected to.
- Anything that even begins to stray from the truth. Unlike even a resume, your profile will be seen by a lot of eyes. Did you really lead that project, or did you lead it along with several others?
- Anything you wouldn’t want fellow colleagues (current, former, or future) to know. LinkedIn is for professional relationships.
Networking And Reconnecting on LinkedIn
With more than 30 million members, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. In addition to reconnecting with past colleagues, business partners and classmates, you can tap into the knowledge, experience, and connections of the LinkedIn network that you create.
On Building Your Network
Networking is only as effective as the network you have. If you think about it, it is a universal truth that: “the larger your net, the more fish you can catch!”
You should make sure that while you send connection requests only to people you know directly, you should make all your connections accessible to others and always accept connection requests from people you know. You can easily find new connections by searching for their names or employer names in the search box.
LinkedIn gives you an opportunity to search their database for contacts you already know through Outlook, GMail and AOL and you should definitely use this feature (not to worry, it provides a feature which allows you to filter who you want to actually add)
You can get even more Connections using the “Find Classmates” feature and you can request introductions to people who are connected to your connections (a little bit like adding a friend of a friend on Facebook)
Participating in the LinkedIn Community
You are always increasing the visibility of your LinkedIn profile as you participate and interact with your creations. You should ask and answer business-oriented questions within your network, for example; This builds credibility for yourself and increases your visibility.
Make recommendations for your connections. Share information you have with them and even write thoughtful recommendations for people you know very well. Request recommendations from previous managers, clients, or colleagues. Join an official LinkedIn group (e.g., alumni association, company) or start a new Group for an organization where you’re a leader.
Sharing Your Knowledge and Expertise on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an incredible place to share and exchange business information online; you ask a question and get answers from your network and experts worldwide. You can also build your professional credibility by showcasing your knowledge, expertise, and interests by answering the questions posed by other members.
LinkedIn is about Opportunities
Whether it’s for a consulting gig or job offer, having a presence on LinkedIn means that those who are looking for someone with your experience, knowledge and skills will be able to find you. Likewise, when you’re looking for that special hard-to-find talent, LinkedIn will help you locate and contact them.
LinkedIn Groups
“Connect, Communicate, and Collaborate“
LinkedIn Groups gives you an opportunity to find and join communities of professionals based on common interests you may have, common experience, affiliation and goals. Groups help you stay in touch with organizations, schools, and companies as well as network with professionals with similar interests.
Groups Directory
The Groups Directory allows you to easily find the right groups to join; just click on the “Category” drop-down menu to sort the groups by their various types. Once you have found a group you are interested in joining, click on the “Join Group” link to request to join the group. You can share the love too; clicking the “Share” button lets you invite your connections to join the group as well.
My Groups
Once you have joined a group, it will appear on your left side navigation bar under “Groups”. To view all of the groups you have joined just click on the Groups link to view them all. Here you get a quick overview of all of your groups and allows you to access the homepages for each of your groups. Your Group homepage gives you an overview of the activity in your group and allows you to take part in a private discussion.
To get more information about any particular group, click on the “Group Profile” link to view information about the group: owner, managers, website, and other information.
Group Discussions
LinkedIn Groups are now the best place to communicate with your group. Click on the “Discussions” tab on your Group to get started and view recent discussions. This is a great way to keep in touch with organizations you are a part of:
- corporate and college alumni groups
- non-profit organizations
- trade groups
- Conference
- industry-specific groups
You can discuss issues that are of interest to the entire group. On the “Discussions” tab, you can also use the navigation links on the right side to sort discussions by most recent, popular topics, and those that you’ve participated in.
Group Members
Your group’s Members page allows you to view all the members in your group. To get started, click on the “Members” tab in your group and enter in your search terms in the “Search Group” box. You can search by name, company, and other keywords such as specific areas of expertise. This is a great way to find experts and utilize talent from within your network.
Group Settings
The “Settings” tab allows you change your contact and privacy settings for each Group. You can:
- Elect to display the group logo on your profile
- Change your privacy settings for network updates
- Decide how you want group members to be able to communicate with you
Another important feature is the “Digest Email” option which allows you to receive updates by e-mail from your group. If you would like to change the order that your groups are displayed in, click on the “User Groups” link on the left-side navigation and scroll down to the “Change display order link”.
Creating a LinkedIn Group
Creating a Group is an easy way to bring professionals together online. Click on “User Groups” on the left navigation bar on the home page then select the “Create a Group” tab. You can:
- Upload a logo
- Choose a unique name.
- Enter a description, summary, and website link.
If you want others to be able to find your group when they search, check the “Display this group in the Groups Directory” box.
Never Stop Managing Your LinkedIn network
- You’ll need to continually update and refine your profile and your network. The best way to do this is to add new contacts.
- Check your profile about once a month to make sure your job description is still accurate.
- Reach out to contacts even when you don’t have a business concern.
A big mistake in social networking is that people reach out only when they have an issue (e.g. when they’ve lost their job or need someone or something out of the blue). Always keep in touch with your network and groups and there should never be any drama.
5 Things To NEVER Do On LinkedIn
- Leave negative feedback. Negative feedback hangs around for a very long time, so even if you have a change of heart, it can be very difficult to retract it.
- Lie. Give a truthful account of where you’ve worked and what you’ve done. Be real. Be honest.
- Spam. It’s not a push marketing strategy. Avoid drowning others in your promotional material.
- Gossip. Don’t send forth news that may not be yours to share.
- Oversell yourself. Stay away from arrogance or over-hyping what you do.
Suggested reading: “The Secrets to Promoting Your Website Online” by VodaHost web hosting
