Gallery: Boost your business contacts with Linked In

Open your web browser, type www.linkedin.com into the Address Bar and press Enter. The Linked In home page displays two dialogue boxes, in which you can enter the name of your employer or place of education. As you type the name, the box may suggest a company or university name to which other site members belong. If the suggestion matches your details, click on the name using your mouse. Linked In will then display the number of registered members who work or used to work there. Click on the ‘Join now’ button to start finding colleagues and making new contacts. If no-one else from your workplace or university is registered, be the first to sign up.

On the next page you’ll be asked to register your basic details, including name and location. If you registered by company name, you’ll be given the option to add your university to the profile, and vice versa. In the field marked Industry you can choose from a dropdown list of professions, roles and skills. Select the one that best suits your current job or skills. When the form is complete, click on the blue button marked Join Linked In. The site will ask you how the details on your profile can be used. The section on the left marked To Find enables you to choose automatic search criteria for your profile, while the right-hand panel labelled To Be Found defines the kind of information that friends, colleagues or prospective contacts can put your way.

With your options selected, click on Save Settings. The site will now send an email to the address you registered with containing a link to confirm your membership, which will open the sign in page of Linked In. Once signed in, a quick way to add connections to your profile is to search for people you already know, using the address book from your Outlook, Googlemail, Hotmail or AOL email account. Click on the orange button marked ‘Expand your network’ and select the relevant option from the right-hand side. You can also use the empty fields in the centre of the screen to invite colleagues to join Linked In. To add contacts from an email account, you’ll need to provide the account address and password.

Now let’s add more detail to our profile. Click on the Profile tab at the top of the website. Note that this is your private profile page - only you can see the details here. The various sections on show as you scroll down the page provide links to edit existing information or add new details. Find the section labelled Summary and click on Add Summary. The two fields here will be visible in your public profile, so take time to write a concise summary of your career to date, along with any goals you want to make public. Remember, this will be in full view, so don’t exaggerate your career or state that you are actively seeking a new job unless you’re happy for anyone to view this. Click on the Save Changes button.

It’s important to review how this information will be seen by others, so click on the link marked ‘View My Profile as others see it’ and edit any details you’re unhappy with. The next step is to see the people connected to your colleagues who might be useful to know. Click on the People tab and then on the link labelled Your Network in the blue submenu beneath. The resulting page shows the potential connections you can make through friends introducing you to their colleagues. Linked In refers to direct friends as first-degree connections and friends of friends as second-degree connections. Click on the link labelled ‘xx new people’ at the bottom of the section marked Your Network of Trusted Professionals. A list of your contacts and their connections will appear.

Linked In enables you to ask a colleague (or first-degree connection) to introduce you to one of their colleagues. Select a second- or third-degree connection from the list that appears and click on the link labelled ‘Get introduced through a connection’ at the top-right of their profile. You can type a message to that person but it will not be delivered unless the person you know agrees to introduce you. You must also type a message to that person briefly explaining why you’d like to contact this person. Some Linked In members permit anyone to contact them directly through the site’s Inmail messaging system. Use this advisedly, as an introduction from a trusted friend is likely to carry more weight with the recipient.

Linked In enables you to ask a colleague (or first-degree connection) to introduce you to one of their colleagues. Select a second- or third-degree connection from the list that appears and click on the link labelled ‘Get introduced through a connection’ at the top-right of their profile. You can type a message to that person but it will not be delivered unless the person you know agrees to introduce you. You must also type a message to that person briefly explaining why you’d like to contact this person. Some Linked In members permit anyone to contact them directly through the site’s Inmail messaging system. Use this advisedly, as an introduction from a trusted friend is likely to carry more weight with the recipient.