As well as providing you with a means to showcase an update-able online CV, LinkedIn can be used for expanding your business network, finding new clients, bringing in traffic to your other sites and increasing your chances of being hired by those that see your profile.

Plenty of information on setting up your profile on LinkedIn as effectively as possible to get the most of out of the platform is provided on page 121 of my eBook on online self promotion.

With a complete, well-presented profile, you can now start to develop a network through LinkedIn.

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Here’s how to build contacts and network through LinkedIn:

• Import people you already know by clicking on Add Connections at the top of LinkedIn.

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• Search for influencers and contacts you’d like to network with and click Add ‘their name’ to your network.

Unless you’ve done business together, it’s probably best to add them as a friend under the options list. Put in a customized message with your invitation. Introduce yourself, explain how you found them/know them (LinkedIn will show you how connected they are to you), and say that it might be beneficial for you both to be part of the same network.

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• Be available for contact requests within LinkedIn. If you have disabled any of these options, you are restricting your ability to expand.

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• Display your email address within LinkedIn.

People cannot find you through email address if you have not either left it within your summary, or within your contact details on LinkedIn. Make sure it is made public.

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• Promote the URL of your LinkedIn page.

You can do this within your email signature, leaving a link in your blog or base and by providing an image as an icon on other sites that people can click through. Facebook has an app that enables you to place a LinkedIn button within your profile, which you should add.

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• Update your status frequently.

Don’t worry about this being yet another site to update your status in. There are tools like TweetDeck and Ping.fm that allow you to post updates to multiple platforms at the same time.

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• Start a group that is related to your industry or blog.

Go to Groups > Create a Group to start one up. Invite members from LinkedIn and elsewhere, and provide content to it on a regular basis.

With good content, your group will increase in membership size, and it will provide a good platform to engage with your networks and promote your sites and work in a professional environment.

You can also use LinkedIn groups to find further contacts to add to your networks.

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Those are the key elements of LinkedIn, and I will be sharing more ideas within this blog and through my weekly tips as usual, so keep posted!

For those who are interested, my LinkedIn profile is here. Hook up with me if you’d like!

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Any thoughts, please share through the comments below.

If you’re just setting out, the thought of writing a regular blog can be daunting. Even the most prolific of minds run dry from time to time. But the key thing about blogging is that you don’t have to think as big as you think – you see?! No?!

OK, I’ll explain.

Successful blogging is all in the planning and not so much the writing (but don’t tell anyone I said that!). And the best thing to do is build up a reserve of content. But you have to start somewhere, right? So this post looks at five really easy ways of getting blog content together – fast!

1. Borrow from other blogs

Look around at what other blogs are featuring. The blogs you consult don’t necessarily need to focus directly on your topic area, but just by looking at some of the ideas floating around, you’ll trigger your own thoughts.

This isn’t as random as it sounds. For example, if I looked at a very broadly popular blog like Zen Habits and saw something on productivity, I could use this as the basis of a post for my own blog on ‘book pitching productivity’.

Quite quickly I could come up with something short and pithy on how to repurpose book pitches for different publishers; how to minimise distractions when writing; or even how to fit writing book proposals around a day job. In a nutshell, just use other blogs as a hook – it’s what everyone else does!

2. Repurpose something you’ve already written

If you’re an expert on something – and everybody’s an expert on something – it’s very likely you already have a text which can be quickly converted into a blog post.

If, like me, you’re a writer, this could be an article, you’ve already written or perhaps a paper or a talk you gave somewhere. But it might even come from something like an email or tweet you’ve sent that wouldn’t take five minutes to flesh-out.

Don’t start from scratch, again, look around you, what have you already got?

3. Brainstorm the area you specialise in

Write a random but full list of ideas about what you do. I guarantee there’ll be something on that list that to you might seem inconsequential, but for new-comers or outsiders is probably fascinating.

Sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees and getting it all down on a scrap of paper (or whatever) makes it instantly clear which idea – hidden under a pile of others – will be valuable to readers.

I also like mind-mapping techniques to help you branch out into other areas of thought, but that’s an idea for another post – see once you start blogging you can’t stop!

4. Collaborate with someone

An additional option for the idea-starved is to ask an existing friend or colleague, or someone from a blog you know and like, to work on a post or two with you. Brainstorm some ideas (as above) and then email back and forth a few times until you have something that feels right.

If it’s truly co-authored, you can each feature it on your own blog which might even cross-pollinate your audiences. And if you’re really savvy, you’ll collaborate with several people at once and store up lots of good content in advance of dry spell.

5. Ask an expert

This can mean two things. One, if you are out of ideas on what to blog about, find out what blogging pros like Darren Rowse of ProBlogger would recommend for ‘bloggers block’. Two, set up an easy way for experts in your field to contribute to your site. For example, for PhD2Published, I’m interested in content that advises early-career academics on how to get their first book published.

To help me canvas opinions on this, I regularly email publishing houses and published academics and ask them for their top five tips on book pitching. By asking someone outright, and keeping the amount you need them to contribute to a minimum, you can speedily gather relevant, quality material.

It’s that simple!

Blogging doesn’t have to mean embarking on a mammoth writing spree – you’re not writing a thesis or a book! And you don’t need to be boiling over with angst about political wrongs, or ever-distracted by complex philosophical thoughts. You really don’t need to think big at all. Just think – even a little – and it’ll come together!

Social media sites can provide a treasure chest of new clients and exciting new projects for you if you know some of the tools to open it. If you are looking for regular work, it is possible to attract various great clients through social media in an efficient way, without wasting valuable time.

By now you have hopefully properly set up your various social media profiles, including providing a link to your work, which is all explained in detail in my ‘10 Steps’ ebook.

Here are 10 ways to use social media sites to get the attention of potential clients for you:

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1. Share updates on what you are working on. For example:

‘Well, now I can put my feet up! I’ve just added the finishing touches to my music poster: http://www.mywork.com’

2. Share pictures of your work or your awesome-looking workspace. This will get people excited about your work, especially as they can see it, and showing your workspace adds credibility and a personal touch to your self promotion. Twitpic is one such service that allows you to share pictures on Twitter.

3. Ask for feedback on the progress of your own work, by sharing a picture or link.

4. Post any recent updates you have made to your portfolio.

5. Express your joy at positive appraisals from colleagues, clients, fans. For example:

‘Got a great testimonial from my client about my last design project. So happy! [link to testimonial]’

6. Get a friendly conversation going with a potential client, or ask them a relevant question.

7. Get chatting about industry related things with anyone. New ‘tweets’ or updates that will interest potential clients will keep you visible.

8. Share news that will build your credibility as a professional, such as being interviewed for a blog or magazine, winning a new project, or when posting a new article to your blog.

9. Arrange to meet potential clients face-to-face using social media as a first point of contact. Nothing beats a one on one over coffee if you think you could bring something to the table with this person.

10. Ask a question to do with your work that generates discussion. Particularly on Facebook, this is a good way to get ongoing visibility on topics that will get noticed by potential clients if they are connected to you through this platform.

Remember that engaging with others on these sites is less about ‘selling’ and much more to do with getting into conversations and building relationships. So keep this in mind when making use of these ideas.

Another thing to keep in mind is to not restrict your online networking to only one person or one network. Keep an open mind and join other networks and talk with people in related but different industries. You never know what might turn up in the form of new work by engaging in different areas occasionally.

Ideally, as a creative professional, even if you work on a variety of roles, you have one skill that you are particularly focused on and are developing to be known for. The long term success of being known for a particular skill, whether it be website coding, illustration or music production, requires true passion for it.

If you have a focus in your work life on something you are passionate for, that’s excellent. Sometimes we can lose our way over time, and passion for what we do diminishes, or we simply get caught up in other areas of life and just forget about what we were passionate about in the first place.

Since having passion is so important, this post is about re-igniting and cultivating the passion that is already there inside you, so that you can continue to focus on your area with dedication and with great results. This can also be used for those of you who are looking to find their area of focus, which they are passionate about, but haven’t yet.

Here’s how to do this:

1. Write down ten things that are exciting or interesting about your area of work or a potential area of work.

2. Now write down three things that are interesting about each of the points you noted previously. Just keep what you have found in mind.

3. Spend half an hour looking through some good blogs or books that relate to your area of focus, and just drink it all in. Look for things that excite you and get you passionate. Consider printing out some images to inspire you that you can throw into your diary, a scrapbook, or on your wall.

4. Know your role-models. Think about who in the world you really admire and inspire you, perhaps even writing them down. Ideally what they do would relate to your work area, but simply being inspired by people who have achieved can really help boost the passion you have for your own path in life.

5. Read the biography of someone who has experienced success in the area of work you want to boost your passion in.

6. Do a training course in your area of focus or get out a book that will get you to expand on what you know about your skill. Either learn about the foundations of what you do, so that you feel generally more confident, or gain new knowledge to add to what you already know. This will add to your confidence, which will undoubtedly boost the passion you have for what you do.

7. Find somewhere comfortable to sit and get relaxed. Now spend a few minutes visualizing experiencing success in your area of work or achieving a goal related to your work. Think with no limits. Really turn up the vividness of this image, add sound and touch and colour in your mind.

The key thing is to effectively ‘burn’ the thought into your mind, so that you have a strong, positive picture in your mind that will help guide you towards success with passion in your work.

8. Set aside a day or more completely dedicated to creating something amazing for your portfolio. Take some time to plan something that will really add value to your portfolio or your work showcase. This will also give you some practice, stretch your skills, improve your confidence in your work, and allow to work on something that you really enjoy.

9. Talk to people in your industry. This can be through a reach out on Twitter, or in the real world. Go out and meet fellow creatives at social events and gatherings or organize your own. Hearing from others and sharing ideas and feedback is a great way to regain and boost passion.

10. Drop the baggage. Often it is in trying to accomplish too much that we lose passion for one particular area. Make it easier for yourself by committing to working on and developing one single area of your work-life, get good at it, work at it, learn about it and passion and drive will grow.

You can use classifieds as a means of advertising your services directly, or as a way to drive decent amounts of traffic directly to your blog and sites.

Because such sites are tailored to local areas, particularly some of the local community sites and portals (which you can find using search engines), you need to keep in mind the locality or region you are advertising your services to.

However, for those of you looking to advertise globally, it might be a case of choosing to place ads aimed at a few areas, or to place multiple ads covering many areas.

Some sites will charge you for placing an ad, whilst many will be free. Before posting an ad, it is worth writing out the ad in a text document to be copied first.

Writing the ad

Use a headline that highlights the main benefit of what you are advertising. For example: “Clean and contemporary website design”.

Write a section that explains exactly what you offer and provides explicitly and clearly what benefits you can provide.

Write a ‘call to action’, which is a line that specifically draws the reader to something, namely your base site. An example could be:

‘I would appreciate any feedback you might have on my portfolio, which can be found at http://…’

Pictures

If pictures are allowed, it is a good idea to use one that is relevant and will add to the depth of the advertisement.

Submit the ad

You then need to input this information into the form of the ‘new ad’ or ‘post’ on as many classified sites as you choose. Many sites will require you to register before submitting. Always keep your target audience, and (if it is necessary) your target geographical area in mind when submitting ads to classifieds sites.

You can use automated submission software for submitting ads at once, or hire someone to post several for you. The more ads you submit, the more exposure and traffic you will get in this way.

Delete ads that have been up for more than a few weeks, and re-submit them, to keep ads at the top of listings.

A large list of sites that accept classified advertisements for submission are available in the resources section of my online promotion ebook.

This might be all good and well, but if you have any interest in staying afloat in the industry over a substantial period of time, it is essential to understand a system that allows for winning new projects and selling products regularly over the long term.

Marketing expert Michael Port introduced to me the concept of the ‘sales cycle’, which takes the essential elements of self promotion, and places them within a system that you can use to set out a strategy of effective long term self promotion.

A sales cycle simply highlights the key stages that need to be incorporated into your campaign of promoting yourself and your work in order to secure bookings with new as well as previous and ongoing clients.

The crucial elements of a successful promotion strategy for not only service professionals but all businesses and corporations are:

Getting your product or service noticed.

Attracting potential customers or clients.

Becoming credible.

Building trust.

Developing a strong relationship with those contacts.

Bringing clients to take action in using your services.

I have used the concepts introduced by Michael Port and formulated a straight forward sales cycle that brings in all these important elements to allow you to attract great clients and regular work (as well as sales if you have a product).

The ten steps described in my new ebook address and put into action all of the stages of the cycle I will describe below.

These stages are what a client moves through when deciding whether to use your services or buy one of your products. A potential client or buyer can drop in and out of this cycle, and they don’t necessarily have to start from the beginning in order to hire you.

Addressing all the stages in your campaign is important in ensuring a steady stream of work and sales if you sell products.

You’ll need to keep this cycle in mind as you go about promoting yourself if you want to see optimum results in attracting new work from clients or in selling to customers.

The stages are as follows:

Stage 1. Get Seen

Perform tasks that will get your name in front of your target market.

This covers any activity that introduces new people to your work, or reminds people of it.

By itself, activity addressing this stage will potentially bring new fans, clients, advice givers, collaborators, buyers and more, to you and your work.

This can include social networking, bringing people to your website, setting up referrals, writing articles, sending out mail promos, leaving blog comments, guest blogging and so on.

Of course, there may be instances where others will do the work for you, such as featuring your work on their blog having seen your work, or someone sharing a link to your site on Twitter, for example.

It is possible for you to get work with clients or sell products through this stage alone. This is also possible at instances anywhere into the cycle. However, stopping at this stage in the cycle, will make it harder for you to secure long term work and/or sales at a consistent rate.

Stage 2. Link Up

Secure contacts that you can build a relationship with.

This is where you establish a secure link with a targeted contact that will enable you to communicate with them over time and build a relationship with them.

A secure link can be in the form of attracting a Twitter follower, adding a Facebook friend or fan, and ultimately and ideally, adding targeted people to your mailing list.

There are no risks for your contacts here. People are not expected to hand over their hard earned cash at this point.

Before securing a link with the right people, it helps to demonstrate a positive reputation, credibility and value as a creative worker. This includes things like being the author of a useful and original blog, having an accomplished portfolio of work, showing client testimonials and adding good, readable content through Twitter and Facebook.

These are the things that will provide an incentive for people to secure such a link with you.

Stage 3. Keep in touch

Work on developing a trusting relationship with your contacts.

This is the stage that cultivates trust, rapport and a long-term relationship between you and your target contacts that you have already created a secure link to.

This involves tasks that maintain visibility in front of contacts at the very least, but also tasks that build trust and familiarity, and allow positive interaction with your key contacts.

Such tasks include sending blog post updates to members of your Facebook fan page, ‘tweeting’ through Twitter, interacting with people on social media sites, sending out status updates on Facebook and broadcasting a newsletter containing tips and new updates to members of your mailing list.

Stage 4. Strike a Deal

Create an offering that will lead to work.

The next step is to move your potential clients or buyers into the next stage of the cycle, which is in hiring your services or buying from you. Although creating an offering in this way is an element of selling products, it is also an important step to take in selling your services.

For most creatives, an offering in this way would simply involve reminding your contacts that you are available for work, and that any referrals that can be sent your way would be appreciated. ‘Calls to action’ in the form of a link on your site that suggests prospects ask for a quote is another example of an offering.

What your offerings are is up to you here and will depend on your area of work.

An offering to attract work, such as a discounted service, or offering tickets for an exhibition, for example, as well as discounts on any products you sell are also options here. They are not essential, however, because the important thing is that people are simply aware of your work. This alone can lead to paid projects.

Prospects who would like to work with you will hire you if they want to, or they may act as vital referrers.

It is important to be aware of this cycle as you go about the steps discussed in my ebook, if you are interested in consistently and effectively selling your products or services.

Your thoughts as comments are always welcome!

This doesn’t just apply to creative professionals, but anyone looking to further their careers.

Many people think of networking as something that is manipulative; something that involves engaging with others in an attempt to gain some kind of a strategic advantage for the success of their own careers.

The questions we might ask as we go about networking and marketing our work with a typical networking mentality might be:

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How can I attract attention to myself?

How can I push my own agenda?

How can I get an edge over my competition?

How can I dominate the marketplace?

How can I manipulate them to work with me?

How can I really impress?

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Fortunately, the way in which networking has progressed, especially in the digital age, in which everyone’s credibility is glaringly exposed, we no longer rely on deceptive cheesy grins to win over new contacts.

Making a connection with other people is now the way forward. One’s perspective needs to shift from one of scarcity, to one of abundance, respect and care.

The questions asked by the modern marketing action hero include the following:

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What can I offer other people?

How can I make others feel comfortable?

How can I best express my sincerity and generosity?

How can I help others?

How can I draw out the best in people?

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The key ingredient in all this is that in order to find real success in both your online and offline promotional efforts of making meaningful connections, you need to make a true connection with other human beings. Asking questions like these will equip you with the tools you need to get started truly connecting.

Get out there, start connecting, and success will follow!

Your thoughts are welcome!

Particularly with the ease in which material is transmitted and shared on the internet, such products as training videos, ebooks and articles, have become an incredibly powerful means to get your brand in front of many targeted people. Creating information products can help you gain exposure to potentially thousands of people, no matter what your profession.

Apart from allowing people to learn more about the way you communicate and express yourself, producing information products are useful for you in the following ways:

1. They will help you get more clients because such products will give people the ability to connect with you and learn more about how you communicate and what you know about before taking further ‘risks’ with you.

2. They create opportunities for ongoing passive income that requires little ongoing work.

3. The opportunity for your product, your name, your brand to go viral (spread through word of mouth), if the product is free.

4. Having an information product improves your credibility as a creative freelancer because it establishes you as an expert in your field and will distinguish you from others in your industry.

Whether you’re a musician, illustrator, writer or painter, there are information products that you can put together to sell or to give away to boost your self promotion dramatically.

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Here are some product ideas to think about:

• A free e-book full of special tips
• A full e-book to pay for (usually in the form of a pdf file)
• An audio mp3 or CD
• Training videos
• Teleseminars
• Ezines
• Charts, maps and information graphics
• Write an article

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Make sure the product relates to the work you do, is straightforward and isn’t overworked. It doesn’t need to be perfect.

An example of this in action is a web designer putting together an ebook on how to best optimize a site to make navigation as easy as possible. This way the product would be of interest to other web designers and site owners, and people who run blogs, but also potential clients who want to know whether the navigation on their own sites are as easy as possible, who may eventually use that web designer’s services.

It is ok to put together information that has originated from elsewhere, as long as it is presented in your own words and isn’t an obvious copyright infringement. You can also get the majority of the work outsourced, although for your credibility’s sake, you’ll want to exert a fair amount of control over the finished piece.

Does anyone have any further ideas?

This could be in various ways, on and offline, including the ways in which I’ve talked about here and in my ebook, such as bringing targeted traffic to your blog, making connections through social media, engaging with prospects on forums, and introducing yourself via email to your prospects.

One of the best ways to get strong, consistent results with this kind of active self-promotion is to set yourself results-oriented targets instead of effort-oriented targets.

So, for example, instead of writing a post for your blog, tweeting it, then leaving it at that, make a real commitment to bringing a certain number of people to your post and blog within a week. This might mean using a few extra web tactics on top of using Twitter, but you know what you are aiming for.

Or, for example, instead of writing five email rapport-building introductions to potential clients, commit to writing as many emails or making as many calls as it takes until you receive a response from five people who ask for more information on your services.

You can apply these results-oriented methods to any active marketing technique you have in your arsenal.

These targets are short-term, but will help you stay focused on achieving your long-term goals, fast-tracking you to success.

Do people agree with these ideas?

Today’s article clarifies using MySpace as one base from which to effectively promote your services and products, and to eventually create and build large networks of relevant people, which is described in detail in my new ebook on self promotion.

Many people associate MySpace with established and emerging musicians and bands. Many musicians use MySpace for greatly boosting their online presence. However, the hugely popular site actually presents a massive opportunity for businesses and professionals of all other backgrounds and industries to promote themselves and create contacts.

The audience you have access to through MySpace can be a lot different to other social networks like Facebook and Twitter, which creates all kinds of additional benefits to just using something like Facebook.

Not only do a lot of people on MySpace tend to be media and trend-savvy, communicative and young, but there are also large numbers of people engaging with MySpace who are searching for talent, expertise and new ideas.

This includes more and more potential clients for professional creatives.

As well as this, there are many other reasons to make use of MySpace as a self promotional platform, including the flexibility behind the design and customization of your profile, which allows for truly original layouts, additional elements like video, driving traffic to your blog and portfolio, and the ability to connect with and communicate to relevant people to expand your business.

Here is how to get set up on MySpace so that you make the most of it for establishing an online presence within a powerful online network:

Create Your MySpace Profile

Even if you have your own personal MySpace profile at the moment, it’s best to set up a new one that centers on your business or work.

Go to www.myspace.com and select a profile type. You’ll find a few options, including a music or comedian profile, which will offer slightly different features according to your vocation. If you don’t match any of the extra profile types on offer, it is best to go for the personal page profile, which is the standard option.

Go through the sign up process, which you will need a valid email address for. You will be asked to verify your email and add pictures to your profile. If you have some pictures that showcase your work on hand, upload those to the site. You can change your main profile picture at any time, but now would be a chance to upload a logo or picture of you in keeping with your consistent brand.

Set your MySpace custom URL to include relevant keywords, or your name by clicking the pick your MySpace URL link in the top left of the MySpace dashboard area. Think about this carefully, as this cannot be changed in future, unless you open a new page from scratch.

The next thing is to fill in your profile details by clicking Profile > Edit Profile.

Put some thought into filling in all your details including your interests as this will all add to your personality and brand and will appeal to those prospects and users who could potentially add you as a friend, contact you, and so on.

Putting in these details will also bring people to you, as the keywords you put within fields such as ‘interests’ are searchable by people on MySpace.

Think about which keywords relating to your work you could incorporate into these details pages.

As with Facebook, you might want to hold back on your year of birth for security. Don’t forget to include a link to your website. Also consider incorporating your web link into the design (discussed in the next section), like you might have done through your Twitter background.

Designing your Profile

Next, you need to set about designing your profile so that it looks professional, is appealing and reflects your brand and your style. You want your profile to be an extension of your base site, and reflect the style that runs through your portfolio and brand.

MySpace is one of few social media sites that enables you to use code, including CSS to customize your profile. This means designing the various sections you want to put into your profile, through Dreamweaver for example, and pasting the code into the available profile boxes.

This allows you to make some very special and dynamic MySpace profiles with slide shows, Flash and more.

I would recommend taking advantage of the flexibility this provides, and either designing your own profile or getting someone to help you with it, although bear in mind that legibility and simplicity will benefit your profile.

If you don’t have to ability to input your own code into your profile, you can use any of the various third-party profile editors on the web, such as Mashcodes or you can use the very good MySpace Profile Editor within MySpace itself.

The Customize Profile link, which is located on the top right of your screen once you have clicked Edit Profile from your homepage, will take you to the MySpace editor.

The editor is very intuitive, and you shouldn’t find it too difficult to work your way through designing your profile.

When you get to customizing your modules, which are the individual blocks within your profile, make sure the Add to Friends link stands out, as this is something you want people to easily find as you build out your MySpace network.

Consider taking advantage of images, text and video to drive visitors to your mailing list landing page or blog, and/or base site. Effectively you are incorporating a call to action into your profile, which you can do in several places, which will attract people to your blog or base.

You’ll see many professional MySpace pages using this.

Adding Music

If you are a musician, you need to have prepared mp3music files to upload through the music player available with the musician’s profile.

There are also several other music widgets available for your profile, (have a look at the mp3section at Widgetbox) that you can get online.

Widgets come in the form of code that you incorporate into your profile by dropping the code in your About Me section.

Adding Video

If you have video to showcase, or have videos that you might be sharing as part of your marketing campaign through sites like YouTube, you need to follow these steps in adding it to your profile:

1. Click Video from the top navigation menu.

2. Click Upload.

3. Browse for the file and click Upload Video.

4. Under your newly uploaded video, click the Add to Profile link to bring the video to your profile.

The methods on building up a substantial network and promoting your products and services through MySpace effectively, are covered in Step 6 of the new ebook: ’10 Steps to Powerful Online Self Promotion for Creatives’.

Does everyone think these are the best ways to optimize your presence on MySpace for effective online self promotion?