I truly believe that every professional should be using LinkedIn every day. Why? Because it enables you to quickly build and grow relationships, strengthen your brand and stay top of mind with key individuals in your professional network regardless of where they live right from your desktop or mobile device.

LinkedIn also gives you a treasure trove of valuable competitive intelligence, which can help you gain an advantage over your competitors. 

Many of you have LinkedIn profiles but you aren’t maximizing the platform because you’re busy or you just aren’t convinced that it’s worth your time, and that’s a huge missed opportunity. LinkedIn is free, easy to use and well worth the time and effort. It can help you become recognized as a thought leader, bring in leads and retain current clients.

LinkedIn is useful for every professional in every industry at any level. It’s one of the most efficient ways to enhance your network and reputation.

I wanted to get back to basics in my latest JD Supra article and provide a comprehensive guide to building a strong LinkedIn profile, along with some best practices and tips for engagement with your network. I go through each section of a LinkedIn profile and give pointers for how to best complete each one. I also created a visual with a cheat sheet on some of the profile best practices below:

Here are some quick and easy actions you can take on LinkedIn to build a stronger profile from the article, which is the bedrock of the platform, and then tips on how to take your LinkedIn profile to the next level.