LFM001 Welcome to LinkedIn for me and my career or business
Hello there fellow human!
This course has been created personally by me, Sue Ellson, without the use of artificial intelligence!
Sue Ellson – your Course Creator’s Background
My career began at Westpac Banking Corporation six days after my last year 12 secondary school exam. I stayed there for 11 years and then moved from Adelaide to Melbourne but found the transition difficult.
I completed a Bachelor of Business in Administrative Management by correspondence in 2000 and since then, I have been attending up to four events every week. I sometimes describe myself as a learning junkie.
I launched my first social enterprise, NewcomersNetwork.com on 22 May 2001 and soon after I started looking for other online networks that could be useful to people who have moved, I found LinkedIn (and several others but they have all ended).
LinkedIn.com was launched to the world on 5 May 2003 and I joined on 21 December 2003 – I am member number 77,832.
On 9 December 2008, I provided LinkedIn assistance to an Australian who had repatriated to Melbourne after living overseas for 25 years. So the LinkedIn training and consulting journey began and it hasn’t stopped since.
The reason it hasn’t stopped is because I have found LinkedIn to be the best value tool to help my career and business students and clients.
It allows me to maximize the value I share with students and clients because I understand how technology works and how you can use it to attract aligned opportunities.
As you can imagine, after using the LinkedIn platform for so many years, I have seen a lot of features come and go, a huge number of features added (particularly more recently) and the number of members across the world increase exponentially.
Why do I value LinkedIn?
Here is an amazing video that describes the power of LinkedIn…
I value LinkedIn because it:
- is constantly innovating
- manages the user experience (friendly and professional)
- has strict security protocols and a robust user agreement that is enforced
- provides access to the largest network in the world
- gives you so many opportunities to secure online search results
- allows you to publish posts, articles and newsletters that can be seen both now and in the future
- helps you maintain relationships with people in your network (your network = your net worth)
- is owned by a company (Microsoft) and not led by an individual (like Twitter / X and Facebook)
That said, I use LinkedIn for my purpose and I encourage you to do the same.
If you only have one type of online presence, in my opinion, LinkedIn provides the best value (including the free account).
I also believe that you can even start your very first business with a free LinkedIn Profile and Page.
Personally, I would never recommend any resource unless I had tried it myself.
But with LinkedIn, I have been recognized internationally for my expertise on the platform.
The Book Story
In 2016, I wrote and published my first non-fiction book, ‘120 Ways To Achieve Your Purpose With LinkedIn.’ It put everything I knew about LinkedIn at the time in to one book.
But it overwhelmed some people.
I have since written and published four more books, ‘120 Ways To Attract The Right Career Or Business,’ ‘120 Ways To Market Your Business Hyper Locally,’ ‘Gigsters – Any Age or Ability Employees, Experts and Entrepreneurs,’ and most recently, ‘LinkedIn for me and my career or business.’
The ‘LinkedIn for me and my career or business‘ book provides the roadmap for completing your LinkedIn Profile and/or Page and shows you how to achieve your goals.
But not everyone wants to read a book these days.
This Course and Webinars
So here is the online video course version!
Yes, it looks like a huge number of sessions, but that is only because I have separated every section of the book in the course so that if the platform changes how a task is done, I can update the online course.
So please let me know if I miss an update and I will change the course immediately!
I have been hosting monthly ‘LinkedIn Insight Webinars‘ on the Second Wednesday of the month since October 2021 where I share some of the latest tips and techniques so that you can really maximize your LinkedIn activity.
All of the slides and recordings are available on this website and if you would like to receive the monthly email newsletter so that you can book into any that are relevant to you in the future, subscribe here.
How long will it take to complete this course?
I believe most students will be able to complete the full course in 10 sessions of 2 hours. When I work with individual clients, I usually spend two hours with them starting the process and I suggest that their follow up tasks will take another 10 hours (if they choose to do it).
However, there is a Quick Start Program within the course and you should be able to easily complete that within two hours!
Purchase the course and receive a $50 discount voucher*
If you purchase this online course, you can receive a one-time $50 discount on any of Sue Ellson’s professional services, please just *show your course receipt when booking an appointment. This means that if you don’t want to complete the entire course, you can still receive a discount on Sue Ellson’s professional services.
Complete the course and receive 30 minutes of online personal assistance*
Now, if you need any more convincing to complete the course, you can book 30 minutes of online personal assistance with Sue Ellson if it is *booked within seven days of completing this online course. There are some requirements, so you might like to have a quick look at those now – they are there to encourage you to complete the course and receive a reward!
I hope that gives you some extra incentive to not only enrol, but to complete the course and gain maximum benefit!
My goal is to help you make the changes you need!
You can then show me what you have done, let me know what you are trying to achieve and we can work together for 30 minutes at no cost to you!
What about the course Quizzes?
I am an Educator who takes pride in helping people understand new information and put it into practical use.
The questions are literally based on the course content – not some abstract concept you need to infer from what you have learnt.
The quizzes are short and sweet (five questions for each chapter that you can complete in five minutes without typing and can retake three times and also see the answers after completing it).
The questions focus on the most important ideas to embed your learning and remind you of what you have just learnt and provide a great summary of some of the most important concepts in the course.
LinkedIn for me ⭐Book Text for this lesson
Every session in this course that relates to the book will include the ‘LinkedIn for me and my career or business’ ⭐ book text, which will be updated on a regular basis.
Reviews
If you are ready to get serious about LinkedIn this book is your step by step guide. Sue has given so many expert tips to ensure you are set up for success. Whether it’s reviewing your existing LinkedIn Profile set up or looking for guidance to get started this book is for you. Sue has done a brilliant job in not just explaining what to do, but why you should do it.
Michelle J Raymond LinkedIn B2B Trainer – Good Trading Co
This is the only comprehensive book you require whether commencing your LinkedIn journey or maximising your LinkedIn information to maximize the potential to reach your optimal career goal or enhance your business opportunities. This sophisticated tool explains clearly and with the experience developed over a significant number of years, all you want
to know and if you want help you can contact Sue directly. Sue’s poem called ‘LinkedIn’ before the Introduction summarises the experiences and opportunities you will have working with this book. Go ahead and enjoy!
Suzanne Dunlop, Chairperson, Neighbourhood Watch (Not for Profit), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Complete, to-the-point, extremely pragmatic and packed with valuable insights to boost your career. Whether you are
actively searching or just a latent job seeker, this is a MUST read.
Richard van der Blom, Global LinkedIn Thought Leader and Trainer on Social and Virtual Selling, Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
If you have ever said to yourself, “I keep hearing about LinkedIn, but I don’t how it can benefit me, or where to begin,” this books is for you. Sue Ellson’s up to date, straightforward guide covers many of the questions that come up frequently during coaching sessions. She eloquently toggles between strategy and hands on tactics to make sure the reader gets the knowledge and tools needed to reach their goals using LinkedIn effectively. A tremendous resource!
Hannah Tighe, LinkedIn Training and Coaching Specialist, Douglassville, Pennsylvania, USA
Extremely comprehensive. Congratulations on your dedication to writing this, and pouring your knowledge into it. I hope people will read it and TAKE ACTION.
Mark Stonham, Bristol, England, United Kingdom
This is a comprehensive guide about LinkedIn. Sue’s writing style will make you feel like she’s there with you. Recommended reading. Karen Hollenbach, LinkedIn Training Specialist, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Don’t miss Sue’s excellent book, ‘LinkedIn for me and my career or Business.’ It’s chock full of actionable and valuable advice in a very relaxed and personable style.’ Sid Clark, Independent LinkedIn Trainer and Coach, Lake Forest, California, USA
‘LinkedIn for me and my career or Business’ has some great insights on how LinkedIn works in a two-way street. Barry Jenner, Management Consultant, Melbourne, Australia
Sue Ellson’s latest book, ‘LinkedIn for me and my career or business’ would be ideal for people who run their own business, who are searching for work, looking for volunteering opportunities or are wanting an encore career. It’s well set out and is full of good, practical, detailed information. Jill Weeks, Pre & Post Retirement Content Creator, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
‘LinkedIn for me and my career or business’ digs deep into the fundamentals of LinkedIn, both the why and the how, spelling out essential best practices for successfully using LinkedIn, regardless of your role or current business goals.
Scott Allen, CEO/Author The Virtual Handshake
Sue is a LinkedIn master who has comprehensively shared her tips, knowledge and experience on how to use LinkedIn to enhance your personal brand and accentuate your career. Well worth reading. Chris J. “Mohawk” Reed, CEO & Founder of Black Marketing-The Dark Art of Social Media Marketing, Singapore, Singapore
Sue Ellson’s understanding of the practical, effective and ethical utilisation of LinkedIn is extraordinary as evidenced by the comprehensive material in this book and by appropriate clients accessing my services via LinkedIn. Also, thanks to Sue’s knowledge of the considered use of social media, I am at the top in Google searches and appear five times in the top six results. John McCann, Executive Coach and Registered Psychologist, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Informative reviews welcome at
https://www.goodreads.com/sueellson
https://g.page/sue-ellson-author/review
https://www.facebook.com/sueellson2/reviews
Acknowledgements
Enduring thanks over many years for the constant love, support and faith in my abilities to Suzanne Dunlop, some very special personal friends, business friends and long-term clients. Thank you for believing in me. Thanks and kudos to all of my clients (from individuals to people in large enterprizes), students, LinkedIn peers, fellow career development
practitioners, business coaches, LinkedIn connections, authors and writers for your questions and perspectives that have challenged me to always dig deeper and find the best tips and techniques for more people.
Thanks to Boja from 99 Designs and Gefferson Heemann for their assistance with the cover design. Thanks to Sid Clark for his pro bono editing services.
Thanks to you, the reader, for investing in yourself. I now encourage you to read on and start getting excited about how you can make LinkedIn work for you and your work, career, business or enterprize.
Quick disclaimer: All of the content in this book revised and published in 2023 is based on my personal experience and use of LinkedIn since 2003 and consulting and training services I have provided since 2008. It is designed for general informational purposes. It is not professional advice for your personal circumstances.
Other LinkedIn trainers and advisers will have their own strategies for using LinkedIn and if it differs to what I have suggested here, I encourage you to ask them ‘why’ they make their recommendations and I would then encourage you to make the decisions that are right for you and your goals provided they are in accordance with the LinkedIn User Agreement https://www.linkedin.com/legal/user-agreement.
Discernment is essential, but please don’t wait for perfection – it doesn’t exist.
Your LinkedIn Profile is only ever a version number that can be changed at a later date. As an Educator, Practitioner and Consultant, I have adopted a teaching format to my writing that allows you to build on what you may already know with practical examples.
You are welcome to visit my LinkedIn Profile at any time to see how I use LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sueellson.
You may also find that my first book on LinkedIn, ‘120 Ways To Achieve Your Purpose With LinkedIn’ may be helpful to you as it includes a range of different information. Think of the first book as the ‘LinkedIn Strategy Manifesto’ and this book as the ‘User Guide.’
I strongly recommend that you complement your learnings with online courses available at https://sueellson.com/courses.
Why Is This Book Helpful?
If you take action, it will help you
- Clarify and achieve your goals, purpose and objectives.
- Record and reflect on your achievements and impacts to date.
- Attract aligned opportunities or maintain your status.
- Quantify your improvements through a change in your statistics.
- Self-select aligned strategies and tactics for your career or business.
- Create a high quality optimized digital asset.
- Revise your strategies as you change.
- Focus on what will work best for you.
- Showcase your improved digital competency.
- Assist you at a personal and professional level.
Preface
I am passionate about connecting people and making sure that they can communicate with one another. Of all of the skills I have acquired over the years, this concept is what drives my dedication, commitment, learning and output.
When I wrote and independently published my first book, ‘120 Ways To Achieve Your Purpose With LinkedIn,’ I was able to compile and curate all that I had learnt into a LinkedIn Strategy Manifesto. The process was cathartic. At the time, I was very much a ‘Sue Everything’ type of person, but writing the book helped me realize that LinkedIn was a tool that could
be used for so many different purposes and for so many different people.
My second book, ‘120 Ways To Attract The Right Career Or Business’ allowed me to share relevant stories from many different people that I hoped the reader could relate to and apply to their own journey.
My third book, ‘120 Ways To Market Your Business Hyper Locally’ was case study driven, because everyone in business wants to know what works.
My fourth book ‘Gigsters – Any Age or Ability Employees, Experts and Entrepreneurs’ allowed me to create a methodology that many different types of people could use to live their purpose. For too long, people have been criticized for not following traditional conventions and I wanted to give people a language to describe their choices. In the future world of work, many more people will need to adopt the gigster mindset and use technology to attract aligned opportunities.
Of these first four books, my most popular one was the first! That tells me something…that people are starting to realize the value of LinkedIn.
However, the first book was very detailed and extremely comprehensive and focused on strategy more than tactics.
This book combines both – strategy and tactics and is designed to be immediately actionable for people of all ages and abilities.
It includes a huge range of updates from the first book because LinkedIn has introduced so many new features. This is another reason why I find LinkedIn so valuable for either a career or business, because it caters for both.
If you are part of a not-for-profit, government, professional association or other enterprize, the business suggestions will also apply to you.
I encourage you to read from the very beginning as your own LinkedIn Profile is an essential component to your success on LinkedIn.
‘LinkedIn for me and my career or business’ ⭐is for:
- understanding how you can use LinkedIn effectively
- clarifying your values, strengths and context
- effectively engaging with people and content
- curating and creating relevant content
- attracting the right career or business
- sourcing the right leads, sales and results
- ethically achieving your goals and outcomes
- creating and maintaining a network of opportunities and referrals
- making the right choices for you
It includes information for:
- students, job seekers and career changers
- freelancers, gigsters, entrepreneurs and business owners
- tradespeople and specialist practitioners
- advisors, consultants and thought leaders
- community groups and professional associations
- not-for-profit collectives, groups and enterprizes
- schools, colleges and universities
- career specialists and social media professionals
This book will help you complete your LinkedIn Profile and LinkedIn Page and teach you how to use LinkedIn to develop your network, maintain those relationships with semi-frequent activity, attract aligned individuals and opportunities and achieve your career and business goals both now and in the future. At all times, it will focus on actionable, ethical and respectful practice.
Get started and take action now!
** Online courses at https://sueellson.com/courses
LinkedIn
Profiling
Connecting
Engaging
Curating
Creating
Publishing
Attracting
Distracting
Meeting
Learning
Performing
Rewarding
Reviewing
Modifying
Exploring
Diversifying
Captivating
Networking
Referring
Remaining
Sue Ellson
Introduction
Are you at a crossroads with your career? Not sure what to do next or desperately seeking a new role? Do you have a business or enterprize that needs new leads, sales or results? Are you looking for a way to attract career or business opportunities without going through the process of applying for jobs or cold calling?
If nothing changes, nothing changes. But how do you decide what to say and do on LinkedIn, especially if you are reluctant to put yourself out there publicly and are a bit nervous about what might happen if you do?
If you are a bit more confident and have already completed most sections of your LinkedIn Profile, are you attracting as many aligned career or business opportunities as you would like? Have you missed any opportunities that you could have had?
Can your LinkedIn network of Connections back you up in a time of crisis? You may have heard the saying, ‘it is not what you know, it is who you know.’ In my view, ‘it is how you can be referred or found and verified’ that counts. If you want to get the right job, be promoted, start a side hustle, business or social enterprize, you can start with a free LinkedIn Profile.
Did you know that most people will Google you before reaching out to you and that LinkedIn is highly optimized for online name searches?
How can you encourage the right decision-makers to contact you (or not contact you and just do what you suggest instead)? How can you showcase the value you offer and attract aligned opportunities whilst simultaneously discouraging unaligned opportunities?
How can you evaluate the effectiveness of your LinkedIn activity and select the most appropriate LinkedIn strategies for your goals?
Put simply, how can you get the results YOU want from LinkedIn?
1. Setup It all starts with creating a fully completed, keyword optimized LinkedIn Profile (and Page or School Page if you are representing an enterprize) that is aligned with your values, strengths and context.
2. Shine Once you understand algorithms, search queries and hacks, you can choose the right content and engagement strategies and get the results you want, in most cases, in less than 20 minutes a week.
3. Surprise To be memorable, you need to do things ‘your way.’ I would love to see more ‘courageous characters’ online. I don’t mean attention seeking, click bait seekers. I mean respectful people who bring their unique perspective and style to the LinkedIn platform (or online more generally).
This practical book will help you choose what will work best for you and if you change your values, purpose, goals or objectives in the future, you can simply adjust your LinkedIn strategy and keep moving forward. I personally believe that LinkedIn offers the most value out of all social media platforms currently available (and possibly in the future as I cannot
see how any other platform could ‘catch up’ with the number of people with established LinkedIn Profiles on LinkedIn).
That said, I recommend that you choose other aligned social media platforms as well to achieve your goals. I have found that my own name website https://sueellson.com allows me full control over content and layout and is a great way to keep an archive of my online activity (and I regularly link to my social media posts from multiple platforms and often
include a YouTube video on blog posts).
My first book, ‘120 Ways To Achieve Your Purpose With LinkedIn’ summarized everything I had learnt about LinkedIn at that time. This book has been written to help you achieve your work, career, business or enterprize goals. It provides strategies and tactics to help you (and possibly your clients) showcase your values, strengths and context via the LinkedIn platform and attract aligned opportunities on an ongoing basis as well as build your own network so that you can keep going through any crisis.
It is written in an ethical, respectful and practical way to help you use LinkedIn within the terms of the LinkedIn User Agreement (a direct link to the LinkedIn User Agreement is available in the footer of every page on LinkedIn) https://www.linkedin.com/legal/user-agreement (Section 8 on the Do’s and Don’ts is essential reading). I feel very strongly about abiding by the LinkedIn User Agreement.
This book incorporates the most relevant concepts from my previous four books as they apply to LinkedIn and what I see as the future of work – where we will all have ‘work’ but not necessarily full time jobs or just one type of business or source of income.
I am always hopeful that the future will enable you to be your ‘own kind of peculiar’ and enable you to bring your unique talents and abilities to your local and international community as a ‘citizen of the world’ (from my book Gigsters – Any Age or Ability Employees, Experts and Entrepreneurs).
I encourage you to be a ‘courageous character.’
After joining LinkedIn on 21 December 2003 (User number 77,832), I have seen the platform grow and develop. Various features have been added and removed and I expect this constant updating to continue. I started consulting on the topic of LinkedIn as an Independent LinkedIn Specialist on 9 December 2008. My first client still keeps me updated on their career and has inspired me with their various transitions and success stories over many years. For the record, I have never worked for LinkedIn, I do not have any personal or professional affiliation with LinkedIn and I have not been paid by anyone to write this book or include any particular content. This book has been exclusively written by me, the author. I have not used any assistive technology or artificial intelligence to prepare the content.
At the time of writing, LinkedIn’s mission is to: Connect the world’s professionals to allow them to be more productive and successful. Unless mentioned otherwise, all of the suggestions in the book are based on logging into LinkedIn on your laptop or desktop computer. The LinkedIn app for phones and tablets is different and does not have the same functionality but there are special features available via the LinkedIn App that will be covered.
Some tips and techniques are mentioned more than once in case you skip to a specific section rather than read the entire book. I believe that everyone should consider creating a LinkedIn Profile, their own personal website and a Google Business Account to establish their online digital footprint from the age of 16 until death. More about that later. Let’s focus on your LinkedIn Profile first and get right into it!