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Has someone asked you to write a LinkedIn recommendation for them? Are you not sure where to start, or just looking for tips to write better LinkedIn recommendations? Let’s take a look at why LinkedIn recommendations are important to the people asking for them, and therefore why it’s important for your recommendations to shine. Then I’ll offer a few tips for how you can write a better LinkedIn recommendation whether it’s your first or your fiftieth.

First, let’s look at why you should put some thought into every LinkedIn recommendation you write instead of just jotting down the first thing that comes to mind.

Why It’s Important to Write Great LinkedIn Recommendations

LinkedIn recommendations are an example of “social proof.” Social proof is basically word of mouth marketing. When people you know are talking about something, raving about it, or recommending it you might take it as proof that it’s worth your time (or money). In the case of LinkedIn recommendations that social proof is about a person’s credibility. If you want to hire someone, for example, you might give serious weight to recommendations from people in your own network. The trust you have for the reviewer could translate into some level of up front trust for the professional being reviewed.

Because your LinkedIn recommendations and other social media referrals can have a real impact in that way, it’s important that if you take the time to write one, you write a great one. There’s another side to it though. LinkedIn recommendations are really just referrals. And when it comes to referrals the more you give, generally the more you get. So taking the time to write great LinkedIn recommendations for contractors and colleagues you’ve worked with might lead to them offering that same kind of social proof when it comes to you or your business.

Example of a LinkedIn Recommendation on a Profile Page

If you want to improve the effectiveness of the LinkedIn recommendations you write for others, here are a few tips to help you out.

5 Tips to Write Better LinkedIn Recommendations

1. Be specific.

It’s not enough to say “So-and-so was great to work with.” That’s nice, but it doesn’t tell the reader anything significant. Maybe the two of you simply clicked, or maybe you were friends before working together. Give details. Tell people why someone was easy to work with. For example, maybe it was their scheduling flexibility that made things work out, or perhaps they were easy to work with because they were good about keeping open lines of communication. Let others know what they can expect if they work with that person in the future.

2. Highlight measurable results.

Numbers sometimes speak louder than words. Let’s say you hired a copywriter for your last sales letter for example. You loved the finished product. That’s great, but what really matters is whether or not the sales copy converted into actual sales. That’s the kind of information you should include in a LinkedIn recommendation. It’s okay if you don’t want to give out your exact sales figures. You could give ballpark numbers, just the initial sales (such as the first week), or even general yet measurable information like “his sales letter copy tripled our product sales in the first month.” The more specific the better, but any numbers are better than none.

This is the form you use to submit a LinkedIn recommendation for a contact. - Credit: LinkedIn.com

3. Be honest.

Don’t write LinkedIn recommendations every time someone asks for them. Only put your name behind someone if you’re truly comfortable vouching for them. It gives the recommendations you do write more weight. You might set a personal rule, for example, where you’ll only write a recommendation after completing three projects with someone or only if they’ve worked with you for a certain period of time. This way recommendations are based on a pattern rather than just a one-time success that might not be repeatable.

4. Keep the focus on the other person.

An important element of things like LinkedIn profiles is personal branding. By keeping the focus on the person you’re talking about, you help build their personal brand rather than emphasizing yourself or your company. Mention their name throughout the referral rather than just once at the beginning. Instead of giving details about your project, detail how the person influenced that project. The review should focus on them and the results they helped you achieve more than anything else.

5. Keep it short.

No one wants to read about every element of your relationship with the person you’re referring. Get to the point and highlight only the reasons you would refer them to others. Readers don’t need a lot of background about how you met (or everything involved in the project). Give them what they want and let them move on to other recommendations for a more well-rounded view.

What other tips do you have for writing better LinkedIn recommendations? Are there specific rules you like to follow about who you’ll write recommendations for? How important have LinkedIn recommendations been to you or your business? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments below.

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You launched a new website or blog. You’re excited about it. You’re knowledgeable in your niche. Your credentials are fantastic. You know there’s a market out there for the information you’re providing (and a big one at that). Yet you can’t seem to make a dent in the overall market share. The big dogs are already more established and reasonably well-known — the “go to” sites. Your target audience doesn’t know about you. You aren’t ranking well in search engines. People aren’t linking to you, sending you targeted traffic. You’re not getting type-in traffic. How exactly are you supposed to compete with more established sites?

Don’t worry. It can be done. Even the “little fish” like yourself can grow and gobble up the competition — or at least some of their reader base. Let’s focus specifically on blogging and I’ll give you some tactics for taking your blog from the bottom of the barrel to the top of your niche.

Background (and Timing)

The most important thing to remember is that niche dominance takes time. The big sites in your niche didn’t do it overnight, and you won’t either. (Okay, every once in a while someone does seem to rise to blog stardom overnight, but it’s never a smart idea to assume you’ll be the exception to the rule.)

I’m going to use myself as an example here. Just to give you some background, I’ve taken several blogs to the top of targeted niches including independent music in the Northeast region and book marketing. I also quickly grew a PR blog and run a relatively popular freelance writing blog (the only one of the four I still actively maintain). I’ve worked with different types of audiences, and learned that the same strategies can lead to significant growth in any niche. As I talk about tactics below, I’ll refer back to some of these projects giving specific examples of what I did.

Steps to Blogging Niche Dominance

Let’s get into the how-to side of it now. These five steps will help you build your blog’s audience and popularity as quickly as possible.

Step 1: Target the right niche.

 

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Sure, that sounds obvious, but many bloggers don’t do it. The problem? They target too broad of a niche. For example, if you’re a dog trainer starting a blog with tips on training your dog is probably a good niche for you. Starting a general “dogs” blog would be less ideal (and a much more difficult niche to dominate). It’s often better to be a big fish in a small pond than a little fish in a big pond. What that means is that you’ll target a smaller overall audience, but you’ll capture a much larger market / audience share. Once you’re successful in that smaller niche, you can always branch out into related niches.

This is what I did with my former indie music blog / webzine. I ran a local music PR firm. I started the site specifically to attract area artists to grow my network and potential client base. It worked quite well. I focused not only on the indie music niche, but more specifically the artists (not the fans) and even more specifically the Philadelphia region. I knew that artists tended to know each other, and word spread virally and quickly (no search engine traffic needed). The site became a regional go-to source for local artists. Later the site expanded its regional focus and eventually went international, but through natural growth and exposure rather than a decision to target broadly up front. Expansion is natural, but too broad of a niche initially can lead to your site becoming lost in the bigger mix.

Need help finding a narrower niche? Try the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. Enter a keyword or phrase for the general niche you’re interested in (let’s use our previous “dogs” example). You’ll get a list of related keyword phrases, including average search volumes. The more people searching for a topic, the larger the potential audience for your blog is. In this case you’ll get results like “training dogs,” “dog breeds,” “small dogs,” and “dog art” among others. There is a wealth of narrow niches you can focus on within any large topic area.

Step 2: Create great content.

Like it or not, going to a webmaster forum and buying a bunch of cheap, keyword-stuffed, $5 articles is not going to give you a niche-dominating blog. You might earn a bit of ad revenue, but there’s a big difference between that and a site people truly want to visit, link to, and recommend to others. An authority site offers that, and if you want to dominate your niche (or even just compete with larger sites) you have to be able to build your authority status.

This is where your own experience and credentials come into play. If you have personal background that shows you know what you’re talking about, then you automatically lend credibility to your blog. While it might sound like I’ve launched a somewhat broad variety of blogs, I have strong credentials in all of those areas. As mentioned, I used to run a local music PR firm, and that led to the indie music site. I late branched into book PR for authors in addition to musicians, and launched the book marketing and PR blog (which has since been rolled into my freelance writing blog). I’d been freelance writing part-time for nearly 10 years when I launched that niche blog (it’s now what I do full-time). The PR blog was obviously tied to my work in my old firm. I wouldn’t start a blog on gardening, because I have anything but a green thumb.

Everyone has something that they’re an “expert” at. You don’t have to have a degree or years of professional experience. You could blog about a hobby (like skateboarding or regional travel). You can start an authority blog on lifestyle topics (like being a work at home parent, or your local singles scene). When you write from experience rather than generic Web research, your readers really will notice a difference. Your personality shines through more vividly.

If you don’t feel like you can write true authority content in your target niche, there are ways around it. For example, you can hire someone who is an authority source to write for you. If you can’t afford to do that, another option is to incorporate a lot of interviews into your blog posts where you gather full interviews or quotes from expert sources to lend more credibility to your blog. An added benefit is that recognizable names might attract more viewers and natural links.

In the end, that’s the real benefit of great content — the natural attraction readers have to it. When they love the information you provide, they’ll keep coming back. They’ll spread the word. They’ll link to your content (which helps you improve your search engine rankings without any added work on your part). They’ll buy your products or products you recommend. Those reader relationships are the best way to compete with the bigger blogs in your niche.

Step 3: Be different.

Reader relationships don’t only stem from great content. If you do nothing but repeat information your readers have already seen elsewhere, what’s their motivation to get involved with your blog and spread the word? There probably isn’t any.

 

Not only do you need to offer good information or insightful commentary, but you have to set your blog’s image apart from the competition. If you have a strong personality, that might be enough.

In the case of my PR blog, I did it by making a point of saying things other people were thinking but not willing to say. I knew others shared my opinions through my private networking, but PR folks are naturally image-conscious. They’re always worried about offending their employer, their employer’s clients, etc. Because I worked for myself and most of my clients came to me because of my blunt, matter-of-fact style, I had a luxury of being able to speak my mind without fear. And I did. It pissed some people off (but they kept coming back anyway), and it was refreshing for others who were just waiting for someone else to be the first to call something out so they wouldn’t have to. It was easier to say “I agree,” than to have to fully explore their position independently and publicly on their own sites.

You don’t have to be controversial to set yourself apart though. You can do it in a variety of ways. For example, you can blog in a different format than others. Are interviews rare in your niche? Complete a lot of them. Are most bloggers in your niche writing simple how-to articles? Consider writing more opinion pieces. Are others targeting beginners? Target more advanced readers. As another example, let me go back to my work in the freelance writing niche. In addition to my primary freelance writing blog, a partner and I recently launched a second one. The new blog focuses on a format that wasn’t currently being used in the niche — creative, fictional audio plays tackling issues writers face. You don’t have to stick to the same old style that everyone else is using. It’s okay to be different.

Step 4: Be visible.

If you really want to achieve niche dominance, people have to know about you. You can’t be timid and meek. You have to be aggressive. You have to get your name out there (and your blog’s name). You need people to feel like they’re seeing you everywhere they go. The more often they see you or your blog mentioned, the more likely they’ll be to remember you and check out your site. More visibility can also lead to immediate trust from new readers, when you’re being cited on blogs and other sites they already trust.

How can you aggressively build your name and brand visibility? It isn’t difficult. Here are a few ideas:

• Comment on other people’s blogs regularly, and leave insightful and relevant comments with a link back to your blog.
• Offer to guest post on others’ blogs for a credit link back to your own.
• Solicit interviews (send brief pitches to other niche outlets with interview angle ideas, noting your credentials in the subject matter so they know you’re a reliable source).
• Write op-eds and letters to the editor of large media outlets (like online magazines and newspaper sites that accept them).
• Do something newsworthy (release a new product, have a collection of free tools developed and released on your blog, etc.) and issue a press release about it.
• Go back to the Adwords Keyword Tool and write articles around keywords people are actually searching for to try to build more visibility in search engine results.
• Use article marketing to make your content available on a greater number of sites (and build backlinks at the same time).

It isn’t enough to build visibility quickly. You have to maintain it consistently if you want to maximize your return. Remember, it’s not about having readers see your name. It’s about having them see your name over and over and over again as they’re exploring other resources within your niche.

Step 5: Be social.

 

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Blogs are one of the earlier forms of social media, but interacting with your readers shouldn’t end with your blog. Use other social media tools (like social networks, Twitter, social bookmarking, and forums). They give you a chance to build broader relationships with members of your target audience and lead them back to your blog (in a non-spammy way please).

Be careful though. It’s easy to get sucked into too many social media tools and actually hurt your productivity when you’re trying to grow your blog’s popularity. (Find out why in our previous post: “Social Media: Enough is Enough.”)

From Little Fish to Top of Your Niche

You probably won’t overtake very old, large, or established sites in the search engines (or at least not quickly), but that doesn’t mean you can’t go from having a tiny niche blog to a major player in your topic area. Don’t let search engines dictate everything you do or how you feel about your blog’s level of success. Instead, put the emphasis directly on your target readers.

Are you giving people what they really want? Are they staying on your site for more than a few seconds and coming back for more? Are you seeing consistent growth in your backlinks because others are naturally linking to the content you provide? If you answered “yes,” then you’re on the path to niche dominance. It will take time (sometimes years), but I’d wager that the biggest reason bloggers fail at reaching their growth goals is that they expect too much too quickly and then give up before they see the results of their hard work. Stick with it, and consistently take care of your readers, and they’ll reward you with their loyalty and word of mouth marketing — true signs that you’re a serious player in your niche.

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The saying “It’s not what you know but who you know” makes all the difference. Today, there are more ways than ever to influence getting a job than there have ever been.  Thanks to social media, the people who know about you have increased.

Social media provides the necessary tools to empower you to get ahead of the rat race, and is proving to be invaluable for career success. Social media is all about soft sell and this leaves an impact on people’s mind, thus building your brand.

You will have to become an invaluable asset to others and be the person they go to for a specific skill. Use free social media to advertise your brand and position yourself as a provider.  This is how you are connected to human resource managers who are hiring, recruitment agencies and business owners.

You have to establish your online identity through social networking profiles, blogs, videos and podcasts.  They are a source for people to find and connect with you. You can use these social media tools to project the appropriate image and be hired for a position that is aligned with your interests.  Most prospective employers use social media to find the person they are looking to hire.

This is free and inexpensive sharing of your accomplishments with the world and your prospective employers.  The main investment is your time.  Time to jump on the social media bandwagon.

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Your Resume

It is no longer enough to just list your qualifications, jobs and titles held in your resume.  This does not do a good enough job of giving a clear picture of who you are and what you are capable of.  It has become important to post more information about you online. Your profile on social networks is a resume of sorts.  This is a place where employers network with fellow professionals and find people to hire.  Put this to the best use in an attempt to attract employers.  For ex: LinkedIN.

Networking and Interactions

Just creating a profile and leaving it is not going to do the job.  People come to know more about you through repeated interactions. Social networks are places to understand someone’s personal interests, tastes and learn about their professional proclivities.

When choosing a social network, it is important to look at the volume of that particular network, as you want to market yourself in a network where a lot of people are already searching for people with expertise. Social networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, YouTube, FriendFeed, Flickr, Delicious and Digg have millions of users that can share your profile, resume and blog entries. This can get you a whole lot of exposure and may help you find the perfect job you are looking for, even without applying for one.  There are many executives on good social networks like LinkedIn. Even Bill Gates is part of this network.

It also helps to use social networks that are relevant to your industry.  For example, doctors can use networks like “Medical Mingle” while real estate agents can use “Active Rain.”  There are many more where you will meet people with similar skills and interests.

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How To Use A Blog As Your Resume

If you haven’t thought of creating your own blog, then you must.  A well-built blog can be responsible for hundreds of inquiries.  Blogging about stuff that you are skilled in and passionate about is almost like writing out your experience for a resume line by line; and it makes it much more interesting than a resume.

You can consider adding your picture on the main page. Make your “About” page interesting and write about who you are and what your job skills are and your email for people to contact you.

The saying that a picture is worth a thousand words holds true and putting up a video of yourself is a great and innovative way to reach people. People get a chance to see you, how you act and understand your confidence.  Videos are the missing piece of the whole recruitment process and a brilliant idea.

Marketing

Marketing yourself is extremely important to achieve success in your career.  Most people just create profiles and blogs and don’t bother marketing them.  Creating content and just having social networking profiles is not enough. The time you invest in marketing is going to be much more than the actual creation.

There are many ways you can market your brand.  You can join social networking groups or fan pages and meet people who may be interested in your services. You can comment on related blogs and use backlinks to get people to your blog.

Before investing your time on social media to achieve success in your career, you will first have to spend time on the most crucial aspect of personal branding.  You will have to choose a picture that best represent you and fill out profile fields with a summary of your work experience and personal interests.  Make sure that readers will find you interesting.  Your personal brand statement has to tell the works who you are and what you do.  Be honest in everything you do online.

Now time to start building your presence online through social networking sites and blogs.

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Companies are increasingly turning to the Web to reach their customer bases, in part to get in on the hype surrounding social media. Unfortunately though, using social media tools isn’t enough for effective PR or social media marketing. You have to use them well.

What does that mean? How can your company use social media “well?”

For starters, you need to keep it social. That means you should be engaging in conversations with members of your target market (whether they’re potential customers or existing customers–or users, visitors, readers, or whatever else applies to your company).

The Art of Conversation

Conversations equal two-way communication. When you blog, do you allow readers to comment? Yes? Good–that’s a start. But do you respond to them? Hopefully you do, but sadly many companies (or their executives doing the blogging) do not. They treat a blog as a platform for one-way communication–they talk at their readers instead of talking with them. Where many companies fail in social media is this little thing called “listening.”

Conversations don’t end with your company blog. Are you on Twitter? If so, do you actually pay attention to what most of the people you’re following are saying? (Or did you maybe only add them in the hopes that they’d follow you back and inflate your follower count for popularity’s sake?) Let’s say you really do have an interest in all of the people you’re following. That’s great. Now do you respond to them?

We have a pattern developing, don’t we? You can use blogs, microblogs, social networks, etc. to yap to your heart’s content, but if you’re not responding to your customers and taking part in conversations rather than just instigating them, you’re really missing out.

Fear vs Free Market Research

One of the reasons some companies hesitate when it comes to open conversations on the Web is fear. They’re afraid they may not like what they hear if they give those customers an open platform and actually listen to what they have to say. On one level it’s understandable–would you allow someone to come into your home and badmouth you? Not likely. So why should companies be open to it by allowing customers to potentially criticize them publicly, but in their “home” in the social media space (their blog, profile, etc.)?

Credit: Dominik Gwarek

It’s free market research; that’s why. If anything, negative feedback (of the constructive variety) is far more valuable to your business than people oohing and ahhing over how great you are. If they compliment you, ask how you can make things even better. If they complain, calmly talk to them about the fundamental problems they have (something relatively minor and easy for you to fix, might be infuriating to your customers). Every company can improve, as can any website, product, or service. While not every complaint has to lead to direct action, actively communicating with your audience via social media tools gives you a chance to pick their brains about what they really think (and more importantly what they really want from you in the future).

Social Media is Like Chocolate: You Shouldn’t Overindulge

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How great is it to know that your customers are out there, ready and willing to share their thoughts with you to help you improve and grow your business? If you’re feeling the urge the rush out and set up a LinkedIn and Facebook profile, Twitter account, and new company blog all in one day, then reign it in a bit friend.

Overindulging in social media can be as bad for your company as completely neglecting it and the opportunities it offers. Why?

Let’s take a step back. Remember, the real value in social media is active two-way conversations. While you may be able to maintain those relationships on every social media tool early on, as your following grows on each it will become impossible. You’ll end up in a position where you can’t keep up with those conversations–where it starts to look like you’re too caught up in the fad elements to really put the focus on your customers. Don’t lose that focus!

This is speaking from experience as a customer, where companies have listened to personal complaints about them and made real changes (all via blogs and Twitter): there is no bigger attraction to a company possible than when they actually listen to what you say. When your customers know you aren’t just “hearing” them, but that you’re listening to their needs and concerns behind the words and are willing to act on them–that’s what social media is about (at least when it comes to business).