10 super cool ways to increase your network in Linkedin

1)Get all your contacts in the address-book of your Outlook, Yahoo, Google, Rediff, AOL and MSN email accounts.
Download your address book of any of your email account on your machine and upload it on your Linkedin connections and send an invitation to connect to all these contacts

2)Write a comprehensive profile with proper keywords
Write a brief profile so that people are interested in reading it. Very long descriptions are boring and generally people lose interest in the mid-way. Use the key words appropriately to make your profile more search-friendly.

3)Use your interest sections most intelligently
It’s like a tag cloud of your blog. Use all the key words relevant to your interest / industry to increase the searcheability of your profile and also it makes it easy for others to identify your area of expertise.

4)Make getting connected with you as easy as possible for others
Use Quick links on your other sites, your email address in your Linkedin profile, direct people to your blog / site – do any thing to make it easy for others to connect with you

5)Get connected to the top open networkers
Linkedin best part is your 2nd and 3rd degree connections; get connected to open networker (they usually have huge network of their own) to increase your 2nd and 3rd level of connections.

6)Be an open networker yourself
To be an open networker you need to register your profile at http://www.themetanetwork.com/ and write [LION] in your profile which stands for Linkedin Open Networker

7)Join relevant groups
Join the groups relevant to your interest / industry to get connected with like minded people for many fruitful discussions.

8)Ask relevant questions
Asking relevant questions on Linkedin will not only increase your business acumen and understanding of your industry, it will also help you in increasing your network.

9) Answer questions related to your field
As they rightly say “what goes around comes around” - help people with your expertise and they will help you with increasing your network.

10) Answer to all your connection invitations messages
Last but not the least step is little time consuming but its crucial for maintaining fruitful working relationships on Linkedin.