Power Formula LinkedIn Blog

How long has it been since you reviewed your LinkedIn profile and updated it for the recent changes? Probably too long.

If this sounds like you, let me share with you some of the most important LinkedIn profile strategies I have been sharing with my clients during their one-on-one LinkedIn consultations with me.

You can consider this your very own 2023 LinkedIn Profile Optimization Checklist.

1. Headline, Profile Photo and Background Photo. More people will see your headline, profile photo, and background photo than any other part of your profile. Make a good first impression by including a creative, keyword-filled headline, professional-quality headshot, and a background that positively represents your personal brand.

2. About. Use the About section to sell yourself. Think of it as your cover letter or elevator speech. With the current profile format, the first 300 characters of your About section are going to be read often; so spruce it up and make it shine. This section has been expanded recently to 2,600 characters.

Good news—LinkedIn recently added a display of your top five skills in your About section. Don't miss this chance to quickly share these with the profile reader without him/her having to go down to the Skills section, which shows up lower on your profile. It will also help you improve your search ranking for these skills. Click the edit pencil in your About section, and then scroll down to pick a skill you want to display here or add a new one to display.

3. Experience and Education. Don't skimp here. Provide details of each job you've held (LinkedIn allows up to 2,000 characters per job or education entry), and include your formal education as well as industry-specific courses, workshops, or seminars you've attended.

Good news again—LinkedIn has recently allowed you to highlight the specific skills you have that are directly attributed to an Experience entry, giving those skills entries more visibility and improving your search ranking. Just click the edit pencil for that specific Experience entry, scroll down to the Skills subsection, and make selections from current Skills entries or add additional ones.

4. Keywords. You'll be more likely to come up in searches if you include the keywords people typically use when trying to find someone like you. Put them in your Headline, Job Experience titles, and the Skills section to receive the most benefit, but avoid "stuffing" your profile with keywords or your credibility may be compromised.

5. Add Media. Not only will adding media help your profile be more visually interesting, but it's a great way to get people to visit your website, check out some of your best work examples, and get copies of important documents, like your resume, your customer testimonials, etc. You can add media to your Featured section, Job Experience, and Education entries on your profile.

6. Recommendations. Get at least two current, impactful recommendations. Your two most recent recommendations are nicely displayed. Note, however, that you cannot reorder them. The rest of your recommendations get buried in the Show all ## received drawer; so consider grabbing the best quotes from your recommendations and placing them in the job entry they are tied to.

7. Add Optional Additional Profile Sections. Just click the Add profile section button below your profile photo, and then you will have access to loads of really helpful optional profile sections that can highlight some of your most important passions and credentials. The ones I consistently recommend people add to their profiles are Featured, Licenses & Certifications, Projects, Courses, Volunteer Experiences, Organizations, and Languages.

8. Calls to Action. You don't want people to just look at your profile—you want them to do something. Invite readers to watch a video, go to your website, request a quote, etc. It's easy to include calls to action in your About section or your current Experience section, but you can creatively include them in other sections as well.

So don't waste time. Get busy improving these eight spots on your LinkedIn profile, and you will have set yourself up for 2024 to be your best year ever.
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SPECIAL OFFER

If you'd like me to help you tune up your profile, sign up for one of the four to six personal sessions I fit into my schedule each week. These consultations are still specially priced at $197 (the price is going up soon). Book your session here.

I will share my computer screen with you during the Zoom call and send you a marked-up copy of your profile prior to the call.

Whether you’re using LinkedIn to find your next high-impact customer, raise your organization’s profile, or land the job of your dreams, this session is for you.

There are limited spots available, so don't delay. Book your session today by clicking here.

During one-on-one LinkedIn consultations and also the Q&A time at my presentations, people are consistently interested in learning how they can get the right people to look at their profile.

First, it's important to identify what the right people would look like—in other words, determine who you actually want to meet.

If you're just not sure who the right people are, check out my article Is Your LinkedIn Network Serving Your Purposes?

Note: I will be covering these strategies and so many more at my upcoming two-hour virtual advanced sales workshop "Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects" on October 9. Check out the details and register here.
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Simple steps to get more profile views by the "right" people

Sometimes people just need a little nudge—if you look at me, I'll look at you. So begin by using any of the LinkedIn people searching tools to search for the right people. The two I think shine above the rest are Advanced People Search and University Pages/Alumni.

Begin your search by entering the keywords you think the right people would include in their profile. Then browse through the profiles shown in the search results. When you see someone who looks interesting, click on the person's name to view their profile. That simple step alone may encourage some of these people to look at your profile.

Once on the profile, there are a number of steps you can take. Some of these steps may not feel right to you at this point, but, trust me, they all increase the chances that this person will look at your profile.

Review the person's Activity section by clicking Show all activity. Like, repost or comment on any of the articles or updates you think people in your network would find helpful.

When sharing or commenting on someone's article or activity, consider using the @mention feature by typing "@" followed by the person's name. When the person's name shows up in the drop-down choices, click that entry.

This triggers LinkedIn to send a notification to that person, telling them that they were mentioned in your update or repost. The notification goes to the person's email Inbox in addition to their LinkedIn Notifications tab.

If you are personally aware of the person's skills, you may want to endorse them for one or more of their skills.

Send the person a customized invitation to connect. If your request to connect is accepted, follow up with a thank-you note, opening the door to a possible next step (meeting, phone call, etc.)

If the person doesn't connect with you right away, check your Who's Viewed Your Profile listing periodically to see if they view your profile sometime down the road. If you see that they've taken a look at your profile, consider reaching out to them with a new LinkedIn connection request, phone call, email, etc.

If you routinely take these steps, your profile will consistently be viewed by the right people—and more profile views by the right people will generate more traditional interactions (phone calls, emails, meetings, etc.) with the right people. Of course, this will result in improved ROI for your time spent on LinkedIn.

SPECIAL OFFER

If you'd like to learn more simple but powerful ways to use LinkedIn to sell more products and services—or, if you're not directly selling something, maximize LinkedIn for yourself or your organization—join me on Monday, October 9, for my virtual workshop Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects.

One of the best LinkedIn features often overlooked for business development purposes is the People Also Viewed box, which is in the right column of your profile. This tells you who else people are looking at besides you—and it's probably people who have similar characteristics to you. Now, LinkedIn doesn't share exactly how it works (other than this interview with a former LinkedIn employee), and you have no control over who appears on your profile. However, below I'll show you how you can take it off your profile if you don't want it there.

Note: I will be covering these strategies and so many more at my two-hour virtual advanced sales workshop "Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects" on October 9. Check out the details and register here. .

How to capitalize on this great prospecting tool

If you look at a client's or prospective client's profile and scroll down to People Also Viewed, the list could be a target list of people very similar to the person whose profile you are viewing.

I suggest you check this list out often on your clients' and prospective clients' profiles, and add some of these names to your master prospect list. And, hey, why not try to connect with the ones you are not connected with using a customized invitation to connect.

Now, it's great to look at who's viewing other people's profiles, but you should decide whether you want People Also Viewed to show up on your profile. The default setting will put the list on your profile.

Personally, since I was tired of my competitors showing up on my profile, I unchecked the box. I feel pretty good about my decision because it doesn't stop me from seeing the People Also Viewed list on other people's profiles (unless they've also unchecked the box). And if my competitors haven't unchecked the box, I can still show up in the People Also Viewed list on their profiles. It seems like a no-brainer to me.

If you'd like to remove the People Also Viewed list from your profile, click here to learn how to change your setting.

Over time, if more and more people do what I'm suggesting, this feature will become less helpful. But, trust me, LinkedIn will probably change something before we get to that point. Take advantage of it while you can.

A final reminder that I will be sharing a live LinkedIn demo of these strategies and more at my two-hour virtual advanced sales workshop on October 9. Here is the link to check out the details and register:  https://linkedinsalesoct2023.eventbrite.com

By the way, all registrants get a link to the recording, so you don't have to attend live to get the benefit of this valuable workshop.

Have you ever wondered how LinkedIn determines the order of search results?

All LinkedIn will tell us is their algorithm is based on relevancy to the searcher—but if you read their explanation of relevancy to the searcher, you'll probably come away more confused than ever!

The bottom line is this is their secret sauce, and they're not about to share all the ingredients with their users.

However, because I spend 40+ hours each week helping people capitalize on LinkedIn, I've tested thousands of profiles, and I've figured out a few things that I'd like to share with you.

In my opinion, putting the right keywords in the right places on your LinkedIn profile is your ticket to getting closer to the top of the search results when people are searching for someone like you.

By the way, I'll be discussing the keyword optimization steps as well as lots of tips, tricks, and strategies for growing your brand and making more money at my virtual workshop Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects. The workshop will be on October 9, noon-2pm CT. No worries if you're busy, because all registrants will receive a recording of the session.
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What are your most important keywords?

Simply put, your keywords are the words you think someone would use to search for you online, regardless of whether it's a general internet search site like Google, a job search site like Career Builders or Indeed, or a professional networking site like LinkedIn.

Depending on your objective for using LinkedIn, it could include words that describe you professionally, categories or brand names of the products and services you and your company provide, specific skills you possess, the software you use proficiently, titles you have held, and so on.

If you're looking for a new job, these keywords can be found in the job postings that you're interested in.

My Keyword Worksheet (below) will help you identify the best words to include on your profile.
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Where should you put keywords on your LinkedIn profile?

The simple answer is everywhere you can—and the more times the better—but be sure your profile remains easy to read. Just listing a particular keyword over and over, with commas in between, will not only be hard to read but potentially confusing to the reader.

In addition, LinkedIn has warned that this type of  "keyword stuffing" will not be tolerated—and you sure don't want them to penalize you by moving you down the search results list.

From working extensively with my LinkedIn clients over many years, I've learned there are three spots on your profile where you definitely want to include your most important keywords—your Headline, Experience-Job Titles, and the Skills section.

To learn how to most effectively include keywords in these three sections, take a look at my client Ted Mailey's profile. He's president of APO Pumps & Compressors, a Cleveland area distributor of air compressors and related equipment.

Headline

Experience-Job Titles

Skills

Trust me on this one. Follow through on this critical strategy, and you'll come up significantly higher in the search results, just like my client Ted Mailey.

To identify your most important keywords, review or download my Keyword Worksheet below.

REMINDER:  Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects Workshop

If you'd like to learn more simple ways to not only improve your search ranking but to find and connect with more prospects, grow your brand, raise awareness of your nonprofit, and make more money with LinkedIn, register now for my upcoming two-hour workshop on October 9. Click here to get more details and register. And remember—if you aren't able to attend the live virtual event, your registration includes a link to the recording.

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Ever wonder if you are doing the right things on LinkedIn in order to get the most out of the site?

Well, LinkedIn has an awesome FREE grading system called the LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI). However, most people have not taken advantage of it.

And don't be turned off by the word "selling" just because you're not a salesperson. Let's face it—we're all selling something. If you're not selling products or services, you're selling yourself or your organization every day. And with the rise of social media, this has never been more true.

Get your score by simply clicking the Get your score button on this page: https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/social-selling/the-social-selling-index-ssi

By the way, I'll be discussing easy ways to improve your SSI score as well as lots of tips, tricks, and strategies for growing your brand and making more money at my virtual workshop Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects. The workshop will be on October 9, noon-2pm CT. No worries if you're busy, because all registrants will receive a recording of the session.

What's your score?

Yes, 100 is a perfect score, and I doubt anyone has achieved that score other than maybe Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn) or Ryan Roslansky (current CEO of LinkedIn). But be sure to look past just the raw score and see how you rank in your industry and your network, both in total and in each of the four scoring categories (maximum of 25 points for each category). Also, take note of the trend line for your score. These spots are where the information gets particularly helpful for you personally.

What is SSI and why should you care?

LinkedIn came up with SSI to score sales professionals and their corporate teams and track improvement and results, thus proving the ROI from upgrading to their most expensive premium sales upgrade called Sales Navigator. So, of course, LinkedIn has a motive for spending time and effort to generate this information. They're hoping companies will upgrade all their salespeople to Sales Navigator.

However, now all users can learn and improve by tracking their Social Selling Index (SSI). It's easy to set goals after you receive your score from LinkedIn.

LinkedIn surveyed over 5,000 sales professionals, and they've shared the following fairly significant results that demonstrate the importance of becoming an SSI leader:
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• SSI leaders create 45% more opportunities per quarter than SSI laggards
• SSI leaders are 51% more likely to hit quota than SSI laggards
• 78% of social sellers outsell peers who don't use social media

How does LinkedIn determine your SSI score?

Your SSI score is based on what LinkedIn refers to as "The Four Pillars of Social." 

1. Establish your professional brand. Complete your profile with the customer in mind. Become a thought leader by publishing meaningful posts.

2. Find the right people. Identify better prospects in less time using efficient search and research tools.

3. Engage with insights. Discover and share conversation-worthy updates to create and grow relationships.

4. Build relationships. Strengthen your network by connecting and establishing trust with decision makers.

I'm in total agreement with LinkedIn that these are the four critical elements for getting results from all your social media channels—and not just for selling purposes but also for growing your brand, improving your business and personal marketing, and finding your next great job.

And just in case you're wondering, my SSI is currently 86, and I rank in the top 1% of my industry and network—but I won't be happy until I get to 100. I only scored 16.42 out of 25 in the "Engage with Insights" category, and I'm going to work on that.

So get busy and see how much you can improve your score and then reap the business and career benefits.
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REMINDER:  Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects Workshop

If you'd like to learn more simple ways to not only improve your SSI but to find and connect with more prospects, grow your brand, raise awareness of your nonprofit, and make more money with LinkedIn, register now for my upcoming two-hour workshop on October 9. Click here to get more details and register. And remember—if you aren't able to attend the live virtual event, your registration includes a link to the recording.

After someone looks at your LinkedIn profile, you'd probably like them to call you, email you, or send you a LinkedIn connection request, right?

But what if the reader is not quite ready to take that big step? What if (s)he needs more information about you, your company, or your products/services before (s)he picks up the phone or reaches out to you with an email?

This is where calls to action (CTAs) come in. What is a CTA? Wikipedia says this:

"A call to action, or CTA, is a term used to describe a banner, button, or some type of graphic or text...meant to prompt a user to click it and continue down a conversion funnel."

Hubspot, one of the world's leaders in designing websites that concentrate on lead generation and inbound marketing, says:

"Calls to action (CTAs) are one of the key lead generation elements, and they should be used in each and every one of your marketing tactics: emails, social media updates, press releases, trade shows..."

Note: I will be covering these strategies and so many more at my upcoming two-hour virtual advanced sales workshop "Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects" on October 9. Check out the details and register here.
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What actions might you call people to take?

There are lots of possibilities, depending on your business purpose, but here are a few examples:
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• Download an informational document
• Watch a video or listen to a podcast
• Download your resume
• Go to your website
• Read your blog
• Read a product review
• Sign up for a discovery call
• Request a quote
• Email you
• Pick up the phone and call you
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How can you incorporate calls to action into your LinkedIn profile?

Your LinkedIn profile needs to have several CTAs to help move your reader down the conversion funnel and closer to that all-important step of contacting you. And if you have a company page, you'll want to put CTAs there as well.

The best sections on your profile to include your CTAs are:
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• Headline
• About (previously referred to as your Summary)
• Featured
• Job Experience
• Contact Info
• Share a post
• Projects
• Publications
• Long-form articles

Here are examples of CTAs I've included in the About and Featured sections of my profile. The Featured section is simply the very best CTA tool that LinkedIn has ever given us for our profiles.

Here is another example but this time from one of my Job Experience entries. I give people a couple easy ways to contact me or sign up for my virtual one-on-one LinkedIn consultation service.

Other great places to include CTAs on your profile include the Websites listing in your Contact Info section as well as the Publications and Projects sections. To see examples of these, check out my full LinkedIn profile.

Why not add some calls to action to your LinkedIn profile today, and hopefully your phone will start ringing just like mine.

A final reminder that I will be sharing a live LinkedIn demo of these strategies and more at my two-hour virtual advanced sales workshop on October 9. Here is the link to check out the details and register:  https://linkedinsalesoct2023.eventbrite.com

By the way, all registrants get a link to the recording, so you don't have to attend live to get the benefit of this workshop.

When you answer the door or the phone and aren't sure what the person wants, you undoubtedly say, "How can I help you?"

But why aren't you asking the same question when strangers ask you to join their LinkedIn networks?

Perhaps it's because you aren't really sure how to pose the question on LinkedIn or don't understand the benefit of asking how you can help.

Now, of course, some of the strangers are spammers or just want to sell you something you're pretty sure you don't need. With those folks, just hit the Ignore button.

But with other people who ask you to join their networks, don't be so quick to hit the Ignore button on your computer or X on your mobile app, because a new, productive relationship may be just a button click away.

Note: I will be covering the best corporate LinkedIn strategies on August 21 at my next virtual workshop, "Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business." Here is the link to check out the details and register: https://aug2023linkedincompanypage.eventbrite.com
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Simple ways to decide whether or not to reach out to strangers

Start by going to your Pending Invitations page. You'll find this page by clicking the My Network icon on your top toolbar. Choose See all (XX), and LinkedIn will then display all of your inbound invitations in the order you received them.

If someone includes a personal message with his/her invitation, you'll see the message in a message box both on your mobile app and on your computer. Personally, I always look at these invitations first because they may require a prompt response.

To improve your chances of receiving a favorable response when you ask someone how you can help him/her, follow these three simple steps:
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• Check out the person's profile in detail, looking at his/her jobs, volunteer experience, education, and accomplishments.
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• See who you have as mutual connections, and consider reaching out to one or more of those people to get more information about the person who's asked you to join his/her network.
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• View the person's recent activity to see the type of information (s)he is sharing with his/her network.

Once you're confident you should ask the How can I help you? question, click Reply to [name] in the person's Pending Invitations box. You can then reply without accepting the person's invitation to connect.

You might say something like:

"Thanks for asking me to join your LinkedIn network. I typically don't accept people into my network until I have either met them or understand how we might be able to help each other. So let me know how we might be able to collaborate. I look forward to hearing from you."

This simple technique will scare away anyone who's simply in the spam business and will encourage the others to share what is on their minds. You may be surprised by how many people are truly interested in helping you—and some are probably requesting a connection because someone you know and trust referred them to you.

This technique has helped me and my consulting clients find many new, important relationships. And opportunity may be calling you on LinkedIn, too—so why not give it a try.

I will be sharing a live LinkedIn demo of my very best LinkedIn corporate marketing strategies and more at my upcoming two-hour virtual workshop on August 21, Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.

Here is the link to check out the details and register:  https://aug2023linkedincompanypage.eventbrite.com

By the way, all registrants get a link to the recording, so you don't have to attend live to get the benefit of this workshop.

LinkedIn just keeps the changes coming, and this article will focus on the exciting changes relating to your LinkedIn company page (LinkedIn now refers to this simply as your "page"). And more good news—they don't require any kind of premium account or paid advertising.

If you're not the person responsible for your company's LinkedIn page, be sure to share this article with that person—he or she will thank you later.

Note: I will be covering these and so many more LinkedIn company page strategies at my next virtual workshop on Monday, August 21, Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business. 
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Best recent LinkedIn changes/updates for your company page

Here are the four game-changing LinkedIn company page changes, along with the action you need to take to make sure your company gets the exposure you need to grow your business and attract new employees.

Detailed list of followers. This list was available back in the early days of LinkedIn, then it disappeared, and now it's back. I hope and pray it's here to stay, but—just in case it isn't—be sure to review this list ASAP.

So, what exactly are you looking for?

You're looking to see if there is anyone on the list who looks like a potential employee, customer, supplier, someone you could partner with on a new product or service, etc. These people have made the purposeful choice to follow your page, which means they have an interest in your company. Therefore, it's your job to reach out and inquire about what their interest may be.

The simplest tactic is to send an invitation to connect with a customized note that inquires about their interest in your company. Sure, there will be spammers or totally unrelated people who follow your page, but don't let that fact stop you from finding the gold in that list. Be diligent, and mark your calendar to periodically check out the new followers. They're listed in the order they started following your page, and the month and year they became followers is also listed.

To get to your list of followers, click the Analytics tab on your toolbar on the left of your company home page when you are in Admin mode. Then select Followers. Scroll down, and you'll see a list of all your followers. The most recent ones will be at the top of the list.

Easy way to invite 250 people to follow your page each month. Another real goodie here (and one that people have been asking for) is each month you can invite a selected group of your personal connections to follow your page—and it's simple, too. Just check the box next to each person's name.

More good news: For every person you've invited who doesn't decide to follow your page, you receive a credit you can use to invite someone else the following month.

These invitations show up in your connections' open invitations list, right along with their new invitations to connect. Therefore, there's a high probability that your notification will be seen, and that's a good thing.

To get started, click the Invite connections on the top right of your company's home page. Please note that you need to be viewing this page in Admin mode and not Member mode in order to access the admin tools. Once you select Invite connections, you can check off up to 250 of your connections and invite them to follow your company page.

LinkedIn company page activity notifications. I can't believe this took so long, but now you can see exactly who is engaging with any of your company page posts. Because notifications are shown with a bold red indicator, you won't miss any opportunities to engage with the folks who are engaging with your posts.

People engaging with your posts and then your engaging with them will really help the organic reach of your posts. Reaching out to these people will help you strengthen relationships and begin new ones, which should ultimately lead to new customers and talented new employees.

You can access your company page activity by clicking Activity on the left hand side of your company page toolbar.

Notify employees of LinkedIn company page posts. You can now notify a group of your employees that you've posted an update by simply clicking Notify Employees after you've clicked the three dots on the post you're interested in notifying your employees about. These notifications go to some of your employees. Who receives them is based on LinkedIn's secret algorithm for relevancy. Then hopefully your employees will engage with the post, and some people in their networks will see the post in their LinkedIn home feed. You can use this notification feature once a day.

Another way to get the word out to a group of employees is to either send an email to them saying you just made a post or tag them in the first comment box of the post.

Whether you use the new, easy-to-use Notify Employees feature, a more traditional method, or both, the goal is to spark engagement. The more comments or shares your post gets, the more company page followers who will see it in their activity feed.

These are by far the most helpful changes LinkedIn has designed for your company page in at least ten years. Take full advantage of them, and not only will you gain some new customers, but you'll undoubtedly discover some terrific new team members as well.
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SPECIAL OFFER

To learn about more terrific company page changes, address the mistakes you're making, and formulate a specific strategy for your company page, be sure to check out my August 21 virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.

Over 62 million companies have LinkedIn company pages, and that's a great place to start, but you may not get the results you desire from your company page alone. The road to real corporate marketing success begins with company employees presenting a consistent branding message on their personal LinkedIn profiles.

But if you're company management, how can you help your employees share the responsibility for promoting your company's products or services?

It starts with creating LinkedIn best practices guidelines and sharing them with all employees. The guidelines should include profile standards as well as simple LinkedIn activities that will be helpful for the employees as well as the company.

A LinkedIn training session is a quick and easy way to share the guidelines with your employees—and they will be more likely to follow the guidelines if they understand the strategy behind them and see the personal value in addition to the corporate value.

Of course, I've provided LinkedIn training for hundreds of companies and would be happy to assist you and your company as well. Click here to check out the details and register for my upcoming virtual workshop on August 21: Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.
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What to include in your company's LinkedIn best practices guidelines

The first six items below are typically one-time profile updates that all employees can quickly and easily perform. The last item includes activities employees should be encouraged to engage in on an ongoing basis.

For additional LinkedIn company branding ideas, be sure to check out my upcoming virtual workshop on August 21: Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business. And all registrants get a link to the recording, so you don't have to attend live to get the benefit of this workshop.

Your LinkedIn network is one of your most valuable business assets. Therefore, you should add people to your network very strategically. But people change and circumstances change, and occasionally you may find it necessary to remove someone from your network.
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Why should you drop someone from your network?

This list is certainly not exhaustive, but here are a few situations that might prompt you to take action:
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• Someone is filling your Inbox with spam on a consistent basis
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• Without your permission, somebody is dropping your name in voicemails all over town in an effort to get the appointments (s)he's been trying to land for years with your friends
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• One of your connections has become a direct competitor
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• You can't keep up with the inordinate amount of LinkedIn introductions someone is asking you to make
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• The day after you connect with someone, (s)he sends you a lengthy canned solicitation message that has no relevance to you and your business

I'm sure you get the picture. But don't lose sight of the fact that each and every first-level connection is actually helping you in the search ranking algorithm on LinkedIn. So think twice before you disconnect. For instance, the fact that you've never met a particular person in your network may not be reason enough to disconnect.
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How to drop someone from your network

There are several ways to disconnect with someone on LinkedIn, but one is preferable because the person won't be able to see that you looked at his/her profile before disconnecting. And don't worry—people do not receive a note from LinkedIn saying you dropped them.

1.  Click the My Network tab on the top toolbar, and then choose Connections in the left-hand column under Manage my network.

2.  Type the person's name in the Search by name box.

3.  Once the person's name shows up, click the three dots to the right of his/her name and select Remove connection.

After you disconnect, any recommendations or endorsements between you and that person will be eliminated. The person will not be able to re-invite you. However, if you have the person's email address, you can re-invite him/her anytime in the future.

And don't feel guilty if you choose to disconnect. It's your professional network, and you should be comfortable with who's in that network.
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SPECIAL OFFER

If you’d like help with developing a LinkedIn strategy that will catapult your business and career, take advantage of my limited time offer: a one-hour, one-on-one LinkedIn consultation for just $197. This offer also includes an in-depth critique of your profile.

I will share my computer screen with you during the call and send you a marked-up copy of your profile prior to the call.

There are limited spots available, so don't delay. Book your session today by clicking here.