I am not a huge fan of free tips on anything, mainly as they are often given by people that don’t really know what they are talking about, as it is not their core business they are giving away. I often think it is a bit like asking a carpenter for plumbing advice, you wouldn’t do it! Would you?

I recently did the keynote for a conference and one of the things I promised was a “top five” things to do on LinkedIn so rather than keep it quiet here they are for you.

1) Use it! It has to be the first tip, simply use it, often. Make it work for you, share an update and give people a reason to find you interesting, to look at your profile and to share in your positivity and successes. The reason people don’t look at you is that you probably haven’t given them a reason to.

2) Have a photograph of you in business dress as a photo makes you seven times more likely to be looked at. The scary thing is that someone makes a decision based on your image in just 10 milliseconds, so make sure you look professional and look your best! There is no excuse and there will be someone close to you that can get a good profile photo for you. Worth every penny in my opinion. You wouldn’t go networking with a paper bag on your head would you?

3) Get some recommendations from happy clients, from introducers and from partners (rather than staff) as you’re three times more likely to be looked at on LinkedIn if you have recommendations. But they are not all good and there is a huge difference between endorsements and recommendations.

4) Let your personal profile be personal! Be yourself, no point being someone you’re not, create your profile in your style, in your way; if your wordy it will be wordy; if your succinct it will be and let your personality, the way you are out to shine. People engage with you or “buy” you because of the way you do things, your unique outlook, credibility of skills so get them into your profile. Write it in a first person and personable style.

5) Treat LinkedIn like a big business networking session, use the same style of communication, the same type of language and act the same way. If you go networking you don’t not talk to anyone and you don’t ignore all the people that try to talk to you – so don’t do it on LinkedIn!

You don’t get fit having a bike in the garage, you need to ride it to make it work. LinkedIn is just the same, you need to use it and make it work to get the results you deserve. These tips won’t instantly transform your LinkedIn use and experience, for that you need a course .