2012 in review-very cool and smart by WordPress!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,300 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 4 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Top 15 resolutions for 2013 to make LinkedIn work even better to tell WHY YOU!

• Resolve now to improve your LinkedIn profile to tell WHY YOU-who you really are, not what you do for your employer. You’re a brand-show us.

• Resolve now to make personalized LinkedIn connection requests, remind addressee where you met and tell how you can help them…like real life.

• Resolve now to add video and Slideshare presentations to your new LinkedIn personal profile. Easy & very memorable. Think of it like a TV ad for your brand.

• Resolve now to beef up your LinkedIn company profile page–make it show off your products/services. Use key word strategies–get found in searches.

• Resolve now to update your photo or make it larger on the new LinkedIn graphical interface on your personal profile page. Look approachable!

• Resolve now to connect your blog, about.me, website, twitter to your LinkedIn personal & company profile-be found among different audiences.

• Resolve to add new publications you author or are quoted in to let your LinkedIn connections know you are sought for your opinion and views.

• Resolve to add a brief description before each publication on your LinkedIn profile to let reader know this is what they are about to read.

• Resolve to update your LinkedIn connections with new articles or observations that will benefit them and others as frequently as warranted.

• Resolve to “like” “comment” or “share” others’ news-grow a personal learning network we have with each other–a virtual community on LinkedIn.

• Resolve to personalize and read LinkedIn Today daily to stay on top of news stories you might have normally missed.  Pass stories along to others as a favor.

• Resolve to cull through your list of LinkedIn connections and de-connect from those you do not have an affinity for, or because you connected to them so long ago you don’t recall who they are or what they do.

• Resolve to reevaluate the list of LinkedIn groups you belong to, and participate actively in the ones that make most sense.

• Resolve to create a “closed” LinkedIn group of your clients or others who share a similar interest as yours. Great way to enhance your relationships!

• Finally, resolve to present try one or more of these to present yourself the best you can, and give back the best you can, while you demonstrate WHY YOU, all possible on LinkedIn.

I wish you a happy successful, peaceful new year.

Top 10 Things to Be Thankful For on LinkedIn: A Thanksgiving blog posting

Personal note: Every Thanksgiving my father used to make my family go around the table and say one thing we were thankful for. After moans and reluctance, we finally sheepishly found something to say. Now I am making up for long lost times and offering this, electronically, so at least I won’t hear any groans:

1. Thanks, LinkedIn, for the opportunity to place a photo on my profile, to show others how approachable and friendly I look. I hope they are looking at my profile when they call me. I know I am looking at theirs.  Now we can have a much warmer, more productive conversation.
2. Thanks for letting me tell others WHO I am in the profile headline: in other words, my self-expression of WHY CHOOSE ME as a potential business partner.  I have stuffed my “self” into 120 characters, including spaces and have used the “|” symbol to show different aspects of my business interests.  I have been very economical but still could have used a few more characters, so LinkedIn, perhaps you could loosen this up someday…but thanks anyway.
3. Thanks for the Summary section being so flexible as to let me really expand on my headline.  And thanks for making this section so rich for being found on searches on LinkedIn.  I just love knowing people find me on searches and contact me for my services! That deserves a separate “thank you” in itself but I won’t count it twice. 
4. Thanks for hiding placing some of the apps and add-ons in a place I discovered on my edit my profile page, in the light blue bar ending with a green “+” under my contact details towards the top of my profile.  Wow!
5. Thanks everyone for keeping the discussion on LinkedIn nonpolitical and un-toxic, much opposed to the banter in my Facebook page. It’s a credit to my professional community that we were able to keep election politics out of the LinkedIn conversation.
6. Thanks for the body of knowledge and FAQs found in the Help Center section found at the bottom of every LinkedIn page.   The context-sensitive answers are easy to follow and implement.
7. Thanks, LinkedIn, for providing fast responses to specific questions that are not covered in the Help Center, answered by what seem to be real humans in natural language and best of all, they really seem to try to help.  If I need more information, then I can ask that same person instead of recreating the case with another person.  That in itself is pretty impressive, given there are 187+ million users who must be sending a helluva lot of questions to LinkedIn.
8. Thanks for LinkedIn Today where I can peruse multiple industries and sources of news and be well-informed in areas I need to be. I routinely share material that I think will help others:  individually, in a group, or to all my connections, and they have thanked me often. You are all welcome.
9. Thanks for making it easy to reorder the section headings on my profile by holding my mouse button down and dragging the entire section to its new position.  I can now de-emphasize my Education section and emphasize my Recommendations section, for example. 
10. Finally and most deservedly of all, thank all of you 1800 times (as many as my connections) for being there to help, for reading my postings and commenting, and for offering advice and answers when I ask.  As Reid Hoffman expresses in his book “The StartUp of You” I am one person exponentially raised to the 1800^th power (I^we). I always say “my network is my net worth” and you make it so rich and rewarding for me in all my business pursuits. 

I wish you all a bountiful and happy holiday period.

  -Marc