Whether you’re looking for a job, seeking a promotion at work, running for political office, joining a civic group, owning a business or just being a neighbor, people are Googling your name.

There’s no telling what they’ll find.

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I recently read an article on USA Today’s web site called “Bad news for workers is good news for LinkedIn” that stated that LinkedIn usage is catching fire as workers look for jobs through social networking.

Since early September — when recession started a domino effect of layoffs in the U.S. — LinkedIn has seen growth.  Traffic (page views), invitations to connect and connections made is up almost 10% as workers tap into their social networks to find jobs.

I’ve used LinkedIn for years now, and can vouch for its power in finding work.  I’ve found web projects from LinkedIn, and I’ve been contacted multiple times for management-level jobs by recruiters (I especially liked the last contact I had with a connection from a certain motorcycle manufacturer in Milwaukee).

Here are some ways to grow your LinkedIn network:

• Connect with past co-workers, bosses and contacts. In the business world, people move on to new positions and you can leverage those contacts later to help you find work.
• When you network, ask people if they are on LinkedIn. This one sounds simple, but it’s an easy way to make connections.
• Put social networking information on your business card. Including your LinkedIn profile address on that blank flip side — along with a personal note — can help grow your network.
• Work hard at growing your network of connections. The more people you’re connected to, the more visible you’ll be to recruiters and employers.

Here are some effective tips for using LinkedIn to find a job or develop business:

• Blast messages out to select connections. If you’re looking for a new job, you can send a mass message to connections that might be able to help you find work.  Personally, I like to network with recruiters in case this whole “being in business” thing doesn’t work out…
• Join (and participate in) LinkedIn Groups that are job-related. If you live in a city of over 100,000 people, you can often find a local group that focuses on networking for job purposes, groups of recruiters or trade/skill/professional groups in your local area.
• Complete your LinkedIn profile. Take an hour or so to post your complete employment experience and tasks performed, using keywords that are specific to your industry. Also list your interests, a good photo, and write a compelling “elevator pitch” for your Summary. Don’t be shy about asking for recommendations from co-workers or past co-workers that are connected to you. Don’t forget to list your contact information. Completing your profile is important because recruiters and employers will often search for people that fit a profile, and you just might bubble up to the top of the list.
• Answer questions. Prove that you’re a thought leader by answering questions (the Q&A feature on LinkedIn) that others in your network or groups ask. It’s all about visibility, and answering questions in an intelligent manner will give you credibility.
• Ask for connections at a specific company. Want to work at a specific company? Use LinkedIn’s search feature to find people, then either use the “introductions” feature and your network to get introduced or send them a connection request with a detailed personal note. When asking for the connection (if you don’t know the person) introduce yourself and express your interest in their company, then ask for the connection.

I hope you’ll consider using LinkedIn for networking, business development and job seeking.  You’ll find me at http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickwhittington and I accept all connection requests, so what’s stopping you?  You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter.

This isn’t a political post, rather to show you how not to keep your “customers” up-to-date.  After hearing today that the bill the US Senate passed last night included hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for manufacturers of wooden arrows for children, Puerto Rican rum manufacturers and American Samoa.  Wanting to read the bill myself (all 400+ pages, I hear), I went to senate.gov.

The fact of the matter is that you, the American citizen — the “customer” — won’t find any mention of the bill on the Senate’s homepage.  Matter of fact, I spent 20 minutes searching for it, and think I found it, but I’m still not sure because half of the bill isn’t about the economy.  I turned to a news site that offered a clear link to the legislation, and I found:

Sec. 308. Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Sec. 309. Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa.
Sec. 314. Indian employment credit.
Sec. 502. Provisions related to film and television productions.
Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.

…and the list goes on.

Why do the American people detest Congress?  Perhaps it’s because Washington doesn’t provide us adequate usable access to the legislation that crosses the floor.  Here’s a link to the bill, and if you’re for or against it, call your Senator or Representative, but good luck trying to find their contact information on their web sites.

Time and time again, I’ve seen that truly successful people (and companies) pay attention to the “little things.” This post is about one of those little things — specifically e-mail signatures.

Since nearly everyone has an iPhone, Blackberry, Smartphone or the ability to check their e-mail on their mobile devices, e-mail signatures become very important. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit that everyone has e-mail ready mobile devices, but a good percentage of businesspeople use these devices to check their e-mail.

So why is the signature so important, and what should you include in your e-mail signature? The answer is rather obvious but goes overlooked by many — your phone number.

If you include your phone number in your e-mail signature, then the recipients of your e-mail have easy access to your phone number if they need to call. For example, if I send a proposal to a prospective client and they read my message on their mobile device, they can just “click” on my phone number to call me. If you’re like me, you probably don’t keep the contacts into your phone’s address book up-to-date like you should, so it’s really helpful when someone adds their phone number to their e-mail signature.

Making it easy for clients and customers to call you back just may net you some more business.

Here’s a good Monday morning find — a blog post from MarketingVox about how sponsors of last week’s Idol Gives Back show stack up in terms of PR. The show, which urged viewers to call and donate their money to a bunch of various charities, was sponsored by ExxonMobil, Ford, Coca-Cola and iTunes. The blog post cites a study on how the sponsors weaved PR messages into the show.

Read the blog post at MarketingVox

I read a blog post today over at MarketingCharts.com about how many non-profits miss out on the opportunity to connect with so-called “wired wealthy” donors online.

A Convio, Sea Change Strategies and Edge Research study showed that “wired wealthy” give an average of $11,000 per year, are active online and becoming more so.

Donors prefer donating online as it reduces administrative costs, and non-profits must learn how to connect with donors online to encourage donation. Not surprisingly, many don’t understand how to use the web as a marketing tool. The study showed that most non-profit sites don’t make an emotional connection, aren’t inspiring, and less than half of non-profit sites are well-designed.

There are opportunities to market to donors via e-mail as they are receptive to donation reminders and updates about how past donations were spent.

Having worked at a non-profit for a couple of years, I think that non-profits need to think more like businesses. There have been multiple comparisons between non-profits and small businesses, and I think this is a good comparison because non-profits can improve donations through entrepreneurial thinking. Non-profits don’t have to sacrifice their social cause by marketing more aggressively to donors and potential donors. More aggressive marketing doesn’t necessarily mean more frequency of message — it means finding new ways to solicit donations and make connections.

Perhaps non-profits should re-define themselves as “social entrepreneurs,” learning how to better support their cause through blogging, e-mail marketing, viral video, sponsorship opportunities, mobile marketing and other new, emerging technologies. Yes, and having a compelling, effective web site doesn’t hurt either.