Treat LinkedIn like a virtual networking and referral group. Connect with people you respect. Connect with people who respect you. Think of 10 people you would love to sit at a weekly breakfast or coffee with. Those are your connections online too.

Don't aim for high numbers - aim for high touch. Listen to your network's status updates - reply to them. Share information they may find useful. Send them messages via LinkedIn. Join groups where your expertise and community involvement would be useful.

Create a compelling profile, strong offer and links to that offer. Refer the people you respect and update your status regularly.

Status updates are for sharing valuable information created by you or by others. Some gurus sugest that 75% of your status updates should be about others - share client successes, industry news, town information etc. Then up to 25% can be about you - aim for a small portion of that 25% to be actual marketing messages.

Nurture your network. Your connections don't want to be marketed to - they want to be communicated with.