Facebook is, by some distance, the world’s most popular Social Network. (Still it wasn’t worth $1billion!) And while it can be great at losing you your job it isn’t the best one to use when looking for one or connecting with like minded professionals.

This title goes to LinkedIn. The place to be for all business professionals. It is without a doubt the king of business networks. With membership of over 200 million and growing, it is becoming ever more important to have a stand out page. There are even people who make a living offering services on how to do this!

Let me save you some money with a few tips.

Firstly you simply need to be prepared to put time and effort into creating a good profile that will get you noticed. This time and effort, of course, need to be focused in the right direction otherwise it will be wasted.

So here are the golden rules:

• It may seem obvious but you must create a full profile.  Incomplete profiles will reflect badly on the author. If they cannot even be bothered to fill in their own profile what does that say about their work ethic? Their attention to detail? Their own self-worth?

• As always Content is King. Quality content. You need to sell yourself in the introduction. Create an attention grabbing headline and remember to use plenty of key words. Potential employers and client swill take a peek at LinkedIn so make sure your key skills are covered

• Recommendations. Get good clients, colleagues (not mum) to tell others they enjoyed working with you and what you are particularly good at. It is important to keep these current. Out of date will have a negative effect. If you last recommendation is over two years old what’s happened to you in the meantime?

• Join Groups.   Groups offer a great way to network with like minded individuals in you area. Both professionally and more often than not geographically as well. Many groups hold physical networking events allowing people to meet face to face. Be proactive in the groups. Comment on themes. You could even start your own group. This is a great way to earn even more exposure

• Connections. Make as many connections as possible. Don’t make irrelevant connections or unrelated links. Keep focused on your key skills.

• Update you status!  There is nothing worse than an old out dated profile (it would be better to delete it). Make sure your details are up to date. That all information is correct. It never does any harm to continually tweak your profile making small improvement. In no time  it will start to stand out! Remember: make the effort and you will be rewarded.

Looking for inspiration? Not sure where to start. One of the best methods is to look at other profiles. Check out people in your niche and see what you like and don’t like. How would you improve on what they have. What did they do well ?

Some stats:

LinkedIn was launched in 2003. Here are some members by country with the US leading the way:

• USA: 74 million members
• India: 18 million members
• UK:  11 million members
• Brazil: 11 million members
• Canada: 7 million members

Do have an awesome profile? Why not share it. What tips have I missed?

And if you want a .com name , you should have done it yesterday! According to a recent study there are over 105 million.com names being held.  But only around 25-30% of these are active. The rest, if you are cynical, are probably held by someone happily sitting on the name waiting to sell if for an inflated price.

This has happened to me. I was interested in a certain domain name looked it up. It was taken but there was no website. I contacted the owner and asked if he was willing to sell it. He was. For £10,000! I declined and went for a name that was free.  I wonder if he will ever get that price. He may well do as meaningful names become ever more scarce.

If you are set on a name that is taken but not active there is little that can be done apart from buying the name. You could consider using a domain name broker who will aim to acquire the name for the best price, but of course this is not free and you will have to pay for the name as well as the services of the broker. It is up to you to decide if the price is worth paying. When you acquire the name you then own it for as long as you want providing it is maintained.

Not that I condone this in anyway but the reason there are so many names occupied by cyber squatters is that it is extremely good for business. In 2012 the top sale for .co.uk sites was webhosting.co.uk which sold for $500,000. This is way behind the top .com sale (and world record) sex.com which sold for an amazing $13 million. Not far behind was hotels.com selling for $11 million.

One way to avoid paying extortionate pay-outs of a  domain name is to dispute ownership.  The number of domain disputes has risen sharply in recent years with 2012 being the highest recorded ever. The problem is these cases are rarely successful for unprotected names and work mostly with trademarked names.

Steps are being made to make naming fairer with ICANN the organisation that oversees the assignment of domains introducing the option to apply for a custom top-level domain such as .google. A great idea, the price tag of $185,000 (without a guarantee you will get the desired name!) has put off a few of the smaller businesses!  The question is would this idea take off even if it were cheaper? Or would .com still be preferred as it is so ubiquitous now.

Nominet,  the intent registry for the .uk domain names are looking at shortening the .co.uk to just .uk and scan sites for viruses. This would certainly increase security but would only be for those sites with the new .uk. A whole sale shift of name would be needed to reap any benefits.

So everyone who is anyone will be chasing their desired domain name and there is little protection for your desired name. So the answer is be quick and if the name has gone it is worthwhile becoming a bit creative and imaginative with the naming of your website.

What are your thoughts? Have you had to come a bit more creative with your website name? What did you come up with?