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Let’s start by considering how much a single Linkedin connection is worth to your business. Obviously if you connect with a mover and shaker in your industry, that connection will be worth more then your average connection.

So how much in terms of dollars and cents is the average connection worth to you? If we are talking about a single connection, then on average, probably not much. A single connection amounts to little more than a drop in the bucket.

A thousand connections on the other hand amounts to having the whole bucket. With such a large connection list, you will have attained critical mass.At this point, your proflie will have its own gravity, and others will be attracted to that gravity.

With such a list some will want to add you to their network since they will figure that with that many connections, you must be important, and that they too should try to connect with you. Others will try to add you because they want to get in contact with someone on your list and they are hoping that connecting with you will help them towards their goal.

Not to mention that having so many connections means that there are a thousand other profiles out there with links point at yours, so the chances of being found are quite good. Now onto the list…

1. SEO Benefit – Linkedin provides its users with free profiles. These profiles sit out in cyberspace and are therefore ranked by search engines. This amounts to free search engine traffic, and any amount of free traffic is hard to argue with.

Both links from other web pages, as well as internal links from the same website can have a positive effect on search engine rankings. So keep in mind that one thousand connections means a thousand incoming internal links to your profile.

2. Resistance Remover – Human being are creatures of habit, and as such most of us resist new and unfamiliar experiences. This includes a resistance to dealing with new companies we have no experience with, as well as a reluctance to put ourselves into situations where someone might try to sell us something.

Having a connection in common with a potential client can bring down this resistance level. If your new client can call up your mutual friend, and that friend can vouch for you, you might just have yourself an extra customer.

3. Expert Status – People like seeking advice from experts, somewhere deep down we tend to believe that experts know something we don’t, and that that something can benefit us.

Add to this the fact that human beings are attracted to anything that is scarce or in high demand and you will come to the conclusion that everyone wants a meeting with the expert who has lot’s of people competing for his attention.

A thousand connections says to your audience that you are that expert.

4. Connection Broker - The more connections you develop on Linkedin, the more that people will contact you to get help meeting someone else on your list. Every time you help someone connect you are getting your name and your service talked about.

A certain percentage of the people that you meet will become clients. Brokering connections is yet another way to meet more people.

5. Strengthen Connections – Anytime you meet someone knew, whether you meet them online or in person, you can use social networking sites such as Linkedin to strengthen that connection.

You might meet someone on a social networking site like Twitter and then proceed to exchange a few messages. Afterwards you might decide to invite that person as a connection on Linkedin or some other social networking site as a way of strengthening that connection.

These are some of the reasons to purse even a single connection on Linkedin, since it is these through these small and subtle exchanges that a viable and valueable network is built.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 10:39 am by Phil Weslow and is filed under Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.