Networking, referral and prospect research opportunities are vast for agents and brokers who take advantage of all that LinkedIn has to offer. Besides acting as an online resume, the social site supports interest groups and discussion, skill endorsement and job postings.Fine-tune your LinkedIn profile to make a good first impression. But remember to temporarily disable your activity feed before editing an existing profile.

A LinkedIn profile is made up of several components, each serving a specific purpose:

Name: Use your common name: If your first name is Stephen but everyone calls you Steve, use Steve.

Photo: Best bet is a standard color shoulders-up photo on a white background.

Headline: This brief statement you provide should be clear and precise without being generic. “Insurance professional specializing in home, car, and flood Insurance” is more descriptive than “insurance agent.” It should also contain some keywords that users can search.

Summary: Speak directly to the viewer about yourself and make it interesting. Write in first person to convey your personality and business direction.

Contact information: Add your email, address, phone, Instant Messaging, Twitter and as many as three websites.

Experience: Make your work history as complete as possible. LinkedIn connects you with former coworkers, so include accurate date ranges and employers. For each position, highlight your most important achievements and activities—not a passive list of skills, but examples of how you helped that business.

Skills & Expertise: Your connections can endorse you for those skills. Add up to 50 relevant skills.

Interests: Located in the “Additional Info” section of the profile, this is where you list your professional and personal interests.

Custom URL: Select the “Done Editing” button and create a shortened web address for your public profile. You can use this in your email signatures.

Once your profile is updated and complete, maximize your networking opportunities. Build your network by requesting and accepting invitations to connect. A connection allows two people to see more information about each other's profiles, including other connections.

Connect first with your existing clients and prospects with whom you have a relationship. Make it clear why you want to connect and think about what you can give them in return. Reciprocal assistance goes far on LinkedIn.

Introductions are a better way to build connections because someone will vouch for you. Turn to your collection of business cards as another source. Try to remember where you were introduced.

When composing a connection invitation, don't use the generic default invitation message. Be honest about why you're contacting and how you know them. Next, highlight your commonalities and how you can help.

Browse through the people who have accepted invitations and look at their membership lists and online groups.

Underlying all LinkedIn connections and interactions should be the question, “How can we help each other in our business goals?” You can know, like and trust someone, but they could be completely useless for your business. These people can be an excellent Facebook friend, but a poor LinkedIn connection.