LinkedIn, which began in the living room of co-founder Reid Hoffman in 2002, is now the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with 150 million users. In 2011 alone there were 4.5 million professionally oriented searches on LinkedIn. This vast resource is not only the number one way reconnect with former colleagues and employers and get job leads, it has become the fastest-growing, most powerful source for businesses to target the right potential customers, partners, and employees.

The Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business, by longtime Internet authority Ted Prodromou, offers a wealth of zero or low-cost methods for maximizing this dynamic resource. It’s easy to get started on LinkedIn, but fully mastering its intricacies and knowing how to get the most effective connections that lead to greater exposure, increased marketshare, and breakout sales can be tricky and time-consuming. Whereas most people think of LinkedIn as merely a way to get “job leads,” those who follow Ted’s instruction develop a strategic approach to engaging people and multiplying the links that can open up business in revolutionary, unexpected ways—including globally.