Steps to Personalizing Your LinkedIn Inviation to Connect

This morning I received a few generic LinkedIn invitations to connect from people I don't know. That's fine and it seems to happen more frequently than not. Still, it would be nice to know how and why you'd like to connect.

Why not personalize your invitation? There are four easy steps to personalizing your LinkedIn Invitations to Connect:

1. Go to the top of your LinkedIn page. Right next to the Notifications flag there is a silhouette, or Grow my Network icon. Click it.
2. Click, People You May Know.
3. Scroll through the names and faces of the suggested contacts and click the picture of the person with whom you'd like to connect. It will take you to their LinkedIn page.
4. Click the blue Connect rectangle near their photograph to write a short personalized note. 

You'll also be asked how you and the contact are connected (work, friend, other).
That's it. It's so easy and much more professional. Your brief note explains why you'd like to connect; maybe you share a contact, you're in the same profession, you used to work together, you liked what someone said in an update, etc. 

It's professional, easy and I wouldn't be surprised if the personalized invitations are accepted more often than the generic template kind. You wouldn't rush up to someone at a networking event and shove a business card into their hand would you? Why do it virtually?