How do I build a cool LinkedIn Signature Box?

First off, if it's like the LinkedIn mailing lists I'm involved with (My LinkedIn Power Forum and LinkedIn Bloggers) then I'm sure you wouldn't come across badly for asking this question, but maybe you're on some mythic LinkedIn Experts Only list? :-)

Anyway, turns out that it's fairly straightforward to find the signature generator on the LinkedIn site, albeit not particularly well documented. Start out by logging in to your LinkedIn account and clicking on the My Profile tab. You'll see:

Yes, you can see that once you have a network of people you can easily notify them of changes and updates in your professional status, significant wins in your field, honors, awards, etc, all at the click of a button. But a word of unsolicited advice: use this feature sparingly so as not to end up with people asking how to remove someone from their contact list!

Anyway, click on the email signatures feature and you'll be taken to a rather complex form that allows you to enter quite a bit of different information. To start, make sure that you click on "view gallery" to see all the different styles of signature available:

Me? I'm partial to the "Ingot - Blue Gel" style.

When you're done experimenting with different values in different fields (and if you're using Apple's Safari browser, you'll find that the signature builder tool doesn't work and you need to switch to Firefox or another browser) click on the link click here for instructions and the new window will show you the exact block of HTML needed to produce the LinkedIn signature.

Just copy and paste that into the signature area of your favorite email program and you'll be good to go!