You’ve got this professional networking thing down! You’re linking in, sending connection requests, and keeping your profile current at every turn. But there’s something wrong, here. You may know not to trash your boss or post photos of your puppy or your gluten-free snacks, but do you know what you should be doing on LinkedIn? Because if you don’t, chances are you’re annoying your would-be network with at least one of these four mistakes:

1. Sending generic connection requests. Your invitations always read, “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” If you wanted to add someone so badly, you’d customize the invitation even to say, “Hi Bob! Let’s link in!” Generic invitation text is not only lazy, it’s a missed opportunity to reinforce a relationship, remind someone how you met, or pitch a connection to someone you don’t know at all—never mind that a customized invitation just makes someone feel special. And you want to get noticed on LinkedIn!
2. Mass-requesting recommendations and endorsements. When it comes to recommendations and endorsements, are you swinging at anything that moves? While that’s not likely to yield quality results, it is likely to annoy your constituents who can’t solidly speak to your work. When you want a recommendation or endorsement, select key people who know your work well, then customize the message. Try “Would you take a look at my skills and endorse any you think are appropriate?” instead of the auto-generated “Can you endorse my networking skills?”
3. Updating your profile with dozens of notifications. If your profile is set to share updates with your network, your connections will get an update every time you make a profile change. Add a new photo? Your network gets notified. Edit a typo in an old job? Your network gets notified. Update your headline? Your network gets notified. Now imagine you’re doing a major profile overhaul where every tiny change is communicated—that’s a lot of notifications! So when you’re giving your page a facelift, temporarily disable your activity: On your Account Settings & Privacy page (found under your profile picture), click Privacy, then under Sharing Profile Edits, click to “No”—just be sure to change back to “Yes” when you’re done.
4. Sending random connection requests to strangers. You don’t know Melanie personally, but you’ve long admired her work in the industry and you’d love to add her as a professional connection. So like you always do, you send out one of those generic “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” invitations . . . and you wonder why Melanie doesn’t accept when you haven’t told her anything about yourself or why you want to connect! If you want to connect with a stranger, customize why you’re contacting them so the person can make an informed decision about you. Otherwise you’ll get lumped in with connection spammers and identity thieves!

Which annoying mistakes were you making? Well annoy no more—go forth with these tips and forge a solid network of professional connections!