LinkedIn is much more than a job finding website .
Today’s search engine savvy population wants to know the people behind a business. Your skills, recommendations, and experience can be a determining factor in a person’s decision to choose what you’re offering over the competition. This adds even more reason for professionals to be well represented on websites like Google +, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
The big benefit of joining these sites is that it establishes your credibility well in advance of your first point of contact. In other words, customers and potential business partners will be thinking “YES!” before they even meet you.
Why Should You Be On LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social networking site for people in professional occupations. It is especially important for companies performing B2B sales. The site lets you add your voice to industry conversations, and it allows you to connect with other professionals – some of whom, will turn into paying customers!
It’s a great way to raise awareness for yourself and your company.
If you haven’t created a LinkedIn profile, this article is a good place to start. If you already have one, this article will help you optimize your LinkedIn profile to increase the search engine ranking of your public profile.
One quick note: Be sure to temporarily turn off your activity broadcast before making edits to your account. This stops your connections from receiving your profile updates so that when you update old information it won’t appear as news.
Turning off activity broadcast on LinkedIn:
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Click Privacy & Settings (Under your profile picture in the top right)
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Look under “Privacy Controls” and then turn on/off your activity broadcasts
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Uncheck box: Let people know when you change your profile, make recommendations, or follow companies
Once you have made the 5 changes outlined in this article you can switch your activity broadcast back on.
1. Use A Quality Image As Your Profile Picture
The first change is very important yet surprisingly overlooked. According to LinkedIn, profiles with pictures are 7 times more likely to be clicked. You want people to click your profile, but you also want to be communicating the right message about yourself.
When posting a picture to LinkedIn ask yourself these three questions:
- Would the clothes I’m wearing be acceptable at work?
- Would I attach this photo to my company’s promotional material?
- What does this picture say about me?
Number 3 is of course up to your personal discretion – you are your own personal brand manager. However, you can rarely go wrong with a headshot where you look professional, confident, and friendly.
2. Use A Headline To Describe Your Profile
On most people’s LinkedIn profile the first thing you will see is their name and their job position. This is fine, but if you instead treat the opening words of your profile like a headline, you will see much better results.
Your LinkedIn headline acts as your personal identity. It should include finer details about yourself, such as the keywords associated with your position, and the city/area you work in.
Here are two example to show what I mean...
A Basic LinkedIn Headline:
John Smith
Regional Sales Manager at Company X
An Optimized LinkedIn Headline
John Smith
BC Sales Manager at Company X Providing Marketing Software Solutions to Small Businesses
3. Create A Detailed Summary
Following your headline, the summary is the next section a viewer will read on your LinkedIn profile. Engage the reader early and they will be convinced to read more about you. Your summary should include the qualities that make you unique and act as a complement to your resume. Make your summary irresistible by adding examples of past work when possible.
You can do this by uploading a SlideShare presentation, PowerPoint, or a link to a specific web page.
This can also be done for each individual position on your LinkedIn resume. Ensure your resume is up to date, and then add any work samples that you can provide to further prove your expertise.
4. Customize Your LinkedIn URL
This is an easy way to quickly optimize your LinkedIn profile. By default, your LinkedIn profile URL will consist of a random string of alphanumeric characters. Changing your default profile to a customized URL, such as your full name, can be done in three simple steps:
- Sign into LinkedIn and hover over your profile picture in the top right of the screen and click “Privacy & Settings.”
- Find and click “Edit Public Profile” under “Helpful Links.”
- Find and click “Customize Your Public Profile URL” on the right side of the screen.
5. Optimize Your Website Listings With Keywords
Not many people are aware of this, but in the contact section of your LinkedIn profile there is an options to display three websites on your profile. You can use this to showcase your company website, personal blog, and other social media sites.
To further optimize, don’t choose a predetermined website title offered by LinkedIn, choose “other. You can then create your own title with keywords associated with your site.
For example, instead of company website, I decided to use “Inbound Marketing” to describe LocalTrifecta.
Bonus Tip: Share Your LinkedIn Account on other channels
These 5 easy tips will serve you well in optimizing your site. In addition, there are two ways anyone can gain additional exposure for their LinkedIn profile.
- Include a link to your LinkedIn profile in your email signature.
- Use LinkedIn profile badges on your blog, company site, or other forums you frequently used.
To add a LinkedIn profile badge first go to “Settings” and then click “Edit your public profile.” On the right, you will see “Profile Badges”. Once you click “Create a profile badge” you will be brought to another page where you can see a myriad of design options.
Simply copy and paste these HTML codes to your sites, and Voila! When page viewers click on these badges, they’ll automatically be directed to your LinkedIn profile.
These 5 Tips Are Just The Beginning
This is just the beginning of what you can do to optimize your LinkedIn profile. Being a social platform, a large part of LinkedIn is contributing to LinkedIn groups, and receiving endorsements and recommendations from your connections. Use these 5 tips to optimize your profile now. The more time you spend in addition, the better optimized your page will be.
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