Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile: 20 Super Simple Tips for Business Professionals
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Around 11 million Canadians and 122 million Americans use LinkedIn today, with approximately 25% of those 133 million business professionals classified as “active.” However, LinkedIn potentially has far greater reach than those 33 million active users suggest since your profile typically appears near the top of results when someone searches your name. While there are a number of LinkedIn tactics business professionals can use to build their business, this presentation focuses on optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Five presentation takeaways: - Improving your LinkedIn profile for YOUR target audience - How to find keywords to optimize your profile - 7 stellar professional headline examples - 3 hacks to creating a better professional headline - Creating better content for LinkedIn Pulse
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Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile: 20 Super Simple Tips for Business Professionals
- 4. 20 STEPS TO A BETTER LINKEDIN PROFILE
- 5. 20 STEPS TO A BETTER LINKEDIN PROFILE
- 6. 20 STEPS TO A BETTER LINKEDIN PROFILE # 8 Use keywords throughout your summary #9 Use short paragraphs for easy on-line scanning #10 Break up text with bullet points #11 Include a list of services to help with search
- 7. 20 STEPS TO A BETTER LINKEDIN PROFILE #12 Use keywords in present and past work experience #13 Add details to work experience #14 Include presentations to add credibility and interest
- 8. 20 STEPS TO A BETTER LINKEDIN PROFILE #15 Publish educational content to demonstrate your expertise #16 Do publish your post in its entirety, without the need to click through to an outside site
- 9. #17 Get (and give) recommendations #18 Add volunteer experience and causes #19 Include awards or achievements #20 Use an attractive background image 20 STEPS TO A BETTER LINKEDIN PROFILE
- 18. • Use the 120-character limit • Clearly & concisely differentiate yourself • Appeal to clients and centres of influence • Incorporate keywords IMPROVING YOUR PROFESSIONAL HEADLINE
- 19. Idea #1: See what others in your industry are using FINDING YOUR KEYWORDS
- 20. Idea #2: Search job listings FINDING YOUR KEYWORDS
- 21. Idea #3: Compare terms on Google Trends Blue: Corporate lawyer Red: Corporate law Yellow: Business lawyer Green: Commercial lawyer FINDING YOUR KEYWOWRDS
- 22. Business and Finance Business structuring lawyer Corporate reorganization Commercial banking Corporate tax Employment Intellectual property International Business Labour Mergers & Acquisitions FINDING YOUR KEYWORDS Litigation & Dispute Resolution Commercial litigation Construction litigation Environmental liability Insurance litigation Mortgage enforcement Regulatory liability Risk management Professional liability
- 23. Hack #1: Expert Status • {Keyword/subject matter expert} who {does what} for {client, company, audience, project}. {Proofpoint} • Examples: • Commercial litigation lawyer specializing in resolving business issues in a sensible way for manufacturers across Canada • Best-selling author and professional speaker energizing audiences to overcome limiting beliefs. 90% sat ratings Source: http://www.brazen.com/blog/archive/smart-hacks/4-headline-hacks-to- create-an-irresistible-linkedin-profile/ IMPROVING YOUR PROFESSIONAL HEADLINE
- 24. Hack #2: Claim your niche • {Keyword(s)} {your specific benefit or focus area} • Examples: • Commercial litigation lawyer | Dedicated to resolving business issues in a sensible way • Tax Accountant CPA | Specialist in family-owned businesses with revenues of $1-$5 million Source: http://www.brazen.com/blog/archive/smart-hacks/4-headline-hacks-to- create-an-irresistible-linkedin-profile/ IMPROVING YOUR PROFESSIONAL HEADLINE
- 25. Hack #3: Direct to customer • {Attention grabbing question} + {Who you are} + {Who you help}. {Proof point}. OR {Attention-grabbing question} + {Free resource}. • Examples: • Business disputes got you down? Commercial litigation lawyer helping manufacturing companies in a sensible way • Need talent? Exec Recruiter helping mid-size manufacturing companies find top talent. Source: http://www.brazen.com/blog/archive/smart-hacks/4-headline-hacks-to- create-an-irresistible-linkedin-profile/ IMPROVING YOUR PROFESSIONAL HEADLINE
- 26. • Your presence on LinkedIn is important • Take the time to polish your profile • Complete all fields available to you • Use keywords (but don’t over-do it) • Spend the most time on your professional headline SUMMARY
- 27. QUESTIONS?
- 30. Subscribe to my newsletter: http://bit.ly/HEADLINES-sign-up
Editor's Notes
- Slide #2: Why bother with LinkedIn? Around 11 million Canadians and 122 million Americans are using LinkedIn and approximately 25% of them are active users. But your LinkedIn profile potentially has far greater reach than those 33 million active users suggest—your profile is typically on the first page of search results when someone Googles your name. In spite of those numbers, and the importance of search in today’s world, some professionals are still asking “Why should I bother?” If you ignore LinkedIn, you do so at your professional peril. LinkedIn is a way to engage your clients by consistently communicating your value; It helps position you as a thought leader by providing relevant content; You can expand your network using LinkedIn to facilitate referrals; And you can increase connections with centres of influence on LinkedIn While there are a number of LinkedIn tactics you can use to build your business, today I’m focusing on optimizing your LinkedIn profile. At a very minimum, every business person should spend a few hours polishing their LinkedIn profile so it looks professional and is optimized for LinkedIn’s search algorithm.
- Slide #3: Today’s case study To show you how to improve your LinkedIn profile, I’m going to use Allan as a case study. Allan’s LinkedIn profile is professional and leaves a positive first impression. But I did a bit of analysis and found a few ways he could make it even stronger. So let’s dive in.
- Slide #4: Allan Ritchie profile How is Allan doing? #1 His name includes ONLY his name and isn’t cluttered with his degrees, any acronyms or professional designations #2 Allan has taken the time to get a professional photo by a photographer. He leaves a good first impression by using a close-up of just him—and he’s avoided a group shot. #3 Allan is actually connected with more than 1,000 people on LinkedIn. But unless you do some digging, LinkedIn only shows your number of connections until you hit 500. People want to connect with others who are connected so connect with at least 501 people on LinkedIn #4 Your professional headline is the most important part of your LinkedIn profile. It’s the first thing people see when they search for you on LInkedIn. It also shows up every time you post to LinkedIn. And, since your LinkedIn profile likely shows at the top of search results when people Google your name, your headline also shows near the top of Google search results. Allan’s professional headline (Partner at Loopstra Nixon) is the default LinkedIn provides: it’s his current title and company. You should take the time to write a catchy headline that includes the keywords for which you want to be found. I’ll spend some time at the end of the presentation showing you 3 easy hacks to create a better professional headline.
- Slide #5: Contact info #5 Customize your website URL to be more meaningful to your target audience. Instead of using Company Website as the anchor text, Allan should use something more descriptive such as: Canadian business law firm #6 Allan is making it difficult for people to contact him when they find him on LinkedIn. He hasn’t included his email address or phone number. Not everyone will want to message him via LinkedIn when they find his profile so it’s good to provide a couple of options. #7 Allan gets full marks for personalizing his profile URL with his full name. If you have a more common name like John Smith, you’ll have to resort to a slight modification.
- Slide #6: Allan’s Summary Your Summary is your elevator pitch, demonstrating your value, years of experience, client types and your key differentiator. Allan has impressive credentials that he outlines in his Summary, but he should consider a few improvements. #8 Allan has a handful of keywords in his Summary—law firm, cross border lawyers, and commercial law practice. But he needs to consider more keywords potential clients or centers of influence use to find a lawyer like him, then incorporate them into his summary. Of course, he shouldn’t over do it or else his profile loses its impact. #9 Since people are viewing LinkedIn online, and many people don’t read every word when they’re reading in this format, he should make his Summary easier for people to scan. First, his Summary would be easier to read by using shorter paragraphs with no more than 3-4 lines/paragraph #10 Second, He should also break up text with bullet points, and lastly #11 Include his services in a list—it will help with search and make it easier for people to immediately grasp what he does
- Slide #7: Work Experience I’d like to see more information about Allan’s work experience in his LinkedIn profile. It’s another place he can communicate his value-add. #12: Again, more keywords in his present and past work experience will help him get found on LinkedIn #13 Fleshing out his achievements in his work experience will give potential clients a better sense of what Allan has done in his career #14 LinkedIn allows you to add presentations and video to your profile. A video, especially, will humanize Allan to anyone who finds him on LinkedIn. And presentations will add to his professional credibility and showcase his expertise.
- Slide #8: Publish on LInkedIn Allan has taken the time to publish to LinkedIn (sort of). #15 His content would be greatly improved if it were more educational in nature, rather than promotional. #16 I’d also recommend that he publish the content in its entirety, rather than directing someone to the Loopstra Nixon website to read more.
- Slide #9: A few miscellaneous tips #17 Some LinkedIn experts suggest you have at least 10 recommendations. They’re key to building credibility. Of course, in an ideal world you’d nver have to request a recommendation. A happy client would just automatically post a positive recommendation for you on LinkedIn. Since that rarely happens you need to learn how to request recommendations using a personal message, and not the generic message LinkedIn provides. #18 Add volunteer experience and causes to help make your LinkedIn profile more personal. #19 Include awards or achievements #20 Lastly, our final tip, add a background image to LinkedIn. I really like what Allan’s done with the Canadian and American flags to emphasize the cross-border practice at Loopstra Nixon.
- Slide #10: Improving your professional headline At the beginning of the presentation, I mentioned how important your professional headline is on LinkedIn. When people search for someone like you, they’ll see your professional headline. Your headline also shows whenever you post on LinkedIn. And, perhaps even more importantly, your LinkedIn profile is usually in the top results when someone searches your name—and they’ll see your headline here as well. So here are 7 examples of good professional headlines.
- Slide #11: Phil Squires Helping successful companies implement strategies to double their leads, cash-flow and profits in 90 days
- Slide #12: Bryan Franklin I’ve helped 7 companies reach $1 billion. Who wants to be #8?
- Slide #13: Mike Nacke The coolest guy in Nashville ... Google it to see for yourself
- Slide #14: Ana Hoffman Discover how to get big website traffic for small marketing budgets at Traffic Generation Cafe
- Slide #15: Susan James Coaching for Entrepreneurs—my clients have results
- Slide #16: Angela Edwards The project management Geek, I work with organizations that want to be more strategic, productive and profitable.
- Slide #17: Mari Smith Facebook marketing expert | Social media influencer | speaker |Author
- Slide #18: Improving your professional headline Improving your professional LinkedIn headline isn’t as easy as it sounds. For starters, you only have 120 characters—and that’s not very many to clearly differentiate yourself from every other business lawyer in the GTA while appealing to clients and centres of influence. As with so many other aspects of LinkedIn, you also need to incorporate keywords—the terms potential clients use to find you on LinkedIn. Here are some suggestions for finding keywords
- Idea #1: See what others in your industry are using LinkedIn has a built in tool to help you see what others in your industry are calling themselves. To use it, you need to ensure you’ve selected an “industry” in your profile. Then go to the ‘edit’ option for your headline and click on “See what others in your industry are using.” This will open up a new window with a listing of other people in your industry, along with their headlines.
- Idea #2: Search job listings Another very basic way to figure out what terms to use is to go to the jobs tab in LinkedIn and search for positions being advertised in your field. Sometimes companies create their own titles and definitions—in other words, what you were called in your last job may not be what the industry is calling that same position today.
- Idea #3: Compare terms on Google Trends You can use Google Trends to search for the most common terms used in your industry. I compared a few terms for you: Blue: Corporate lawyer Red: Corporate law Yellow: Business lawyer Green: Commercial lawyer The results are quite interesting. Corporate law was the biggest search term (and still is) but it’s declined significantly from 2005 until 2013.
- I found these keywords on the Services pages on your website—usually a good place to discover what keywords a company is trying to rank for. I only looked at the Business and Finance and the Litigation and Dispute Resolution pages so I know I’m looking at the tip of the iceberg. As you consider your own practice, there are likely additional keywords that best represent what you do ... and if you’re stuck identifying what they may be, look at your website. Now that you have some ideas for keywords here are 3 hacks you can use to write a better headline.
- Slide #19: Hack #1, Expert Status You write this headline by beginning with your keyword or whatever subject in which you have expertise Follow this with what you do and who you do it for Finish it with a proofpoint Examples: Commercial litigation lawyer specializing in resolving business issues in a sensible way for manufacturers across Canada Best-selling author and professional speaker energizing audiences to overcome limiting beliefs. 90% sat ratings
- Slide #20: Hack #2: Claim your niche {Keyword(s)} {your specific benefit or focus area} Examples: Commercial litigation lawyer | Dedicated to resolving business issues in a sensible way Tax Accountant CPA | Specialist in family-owned businesses with revenues of $1-$5 million
- Slide 21: Hack #3: Direct to customer {Attention grabbing question} + {Who you are} + {Who you help}. {Proof point}. OR {Attention-grabbing question} + {Free resource}. Examples: Business disputes got you down? Commercial litigation lawyer helping manufacturing companies in a sensible way Need talent? Exec Recruiter helping mid-size manufacturing companies find top talent. I wanted to give you some time to write a better professional headline so let’s take 5 minutes for you to do that. If you need help with your keywords, I printed the services page from your website. And I’ll hand out this sheet with the 3 hacks I just shared with you.
- Slide #22: Summary Your presence on LinkedIn is important Take the time to polish your profile Complete all fields available to you Use keywords (but don’t over-do it) Spend time on your professional headline
- Business groups, especially mid-sized businesses I can also speak about how to get media coverage for your business or talk about developing a content strategy
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