Is your LinkedIn Profile COSTING you business instead of generating you business?

Your LinkedIn profile is your online billboard and your personal space to tell the world who you are, who you work with and how you do it. If you have an incomplete profile or haven’t represented yourself in a way that you want to be known for or remembered, then you’re probably turning business away or potentially giving someone a reason not to work with you.

In short – your LinkedIn Profile is probably costing you business!

If I were to go and look at your profile right now, what would it tell me about you and what you have to offer?

“You only get one chance to make a first impression”

If I were your target customer, would you give me a good enough reason to want to connect with you and add you to my network?

If someone in your target market views your profile but doesn’t send you a request to connect you have not given them a good enough reason to want to speak to you!

If someone were to search for your name in Google your LinkedIn profile will appear in the search results. Are you easy to find?

I’ve searched for people many times in the past and found it very difficult to find the person I’m looking for – mainly due to an incomplete profile or lack of a good profile photo.

Attracting leads and new business is all about being visible – if you’re hard to find online – what does that say about you and your business?

“But I have loads of information on my profile – it’s very clear what I do”

We’re living in a world of saturation and information overload. More often than not there are hundreds of other people doing what you do and offering a similar product/service. Are you communicating well enough how you stand out in your market and why someone should work with you over everyone else?

It’s not about what you do – it’s about who you work with and how you do it

If you are browsing LinkedIn or searching intentionally to learn more about someone else, do you have time to read through hundreds of words and need to figure out for yourself what it all means and how it relates to you?

I doubt it and I doubt your potential prospects, partners and investors would want to do this either.

Your LinkedIn profile is your OPPORTUNITY to show your target market what you’re capable of.

Here are some tips on how you can stand out and use your profile more effectively:

# 1 – Upload a clear and ‘like-you’ profile photograph

Don’t use a photo from 10 years ago or a photo where you can’t see that it’s you. Your profile photo should be a clear likeness of you and make you easily identifiable in a search.

#2 – Use your headline to grab the attention of your target customer

There are two options for this – create a clear statement about who you work with and the outcome you deliver, for example – I help business owners and founders identify the fastest way to get new customers using LinkedIn, or use keywords for example: Marketing Strategist | LinkedIn Trainer | Coach | Adventure Lover | Whisky Drinker

#3 – Explain who you work with/want to work with

in your summary and how you do what you do – what makes you different from everyone else?

#4 – Include a clear Call to Action

Tell your profile visitors what to do next – contact you, read or watch something you’ve produced, connect/follow etc…

#5 – Add a header image to your profile that represents you and your business

Create something amazing without any design skills using a FREE tool such as canva.com

#6 – Use your Experience section to tell a story

Explain how your past experience equiped you with the skills and knowledge that allows you to do what you do today.

#7 – Help your visitors get to know you better

You don’t have to disclose your life story but add something about you, even if it is a conversation starter or ice-breaker – (e.g / Keen cyclist training for the Etape Du Tour in 2019, On a mission to make a difference to Children’s education by volunteering at [insert charity or place here]…., Aspiring artist learning how to illustrate graphic novels using [insert tool here]….)

#8 – Include your key skills

You have the opportunity to list 50 so think of your skills like keywords – there is more than one way to name a skill (management, leadership, talent development, delegation for example)

#9 – Ask for recommendations

Contact your customers and ask them to give you a recommendation.

There are many more but these are some key tips to help get you going.

My request to you is to go to your profile now and read through it as if you were your target customer. Does your profile tell you what you need to know or does it tell a different story or worse put you off?