How To Turn Your LinkedIn Profile Into An Impressive Landing Page

Be honest, if a potential client is looking for the services you provide and landed on your LinkedIn page, would it smack them between the eyes, or just smack of a (not so) glorified CV?

Reality check – this is who is looking at your profile page:

1. Those who are proactively looking for the services you provide – you may not realise it but LinkedIn is used by LOTS of people who are actively searching for people who provide the service you are offering. Only yesterday I was approached by a business owner who was interested in speaking to a marketing consultant and found me by searching ‘marketing consultant Liverpool’. After a quick poke around my profile page she got in touch and I’m hoping to be engaged on a piece of work in the coming weeks.
2. Those who have been given your name as a recommendation – these people will almost definitely scope you out on LinkedIn before getting in touch. They will want to get a feel for who you are and what your business is all about. Your photo, your headline, your ‘about’ section and your recommendations will all be deciding factors in whether they get in touch.
3. Those who have met you professionally and want to add you to their digital network – you’ll know yourself that when you hit it off with someone you meet professionally you tend to want to connect and follow up on LinkedIn too. The vast majority of people will have a little nose on your profile page before sending a connection request.  Will the positive impression you gave them when you met shine out from your LinkedIn page too?

With this as the context, I ask you to make a fresh look at your profile page. Is it an exciting, dynamic, approachable, and convincing shop window for the help, support, and advice you provide? Does it speak directly to your potential prospects addressing their potential challenges and how you can help them? Does it reflect your personality? Or, is it a bit of a lacklustre CV with only some of the fields completed and maybe a missing photo?

What first impression does it give? When you meet people face to face I’m sure you are very conscious about making a great first impression. So, please make sure your digital first impression does the same job and doesn’t leave people feeling underwhelmed.

Here are my FOUR ESSENTIAL LINKEDIN PROFILE MUST-HAVES

1. A profile picture
   Do you look approachable? Are you smiling? Please, please, please do not have a logo for your profile image, or worse still, no image at all. This will be a barrier for people wanting to start a conversation with you.
   
2. A strong headline
   Most people put their job title in this field.  Please make this fieldwork really hard for you. Include the benefits you can bring to your clients. When deciding whether to accept a connection request, the majority of people make a decision in less than 3 seconds based upon your profile picture and your headline.
3. A helpful ‘about’ section
   Do you have this section completed and activated on your profile?  Many don’t, but this section not only gives you the space to sell yourself, it also allows you to include links to videos, client case studies, brochures, your website and any other resources which will allow potential prospects to explore your offering in more detail – it’s a very powerful section when done well and should definitely be part of your profile.
   
4. Recommendations, recommendations, recommendations!
   I can’t stress enough the impact quality recommendations bring to your profile. Reviews by your clients and associates bring insight and credibility to you, your business and the products or services you provide. Spend time thinking carefully about who to ask for recommendations, then ask them!

If you are interested in accessing further advice and support for optimising LinkedIn and making it work hard for you, then you may be interested in some of the events I am hosting in the coming months. Subscribe to my mailing list to find out more.