Training Wheels Are Off.

LinkedIn is one of the largest directories cum social media platforms there is for professionals. The platform currently has more than 774+ million members, approximately 4 out of 5 of whom drive business decisions. 

On LinkedIn, you can find professionals in just about any industry ranging from catering and hospitality to IT and heavy industry. Professionals use the platform for various reasons, such as recruitment and sourcing products to make their company and products more visible. 

LinkedIn is also a great place to find relevant content on a particular industry and is arguably the best networking platform for professionals. 

LinkedIn profile optimization can help to make yourself and your organization a lot more visible to other professionals. With more visibility, you can create more leads, and with the right strategy, you can convert your leads into paying customers.

LinkedIn profile optimization isn’t complex, and we’ve created a brief guide below to help ensure as many of the right people see your LinkedIn profile as possible. 

Use Good SEO Practices

LinkedIn profile optimization works very similarly to Google and other online platforms. Keywords are perhaps the most important factor when it comes to making yourself visible online. 

By Keywords, we mean words that people would typically use in the search bar when looking for people, companies, or products.

There isn’t a tool that will directly tell you which keywords are commonly used on LinkedIn, but you can still get a good idea of which words you need to use. 

For example, one option is to perform a search on LinkedIn to look at the profiles of other people and businesses in your category. 

You can also perform a similar search for companies on Google to get a good idea of which keywords are more likely to get you recognized. At the same time, Google Keyword Planner will let you know which keywords people regularly use on Google. 

Note that LinkedIn disapproves of keyword stuffing – so avoid cramming in as many keywords as you can into your LinkedIn profile. If LinkedIn thinks you have been keyword stuffing, you might face a penalty, making your profile less visible. 

Instead, make sure your text always reads naturally without it being obvious that you have forced keywords in, and you should be just fine. 

Switch On Creator Mode

If you haven’t already, turn creator mode on. To do this, click on the ‘me’ button under your LinkedIn profile picture in the top right-hand corner. Then, click on the ‘view profile’ button on the drop-down menu. Next, scroll down a little, and you should see the option to turn on creator mode. 

Creator mode will help with LinkedIn profile optimization in several ways

  • Hashtags: With creator mode enabled, you can add up to five hashtags to your LinkedIn profile, and these hashtags will let people know about the content you publish. LinkedIn will boost your content in the newsfeed for the hashtags you create.
  • Follow Button: Without creator enabled, people will need to click on ‘follow’ to see your content, which requires you to accept an invitation from them for them to see your content. With creator enabled, however, people can follow your content without the need for you to accept an invitation, making your content a lot more visible. 
  • Re-Ordered Feature Section: Creator mode will also move your featured and activity sections to the top, just below your main LinkedIn profile intro. This will help to make your content even more visible still. 

Title and Summary

LinkedIn profile optimization that makes your profile appear in search results is all very well – but the real objective is for people to click on it. One way to help achieve this is to optimize your headline.

Your headline is the first part of your LinkedIn profile that people will see, and it needs to give people enough information to know it’s what they’re looking for. 

So make sure that your title contains relevant keywords, is precisely relevant to you or your organization, and is clear to understand. While some creativity is fine, avoid trying to be catchy at the expense of clarity. 

Your LinkedIn profile headline and summary should ideally clarify your role, which problems you can solve, and any benefits people gain from buying your products. 

You should also make sure to include a professional-looking photograph of yourself. 

Your photo alone can help create a first impression, and first impressions do last, so consider having a picture done professionally for the best results. 

Studies have shown that LinkedIn profiles with photos are 21 times more likely to be viewed, so it’s well worth the effort. 

About Section

Your about section is your opportunity to explain a little more about yourself and what you can do for people. Your headline needs to be succinct, so the about section may need to add further clarity regarding your position. 

For example, if you’re a software developer who works with a specific sector such as medical health platforms, the about section is an excellent place to clarify this. 

Something else to consider is that only the first three lines of your about section will show until people click on ‘read more’. So use these three lines as a hook to encourage people to delve further into your profile.  

Qualifications and Experience

Below your ‘about’ section is the opportunity to list your qualifications and experience. 

Make sure to add what relevant information you can and remember this is also an opportunity to add more keywords that will help to make your LinkedIn profile more visible on searches.

Remember to give a complete description of your role in previous business ventures so potential customers can gain confidence in you. 

Skills

The importance of completing the skills section in your LinkedIn profile cannot be understated. 

It’s not so much an opportunity for you to remind people of your skills, which is very useful in itself, but more an opportunity to tell LinkedIn what your skills are so they know to display your profile in searches. 

So make sure to complete this sector and remember to use the right keywords to help the right people find your LinkedIn profile. 

Recommendations

Social proof is a potent tool in marketing. LinkedIn has allowed you to make the most of this tool thanks to the recommendations section. 

 As the name suggests, the recommendations section is testimonials from other LinkedIn users that have bought your products from you. You can ask them to write a testimonial for you themselves or, even better, write it for them. 

One reason to write a testimonial is that customers are less likely to get around to doing it themselves. Write the testimonial yourself and all the other person would have to do is approve it and add it from their account. 

Another advantage is that you can ensure the testimonial uses the correct language and keywords to send the right vibes and, again, make your account more visible.  

With recommendations on your profile, other people can see your products being endorsed, making them feel more confident about doing business with you. 

Around 70% of people are likely to trust a recommendation even if they don’t know the person making it, making it a powerful tool that you should not overlook. 

Publish Quality Content

LinkedIn also allows you to publish blogs, articles, videos, and other content on your LinkedIn profile. Taking advantage of this will benefit you in several ways:

Activity: 

LinkedIn favors active users, and adding content to your site keeps your profile active. Perhaps the most common method of keeping a LinkedIn profile active is to add an occasional article or blog about current topics relevant to your industry.

While it is important to be reasonably active – good LinkedIn profile optimization requires a policy of quality over quantity. Publish articles that are highly relevant, informative, and crafted by a skilled writer. 

If you’re not a writer yourself, consider recruiting somebody else to do the work for you. 

SEO:

Adding more content to your site will boost SEO – making you more visible on the platform. Any content you create should be crafted with a keyword strategy in mind, much like the rest of your profile. 

Use keywords relevant to your industry that people are likely to use when searching for your products or services. 

Good quality content will help to make you more visible in other ways, such as through sharing. If you create content that’s interesting or useful in some way, people are likely to share it with others. 

When the content gets shared, more people will have the details of your LinkedIn profile, further raising awareness of your products. 

One of the most effective ways to create good quality content that people want to share is to help solve a problem somehow. 

For example, if you’re in the accounting industry and recent regulations have been introduced, an article explaining the rules and what they mean for individuals and businesses could help answer a lot of questions while also placing you as an authority on the topic. 

When you answer questions for people, the article is likely to be shared with people who are asking those questions. 

Education:

Educating potential customers on your product is another effective method of increasing your sales, and LinkedIn content is an effective way to get your message across. Show them how your product works and, more specifically, how it can solve problems for them. 

Where possible, make comparisons with other similar products on the market to demonstrate your USP, helping to show how your product delivers what the others don’t. 

It’s OK to make B2B content fun and interesting, but remember that the main objective is to help decision-makers understand why they should choose your product. 

Engage With Other Users

If people comment or ask questions on your content or anywhere else on your LinkedIn profile, then engage with them. Answer their questions when you can and thank them for their contribution where appropriate. 

You could also try encouraging other people to interact with your content by creating topics that ask questions. 

You shouldn’t limit your comment engagement to your posts alone. Remember to interact with relevant content on LinkedIn profiles published by other people in your industry. 

Initiate discussions and open up lines of communication. LinkedIn has great potential for networking if you use it right, so make sure to take full advantage. 

Look For Forums and Communities to Contribute To

LinkedIn also has a wide variety of communities to get involved with, and there will be some in your industry. 

Such communities are a great way to meet new people and network, potentially forging new relationships. As well as forums and other communities, LinkedIn also allows for private messaging and even video calls that make communication even more effective. 

Don’t Spam

Avoid the temptation to spam; it’s likely to do more harm than good. It doesn’t matter how great your product is and what a great deal you’re offering; cold messaging people with offers is very unlikely to have the desired effect. 

Not only are they likely to say no to your offer, but you will also likely spurn any chances of a long-term relationship. What’s more is that spam can make you appear desperate, thus running the risk of devaluing your product.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t message people at all, as you can be very successful when contacting people after nurturing them and developing your relationship with them. 

You will also find software that will help you automatically send and reply to messages, but such messages should always be a part of a larger overall strategy. 

Summary

LinkedIn can be a potent business tool, potentially helping to boost sales significantly. However, LinkedIn profile optimization is essential to ensure your account is visible to the right people. Use good SEO practices with the right keywords, and publish good quality content. 

Also, use creator mode to make your content more visible and interact with other professionals using the platform. Network, build relationships, leverage your connections, and establish yourself as an authority, and you can see a considerable upturn in sales.