Our Top 10 LinkedIn Tips to Help You Generate More Business

We’ve had some great success from Linkedin recently so I thought I’d share a few ideas to improve your presence and help you generate more business through this extremely powerful, FREE, networking and marketing tool.

1 – Search Results and Keywords

Every day millions of people use LinkedIn like a search engine. Searching for people and businesses that could help them in some way. So, the same keyword guidelines apply to your LinkedIn profile and content as applies to your website. Decide what keywords are appropriate to your business or skill set and then include them throughout your profile and in any content you post. This will help you show up when people are searching for a solution to a problem they have, that you can solve for them.

You can keep an eye on how searchable you are by logging into Linkedin and going to your profile page. Near the top, you’ll see a box labelled ‘Search Appearances’. This tells you how many searches your profile appeared in over the last 7 days.

2 – Customise Your Profile URL

If you created your LinkedIn profile some time ago, you’ll have been given a profile URL consisting of random numbers and letters. You can change this to create something that looks better and could even help you get found in Google searches easier.

A personalised URL looks something like this: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robmackley/

To customise your profile URL:

• Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
• Click View profile.
• On your profile page, click Edit public profile & URL on the right.
• Under Edit URL, click the Edit icon next to your public profile URL.
• Type the last part of your new custom URL in the text box.
• Click Save.

3 – Have a Professional Looking Profile Photo

Your profile picture is so important and can often be the deciding factor as to whether someone takes a closer look at you or not.
Ideally, you’d use a professionally taken business style photo. Failing this, a photo taken on a decent phone with you looking smart, in your tidy work environment will be fine. The key to a great profile photo is:

• Smile
• Head and shoulders only
• Simple background
• Decent light
• Only you in the frame
• Please – No selfies in the mirror, beach shots or night out drinking photos

4 – Add a Background Photo

Your background photo appears at the top of your profile page. It can be used to emphasize branding, to show your creativity or promote your product or service. Just remember it’s a very wide short graphic (800 pixels wide by 200 pixels high) so you might need to do a bit of cropping before uploading it, to get it to look right.

Take a look at my profile for one example of how to use this space: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robmackley/

5 – Your Job Title

Formal titles like “Sales Executive” or “Marketing Manager” don’t really describe what you have to offer to people having a glace through a list of profiles. Why not get creative and write a job title that hits common pain points of your potential customer. I’d also recommend incorporating a keyword or two in there to help your search visibility.

As an example “Sale Executive” could be “Helping Businesses in the {sector} overcome {problem}”

6 – Your Headline

Your LinkedIn headline is your 5 second opportunity to give readers a reason to read more. Make it clear, to the point and describe the essence of what you do. Using words that identify with potential customers will leave them wanting to click to read more. When you post on Linkedin, the first few words of your headline can be seen next to your name at the top of the post, so make sure the first few words intrigue.

7 – Your Summary

This is a more detailed account of what you do. Showcase your personality and demonstrate your knowledge while being careful to avoid anything that might be perceived as self-indulgent or stuffy. Make it a point to revisit your profile often as you will find little ways to improve it each time.

Try to explain your key achievements from the perspective of your customers. Use keywords rather than general pronouns to boost findability in search results and give your summary a little punch.

8 – Skills and Endorsements

Endorsements are a thumbs up from your connections for particular skills. Make sure you choose a list of skills that people will recognise you for and then they’ll be able to endorse your for them. To add skills, go to your profile and scroll to the bottom of the page where you’ll see the Featured Skills & Endorsements section. In there click ‘Add a new skill’.

9 – Get Recommendations

LinkedIn profiles allow for a ‘written recommendations’ section from contacts. Collate recommendations from colleagues, management, vendors or customers as this adds credibility to your profile and name. As an example, a colleague could endorse you for your skill set, or project you’ve completed.

Reach out to customers to ask for personal recommendations.

10 – Gain More Visibility by Being Active

This is the most important point of this article. To gain visibility, make a habit of logging in daily and spending a few minutes to look through the feed for things of interest that you can like and comment on. It’s also really beneficial to publish your own content. This can be company or industry news, a helpful article, a photo of your team at work or a question you’d like peoples opinion on. If you publish helpful content regularly, it allows you to get away with posting occasional promotional content without coming across as salesey.