Creating a compelling LinkedIn profile that “sells” goes beyond the obvious steps of adding a professional headshot and updating your bio and work history. These are essential steps if you’re just trying to get a job. But if you’re using LinkedIn to sell yourself and your company’s services, the real magic lies in the less obvious tweaks and improvements.
Keep reading for some under-the-radar strategies and enhancements that will take your personal LinkedIn profile from good to great.
Make Your Headline More Than Just a Job Title
Your profile headline is a powerful tool that extends beyond simply stating your job title. Instead of limiting yourself to just your title, you have an opportunity to maximize this valuable space to sell. It’s an opportunity to convey more about your company, your professional identity, your passions, and even the value that you bring at a glance.
For instance, instead of “Marketing Manager,” you could write “Creative Marketing Manager | Storyteller | Passionate About Connecting Brands with Audiences.” This approach not only captures attention but also provides a richer, more engaging introduction to who you are and what you do.
To give you another tangible example I’ll show you my headline. I could easily just say “President at Sanctuary”. But I’ve provided my title, the full name of my company, and our tagline. This sells who I am, explains what my company does, and suggests the value that we bring as a company.
To gather inspiration, look at the profiles of successful sales reps within your industry. You’ll likely notice that their headlines go beyond their job titles, offering insights into their professional approach and personal motivations. These headlines often reflect a blend of their role, skills, and enthusiasm, making their profiles more appealing and relatable. By expanding your headline, you create a more compelling first impression, inviting others to learn more about you and your work.
Design Your Header with Mobile in Mind
“Approximately 57% of LinkedIn users access the platform via mobile devices, while 43% use it on desktop computers.”
Source: Kinsta
Beyond your headshot, your header is the first thing visitors see, and it’s crucial to make a strong impression and design something that looks professional and on brand. However, while designing your header, consider how it looks on mobile devices.
I’ve seen a lot of advice about creating a header that “sells” and this usually requires words and images. The problem is that a well-designed header may be effective and look amazing on desktop screens, but it might be cluttered and ineffective on a smaller screen. Unfortunately, there’s currently no way to create different images for both desktop and mobile. (2024)
My advice is to make it look great and on brand, but keep it simple for display on mobile devices. Make sure to review how your header image looks on desktop and different mobile devices to ensure that if it has text it’s clearly readable, effective, and important elements aren’t obscured. I’ve elected to keep my header very simple with no text and I think that’s completely “ok”.
I’ve covered the company name in the image above to protect the guilty. But, as you can see, nobody took the time to check what their image looked like after posting. Even if you could read the words, the image on mobile is dark, uninviting, and too small to see the people’s faces. Overall it doesn’t send a message that instills trust and customers will likely move on.
Advanced Tip: Design for mobile first. This way you ensure that your header images look great on mobile devices. Then, when it’s enlarged on a desktop screen it will work as well.
The About Section: It’s Not All About You
The About section is a critical piece of your profile, but it shouldn’t read like an autobiography or a resume that just sells you and your personal accomplishments. It’s a bit of a balancing act since we’re obviously talking about your personal LinkedIn profile and not a company page. But, remember that your goal is to sell your services. So consider briefly introducing yourself and then doubling down to sell what your team and your company will do to help your customer. They shouldn’t have to dig, and the real value that you bring shouldn’t be a mystery. It definitely shouldn’t just explain your job.
Consider focusing on why your company exists, the problems you solve, and how you fit into the picture. You can begin to introduce the unique services that you offer and what makes your company different. Talk about your team’s experience and expertise and sell the customer on the unique value that you and your team bring.
Advanced Tip: You can have up to 2000 characters (as of 2024) so if you have space left over you can circle back to talk more about your personal experience and expertise as you begin to lead people further down into your profile. Look for ways to use important keywords throughout if there’s room and it feels natural.
Incorporate Priority Keywords
Have you ever wondered how LinkedIn returns relevant results and recommendations when searching? One of the most important factors is the specific keywords within your profile.
Unfortunately, many people will focus on writing in such a way that does a good job of communicating with a human, but not a good job communicating with a computer algorithm. So, to expand on my previous advice about writing an effective profile to sell yourself and your company to customers, you need to also consider selling yourself to the LinkedIn algorithm. The words matter if you’d like to be found when people are searching on the platform. I mean, if you think about it, if you sell bread to restaurants in Cleveland Ohio, but it doesn’t say bread, restaurant, Cleveland, or Ohio anywhere in your profile, how could LinkedIn possibly return you as a relevant result?
Incorporating keywords into your LinkedIn profile is essential for enhancing your visibility and ensuring that you appear in relevant search results. Keywords related to your industry, specific skills, your city, state, and the services you offer help the LinkedIn algorithm categorize you and match you with the user’s search queries. By including terms that customers commonly search for, you increase the chances of your profile being discovered.
Advanced Tip: Balancing keyword usage with crafting a compelling and engaging profile is important. Keywords do help in searchability and they are important, but, your profile should not read like a list of buzzwords or feel unnatural when the customer is reading. It’s crucial to weave these terms naturally into a narrative that clearly communicates your value proposition, achievements, and the unique problems you solve.
A well-written profile that integrates keywords seamlessly will not only help the algorithm but also engage and educate human readers about your company and your services. This balance ensures that your profile is both optimized for search engine visibility and compelling in its ability to attract and engage customers.
Keep It Current
This may seem obvious, but ensure that your basic location and contact information are up to date and fully completed. I’m embarrassed to admit that there was a time when I realized that my company address was wrong on my profile because we moved a few years prior! Everyone is busy, so this is my reminder for you to go take a look and confirm that your information is current.
It’s not exactly obvious how to do this because it requires a couple of clicks and some scrolling. Click on Contact Info and then click to edit the section to make sure your email, phone number, address, and web address are there. Make sure that all the relevant fields are filled out.
Revisit this often to see if there have been any changes or opportunities to improve or update the details in this section. I noticed recently that there were a few new options that weren’t filled out on my profile, as well as a link that was no longer relevant so I removed it.
Advanced Tip: You can also add additional links such as a detailed personal profile on your website or a booking page. Take advantage of these free and easy opportunities to link out to additional information or resources.
Direct Customers Where You Want Them to Go
Adding a custom link button at the top of your profile can direct visitors to where you want them to go. Whether it’s a link to your website, a page to schedule a meeting on your website, or a detailed profile page about you, this is a great way to guide potential customers to the most relevant information quickly.
In my case, I’ve used this as a way to link out to my detailed company profile on our website and encourage people to engage with me. This allows me to focus more on my services on my LinkedIn profile. But if someone is curious about me as a person, the link is readily available for them to explore and they can ask me questions. From there, they’ll hopefully begin to explore my company’s website as well.
Make it Easy to Connect with You
I’m surprised at how many people have elected to limit how people can connect to them on LinkedIn. Maybe they just don’t want to grow their network or they just want to limit solicitations. But if you’re trying to sell your services, you should take the opportunity to connect with as many people as possible and grow your network.
Go to Settings/Privacy after clicking on your profile image in the upper right corner and follow the instructions here to ensure that everyone on LinkedIn can connect with you.
Advanced Tip: If you’re a Premium subscriber you can allow anyone to contact you without even having a connection. Go to the top section of your profile, click “Edit” and ensure that your profile is set to “Open” so people can connect with you. This simple step makes you more approachable and increases your chances of networking success.
Showcase Your Services and Allow Requests For Proposals
Premium Business subscriptions on LinkedIn include a lot of additional features. One of those features is a “Request Service” button that links to a detailed services page. This page allows you to request reviews, upload work samples, list the services you provide, and showcase media. It’s an excellent way to provide potential customers with a comprehensive view of what you offer.
Advanced Tip: One great feature of the services page is the option for potential customers to request a proposal. This is included for free and is a great way for people to engage directly with you as a service provider.
Add and Optimize Additional Profile Sections
When you’re logged into LinkedIn and looking at your profile page, you should see a large button that says “Add Profile Section” in the first section of your profile. This allows you to add a wide variety of new sections to your profile that can be valuable for selling and for search optimization.
For example, adding a skills section under a new profile section is crucial for keyword optimization and to sell you as a reputable professional. Consider the various options like adding licenses and certifications, honors and awards, and more.
Advanced Tip: When people are viewing your profile, they will only be able to see the first 3 skills listed. You can reorder your skills by editing the section and placing the most important and relevant skills at the top of the list. That way if your primary skill is engineering, your prowess as a spreadsheet guru can be pushed a little farther down in the section.
Show Off Your Best Work
Use the Featured section to showcase content and videos that sell you and your organization effectively. Highlight critical videos that introduce your company and services, showcase featured presentations and sales content, or highlight written content that you’ve created that demonstrates your expertise and value.
For example, you can see below how I’ve featured content about our company values, a video that introduces my company, and a video of me speaking and giving some advice about how I got started in marketing.
Advanced Tip: If you don’t have a blog or a way to post different forms of content outside of LinkedIn, you can create and post content directly on LinkedIn and essentially use the platform as your blog. On the main LinkedIn page, you’ll see a field that says “Start a post”. You can post short updates that your followers can see in their feeds in this way, but you can also create and post an article. As you accumulate articles on LinkedIn, this can become your own personal blog. To highlight your new personal blog, you can choose to feature your articles within your activity section. Just click to edit the section to choose what you’d like to feature in this section.
By incorporating these non-obvious tips, you can create a LinkedIn profile that not only stands out to potential customers but also truly represents and sells your company and what you do. Remember, the goal is to make meaningful connections that turn into sales. Focusing on the details and taking your profile to the next level can really make a difference in your pursuit of growing your network and creating new sales opportunities.
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