3 ways your LinkedIn profile isn't optimized (even though you think it is!)

You’ve had your LinkedIn profile for over a decade. You’ve tweaked it countless times, and you feel pretty good about it.

But despite your efforts, your LinkedIn marketing isn’t bringing in the clients you desire. So, you wonder if you're missing something.

Sound familiar?

Your LinkedIn profile might feel updated, but if you haven't filled out certain sections and used certain features correctly, your potential clients might be scrolling past you. In today’s competitive online space where your peers are landing clients from LinkedIn, I want to make sure your profile is an asset that you're proud of and that generates client inquiries.

You can think of your LinkedIn profile as your online storefront. If you had a physical store, I know you wouldn’t leave the walls unpainted and the signage unclear. Updating your profile ensures that when potential clients stop by, they feel welcomed and immediately understand how they can benefit from your offer.

Your LinkedIn profile can become a powerful asset for your small business with a handful of targeted tweaks.

Let’s dive into three key ways your profile might fall short and how to fix them.

Issue 1) Your profile doesn't show your clients exactly who you help and what problem you solve

When a potential client lands on your profile, they should instantly know who you help and how you help them. If your headline only states your job title (e.g., “Business Coach” or “Marketing Consultant”), you're leaving doubt in your clients' minds that you're the one to solve their problems. When doubt exists, clients are less likely to reach out for your help. 

Pro tip: Update your headline to include who you help and the transformation you provide.

Use this simple formula:

“Helping [your target audience] with [your service] so they can [achieve a goal].”

For example:

• Instead of “Business Coach,” try: “Helping pre-revenue startups make their first hires so they can achieve product-market fit”

• Instead of “Marketing Consultant,” try: “Helping service-based entrepreneurs attract high-paying clients without paid ads.”

Once you have this sentence, feel free to swap out "helping" for a stronger action verb.

Issue 2) Your about section focuses on you, not the client

LinkedIn designed your about section for you to talk about yourself. And in all likelihood, that's how you're using your about section today!

Nonetheless, I recommend you use the about section differently. Your about section is not a place to list your entire educational background, career history, and accolades.

Instead, your about section should tell your clients that you understand their challenge, are qualified to fix it, and how to get started.

I recommend structuring your about section as follows: 

1. Describe pain point (as a x role, you feel…)

2. Validate pain point (I get it. I’ve been there.)

3. Explain the transformation your services provides

4. Share a testimonial (with an actual client name and role, if possible)

5. Briefly describe that you’re qualified (years of experience, relevant education and past roles)

6. Explain the services you offer and list them with prices if they are productized

7. Share a call-to-action (e.g. discovery call link, email sign-up, and/or professional email and/or cell)

Issue 3) You’re missing testimonials from past clients

When you want to pick a restaurant for dinner, I'm going to guess that you check out and value the restaurant's reviews. You can think about the recommendation section of your LinkedIn profile like the reviews of a restaurant. The more positive ones, the better!

The recommendations section is easily the most-forgotten-about section of a LinkedIn profile. And without recommendations, potential clients doubt that you can help them with their problems. Therefore, they might second-guess contacting you, wondering if hiring you is the right choice.

As a rule of thumb, you should have at least one recommendation from the past 3 months, and 3 recommendations from the past year.

To build your recommendation section, ask past satisfied clients for LinkedIn recommendations. Feel free to borrow one of my simple templates.

If they’ve written a recommendation before:

"Hi (First Name), in the past, you generously shared this recommendation with me: (insert recommendation). Would you be kind enough to leave this as a recommendation on my LinkedIn profile as well?"

If they haven't written a recommendation before:

"Hi (First Name), hope you’re doing well. I respect you because (insert something personal about your relationship) and you were one of the first people I thought of to request a LinkedIn recommendation from. Would you mind leaving me a review to highlight our work together in (specific area)?"

You've made these three changes. Is that everything?

There are so many more ways to improve your profile outside of what I shared above. For example, you'll want to review these sections:

• Cover photo

• Custom button

• Past work experience

• Current work experience

• Featured section

• Privacy settings

• and more!

In fact, when I update a client's profile, I review more than 30 sections to ensure that every section highlights your experience and boosts your credibility.

Updating Abe's LinkedIn profile changed his business

My client, Abe, a Sales Development Consultant, updated his profile, causing a ripple effect of positive changes for his business. Here's what he said:

The process of optimizing his LinkedIn profile resulted in Abe clarifying his positioning, improving his content strategy, and booking discovery calls.

You can learn more about Abe's story and the importance of optimizing your profile in this comprehensive blog post.

Worried that updating your profile will be a headache?

I've heard countless stories of business owners spending dozens of hours trying to update their profile on their own. Or even worse, business owners avoiding updating it altogether, as it continues to fall to the bottom of their to do list.

I don't want you to waste your time trying to figure out which features matter and how to position your business. There’s a reason the saying goes, “You can’t read the label from inside the bottle.” 

I've reviewed hundreds of LinkedIn profiles and studied the psychology of what works on LinkedIn so you don't have to figure it out on your own.

Let me take your profile off your plate

In my LinkedIn Profile Refresh, I review more than 30 sections to make sure your profile clearly communicates your expertise, showcases real results you’ve achieved, and guides potential clients toward the next step in working with you. I'll provide word-for-word copy changes and short tutorial videos (1-3 minutes each) so you can easily implement the changes to your profile.

No more staring at your profile wondering what’s missing. I’ll take care of it so you can start seeing real results from the work you're already putting into posting and messaging LinkedIn. The process takes just 3 weeks from start to finish.

Learn more and get started today by clicking here.