As a small business owner, you have likely been using LinkedIn for years. Perhaps you’ve used it to connect with former colleagues, find corporate roles, or stay up on industry trends.
You keep hearing that LinkedIn profiles are important. But why?
Your profile seems just fine as it is, and might not even be causing any problems.
Just for a minute, I want you to think that instead of running an online business, you have an in-person store. And now let’s say you want to market your store so more customers come to it.
What would you do first?
Would you paint the walls, create appealing signage, and make sure the cashier register is in a logical place?
Or, would you post flyers around the neighborhood, run ads, and throw an event to get new customers to come by?
You’d probably go with the first option, painting the walls. You’d make some up front investments to make sure that your store looks good.
You know that designing your store won’t necessarily draw in a bunch of customers (especially if you don’t already have traffic coming by), but decide is worthwhile nonetheless because when you do marketing in the future, it will mean you have an attractive storefront that folks will want to come by.
While you don’t have a physical storefront as an online business owner, you do have a LinkedIn profile. And before you start promoting your LinkedIn profile by using strategies like direct messaging and posting, I want to make sure your LinkedIn profile’s walls are painted and signage is clear.
Today, your profile is completed, but not optimized.
If I were to guess, your profile is probably in decent shape because you’ve used it to recruit for corporate roles in the past. I can tell when you’ve invested in your profile because:
Your headline and about section are complete
Your featured section contains relevant links
You list all your recent work experiences
You have a few recommendations
You have a cover photo
Don’t get me wrong, I am glad you have invested in your profile. Because you invested in it, when people come by it, they get a sense of what you do and who you are.
But what makes a profile optimized?
Let’s break this down. I can tell a profile is optimized when:
Your about section talks about your ideal customer’s problem
Your entire profile tells one story of taking a particular action
Your recommendations are plentiful, relevant, and recent
Your headline communicates your unique value
Your cover photo is well-designed
When I help a small business owner with their LinkedIn profile, I am not building them a new profile.
I am helping them refine their messaging and improving how we use different features and settings on the profile so that we clearly communicate the following:
Who you are
Why you are qualified
What transformation you make possible
What services your online business offers
What action folks should take to work with you
What’s the impact of an optimized profile?
When you have these elements in place, your LinkedIn profile becomes a hard-working member of your team, as my friend Ophir Tal says. It tells a compelling story of your value and expertise to your clients.
If you already have a lot of traffic coming to your profile, optimizing it can result in more calls booked.
If you don’t already have a lot of traffic coming to your profile, optimizing it can result in having more clarity around your brand messaging, offers, and target audience. Dozens of my clients like Abe have experienced this increased clarity.
How to check “optimizing my LinkedIn profile” off your to do list
Many business owners find optimizing their LinkedIn profile intimidating, overwhelming, and unnecessarily time-consuming. I get it.
That’s why I created a service called a “LinkedIn Profile Refresh” where I optimize your profile for you. The services costs $475.
Since opening my business in December 2023, I’ve provided this service to 70 and counting business owners.
Here’s how it works:
You fill out your answers to 8 simple questions I send you about your business.
I create a Google Document with all my word-for-word suggestions on your profile. My designer prepares simple designs for your cover image and featured section. Within 10 days, you'll have this document in your hands.
You review my feedback and we have up to 10 days of back and forth and implement the feedback using my step-by-step tutorial videos.
Get started by clicking here.
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