9 Tips To Making the Most of Your Exposure on LinkedIn

20 September 2010

1. Have a profile that has lots of SEO keywords

There are over a billion people searches a year on LinkedIn. This means they are searching for keywords, different types of people, positions, and brands. Your profile should be littered with keywords that relate to you and your business. These keywords should be the ones that search for to find you. They should range from broad to highly specific and targeted. A good place to put these besides your bio is in the Specialties category.

Think in terms of SEO here, content is King. The more keywords you have the better chances you have of being found. This goes for an internet search as well as a LinkedIn search. Beyond getting you more visibility on LinkedIN it will also get more click through traffic from the internet.

2. Create a Catchy Headline

Your headline is the first thing that people may read so you want it to be catchy. For example, Social Media Guru, doesnt really do the job because there are millions of people out there claiming to be one. Mini-Social Media Mogul on the other hand might grab the attention of more people. Lure them in with your headline and wow them with your expertise. Remember you only have 120 characters to lure them inso think about it and make it standout!
Another tip if you want to open yourself up to new ventures and opportunities is to add your email to your headline. As many people do not have the upgraded feature and thus wont be able to email you through the LinkedIn service. I have seen many profiles do this, and when it comes to outreach on my side, it made my life much easier!

3. Blog, blog and blog some more

Now you might be saying, what does a blog have to do with LinkedIn, and I will get to that in the next tip. But for now read on and see why blogging is so important.

Blogging is the key component to building and branding yourself as an expert. It also adds trust. The more information you give, the more likely someone is to trust you. I think everyone should have a blog or at the very least own their own domain with their name in it. EdwardYu.com for example. (Thats me).

Now you might be saying, blogging, ugh how am I supposed to find the time for that. While it might be time consuming, it is very important for your overall success and branding of your name. This could be a microblog or even blog clippings from other blogs relating to your industry and the news around it.
If you absolutely dont have time to blog, buy your domain name and hire SEOARTICLEWRITINGPROS.com, They are an amazing company that produces great quality, keyword heavy work for very low prices. Like I said before, the blog is crucial.

4. Making sure you optimize your blog

So here is why that blog is important on LinkedIn. Once you have the blog set up, you can connect it to LinkedIn. Just as Networked Blogs auto publishes to facebook, LinkedIn has a similar application that allows you to autopublish to your profile. Everytime you publish a new blog it will be published into Linkedin. (To set it up go here.)

5. Beautify your blog with widgets and applications

Like all Social Tools these days LinkedIn has added a lot of new applications to enhance your profile. They are there for a reasonUSE THEM! Some of my favorites are:

A. Twitter Connection to LinkedIn
If you have looked at your LinkedIn homepage recently you will see the most recent updates from your connections twitter account. They have set this up by using the Twitter App. This is important to do because it means your name will be shown more often on news feeds and if the information is relevant new people will follow you and or the organization. This goes the same for Updating your status.
LinkedIn has recently added the Like & Comment feature Facebook uses as well, which will increase your visibility if people like and comment on your statuses. (Of course follow me on twitter.)

B. Creative Porfolio
This is essential for anyone in the creative arena of work. Whether you are a designer, photographer, fashion stylist, makeup artist, costume designer, artist, or anyone who has a portfolio to share. Now this application is a joint venture with the Behance network, which if you are a designer or artist you are most likely already on this network, thus you can pull your work directly from there. If you are not already on the Behance network sign up now!
This will allow people to browse your work and hopefully hire you! It saves time and lost opportunity as LinkedIn users can browse all the necessary aspects of who you are straight from your profile without getting lost in the sea of information out there.

C. My Travel (powered by TripIt.com)
This is a great application for business travellers and public speakers. Often times we have many contacts abroad and this application allows you show your trips planned. Perhaps if it works out you can meet up with contacts and actually build a relationship face to face!
This is also an application based on an online site called TripIt if you have an account you can easily add your trips from your account or directly from the application on LinkedIn.

D. Google or Slideshare Presentation
Google and Slideshare presentations are a professional way to introduce yourself and your work. Add a presentation to your LinkedIn profile to showcase a recent talk or presentation, display a visual portfolio of your professional accomplishments, introduce yourself to recruiters and professional contacts viewing your profile.

E. Real Estate Pro
This is essential for Real Estate Agents and Brokers in both the commercial and residential spaces.
Real Estate Pro is the easiest way to stay informed about your local real estate and office space marketplace. Use it to find office space listings for lease and property for sale. Follow and connect with active brokers and professionals, track new property listings and see the latest deals in your market.
Real estate professionals: Use Real Estate Pro to feature property listings and promote client transactions on your Linkedin profile. Easily share your work and completed deals with your business connections, track your market, create a following, promote your expertise and develop new business.
Family Shoutout - If you are looking for commercial real estate in the Greater Los Angeles Area, do contact the one and only Bruce Frasco. He is my dad and a lifelong real estate professional. Tell him I sent you and he will hook you up! Frasco style! You can also reach him on LinkedIn.

6. Drive more conversation by becoming a group leader

Make an interesting group that is relevant to your industry and invite your contacts. That is the easy part. Encouraging conversation, now that is the harder part. Talk about relevant news, introduce yourself and your company and keep the conversation flowing. By doing this, you and your profile will pop up all over the place. It will pop up in the group, in the email digest, and throughout the site. So even if you arent connected to certain group members personally, you are branding their name by sending out messages and discussions in the group.

6a. Join Other Groups that are related to your industry
SIMPLE ENOUGH! But you will also want to contribute relevant and interesting content. Post news, articles, share your blog, etc. Any conversation starting is a good thing!

7. Answer other peoples questions in the Questions and Answers Section

Being and expert is everything! Answering questions can help you achieve that status. Search for and answer relevant questions that will brand you as an expert. These will be seen by everyone and can be searched by anyone so this is a very important aspect.
TIP: Set up an RSS Feed for LinkedIN Questions, so that you can be notified of the related questions that interest the business or industry you are branding yourself in. This way you dont have to waste time.

8. Use your own custom URL
If you havent done so already, claim your own LinkedIn vanity URL, to solidify your own professional brand. In a world where everything is searchableYou need to own YOUR search.

9. Get your profile translated into other languages

LinkedIn now has the option to translate your profile into different languages. This will help you get found by those in different countries. It might be a good idea to translate to a language of the country you do a lot of business in to build your presence there. It is simple to use and will expose you to a whole new audience!