Why Your LinkedIn Profile Is the Foundation of Your LinkedIn Strategy

A Practical Guide For Business Owners Who Want Better Results.

I bang on a lot about LinkedIn profiles for good reason. But when people find out I’m a LinkedIn trainer, they nearly always assume I’ll be talking about posting. How often to post. What to post. And how to keep up with the algorithm.

Don’t get me wrong, posting has its place. But for me, it’s the not the most important thing that business owners should focus on. Your LinkedIn profile is. Because posting works far better when your profile clearly explains who you help, how you help them, and what to do next.

Your LinkedIn profile underpins your overall LinkedIn strategy, providing the foundation for success on LinkedIn. Not only that, with LinkedIn’s new AI driven 360Brew algorithm, it’s now even more important that your LinkedIn profile clearly states what you do and how you help.

Why LinkedIn profiles are often overlooked by business owners . . . 🤔

Most people start their LinkedIn journey because someone told them that they should have a LinkedIn profile. Which is exactly where I started back on Valentine’s Day 2006. The problem is I didn’t know what I was doing or what I needed to write on my profile and as a result I did what most people do and cobbled it together as my online CV and then forgot about it.

Yet your LinkedIn profile is a key part of how you get found on LinkedIn and on Google, plus with AI search tools now crawling profiles, it can also increasingly get you found via AI search.

The question is . . .

If your ideal client lands on your profile today, would they instantly understand what you do and how you help in under 10 seconds?

I’ve been using LinkedIn since 2006 and have spent over a decade helping UK business owners and small companies use LinkedIn more strategically. Time and time again, the biggest wins come not from posting more, but from getting the foundations right first.

So here are some tips to ensure that your LinkedIn profile, presents you in your best and brightest light, gets you found by your target audience and engages them enough to get in touch either by connecting or emailing you.

1️⃣ Treat Your LinkedIn Profile Like A Website For Your Business

Just thinking of LinkedIn as a website is often a lightbulb moment for many people because they then realise how they need to approach LinkedIn.

Think about how websites work. i.e. the messaging and branding, optimising it so it comes up in Google searches, making sure the content is what your audience wants to read and then having a call to action to tell your website visitors what to do next.

Your LinkedIn profile works in exactly the same way:

✔️ It has to be found – either in a Google or LinkedIn search and now in AI searches

✔️ It has to engage – so people stay on your profile

✔️ It has to tell people what to do next – a call to action such as connect, message, call or sign up for your free offer

Essentially what you’re aiming for is that it shouldn’t matter if your dream clients go to your website or your LinkedIn profile because the messaging and branding is consistent and congruent.

The good news then is, if you have already done a lot of work on your website content, you can take that same content and apply it your LinkedIn profile.

OR, if you don’t have a website, then your LinkedIn profile can work as a website for you, which incidentally mine did for many years.

2️⃣ Write Your LinkedIn Profile To Speak Directly To Your Ideal Client

I’m sorry to say but no one cares about you.

Your audience wants to know what you can do for them. The infamous WIIFM! So, don’t focus your profile on you.

Focus your LinkedIn Profile on the problems you help your audience solve.

This means knowing your audience and putting yourself in their shoes. Then ask yourself:

❓ What is keeping them awake at night?

❓ What words or phrases would they be using to find solutions?

If you don’t know, go ask your top clients. What it is they said to you when you first started talking, what were they looking to achieve?

Once you have this information, you then have all the content you need for your profile. Outline your clients’ problems so they know that you understand them.

3️⃣ Use Results and Stories To Show The Impact Of Your Work

“Facts Tell, Stories Sell”

I am sure you have heard of “Facts Tell, Stories Sell”?

Don’t tell people how good you are, let your clients tell them. Tell stories of how you have helped your clients and the results they have achieved.

Use bullets to demonstrate key results (3 – 5 bullets work best), for example:

✔ Saved a charity 70% of their telecoms bill and another 43% every year across a 3-year deal

✔ Discovered a manufacturer was paying elevated out of contract rates with their energy supplier

✔ Discovered an organisation’s confidential waste service was not certificated risking a potential £5000 fine

4️⃣ Add A Clear Call To Action To Your LinkedIn Profile

Finally, think about what action you want someone to take once they’ve read your profile. A clear call to action needs to guide the reader on what to do next.

If you think about websites, every good website has a clear call to action. It tells visitors where to go next, whether that’s to make contact, download something useful or start a conversation. Your LinkedIn profile should work in exactly the same way.

Your call to action needs people how they can work with you or start a conversation. Start by asking yourself “if the right person landed on my profile today, what would I like them to do next?”

That next step might be:

• Visiting your website
• Downloading a free guide or resource
• Joining your mailing list
• Emailing or messaging you directly
• Connecting with you on LinkedIn

Then add it to your About section and your current experience.

When your LinkedIn profile explains who you help, how you help them and what to do next, you make it easier for the right people to act, rather than leaving them to think now what?

5️⃣ How To Write A Clear, Mobile Friendly LinkedIn Profile

Accoring to LinkedIn 70% of traffic to LinkedIn currently is via the mobile. That means you need to ensure that your profile is mobile friendly, so here are some tips to consider when writing your profile.

✅ Make your profile easy to read and scan by breaking up the text with short paragraphs and bullet points. Write your profile in Word first.

✅ Always write in first person

✅ Use the Featured section to beef up your profile. Add a link to your best resources, adding video, images, presentations and documents to your profile.

✅ Use your profile to start a conversation. Build rapport by demonstrating you understand your ideal clients’ challenges and where possible minimise the number of times you say “I” and use “You” instead

✅ Does it pass the `SO WHAT?’ Test? Imagine you are someone else reading your profile, every single sentence needs to answer the question “So what?”

✅ Get Feedback! Ask people you know, clients, colleagues and friends to have a look. Does it resonate with them?

Not sure if your LinkedIn profile is helping or holding you back?

Your LinkedIn profile sets the foundation of your LinkedIn strategy. When it clearly explains who you help, what you help them with and what to do next, it should make it easy for the right people to recognise you, trust you and take the next step.

For UK business owners and small companies, LinkedIn works best when you stop treating it as a social platform and start treating it as a business tool.

So, if you only take one thing from this article, make it this: Before you post more, make sure your profile is working hard enough to support you.

If you want support shaping your LinkedIn strategy or you would simply like your LinkedIn profile written properly so it reflects your business and attracts the right enquiries, that’s exactly where I can help.

Need more support with LinkedIn?

💥 If LinkedIn isn’t working hard for you or you’re not sure where to start with using LinkedIn, email judy@judithparsons.com or connect with me on LinkedIn to chat about how I can help.

Or book a virtual brew here and let’s make LinkedIn work for you . . . ⭐

I run regular LinkedIn LoveIns which are short 30-minute learnings over lunch, often with guest experts to help improve LinkedIn results. If you’d like to be notified of new events why not join my LinkedIn LoveIn group. You can also find the recordings of previous LoveIns as well as tips and updates here.