5 Simple Steps for Improving Your LinkedIn Visibility
So you have got yourself a LinkedIn profile and are all set to build up your professional network. A natural question at this point would be how to set your profile up in such a way that it stands out from the 120 million other profiles out there. How do you attract the right visitors to your profile?
How do you make sure that those visitors find your profile more attractive than those of others? Of course, your impressive resume is there for all to see, but there are other ways to make your LinkedIn presence more valuable. Here are five simple steps for improving your LinkedIn visibility.
1. Build Your Network with Care
The first step to increasing your visibility is to build up a large and relevant professional network. Most people do this in an arbitrary fashion, inviting anyone and everyone on LinkedIn and accepting all invitations.
Keep in mind that you are trying to build up a network that will help further your professional goals. Invite only people you know and who know you. If there is anyone you wish to connect with, ask your common connections for a reference or an introduction. As your network grows, you will show up higher on search results.
2. Polish Your Profile
Fill in all the fields in your profile. List out all the educational institutes you have been to, and all positions at all companies that you have worked in. Add details like organizations and societies that you have been a member of. Add locations of places you have lived, studied and worked.
Add your core competencies and achievements in each of your previous positions. Upload a profile picture that captures your essence as a person and a professional. Find out what keywords people search for when looking for people in your industry or your job description. Ensure that these keywords are included in your description of your role. These tips will provide more variables by which you might show up in a search result. In addition, they will help your visitors to assess you, your personality and your abilities more accurately.
3. Make Your Profile Public
LinkedIn allows you to protect your privacy by keeping your profile private. This prevents search engines from finding and displaying your profile when someone searches for you by name.
Searching a person’s name on the Google is a common first step in doing a professional background check. If you make your LinkedIn profile public, your profile will show up in search results. Google, for example, shows LinkedIn profiles among the top results for names.
4. Customize the Default Web Links
The LinkedIn profile page allows you to enter web links to pages like your blog, your company website, etc. By default, these come with a standard display text like Company Website, Personal Website, etc. You can customize these from the edit profile page by choosing “other” from the drop down options.
These will let you edit the descriptive text that will show up on your profile. You can then describe your link the best way it will attract attention, like “My Online CV,” or “My Music Blog.”
5. Join and Participate in Groups
LinkedIn has a policy that does not allow you to connect to anyone you do not directly know. This limits the number of people you can add to your network. However, a simple way to know and connect with larger numbers of people is to join special interest LinkedIn groups. While joining a group will give you access to the members of the group, you will be in a stronger position to connect with them if you actively participate in and contribute to the discussions and activities of the group.
As you show up on discussion threads, more people will visit your profile if they are interested in your thoughts and opinions. Replying to questions and participating in discussions also become a reference point when asking for an introduction or inviting someone to join your network.
As you build up your network, ask your colleagues, friends, classmates, and close acquaintances to recommend you on the basis of what they know about you and your abilities. Remember to always place quality above quantity. Refrain from adding people you do not know or displaying recommendations that are of low professional or personal value.
By clicking on the link ‘Who Has Viewed Your Profile’, keep a track on who visits your profile. Reciprocate favors like introductions and recommendations. Use these simple tweaks to give your professional profile on LinkedIn that extra boost and see how the visibility of your profile shoots up.
Alia Haley is a blogger who very environmentally aware. Her love towards green living leads her eco friendly life. She likes to write on Sustainable Design. But these days her interest has grown in luxury items.
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Coletivo Mambembe
I would like to add one more thing to this list – Answer the Questions in the ‘LinkedIn Answers’ section. You can even give a relevant link, back to your domain along with the answer.
Awesome tips! I think it will help me in developing and enhancing my LinkedIn profile. Thank you so much for sharing this post.
I consider LinkedIn 3rd in line behind Facebook and Twitter as far as important social media sites go. However, where I think the latter 2 are places for building your business name and brand, I think of LinkedIn more as a place for job & career networking. These are some cool tips that will be of great help to expand your Linked in followers and increase its visibility to all.