Win new clients by optimizing your LinkedIn profile keywords
This is part of our success story series where LinkedIn users share their best practices on using LinkedIn more effectively to advance their career or business. Today’s user story comes from Thomas Merlino, small business owner at InControl Technical, who discovered how LinkedIn could help his small business grow outside of where he lived.How I used LinkedIn as a beginner
Never underestimate the power of social networking. When I first signed up for a LinkedIn account, it was primarily to network with peers in my area. I am now a small business owner who utilizes LinkedIn as a means to help gain customers outside of our local geographical area.
My business, InControl Technical, was started in February 2007. My vision was to provide simple and straightforward technical services to the area where I live, work, and play. I wanted to connect with other professionals and business owners in the local Erie, Pennsylvania area, so I decided to create and administer a group on LinkedIn called LinkedErie. I, along with some others in the group, promote our individual businesses and discuss everything from politics to the local economy on the LinkedErie discussion board. It has been a tremendous help to get to know some of my current and potential customers through this group on LinkedIn.
My Aha! moment: How a future client found me on LinkedIn
Soon the time came when I realized another advantageous benefit of social networking and LinkedIn. While I was working towards building a sizable local customer base and getting our name out there, InControl Technical was contacted by a company out of Greenville, South Carolina. They found us on the Web by doing a search for “computer repair erie pa” and found my LinkedIn profile that I link to from our Web site. After viewing my credentials and seeing the recommendations on my LinkedIn profile, the company felt that InControl Technical would be a good fit for their clients in Erie, PA. The company that contacted us installs and services equipment that is tied in with local servers at various law enforcement agencies. Based on the recommendations and credentials posted on my LinkedIn profile and the pricing information that is readily available on our Web site, this company felt comfortable trusting us to service their installed server equipment at a reasonable cost.
Since then, we’ve received calls from other companies outside of our immediate area wanting to utilize our services to assist with everything from temporary small projects to dedicated ongoing support for field employees who don’t have access to a corporate information services department. Without the enormous power and potential of social networking and LinkedIn, I truly believe that the task of expanding outside of invisible geographical walls would be much more difficult to accomplish.
—
[LinkedIn Tip] Optimize your LinkedIn profile with appropriate keywords to be found easily by clients
I’m sure many of you reading this post may wonder how you can reap similar benefits by optimizing your LinkedIn profile for keywords pertaining to your consultancy (both for freelancers or small businesses). For starters, make sure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date with the latest information on your small business offerings.
For example. Not only is Thomas’ profile summary up-to-date, but he’s also updated the “Specialties” section with a list of keywords related to the technical consulting offered by his small business. You may notice that the keywords he’s added are also localized mentioning Erie, Pennsylvania. This is a great way to come up in search results when prospective clients search for vendors in that particular location. In this particular example Thomas’ profile showed up when the prospective client searched for “computer repair erie pa” and found 14 results, the first of which was Thomas’s profile.
If you’re looking for vendors, don’t stop with basic search. Try advanced people search that allows you to slice and dice across multiple facets including location, industry; even groups that you belong to.
Tags: linkedin-advanced-search, linkedin-entrepreneurs, linkedin-groups, linkedin-profiles, linkedin-search, linkedin-small-business, small-business, thomas-merlino, thomas-merlino-linkedin-user
trackback
http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/08/14/thomas-merlino-how-linkedin-helps-small-businesses-grow/trackback/
Don Simkovich August 14th, 2009
This is a good article. What was the length of time from when you were actively using LinkedIn to when the company in S.C. contacted you?
Active and consistent participation is the key.
Robin Eads August 17th, 2009
Although I’ve had my LinkedIn profile for quite some time now, you’ve given me some tips I hadn’t thought of! I’m not sure that I’ve ever fully optimized my LI profile in the way I should have; getting it “just right” seemed almost impossible and like a huge chore. This blog has some great time saving advice and I’m going to get started! Thanks!!
Getting LinkedIn to the Building Industry: Tips on Using LinkedIn to Help Your Business « BuildIntel August 18th, 2009
[...] profile fresh with the latest information related to your products and services. A tip from the LinkedIn Blog: go beyond updating your summary and include keywords in your “Specialties” section. If [...]
Trace Mayer August 18th, 2009
At the 2009 SF WordCamp there was a presentation by this girl about her book The Whuffie Factor. This post is a prime example of The Whuffie Factor at work. ‘Whuffie’ is the ‘online currency’ and translates into influence; getting people to read, act, buy, etc. Whuffie is gained by contributing to the online community, building a reputation and adding value. In this case, the LinkedIn profile was yet another piece to building your Whuffie and getting the customers to come to you.
Really fascinating to see it in action. I know I have been integrating LinkedIn into my SEO and Whuffie strategy and it will be interesting to see it start paying dividends also.
Andre Milteer August 20th, 2009
Up til now, LinkedIn was just another social media tool to promote Me,Inc. While still employed, I’m now searching for meaning and purpose in my daily work and career.
Finding that LinkedIn is giving me a “leg-up;” many prospective Centers of Influence (COIs) and HR mgrs have LinkedIn profiles. After our meetings conclude, I now ask, “May I send you an invitation to join (your) my LinkedIn? “Sure!”, they reply…need I say more?
– Andre Milteer, LinkedIn
Paul Rosenfeld August 20th, 2009
Great and inspiring piece. Congratulations on your forward thinking. While the LinkedIn tool provides the ability to do this, it wouldn’t have happened without your proactive behavior.
Paul
Gareth James August 27th, 2009
You can also optimize your profile more by changing your public profile url e.g.
linkedin/in/londonaccountant
You then have a chance of ranking your profile externally in the search engines for you keywords.
Hope this helps
Andrea Norman September 1st, 2009
Excellent case study. I have found a growing number of leads and web traffic coming from LinkedIn. At times, the numbers exceed Bing! or Yahoo!
Thomas Merlino, Jr. September 3rd, 2009
Thanks for all of the comments! I just now had an opportunity to read over some of these.
Don S., to quickly answer your question, I would say that it was about a year and a half from the time that I really “fixed up” my LinkedIn profile and was contacted by the company in South Carolina. It took me a while to improve InControl Technical’s site rankings with various search engines. The combination of our website coming up near the top of the list with folks googling “computer repair erie pa” (among other search phrases) and my personal LinkedIn profile linked from our website has helped us tremendously.
Best,
Thomas Merlino, Jr.
Co-Owner/Lead Technical Advisor
InControl Technical
http://www.incontroltechnical.com
Peter Egan September 4th, 2009
Now ain’t that the darndest thing! I’m intrigued at the notion of regular people now starting to become familiar with SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and actually delving into the it for the sake of optimizing linked in profiles.
I’m not sure if this development will turn out to be a good or a bad thing for business in the long run.
Fernand September 8th, 2009
Hi, Please read it completely and then decide what to do.
I cannot find the right contact at linked in to restore my login.
Linked in does not recognise my emailadress so i cannot login nor can i reset my password.
I tried all my emailadresses so i cannot be mistaken in the right emailadress i use for linkin.
I even get invited on my emailadress that linkin denies exist.
I am at linked in, but they deny that they know my emailadress.
Jack Benke September 8th, 2009
I joined LinkedIn to meet other business owners and tointroduce myself with articles and audio video presentations about products and services I provide, as well as FYI’s for time sensitive issues pertaining to fiancial investment and insurance issues.
I look into my various ‘networking group memberships for professionals sharing information about their respective areas of expertise, products or services to see if there is a way to connect.
however, I joined a couple of groups that were started as ‘networking groups’, but in the end they want to restrict the discussions and articles to a specific topic like ‘green’ products’ or ‘venture capital’. Hence, I have been asked to stop introducing my business to the group members. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, please share you experiences.
Dirk Frey September 8th, 2009
@fernand- I sympathize with your dilemma. If you only have one confirmed email address on this account and no longer have access to that email address (usually because you left the company) our Privacy Policies won’t allow us to send you password reset link to other email addresses. If you don’t have any connections on the account I hope you will consider opening another account and CS can close this one for you.
I would suggest to anyone that they always keep at least two confirmed email addresses (a business and a personal- and make sure you confirm them) on their accounts just in case they are unable to access the business email address someday.
Dirk Frey September 9th, 2009
@Jack – LinkedIn allows the group owner/managers to determine how they want their group to function and to monitor the direction of their discussions. The discussions and comments are monitored by the owners and managers based on their own goals and expectations for the group. As groups grow in size, some may need to further refine their focus and monitoring processes. Because it is their group, the owner/manager does have the right to request that members not post this type of information and would ultimately have right to remove them from the group if requests aren’t followed. We (LinkedIn) would only become involved when there is a clear violation of our User Agreement.
On a somewhat similar note…some have unfortunately found that the using the 1:1 message feature in groups without direct engagement through a discussion could be perceived (by your own members) as spam even though this was not their intention. Peoples definitions and expectations of “networking” vary. Because of this, some times the most effective way to introduce one’s own product is to first establish your credibility as a group member with authentic participation within the context of the discussion. As relationships develop with certain members in your group, that may be the better time to invite the member to connect or (depending on what your group manager actually meant by “stop introducing my business to the group members”) use the 1:1 message to introduce them to your product. I’m sure you’ll be able to find many groups that meet both your needs as well as the needs and expectations of the group owners and other members. Best of luck!
What can Linked IN do for YOU and YOUR BUSINESS? - Remington Graphics Blog September 30th, 2009
[...] Win new clients by optimizing your Linked in keywords Click here for more info [...]
The Blog of Hans Eisenman October 6th, 2009
Win new clients by optimizing your LinkedIn profile keywords…
Here’s a way to use LinkedIN to attract new clients and generate leads for your business. The LinkedIn Blog » Blog Archive Win new clients by optimizing your LinkedIn profile keywords «. Never underestimate the power of social networking. When……
Get the MOST from your LinkedIn account! « GreenwoodCR Marketing Blog November 16th, 2009
[...] finally, as an SEM tip, a success story post on the LinkedIn blog shows how you can use keywords in your profile to improve business [...]
Brent Bailey December 16th, 2009
Thomas,
Thanks for the great info and explaining it in plain english. It was the kick in the pants I needed to get rolling again. Silly, that I’m not optimizing my profile better for Google.
Brent Bailey
How To Optimize Your 5 Top Social Media Channels « Jeffbullas’s Blog January 14th, 2010
[...] Win new clients by optimizing your LinkedIn profile keywords [...]
Andrew Edmonds January 17th, 2010
Thanks for the post. I’ve had a bog standard linked in profile for my business as an entertainer and have kind of left it to stagnate whilst concentrating mainly on facebook and twitter, but your post as made me reevaluate the need for a linked in presence. Thank you. Now I need to read all your other posts :)