When I first meet a client, most of them tell me they have a LinkedIn profile. However, it’s usually something they have just put together very quickly. This approach always surprises me. Would you submit a CV with important sections missing, like your contact details or your complete job history?

So many profiles are missing a summary completely or just a few sentences have been put together to describe the client’s business. I often use the analogy of a LinkedIn profile being your shop window and I notice that most people are not displaying their most profitable or key products in that shop window. This can lead to a lack of customers coming through the shop door to make those vital purchases to keep the business running. Can you afford to take that risk and ignore the content?

If you want your business to grow it is worthwhile investing time, and perhaps money, in getting that ideal LinkedIn profile which sells your business and converts prospects into customers. Overall, I spend many hours reviewing & rewriting each Profile. The process of rewriting a LinkedIn profile starts with an initial meeting with the client for an hour to find out about them and their business. I need to know what makes you different from your competitors and the key services or products that I need to highlight.

Following that meeting, I then consider re-writing your headline, so that it contains key search terms and holds an element of interest to make people read on and learn more about you.

I also create a summary that is client-focused. You need to speak directly to your target market. You have to demonstrate that you are the person who can help them with their specific problems. Inclusion of the right keywords in your summary section helps as well.

The section about your experience is also vital. I was speaking to a Business Coach recently and, on review of their profile, I could see that there was scarcely any detail on their past roles; but this was vital. Any new client would be interested in their journey to their current role and it could have been a missed opportunity for them to highlight their breadth of skills and experience.

There are numerous other sections within a LinkedIn profile to complete which often get overlooked. For example you can list up to 50 Skills; but are you listing the right ones? Evidence shows the more endorsements you have for a specific skill, the better the positioning of that term in LinkedIn search results.

Finally, are you a member of any groups? One of the biggest mistakes people make is to only join their industry-specific groups. To effectively use groups on LinkedIn, you should join those that are specific to your target markets. I provide my clients with a carefully researched list of groups that could benefit them and their business if they participate regularly in discussions.

As hopefully I have begun to demonstrate, your LinkedIn profile is not something that should be completed in haste. A lot of time and effort should go into making it a comprehensive display that entices passers-by into your shop and ultimately results in them contacting you.