Send to KindleIf you’ve spent any amount of time on LinkedIn, you’ve likely seen the profile views box on your home screen:
Most people don’t pay much attention to it, or give it only a cursory glance. Go ahead and click on it to see what’s inside. You’ll get the last 5 people who have viewed your profile, which may or may not be useful information, but what you will get is a rudimentary dashboard in addition to the most recent 5:
Pay attention to that little graph! In it is a lot of meaning. What kind of meaning? Let’s look at the two charts. Start with Appearances In Search:
What you’re looking for here is an upward trend. Appearances in Search is based on the words, phrases, modules, and keywords in your LinkedIn profile. If this isn’t trending upwards, think about adding a Skills section to your profile and beefing up your job descriptions significantly. The more relevant, targeted, accurate words you use to describe yourself, the better you’re going to do in Appearances in Search. For example:
My job is simple: get qualified leads in the door using Inbound Marketing methods such as social media, search, and email.
Not terrible, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Here’s the much improved version:
My job is simple: get qualified leads in the door using Inbound Marketing methods such as social media, search, and email. In the first 8 months, I’ve helped to create a 10x increase in the number of inbound leads through organic SEO, social media marketing, email marketing, and other marketing methods.
For people looking specifically for SEO or email marketing, the second description will fare better.
Let’s look at the second graph, Views:
Again, we’re looking for the upward trend. What controls this more than anything are three things: your photo, your headline, and your recommendations. Take a look:
Here’s the biggest power tip of all: Stop thinking about LinkedIn as a professional resume and start thinking about it like a pay per click advertisement. Construct it in such a way that it’s as compelling as possible so that when you appear in search, yours is the ad that gets clicked on. Put a call to action in your headline. Give people reasons to investigate more. Get a decent headshot taken.
These two little, neglected graphs are the key to being found more and being seen more. Make improvements and watch them grow!
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