Become a LinkedIn Superstar

What happens before a client becomes a client?  They “Google” you.  They may not admit it, but make no mistake about it. You’ve been “Googled.”

Are you a blogger?  Are you active on Twitter and Facebook? Or perhaps you’ve managed to get on all 4,731 social networking sites you’ve heard you have to be on?  Good for you!  No matter how many profiles you have, there’s one that always ranks highly in the SERP: LinkedIn.  You remember LinkedIn?  It’s that site you created a profile on four years ago and never went back.  That’s also the site your clients are going to click on to find out more about you.   Let’s prepare for their visit.

http://www.viddler.com/explore/mikemueller/videos/65/

Before we get started, let’s first make sure you have a “current” picture on your profile.  You know what I mean?

Okay, all set?

LinkedIn gives you three links.  We want to use all three of them and use them wisely. 

To start, choose the “Edit My Profile” tab, then click on any one of the “Edit” links.

Under "Website," choose “Other.”  This allows us to create what is called "Anchor Text," and that’s always a good thing when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). Next, for our link, we want to direct them to a “Landing Page” that is built for that link or visitor. 

Example: You’ve written an excellent article, “How to Price Your Home for a Quick Sale in Today’s Marketplace”.  It’s something you wish every homeowner would read before you go to that presentation.  We choose “Other”, anchor text of “How to Sell Quickly” and for the link you use the permalink to your article.  Easy enough?  Now create two more! Remember we want to use all three opportunities.

This is a free-for-all section.  It’s a great opportunity to explain why the visitor should work with you.  Links in this section don’t become hyperlinks, it’s text only.  One hint:  Add your contact info to the top of this section.  One drawback of LinkedIn is they make it hard for visitors to find your contact information. Easy fix!

No, we’re not talking about your negotiation skills or being a neighborhood expert.  This section is misnamed – it’s actually keywords that LinkedIn uses for its internal search.  You’ll find the box to edit this section at the bottom of the "Summary Edit" page.  You want the terms a client might enter into the search box.  It’s not gaming the LinkedIn system, but it’s close!

Want a recommendation? The easiest way to have someone write a recommendation about you is to write one about them.  It’s amazing how fast and how simple this is.  The next question is, “Who”?  Your co-workers?  Let me put it this way:  If I saw that the only people recommending you also worked for the same company, I might put little value in that. Wouldn’t you?  Luckily there are two sides to every real estate transaction.  For every closed deal you had, there was another agent on the other side of the closing table.  Chances are they work for a different brokerage.  Did they do a good job?  Now you have a list of people to start writing recommendations for.

That’s it.  Four simple things you can do today to make you a LinkedIn Superstar!

Next you'll want to explore how to use LinkedIn Groups, take advantage of the new applications like Wordpress and Slideshare, and schedule updates to your status.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask.  I’m Mike Mueller, and I’m on LinkedIn.