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How to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile

By Deborah Dobson posted 05-14-2015 09:16

  

LinkedIn is an excellent marketing and business development tool for lawyers and the law firm.  It is very important to build a robust profile on LinkedIn to develop a good online presence and optimize your search results not only on LinkedIn, but with the search engines.  Your profile shows potential clients the type of work you do and how you can help them with what they need. 

Here are some steps you can take to improve your LinkedIn profile.

Use a professional photo.  It is important to add a professional photo to your LinkedIn profile.  People will be more likely to connect if you do.

Leverage the “Professional Headline.” Under your name, you can add a professional headline using 120 characters. Communicate specifically what kind of lawyer you are and the type of law/industry/niche you work in.  Don't use a generic title, such as "Attorney," rather state your practice area (e.g., "Labor & Employment Partner).  This lets potential clients and professional connections immediately know your area of expertise before they read your summary and experience.

Complete the “Summary” section.  Use the summary section to position yourself specifically for the type of business you are seeking, and to “brand’ yourself in a specific area of law or an industry segment.  Mention some of your recent work in that area or industry and any leadership positions you hold or organizations you are active in.  As LinkedIn is a social networking site, it is best to use first person as if you were speaking to someone about what you do and have to offer.

Customize your LinkedIn URL:  When you create a LinkedIn account, you are given a url that consists of random characters. Customizing your url will better optimize for search engines.  My custom url is http://www.linkedin.com/in/debdobson.

Add web links.  You can add up to three links to your law firm’s website, blogs and your bio on the firm website or any other web link you feel is important to add to your profile.  By default the label settings are:

  • My Web Site
  • My Company
  • My Blog

Take advantage of the ability to customize these labels by going to the Web Sites edit mode and choosing “Other” in the drop down.  Type in the name of the site you are linking to brand it. For example:

  • Deb Dobson’s bio
  • Fisher & Phillips LLP
  • Government Solutions blog

Add recent presentations or publications.  Adding a publication section to your profile and/or rich media such as powerpoint presentations or white paper pdf files will demonstrate your thought leadership and expertise.



#MarketingandBusinessDevelopment #SocialMedia #LinkedIn #SocialMedia #bestpractices
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