11 Ways to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for MoreExposure

By Kristi Hines

Published June 23, 2015

Are you getting the most out of your LinkedIn personal profile?

Interested in ways to drive traffic to your website?

LinkedIn offers many overlooked ways to optimize your profile, helping more people discover youand promote your business.

In this article you'll discover 11 tips you might not be using on your LinkedIn profile, but should.

Discover eleven ways tooptimize your LinkedIn profile for more exposure.

#1: Emphasize Your Professional Skills

If you haven't added skills to your LinkedIn profile, you're missing out on an opportunity to optimizeyour profile for specific keywords and get quick endorsements from your connections for thoseskills. LinkedIn showcases your top 10 skills based on endorsements so people know where youexcel.

Emphasize your professionalskills in the Skills section.

#2: Promote Your Projects

You can use the Projects section (originally created for students to share projects they completed atuniversity) to highlight products, services or other projects, such as the podcasts listed on Jay Baer'sLinkedIn profile. Directly link each project to your website and include team members whenapplicable.

Promote your products,services and projects in the Projects section.

#3: Link to Your Publications

The Publications section is perfect if you're a book author, regular contributor to top publications, orhave ebooks, white papers and other content that you want to promote. You can directly link eachpublication to where visitors can buy your books (like Mari Smith does on her LinkedIn profile) toauthor profile pages and landing pages for your content.

Link to your books, authorpages and company content in the Publications section.

#4: Share Your Honors and Awards

Another section originally designed for students' scholastic achievements, the Honors Awardssection is where you can highlight notable lists and mentions you've received from recognizedauthorities and publications in your industry.

Share notable lists andmentions in the Honors Awards section.

#5: Showcase Specialized Certifications

If you haven't completed a higher-education degree, the Certifications section allows you toshowcase your specialized educational achievements within your industry. If your business boasts acertification for your industry, you can list it here and link to it so people can learn more about it.

Showcase specializedcertifications in the Certifications section.

#6: Highlight Industry-Related Coursework

Not all courses come with a certification. If you've taken any courses that would apply to your

business, you can list them in the Courses section. This includes coursework you completed atuniversity, those you completed as part of your on-the-job training and those offered by recognizedorganizations in your industry.

Highlight industry-relatedcoursework in the Courses section.

#7: Feature Your Professional Memberships

If you belong to professional organizations in your industry, use the Organizations section tohighlight your membership and the position you hold beyond just being a member. It's also anothergreat opportunity to optimize your profile for keywords. For example, professional photographerscan include their membership to Professional Photographers of America.

Feature professionalmemberships in the Organizations section.

#8: Demonstrate Language Proficiency

Demand for people who speak two or more languages is on the rise. Therefore, if you are fluent inmultiple languages, include that information in the Languages section.

Demonstrate language

proficiency in the Languages section.

#9: Highlight Your LinkedIn Groups

When you join LinkedIn groups, you have the option of listing them on your profile, as shown in theGroups section below.

Highlight your LinkedIngroup memberships in the Groups section.

This can benefit you in a few different ways. First, people who want to get to know you can do so byjoining the groups you're in and engaging with you there.

Second, if you join groups related to your industry, such as groups for social media consultants, youcan add more keywords to your profile. Finally, if you run groups for your business, you can displaythem on your profile to help increase membership.

#10: Publicize Your Interests

When you follow specific news channels, publishers, influencers and companies found on LinkedInPulse, they will appear in the Following section of your profile. You can use this section to optimizeyour profile for specific keywords, highlight publications that you may contribute to and showcaseyour customers.

Publicize interests you followin the Following section.

#11: Support Your Causes

Did you know that one in five hiring managers has chosen a candidate based on his or her volunteerexperience? Add the Volunteer section to your profile to show others that you also care abouthelping others. For nonprofits, this is a great way to promote your organization and cause.

Publicize interests you followin the Following section.

Support your causes in the Volunteer section.

How to Add These Sections to Your Profile

To add these sections to your LinkedIn profile, open your profile (choose Profile and select EditProfile from the drop-down menu) and look for the Add a Section to Your Profile Area beneath thesection that contains your profile photo and headline. You may need to click the View More link tosee all of the available sections.

Choose additional sections toadd to your LinkedIn profile.

Click on the Add links for the sections you want to add and fill in the details for each listing asspecified. Pay particular attention to opportunities to add a URL to an external website within theProjects, Publications, Certifications and other sections. This will allow people to go directly to yourwebsite from your profile.

Fill out each section's basicinformation.

Note that certain sections, like Projects and Organizations, allow you to select your occupation atthe time you participated in the project or became a member of an organization.

Link specific job experiencesto projects and organizations.

The project or organization is then linked to that listing in your Experience section.

Include links to projects andorganizations in the Job Experience section.

You can remove a section you've added to your profile by removing all of the items you've added tothat section, such as removing all publications or all projects.

Conclusion

Like most LinkedIn users, you're probably already taking advantage of the Summary, Experienceand Education sections of your profile. But don't miss out on additional sections that will optimizeyour profile for keywords, highlight specific achievements and promote your business.

What do you think? Do you use any of these additional sections in your LinkedIn profile? If so, pleaseshare your results in the comments!

Tips for optimizing your LinkedIn profile for more exposure.

Tags: kristi hines, linkedin, linkedin causes, linkedin languages, linkedin pulse

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