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Using Social Sites like LinkedIN to Drive Traffic

LinkedIn profiles have so many opportunities for Search Engine Placement and the majority of people do not take advantage of it for their business. Here are some easy things to change on your generic profile to make it really personal to you and your business as well as giving it Google Juice.

Here is a screen shot showing the placement of the “edit” links referred to below.

1. Make sure your profile name is in the form you are using online. Example: Dorothy Scott vs Dotty Scott. Since I am using Dotty I went into the Account Settings and changed the Dorothy to Dotty.
2. Change your public profile URL to reflect either your name or your business name. When you are in the Edit Profile mode there will be a link next to your “Public Profile” that says edit – click the link and enter your new profile url. Then use this link on your website, blog, email signature, and forum signatures.
3. Change your website addresses to say something other than “My Website” or “My Blog”. This is anchor text and it needs to have your key words in it. When you are in the “Edit Profile” mode click the link next “My Website”. This will take you to a screen where you can choose the drop down arrow and choose “other”. This will allow you to enter in whatever text you want – again choose something with your main keyword. Then enter the website URL in the box below the text just entered.
4. Edit the “Professional Headline” – (words directly under your name) to contain your Title and a few of your keywords. Mine says “Owner, Premium Websites – Website Design and Social Media Coach”. I want my profile to come up if someone types in Website Design or Social Media Coach. This can be edited by clicking the “edit” link right after the phrase.
5. Make sure you are listed in the correct Category by clicking the “edit” link next to your category listing.

These are the top 5 easy changes to make on your LinkedIn profile. Making these changes will get your profile to come up in Google searches and it should drive more traffic to your website.

For more ideas on SEO …

Dotty