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Leverage Your LinkedIn Profile With These 5 Tips

25 January 2019January 25, 2019Ann Mills2 Comments

With close to 600 million users, LinkedIn is a social media platform business professionals and owners cannot afford to ignore. It’s atypical for a social network in that LinkedIn is not geared towards purely social connections but rather strives to give people a means to connect with other professionals. In addition to the large and growing user base, some 260 million LinkedIn users are actively logging in monthly, and recruiters and companies looking to hire also search LinkedIn.

Like so many platforms in the digital space, there is much more to a LinkedIn profile than meets the eye. If you’re simply filling in the fields in the hopes that you’ll get noticed, you are missing an opportunity to leverage LinkedIn, connect with your peers, and grow your personal brand.

Take the time to professionalize and leverage your LinkedIn profile with these 5 tips:

LinkedIn Tip #1: Start strong

The first three sentences of your Summary Section are the most important because when people view your profile, it’s the only part of the summary they see at first glance. To see the rest of your profile demands a click of the Show more tab.

DO state your professional passion right upfront in these three lines.
DON’T repeat your title and company name in the summary opening lines. Put your title and company name in your Headline section.

LinkedIn Tip #2: Add keywords

LinkedIn is a digital platform, and it is keyword-driven. As noted in LinkedIn Tip #1, the first three lines of your Summary Section are critical, so populating these lines with your essential keywords is not easy logistically, nor necessary. At the end of the Summary Section and out of view, add a section called Areas of Expertise and list your areas of expertise using your essential keywords.

By adding a paragraph that includes your keyword-driven areas of expertise towards the bottom of your LinkedIn Summary Section, you achieve the goal of infusing keywords in your summary without cluttering up the precious first few lines.

LinkedIn Pro Tip: When people are searching LinkedIn, LinkedIn tracks what keywords they have used to land on your profile. On the bottom of the Weekly search stats page is a section called Keywords your searchers used. If the terms listed don’t align with your skill set, your keywords are off, and you should review them in your Summary Section.

LinkedIn Tip #3: Differentiate yourself with imagery

Behind your profile photo is a banner space that will accommodate a 1584 x 396 pixel-sized image. This landscape-oriented banner is the perfect opportunity to tell people visually something interesting about you. What’s your favorite city or personal passion? What makes you unique–maybe a hobby or interesting volunteer experience.

DO use the banner to personalize your profile and make it about you.
DON’T use the banner to promote your business.

LinkedIn Tip #4: Use Your Technology

What if you start to build out your LinkedIn profile, and you don’t know what keywords to use? Or maybe you can think of a few keywords, but you would like a few more to flesh out your Summary Section. To build a strong keyword list, here’s a:

LinkedIn Pro Tip: Identify an influencer or colleague on LinkedIn that is in your industry, and mirror his or her keywords. Here’s a quick way to find out what those keywords are:

Select and copy the text in a person’s LinkedIn profile.
Paste the copy into a word cloud application. Word clouds are visual representations of words from the text used to create the cloud. The more often the word is in the text, the bigger and bolder it is in the word cloud. There are many different word cloud generators too. Read this Poll Everywhere article for inspiration.
Choose keywords from the word cloud that are relevant to you, and use them to update your LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn Tip #5: Highlight your skills

Because LinkedIn is data and keyword driven, make sure to fill in the Skills & Endorsements section of your profile. You can Add a new skill yourself by clicking the pencil icon for the section. You don’t need someone else to endorse you for a skill to add it to your list.

DO make sure all of your key areas of expertise from LinkedIn Tip #2 are listed in the Skills & Endorsements section, so people looking at your profile know your proficiencies. Order them by using the pencil icon to edit.
DON’T forget to remove skills that are no longer relevant from time to time which you can do via the edit feature.

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile is a strategic and essential part of managing your personal online brand. Be mindful of how you update your profile and remember–LinkedIn is a social network driven by data. More broadly, when Linkedin is used with consistency across an organization, the impact of leveraging properly constructed LinkedIn profiles can have a ripple effect and strengthen a company’s brand.

If sorting out LinkedIn is on your management team’s bucket list, contact us to learn more about our LinkedIn training sessions for corporate executive teams.

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Thanks to Oliver Schinkten, staff instructor for LinkedIn, who inspired this post. I recently had the privilege of attending one of his training sessions.

5 MORE Signs Digital Marketing is Replacing Traditional Media

26 December 2018December 28, 2018Ann Mills2 Comments

In a previous blog, 5 Signs Digital Marketing is Replacing Traditional Media, we wrote about the signs of the digital marketing transformation unfolding around us. From disappearing office addresses to uber thin fonts and interactive documents, all the signposts were telling us that marketing as we knew it was being upended. What began as a slow and steady stream of changes has become a rising flood that has now enveloped the media landscape in its entirety.

As the sea change continues, we thought we would share 5 MORE signs digital marketing is replacing traditional media.

1. Digital ads overtake television ad spend

In 2017, digital ad spending in the US surpassed traditional TV ad expenditures for the first time–much of the shift driven by mobile. In fact, eMarketer projects, “By 2020, [mobile] will represent 43% of total media ad spending in the US—a greater percentage than all traditional media combined.” As Millennials, in particular, migrate to video and online streaming of their favorite programming, digital ads give marketers the platform and versatility to target them. Traditional television ads are comparatively random in their audience reach, and overall television viewership is declining in the United States as well. A study by Omnicom Media Group found that “…in 2016 the smartphone replaced the TV as the device most watched by Millennials,” and there’s even a new marketing nickname for the 22 to 35-year-old demographic that eschews traditional television–the Unreachables.

PEW Research Center estimated newspaper circulations

2. Newspaper circulations decline sharply

The recent Pew Research Center Newspapers: Fact Sheet notes that the estimated total circulation of U.S. daily newspapers has fallen precipitously since the early 1990s. The decline extends to both Sunday and weekday circulations. By the numbers, total estimated circulation of U.S. newspapers halved to circa 31 million in 2017 from 62 million in 1990.

Although digital newspaper circulations are not easy to gauge, the estimated number of unique visitors to the top 50 U.S. online newspaper sites appeared stable in 2017 and saw double-digit gains both in 2016 and 2015. The growth in digital newspaper readership is in sharp contrast to the trend in physical newspaper circulation.

3. Not just office addresses, but offices disappear

Remote working is here to stay. Not only are more employees working remotely, but they are spending longer periods of time engaged in remote work as well. In Freelancing in America 2018, Upwork noted that 56.7 million Americans, or 35% of the workforce, now freelance, and the number of Americans that are freelancing has increased by 3.7 million people since 2014. As the freelancing revolution takes hold, multi-channel digital marketing is adept at targeting a mobile labor force used to working in different spaces, on multiple devices, and in the cloud.

“Audiences continue to abandon traditional media, and ad dollars follow.” –eMarketer

4. Business cards fall by the wayside

I recently attended a business dinner with 15 other marketing professionals, C-Suite executives, and startup co-founders. When I asked a few attendees for business cards, each had the same response–I don’t carry business cards anymore. One person told me his company did not want to pay for physical business cards. The digital age has ushered in the concept of “connecting,” and in fact, after dinner, several people connected with me on LinkedIn. There are also numerous business card apps so people can exchange their contact information digitally. It is estimated that 88% of physical business cards are thrown away within one week of people receiving them which explains why even marketing oneself has gone digital.

5. Digital ads use keywords to identify potential customers

According to Google Benchmarks and Insights, Google display campaigns–image-based digital ads–reach 80% of global internet users. Not only do Google Ads have incredible reach, but they have sophisticated, data-driven audience targeting tools. The ads are driven in part by keywords, words or phrases relevant to an Internet search. These keywords are one component of the algorithmic calculation that determines relevance, a critical metric that forms the basis for which digital ads a person sees.

Broadly categorized into three types, keywords help digital marketers identify and hone in on specific stages of the buyer’s journey with a level of precision not possible using traditional media. Briefly,

Navigational keywords go to a certain website or destination, often a company name or brand
Informational keywords help the user acquire information (how to, compare, information about)
Transactional keywords prompt action (buy, get, contact, sign up)

Based on cues such as keywords, digital marketers can efficiently fashion ads for the multi-stage buyer’s journey and optimize the audiences that see the ad.

So, there you have 5 MORE signs digital marketing is replacing traditional media. At Resourceful Business, we continue to evolve our marketing strategies to respond to the rapidly changing marketing landscape and the challenges that accompany it.

If you’re interested in learning more about how digital marketing can grow your business, please contact us.

Let the Power of Google Ads Do Your Marketing Heavy Lifting

27 September 2018September 27, 2018Ann Mills2 Comments

In Field of Dreams, Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella walks through a cornfield and hears a voice that tells him, “If you build it, he will come.” The voice inspires Ray to build a baseball diamond in the midst of his cornfield where Ray later meets the spirits of Chicago White Sox legend “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and his own father. At the end of the movie when Ray is trying to decide whether to sell his property to avoid foreclosure, a local writer assures him, “People will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”

When business owners invest time and money on a website, their hope is that people will come. The importance of understanding and using Google Ads is that they drive website traffic and ensure people most definitely come. Once on your website, visitors can buy from your e-commerce store, fill in a lead form, or learn more about your business.

What are Google Ads?

Google Ads are Pay Per Click (PPC) digital advertising campaigns. The ads are described as Pay Per Click because the advertiser only pays for the ad when someone clicks on it, not per ad impression. There are Search Network ads which are text ads and Display Network ads which are images. In June of this year, Google rolled out Smart Campaigns, a more automated, optimized alternative geared towards small business.

PPC campaigns drive traffic to your website so visitors can see the products and services you provide. When people look at a page of internet search results in Google, it’s hard to distinguish between ads and the organic search results because text ads have only a small “Ad” box near the website address. Ads blend in with search results, and therefore, are a powerful way to get potential customers to a website.

How do Google Ads work?

In its simplest form, you can think of Google Ads as four-layered ad campaigns. From top to bottom:

Campaigns – how much do I want to spend or geographically, where do I want my ads to show?
Ad Sets – what are my different products, services or groups?
Ads – what is my message?
Keywords – what words or phrases will someone type into Google when they are searching for my product or service?

A digital marketer will set up a campaign by thinking about how much to spend, who to target and where they are, and what product or service you are advertising. At the core of every Google Ads campaign is a keyword list, a list of search terms or phrases a person may type into Google when they search for your product or service.

The Google Ads algorithm determines which ads to show, the Ad Rank, based on two criteria: the maximum keyword Bid you have specified and Quality Score which is a combination of ad relevance, Click-Through-Rate (CTR) and quality of the landing page for the ad. The landing page is the website page where the person who clicks on the ad is directed.

How can Google Ads grow my business?

On a desktop computer, approximately two-thirds of all search queries are done on Google. On mobile devices, some estimates suggest Google controls 95% of all search queries. Therefore, by being part of the search results mix, Google Ads drive website traffic. When someone clicks on an ad, it brings him or her to your website and then you’re in the driving seat. You can try to prompt your site visitors to take actions like purchase a product, fill in a lead form, or schedule a demo.

Google Ads Pay Per Click campaigns do some of the marketing heavy lifting by allowing your business to be more visible in search and driving potential customers to your website. PPC campaigns push your message out in a structured, systematic, and targeted way to an audience that has an interest in your product or service.

When it comes to Google Ads, if you build them, people will most definitely come and your business will grow.

Interested in learning more about Google Ads campaigns? Contact us.

Photo credit: Field of Dreams, 1989, Universal Studios

Leverage the Inbound Marketing Traffic from your Blog

30 November 2014May 3, 2017Ann MillsLeave a comment

Motivating companies to organize a blog for their website can be challenging. Often the management of the company do not see the value of it, there is no one who really wants to write it, and the cost of an outside blogger can be expensive. It’s hard. The true marketing power of blogging begins with creative, original content. A great blog can drive visitor traffic back to your website, especially if you understand a little about on-page search engine optimization (SEO) and inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is the ideation, creation and sharing of content with the goal of increasing traffic to your website. Both the content and the target audience should be strategically planned. Inbound marketing only works when you figure out the right content and get it to the right people. There is no better vehicle than a great blog. You wonder whether traditional marketing campaigns can achieve the same results? Not if you know how to leverage the inbound marketing traffic from your blog. Here’s how.

1. Send your blog link out with social media

Use social media to get the word out about your blog. Keep the headline short, around 60 characters. Link the headline to your blog so that people can click-through to your website blog page. If you are using WordPress, make sure to choose a Featured Image for the blog and upload it so that the social media networks populate the picture along with your blog. See our recent blog on the importance of imagery, Why You Must Fix Your Company’s Social Media Imagery and How.

2. Add a link to your email signature with your blog

Each time you send an email, take the opportunity to share your blog. Throw in your company name as well and then link it back to the blog on your website. You can place the blog link right below your regular signature.

Name
Title at ABC Company
Contact Details at ABC Company
ABC Company is blogging about Really Neat Topic

3. Include keywords and long tail keywords in your blog

In the main copy of the blog, include keywords or tags, which best describe the important concepts in your blog. Think search. What themes are you talking about and what words might someone use to search for these topic areas? Find long tail keywords, or longer phrases that are specific to your topic, and include those as well as they can attract a more targeted audience. There are several free keyword suggest applications like Wordstream’s Free Keyword Tool, which you can use to research the best keywords and long tail keywords.

4. Use image tags

Images are a powerful tool that can drive engagement for your website. Website pictures have image tags. After choosing great photos for your blog, ensure that you have written alternative text or “Alt Text” for each image used. Alt Text is read by text bots, and image tags identify your picture, which increases the chances of it being displayed in search. The effective use of Alt Text is often overlooked, and it can drive traffic back to your website by optimizing images in search.

5. Segment with Subheadings

Partition the blog into core points or themes and use subheads. Each of those subheads can include keywords and phrases that explain the main points of your blog. The phrases should be identified as Heading 3 or Heading 4, a technical attribute which gives the headline more weight in search. When your blog is shared in social media, the subheadings can be used as talking points and sent out as separate headlines on social media with links back to the blog.

Hopefully, you have been persuaded that a blog is not just a digital platform to put your thoughts in writing. Rather, it is a powerful inbound marketing tool that can leverage traffic back to your website where you can share your expertise. You can educate potential customers on common questions and showcase the services of your business. In the call to action, you can encourage a dialogue and hopefully gain a new customer!

If you are ready to leverage the inbound marketing traffic of your blog but feel you could still use some assistance, email us, or call (973) 218-6558 today.