Enthusiastically Self-Employed: business tips, marketing tips, and LinkedIn tips for coaches, consultants, speakers, authors, solopreneurs & small business owners

LinkedIn Profile Mini-Audit with Michelle Zink Ep 137

• Brenda Meller • Season 1 • Episode 137

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Are you a solopreneur, business professional, or solopreneur looking to get a bigger slice of the LinkedIn Pie? Watch this LinkedIn profile mini-audit of Michelle Zink - Coach to Women Business Owners

TIPS we covered include:

▪️ Setting up a company page. Video + blog: https://www.mellermarketing.com/blog/how-to-create-a-company-page-on-linkedin-free

▪️  Swapping out marketing messages in your LinkedIn Header

▪️  The previewable area of your LinkedIn headline

▪️ And more!

Want a LinkedIn profile mini-audit? If you're a coach / consultant / solopreneur, download these 15 LinkedIn Profile tips, and follow the instructions in the final email: https://www.mellermarketing.com/list

LinkedIn "Power Hours" (Single Session, x4, x12)
Each package includes: 

  • LinkedIn consulting / coaching, personalized to your needs and focusing on your questions.
  • Review of LinkedIn profile / company page to provide guidance / advice / recommendations

https://www.mellermarketing.com/powerhour 

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My name is Brenda Meller. I'm a LinkedIn coach, consultant, speaker, and author. My company is Meller Marketing and I help business professionals get a bigger slice of the LinkedIn pie.

Visit mellermarketing.com

Let's connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brendameller
(click MORE to invite me to connect and mention you listened to my podcast)

Speaker 1:

Hey, it's Brenda Meller. Back again for another LinkedIn Profile Mini Audit and I'm joined today by a coach, michelle Zink. Hey, michelle, how are you doing today? Great, how are you? I'm doing great, delighted to have you. I'm going to pull up your LinkedIn profile here on screen. As I'm doing that, michelle, why don't you take a minute and tell us a bit about you, what do you do, who do you help with, who do you help, and a little bit about your business as well?

Speaker 2:

Oh sure.

Speaker 2:

Well, my name is Michelle Zink and I live in Broomfield, colorado, and the people that I help are women business owners who are overwhelmed too much work on their plate can't seem to figure out what's the next best thing to do, and I help them to be strategic about their business.

Speaker 2:

I help them to create a self-managed company where they have a team that's supporting them so that they can focus on the most important things that really they're the best to do. That's like their genius zone. So really helping them to create the space, create the time to be able to do things that they really love. And the woman that I really want to focus on is the one who wants to balance or align, I like to say her business and life, because the big thing is is when we have alignment between those two things, then we're more happier, we feel more strategic, we feel like we're getting things done that are most important to us, and I believe that when women are doing the things that they love, they bring that to their whole network, so it just creates even more positivity in the world, and so that's who I help and serve.

Speaker 1:

Okay, awesome. Well, it sounds like you've got a really great audience and a very great introduction of how you serve them as well. So, as we start looking through your LinkedIn profile, michelle, do you have specific questions you'll hope I cover in today's profile mini audit, or are you just open to some general feedback?

Speaker 2:

I think I would love like kind of, if I could do, I guess, a combination of both, because I feel like I've I'm gaining more clarity on my business more and more and some of the things I even I guess even some things on here I feel like are not are outdated a little bit, and so I think actually, now that I said that, if you can give me more general, so that way I know, you know, as I update it, because some of it is specifically just wording and how I want to connect and attract individuals. So you're the professional at this, so I'm excited to hear what you say, you know, so I can work on getting it updated.

Speaker 1:

All right, Wonderful. So we're going to start with top of your profile. This is where most people land and the goal is to keep them reading, to get them to scroll down. So we want to make sure that we are speaking to your ideal target audience. It's clear who you serve and there's nothing that's kind of like jumping out you know here. And one thing I noticed is your business name is Lifeaholic LLC. Is that correct? That's correct. So do you have a company page on LinkedIn yet? I don't, Okay. So you need to get one of those set up. And part of the reason I always like to ask because sometimes people will have a company page and it's not properly linked, and when it's, either you don't have a page or it's not linked.

Speaker 1:

We'll see, next to your company name in your top header card, this gray blue box, and it's really easy to set up a page, Michelle. I'm going to walk you through it now, but I'll include the instructions in the playback as well, and it's free to set up a company page. So you'll go under this for business icon it looks like a waffle in the top menu bar here and then scroll down to the bottom. You're going to see a link that says create a company page From here. You'll choose company as the designation and then all you need to do is fill in the areas that are required for now. You can always come back later and edit any of these fields.

Speaker 1:

You will need to have a logo for your company to upload, and I usually recommend an avatar version of your logo. So if you have like a symbol or something as a part of it 300 by 300 squares you check the box that says I'm verified and then the page has been created. At that point what you'll need to do is scroll down to your experience section. From your view, you'll see a pencil icon in here. Once you click on that, there'll be another pencil icon next to CEO and founder of Lifeaholic, and then just edit the company name field like backspace in it, until the name starts to appear with the logo, the avatar, next to it, and then click on save. Then the logo will appear here and the logo will also appear at the top of your profile.

Speaker 1:

Now why this is important is if we're trying to do business with people on LinkedIn, we want to look like we're a legitimate business and when people see this gray avatar next to your company name, either in the top header, car, or your experience section, they might come to an incorrect conclusion. Oh, she's just getting started on here. It's almost like the equivalent of if you visit a website domain. If I were to look up lifeaholiccom and it says page not found or this page under construction. So you know there's, they're working on it, but it's not fully developed yet. And then also just having that logo next to your company, similar to your educational institution, Stetson University we see the logo, we get that warm fuzzy feeling like this is a legitimate thing, it's a business that exists. Does that make sense?

Speaker 2:

It does. And what's interesting that you said that I always wonder why all my schooling doesn't show up, because I also went to far to Southern and that's not showing up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, great question. So in your top header card there's a way, in your view, there'll be a pencil icon at the top and if you scroll through, it'll say experience and you can. You can choose if you want something other than the top experience, but it's usually your current employer at the top and then education. Similarly, it will list all of your educational institutions in there and I usually tell people to choose the educational institution that best aligns with your goals for using LinkedIn or that is that would be most widely known to your target audience.

Speaker 1:

So if you're serving you know individuals in Bloomfield, colorado, mainly in your area choose the institution which is best well known in your geographic location. Or you know some of my clients will choose the most prominent. So if they went to a state college and they also attended a leadership course from Harvard, they'll put Harvard in there right. So you can certainly move those around. It does need to be an educational institution that is listed inside your education section, but the great thing is you've got several areas to pull from. And, by the way, since we're inside here, are you noticing what I'm saying? Yes, I went there three times.

Speaker 1:

And you know what? I was on a phone call yesterday with somebody who had the exact same thing and she wasn't even aware of it. Probably what happened, michelle, is LinkedIn hiccuped in the middle, like you added it in and then LinkedIn hiccup and it didn't look like it took it. So you added it again, and then another hiccup and then you added it again and then it was finally there because LinkedIn caught up. It's like a ketchup bottle Sometimes it gets stuck. So easiest way is just to go into your education section from your view There'll be a pencil icon and click on two of these and at the bottom it'll have a delete and you can just delete out that one instance of that institution. That way, you've only got the MBA and the BS of accounting in there. Wonderful, thank you. These are the things sometimes that we discover when we're looking through the profile, and this will be my second tip for you is just go through your profile from top to bottom and imagine that you are a woman business owner reading through your profile and try to figure out is it clear what you offer in products and services? That should be clearly outlined throughout your profile, but also, how can I get a hold of you. As a next step and let's assume the person who's reading your profile, michelle, is not a first level connection, so that way they can't see your contact information. They might see your URL and that's it. So if they're looking through your profile, is there some way inside your about statement you know either an email address, a website, you know a phone number, some way that they can get ahold of you from here? Maybe in your featured section you're using a hyperlink to one of your web pages or your discovery poll page or something like that in there. And then even in your experience section, at the bottom of your experience, there's a media option and you can upload media or you can put a link to a website or a landing page or something in there. So imagine that you're that woman business owner looking through your profile, go through it from top to bottom and just try to figure out is it clear, the services that you offer, the problems that you solve and also a way that people can get ahold of you. Any questions on that? No, okay, perfect, all right.

Speaker 1:

Aside from that, something I always like to tell people is I like to think about your banner image as header image at the top as a really great space for marketing or promoting your business and think about like a billboard on the side of a highway. Those advertisers don't just leave one message up there for years, they're changing out messages frequently because they know that different cars are driving by all the time and they also know the same cars are driving by repeatedly, right? So when we swap out the message and sometimes I use the analogy like McDonald's has the grimmest meal, that was big earlier this summer, the grimmest meal is here at McDonald's and we go like it's a nice meal, and we go and get our purple shake and whatnot, and then a few weeks later that billboards down and Wendy's is up there with the Baconator and we're like, oh, I want to get the Baconator, it's so good. So we start to pay attention. But if they kept the Grimace Meal promotion up there all year long, we would ignore it. We would start to like not pay attention. Similar for you.

Speaker 1:

You may have people that are coming to your profile repeatedly. The first time that they come, like many people are doing here today, they're going to read what you have in your header image, at least scan through it, and then they scroll down the second or third time they might pay attention and after that they kind of ignore it. You know they're not paying too close attention to it. So I would say, think about changing that message out periodically, or even like changing out a slightly different design, if you will. Or even you know, maybe you have a tagline for now and that's an evergreen message that you rotate in every third or fourth month. In between that maybe you promote a specific product or service offering, maybe that one-to-one coaching, for example. Maybe next month you're speaking on stage at an event and you're helping to promote that event, or the following month it's you on stage with the attendees in the audience and you have a tagline related to that.

Speaker 1:

So, trying to use that space for marketing purposes, for promotional purposes, and not being afraid to change it too frequently, I always tell people you should change it at least once a year, but at minimum. You know, minimum once a year or maximum. I don't think there really is a maximum. Like as a LinkedIn trainer, I will change mine out at least once a month. Sometimes, when I have promotions running with my business or an upcoming event, I'll change it weekly and I'll change it out with something different.

Speaker 1:

The good thing is LinkedIn doesn't push out a notification saying Brenda updated her header image. So it's there for people who come to visit your profile, but it doesn't send out a notification if you're changing it too frequently. So you might wanna think about that. And the last point related to your header is I wanna encourage you to look up your profile on the LinkedIn mobile app, like visit your profile from the mobile app and make sure that everything that's important in the header is legible. So one thing I'm noticing is you've got business life self phone number in there now, from desktop and my eyes are getting a little older, I'll admit it from desktop, I can read this. If I were to look this up on mobile, I'd be like nope, I'd have to like do the little pinching thing. So just make sure, if it's anything that's important, that it's legible on both the desktop and the mobile view. Does that make sense? Yes, okay, perfect, all right.

Speaker 1:

And what else? You've got a great headline. It says Coach to Women Business Owners. Unleash your Inner CEO, find your Freedom, scale Strategically, reclaim your Balance. Create More Time, one-to-one Coaching, community of Like-Minded Women. So the great thing, michelle, is that you're maximizing the characters inside your headline. We have up to 220 characters in total. What I always encourage people to do is scroll down to your activity section after you've edited your headline, click on show all posts at the bottom and let's look at what appears in your headline in the previewable area. So it's usually it's about the first 70 or so characters and I can see your headshot photo, your name and I see a portion of your headline and the portion that reads coach to women business owners.

Speaker 1:

On unleash your inner CEO, find, and it says you dot dot dot, your is cutting off on there. So you might want to think about, with your headline that you have right now, instead of starting with your job title or you know, coach to women business owners, maybe switching the order out a little bit, maybe starting with on unleash your inner CEO, find your freedom and then coach to women business owners. Maybe switching the order out a little bit, maybe starting with unleash your inner CEO, find your freedom and then coach to women business owners. So even just swapping the order around it might cause people who've been seeing your activity like one of those keywords might catch their attention more than others. Does that make sense? Yes, I didn't think about that. Yeah, and certainly changing those keywords out.

Speaker 1:

If you're promoting an upcoming event, a new offering. I always tell people don't be afraid to use your headline to promote or market your business as well. It doesn't need to be just keywords and phrases, it can also be using techniques like register below for my free webinar. And then there's a technique that you can add into your top header card a custom URL. You're familiar with that. No, let me show you on my profile real quick here, because sometimes it's easier to visualize by seeing it versus me just describing it to you. So I'm going to pull my profile. So if you go into your top header card, if you click on this gray pencil icon at the tap and then you scroll all the way down to the bottom, there's going to be this custom button and when you click on edit custom button it gives you a couple options. If you choose link, then you're able to paste a URL inside here, and I just noticed I've got an error on my. I'm glad we went in here. And then you can put some custom text in here as well, and I usually tell people they give you 30 characters.

Speaker 1:

Try to think about.

Speaker 1:

Don't just say click my link, you know or website or something like.

Speaker 1:

Use some descriptive text that describes what do they get when they click on that link. And for mine it says LinkedIn checklist free. So I'm trying to draw people in to click on that link and that will then take them to the webpage. It hasn't been updated yet. Let me refresh.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes what happens similar to your education, remember I said LinkedIn will hiccup and it doesn't catch up. So we got to do a quick page refresh and now when I click on there, thank you, thank you, linkedin, for not letting me down in a second. Now it's been updated and refreshed in there, so you might want to think about adding in a custom link into the top of your profile. Some people will choose to put a book of free discovery call with me. Other people will choose to send people directly to their services page where they can book the one-to-one coaching. I personally like to use some type of a freebie or a lead magnet in there to try to get them inside my email list, where now I have the ability to communicate with them on an ongoing basis. So has this given you any ideas, something you could think about putting into your top header card?

Speaker 2:

Yes, actually I've got a lot of ideas, and things that you're talking about are things that I'm working on right now, like a lead magnet and different things of that nature. So I'm excited to kind of it's kind of bringing it all together. For me, so this has been very helpful.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful. Okay, and as we wrap up here today, michelle, are you open to accepting connections if people are watching this on YouTube or listening to this on the podcast later? Yes, I would love that later. Yes, I would love that. All right, wonderful. I'm going to read out the URL for those of you that are on the podcast, so you can go to linkedincom slash in slash, michelle dash zinc. That's M I C H E L L E dash Z I N K. And let me just stop the screen share and just ask was this helpful for you today?

Speaker 2:

It was very helpful, thank you, and you make it very um to the point, which I like, and I have some actionable steps to walk away with, so I really appreciate your time.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful. Well, I want to thank you so much for the opportunity to spend the time with you here today. It's been a pleasure getting to know a little bit more about you and your business, and I also want to thank those that are watching, whether you're watching on YouTube or listening to us on the podcast later. If you're interested in getting a LinkedIn profile mini audit, you can download my free checklist, which is 15 LinkedIn profile tips for coaches and consultants. Go to mellormarketingcom slash list and watch your emails from me. The last email you'll get in that series will have a link where you can book a call similar to this. With that said, have a wonderful day. We'll see you all on LinkedIn.

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