Phone Number

While it is only visible to connections it is important to consider the number you add. For safety reasons, you may not want your personal mobile number to show. If you have a business number it is best to use it so that you can draw a line between business and personal. You can always forward the number to a different mobile (if necessary).

Focusing back on the outcome we want to achieve with your profile, we need to think of the logical next step for your prospect. If during the early stages of your prospect’s journey they can speak to anyone within your sales team, supplying the sales department number on the main sections of your profile will be enough.

If they then get to know you better and want to speak to you personally, supplying your direct line or mobile number within the official Contact Details section can be a nice touch. It allows the person to gain direct access to you and start a conversation with you in-the-moment they are motivated to find out more.

Address

Adding a company address adds gravity to the company and your offering. Along with knowing you have a physical address, knowing where it is, it adds a layer of trust and transparency that breed’s confidence in you.

If you run your business from home, it’s best not to publish the address. Instead just add the town and country, as it will have the same effect.

Email

LinkedIn invites you to add all your email addresses to your LinkedIn profile settings so friends and colleagues from any part of your life can easily locate you on LinkedIn. Adding each email address will mean you won’t be sent an invitation from friends asking you to join LinkedIn when you’re clearly already on it. This happens when the email address used is not associated with an account.

Once you have added all relevant addresses, select one as your Primary Email address. This will appear in the official Contact Details section. If the wrong email address is showing on your LinkedIn contact details, it is because you haven’t set the one you want as Primary Emai.

For professional reasons, it is always important to include your company email and not your personal email. If a prospect’s preferred method of communication is to email, they will get put off by an email address that looks personal (such as Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail). They’ll instantly assume this is your personal email and not the place to contact you.

For those who are self-employed, it also screams ‘amateur business’. If you have a website it should be pretty easy to get a business email address to go along with it. It is definitely worth the small investment required to set one up.

Instant Messenger

If you speak to people via an instant messenger service it is worth adding it to your profile so people can contact you easily. If your provider is not available or you don’t have one, just leave the option blank.

Birthday

Personally, I don’t have my birthday on LinkedIn as it just creates ‘birthday admin’. Who needs 65 ‘Happy Birthdays’ messages clogging up your inbox from people you don’t know when you don’t want to be working on your birthday anyway!

It’s a personal choice and there are a few good follow-up strategies you can use to take advantage of the big day if you are in the middle of a promotional campaign.

Three website URLs

LinkedIn allows you to include three website URLs to direct your prospect to further information. Here, consider the outcome you want from your profile and the natural next step for your prospect to take. The information you provide here needs to bridge any gaps and satisfy your prospect’s need for further information.

What information will they want to know next? What could you supply to help them further with their research?

Include links that means something and not ones that just lead to your website’s homepage. You could link to a web page about your service, your people, your blog, or a campaign page. You might create a unique page on your website just for those coming to you from LinkedIn.

When uploading, make sure to select ‘Other’ from the drop down box so you can add your own title description. Create a title that correctly labels your item and tells people what to expect on the other side. If you don’t do this and just stick with the generic options, few people will click on them since it will only open a new tab on their computer and distract them. People can be very nervous about opening things when they don’t know what to expect on the other side. 

If you have personal interests outside your business, such as a hobby or a blog, use one of them for your own purposes. Just make sure to mention any hobbies within your profile so it makes sense why you have included it.

Plus, your unique LinkedIn URL

Every LinkedIn profile has a unique link that allows you to share your profile with others. By default, the profile URL will include numbers and letters after your name making it look untidy.

We need to clean this up. See the instructions below.

You can find your URL in your browser address bar or within the Contact Information section on the right of the profile. If you want to share with someone just copy paste it as with other things.