Coaches and consultants are professionals who are in the business of selling themselves. For people to want to do business with you, they must feel a connection to you – they must trust you. Coaches, for example, must develop their brand in order to reflect essential soft skills. This is due to the nature of either applying psychological principles to increase motivation or encouraging the client to be vulnerable enough to open up about business, life, love, diet or family. All this is reflected in their online profiles e.g. their websites and social media. Here we will explore why and how you can turn your LinkedIn profile into your personal website.

What coaching borrows from consulting and therapy. Source: Harvard Business Review

But why LinkedIn over a personal website? LinkedIn has all the important features of a coaching/consulting website without the bad UX experience and design malfunctions of some websites. These reflect on your brand so be careful to hire an experienced web designer who can integrate easy navigation.

Or…

Simply turn your LinkedIn profile into your personal website!

Steps you should take when turning your LinkedIn profile into your Personal Website

Header and Profile Images

Just like the images you would have on your website, one of LinkedIn’s best practices is a professional image that represents the user. On your personal website, your profile image should be professionally photographed (clear, good lighting, no aberrations, proper exposure). Your stance should also be a power stance or one exuding confidence. Smiling is recommended in order to seem more inviting. The same goes for your LinkedIn profile.

The header photo is valuable LinkedIn real estate. On it, you can include a banner image, the products or services you are selling, your value proposition, your tag line or your vision. All these are meant to capture your profile visitor’s attention within a few seconds of opening your page. Add some striking features and attract your potential audience easily.

Your value proposition

In a website, your value proposition should be seen and understood quickly and easily. A good template for creating your value proposition is:

> I help ________ do ________ by __________

For example:

> BizSolu helps small and medium scale businesses grow their sales by developing their marketing strategies

Straight to the point and it helps others understand what you do. When it comes to LinkedIn, this value proposition can be highlighted in your summary section. The same can also be placed in your header image.

Clear contact details and CTA

Click image to view Susan Bernstein’s LinkedIn profile

One common mistake that coaches and consultants make on their personal websites is not giving a clear, up-front Call to Action. Your CTA must be known within the shortest time of a user looking at your website, and same goes for your LinkedIn profile.

So you are an Executive Coach with years of experience, you have several accolades and a vault of recommendations – what then? What would you like your page visitor to do? You have given your value proposition, now make it easy for them to understand what they should do next.

Leaving out contact details is a big no-no. Put down correct details of your social media networks, your phone numbers, your website URL. Make it as easy as possible for a potential customer to connect with you. Mixing CTAs and contact details is as simple as “CALL ME – +254722334455”.

Read more on CTAs

Your testimonials are your recommendations

In this section, visitors to your page get to see what the people you have worked with think of you as a professional. These recommendations act as testimonials to your character, expertise, work ethic and experience. What’s even better is that they are real accounts of other professionals – increasing the chances that they are saying the absolute truth.

It is also a good referral system when others see someone they trust recommending you as a professional and are therefore likely to tell others about you.

List the work /projects you have done

Click image to view Jeff Nthiwa’s LinkedIn profile

Clearly state your past experience; detailed especially for positions which directly correlate with your coaching/consulting now. For other roles, you may place an emphasis on the skills that potential customers or collaborators look for.

Your certifications must be shown clearly, needless to say. When it comes to the section on published posts, make an effort to regularly do a write-up. Visitors to your page might want to see whether you are credible and published posts establish your authority over that subject matter.

More important than a personal website?

Some argue that LinkedIn may be more important to coaches and consultants when it comes to a higher rate of generating leads online. The networking aspect of LinkedIn allows connections to be made instantly and could be the first step that leads potential customers to your website ultimately.

Websites have nifty features that LinkedIn does not have – pop-ups, RSS, complete customization – however, LinkedIn’s standard layout ensures that your customers aren’t focusing on the design but the actual content.

So how can you truly stand out? One important tip is the use of keywords. High-value keywords make your profile optimized for search engines. This optimization is what makes you appear at the top of the search results when a user searches for your job title. Use keywords in your job title and in describing your skills. The higher the keyword density, the better. Make sure you don’t compromise on the flow or on your profile making sense!

Instead of saying:

> Career Coach

Say:

> Executive + Career Coach | Workplace Stress Reduction Expert | Conflict Resolver | Self-Confidence Booster

The job title section is highly indexed on LinkedIn, therefore ensure that you have filled the 120 spaces LinkedIn gives you with keywords you would like to rank for.

See more of our posts to do with LinkedIn

Would you like to learn all the necessary basics about LinkedIn? Look no further. The Coaches and Consultants Starter Guide to LinkedIn is a free eBook that will help you ensure you are making the most out of your LinkedIn profile. Download the free eBook here.

If you don’t have the time to re-do your LinkedIn profile, don’t worry. That’s what we are here for. Book a free consultation with us and let us show you what a revamped CV can do for your career and business. If you are more interested in personal branding, we’d like to help. Read more on what we offer or dive in head first and talk to us.