8 LinkedIn Profile Tweaks to Land High-Paying Freelance Clients
LinkedIn clocks in 930 million members from across the globe, and has emerged to be one of the favorites for creators.
With the addition of multiple creator tools, LinkedIn is acknowledging this meteoric rise of professional content creation.
You may have heard many people say that it’s a great platform to network, share knowledge, and get inspired. But for freelancers, LinkedIn is the holy grail for getting high-ticket conversions and benchmarking their skills to fellow freelancers.
When I left civil engineering to be a full-time writer, I struggled a lot with Instagram and YouTube marketing strategies. None of them were focused on helping me build an empire, and that’s when I began creating content on LinkedIn.
With consistent posting, I started getting 15k+ views on every post from over a hundred geographies (LinkedIn currently caters to 200 locations) — and those views compounded to potential clients. In the graph of my professional growth as a full-time writer, LinkedIn has always given me a much-needed boost.
For all freelancers, the platform has a gold mine of leads, as you can connect with companies and professionals you have idolized since forever.
But why should they hire you over your competitors?
Let your LinkedIn profile answer that question. Your profile is the first thing your dream clients will see, so make sure it’s fully optimized to be a lead magnet for you.
Think of your LinkedIn profile as a full-blown pitch deck for your business.
In this post, I’ll discuss 8 simple LinkedIn profile tweaks that you can do to attract high-paying freelance clients.
LinkedIn Profile Tweak #1. Turn the Creator Mode On
This is the first step to differentiating yourself as a creator on LinkedIn. There’s a shift in mindset too, that you’re no longer a simple user.
The accounts with Creator mode turned on, are likely to get more traction from searches and even pop up as recommendations on other people’s feeds.
Creator mode establishes you as a leading voice in your niche and can help you attract potential clients easily.
It’s also quite simple to set up the Creator mode. In your profile, scroll down to find “Resources”.
There, you can turn on the “Creator mode”.
Now, a window will pop up to choose up to 5 hashtags for your profile. These should define what you want to talk about and the niche in which you wish to attract clients.
Once you’ve set your 5 pillars of content, click “Done”, and you’re one step closer to landing a high-ticket client.
LinkedIn Profile Tweak #2. Get a Custom URL
Most freelancers are worried about not having their own website while starting their freelance journey. But you don’t necessarily need a website for SEO optimization and show up on Google SERPs.
You can also target certain keywords of your choice by including them in your LinkedIn profile’s URL.
Simply click on “Edit public profile & URL” on the top-right side of your profile page.
Here, you can add some keywords that your potential clients may use while looking for freelance assistance.
LinkedIn Profile Tweak #3. Back-Up Your Skills
LinkedIn users always make the mistake of adding their skills and forte without any evidence to back up those skills.
But how can your clients trust your high rates when there’s no proof of your credibility?
The first step is to utilize the work experience, education, and certification columns to include relevant experience and education.
In the “Experience” section, showcase how you’ve helped clients with your skills previously and how you can help your profile visitor (prospective client) too.
Add these experiences to the skills section too, by going to “Skills” and clicking on the edit icon. Back up every skill by mentioning where you put the skill to use. (Kindly add a screenshot here from your profile)
Next, you can request people to endorse your skills so that their trust in your skills radiates.
Once your account is ready with experience, skills, and endorsements from industry experts and clients, it’ll become a lead-generation machine for you.
LinkedIn Profile Tweak #4. Use The Featured section to highlight achievements, products, and important announcements
If a potential client stumbles upon your LinkedIn profile, they’ll likely check your “Featured” section even before your posts, experiences, and skills. This is a powerful space, and you can leverage it by specifically leading them to your published freelance projects.
It’s highly customizable too, so freelance writers can choose to showcase their published content or freelance designers can use it to display their most interesting artwork.
Personally, I use this section to present the products I offer and the achievements I hold close to my heart. For me, they are the milestones of my life, and the “Featured” section is a great space to share them with the world.
You can find your own way of utilizing this space with some trial and error, but remember to keep it updated.
LinkedIn Profile Tweak #5. Create a Services Page
After all, you are setting up your LinkedIn profile like a business page. The most obvious tweak here is to create a services page and list the services you offer.
The service page is especially helpful for freelancers because it helps you rank higher on LinkedIn search if someone looks up that service.
On your profile page, LinkedIn shows pop-ups requesting to showcase your services. Click on “Get Started” and then “Continue”.
You can add up to 10 services from the available list and click “Apply”. Choose your preferred mode of working — on-location or remote.
Scroll down to enable all LinkedIn members, who are not connected to you, to message you for free. Finally, hit “Add to Profile” and you’re all set!
You may turn off the messaging feature too. In my personal experience, it allowed many clients to share their projects with me in the past. I always recommend turning on free messages to new freelancers so that you’re always accessible to everyone.
LinkedIn Profile Tweak #6. Post 2x/week
Yes, consistency is the key.
But nobody said consistency means daily.
Doing something bimonthly also counts as consistency, and so does doing it 5 times a week.
At the beginning of my freelance journey, I found LinkedIn very intimidating. Posting daily was completely out of the question for me. I started slow with posting twice a week, and it helped my account much more than posting seldom at erratic times.
To make your LinkedIn profile stand out, start with strategic posting. Post twice every week, and experiment with different formats of content creation. Use images and videos along with your text content.
Finally, don’t forget to add relevant hashtags to all your posts.
LinkedIn Profile Tweak #7. Add a link to your profile and customize the anchor text
Besides keeping your bio all about you, subtly selling your USP through an anchor link is my personal favorite feature on LinkedIn.
You can also add your own link and customize the anchor text, by clicking on the edit icon in the top-right corner of your profile.
Scroll down in the pop-up window and go to “Website”. Here, you can paste the link to your interesting website or product landing page.
Once you add the link, you can customize the link text, and even use emojis to attract some eyeballs.
This is a great way to lead your clients to your website or showcase your services, or offer something of value to every profile visitor.
LinkedIn Profile Tweak #8. Have something for everyone
This is a widely underrated LinkedIn growth tweak, but I believe it to be one of the secrets behind my success on LinkedIn.
In an attempt to create a lead-magnet LinkedIn profile, don’t make it into an impersonal account of your success.
Failure is the reality of life, so embrace it on social media too.
Be genuine and share a sneak peek into what it’s like to be you. Show your personality to your readers.
This way, you will have something for everyone. Write all your posts like stories with the appropriate format, including:
- introduction,
- rising action,
- conflict,
- and resolution.
Storytelling always grabs attention and your readers will remain hooked till the end. To learn more about building a content strategy that’s aligned with your long-term goals, check out this detailed guide-
Kick-start Your LinkedIn Growth Journey
Building a personal brand has been so rewarding for me that I can’t recommend any lesser to all my readers.
Your freelancing business can greatly benefit from your client-magnet personal brand on LinkedIn. Social media presence on one platform can also drive your success in others, as your network will follow you wherever you offer value.
Now that you know some tried-and-tested tweaks to ace the LinkedIn game, I can’t wait to see you around, thriving with your skills and dreams.