If you want to be found on LinkedIn, you have to have the right keywords in your profile.
Keywords are not adjectives describing how great you are. “Detailed”, “professional”, “experienced” are all great words to fluff up your profile - but they are not keywords. Keywords are terms that your target market uses to search for professionals like you. Most affluent investors do secondary research online. They search Google and a lot of times, your LinkedIn profile populates in the results. Not to mention, more and more people are using LinkedIn as a source to directly find service professionals nowadays.
Thus, you want to use keywords that are specific to what you do and are terms that people actually search for. Most people don’t search “detailed financial professional.” Instead, they search for “financial planner charlotte.”
Here are a few questions to help you develop a list of keywords to include in your profile:
- What titles do your prospects search for? (i.e. Financial Advisor, Financial Planner, Wealth Manager, etc.)
- What services are your prospects looking for? (i.e. retirement, financial planning, 401K)
- What certifications do your prospects search for? (i.e. CFP, CFA, etc.)
- What firm do you work for? Would prospects search for you by firm name? (Merrill Lynch, UBS, Raymond James, etc.)
- What city do you reside in? What city would prospects use in a search? (Charlotte, Raleigh, Boston, etc.)
Also, think about what you might search for if you were in need of financial advice. To delve more deeply into getting discovered by prospects seeking your services, our advice is to have a primary and secondary keyword. Your primary keyword will be a description of your title – financial advisor, financial planner, wealth manager, wealth management, financial consultant, investment manager, etc. Your secondary keyword might be another description of your title, a location, certification or specific service. For your secondary keyword, consider terms that people search for and “attach” to your primary keyword. For example:
- Financial Advisor Albuquerque
- Financial Planner CFP
- Investment Manager Estate Planning
- Financial Advisor 401K
Once you develop your primary and secondary keywords, your objective is to distribute them throughout certain sections of your profile. These sections include your Headline, Summary, Job Description, and Skills & Expertise. As you input these keywords within your profile, you want to do this in a natural way. Keyword “stuffing” is looked down upon and can have a negative impact on your brand.
Good Keyword Usage: I’ve been a financial advisor in Austin Texas for over 20 years. I became a financial advisor to help families, corporate executives and business owners…
Bad Keyword Usage: Financial Advisor, Financial Advisor, Financial Advisor, Financial Advisor, Financial Advisor, Financial Advisor, Financial Advisor…
Putting keywords in your profile is a simple process, but don’t go overboard. Also, measure your profile views after you optimize. Are they going up? Down? And make changes as necessary
Kevin Nichols is a thought-leader with The Oechsli Institute, a firm that specializes in research and training for the financial services industry. Follow him on twitter @KevinANichols www.Oechsil.com