Brent Weaver: Welcome back to day two of Prepathon for Cloudways 2024. Another round of virtual applause for our UGURUS team talking about different ways to do demand generation. Loved that session, the energy was so good, so many nuggets to take away. I always love on a panel when not everybody agrees with everything, so there’s a little bit of different perspective there, a little whiplash for you. So, amazing start to day two of the Prepathon, and we’re going to keep things going.

Our next guest is one of my favorite people on the internet related to agencies, growing your business, and specifically LinkedIn. We’re going to be welcoming Nicole Osborne to the stage, she’s going to be doing a LinkedIn profile makeover clinic, so we’re going to do some live LinkedIn profile makeovers. This is so much fun, we did this last year at the Prepathon and people freaking loved it. Nicole is a chartered marketer, she’s a LinkedIn Creator Accelerator program alumni, she’s been working with corporations and talented digital agencies for over 20 years, and she absolutely adores supporting agency owners across the globe.

She’s also been a regular podcast guest, she’s been on our podcast over at the Digital Agency Show, she’s been on Jason Swenk’s podcast, Chris Do’s podcast, basically all the top people in our industry ask Nicole to come and talk about LinkedIn, so you are in for a treat. She’s based in the UK but she’s originally from Germany, and she hangs out with her 10-year-old son and British hubby while sometimes riding scooters. Welcome.

Nicole Osborne: Wow, Brent, what an amazing introduction, and thank you so much to you and the Cloudways teams for having me for the second year. You are so right, we had a blast last year, I particularly loved the global audience. Look at all the love coming in, guys, tell us in the chat where are you all based. Brent mentioned I’ve got a 10-year-old, I want to tell him because then he’d be impressed by Mommy. Brent, shall I take it from here?

Brent Weaver: Yeah, it’s all yours.

Nicole Osborne: Excellent. Just wanted to say I had an opportunity to listen to the earlier panel on the second day of Prepathon, and wow, what a panel, lots of great insights from Jen, Aaron, Abby, everyone, and a lovely chat as well. Guys in the chat, keep it coming, I’m seeing some hellos already, Jeff, let me know where you guys are based, I’m here in London.

What I’m going to do, I have prepared a very short presentation for you, because I want to make sure in today’s LinkedIn clinic you all get some value, whether you’re a company owner, a student, or an agency owner. I want to talk you through some of the basic principles, the kind of questions you need to ask yourself to make sure that the right people find you on LinkedIn. Brent, does that sound good?

Brent Weaver: Sounds amazing, and I’m just seeing some of the countries being shouted out to you here, we have a truly global audience, I love it. We got Zimbabwe, we got Canada, we got Atlanta, and we got some amazing gifts as well.

Nicole Osborne: Okie dokie guys, I’m going to be honest now, sharing my screen to take you to my short presentation to give you some background knowledge. Brent, can I just check, is my presentation showing?

Brent Weaver: Not yet, not yet, I am sure it will happen, maybe one more button.

Nicole Osborne: Absolutely, one more button, that could just be it, hang on, we will get there. Fantastic, thank you so much. So guys, marketing is a contest for people’s attention. I must say, I’ve been in marketing now for 22 years, and it’s still one of my all-time favorite quotes, because there is so much noise out there, especially nowadays, in our digital age there’s a lot of AI content out there, so keep this quote in mind because you want to really connect with the right people.

If you picture yourself in one of these bands, there are many of you, and today’s session is really going to help you with your LinkedIn profile to really own that digital stage and get the right people to notice you, whether that’s your next customer, your next podcasting opportunity, or perhaps you’re a student and you’re really hoping to nail that next employer. So I’m going to show you today how to do that.

Very briefly, a little bit about me, Brent has already done most of the amazing introductions, thank you for that. I work with clients across the world, small picture here of my family, one of the reasons why I created my company Wunderstars. I am also a LinkedIn Top Voice, I’m really pleased with that, that came through a couple of months ago, and I will be next at CloudFest in Mexico, but that’s enough about me, this session is for you.

I want you to picture that person in the audience you want to try and reach, that someone at the other end of the LinkedIn screen, or perhaps it’s an HR director or a marketing director you are targeting with your company’s messaging, perhaps you’re supplying new websites or you’re an amazing designer. Now, they are likely to be really busy, they’ve got the phone ringing all the time, they’ve got meetings which might be too many or too boring. So you really want to put yourself into their shoes and think about how you can grab their attention, how you can use your LinkedIn profile to really stand out.

We know LinkedIn is absolutely booming, we’re over one billion members and over 200 countries, so it’s likely to be relevant to you whether you’re in Zimbabwe or in Canada. And actually only 1% of members post once a week, so whilst there is a lot of content out there, you really want to stand out, and you want to appreciate that your audience is likely to be really busy, so bear that in mind for everything I’m going to say today.

So ask yourself, is it easy to find you, is it easy to refer you? Maybe one of your customers would like to refer you to one of their contacts, is it really easy to refer you? Is your LinkedIn personal profile your landing page, is it an amazing sales page for you and your company or yourself as a person? Everything you offer on there, everything you say about yourself in your headline or in your about section, is it like bees to honey, is it so irresistible it attracts all the right people and they want to know more about you? That’s a really good guiding principle.

For example, your profile picture is one of the biggest things people see first when they search, when they find you, or they’ve seen you in their newsfeed. So is it current, are you looking into the camera? I review a fair bit of LinkedIn profile pictures as part of my work, and sometimes people have gone to a wedding and they’re wearing a wedding suit, surrounded by lots of friends. What I would recommend is to either have a professional photo taken for your headshot, or if you can’t do that, just use your camera, because we all have the best cameras available right now. You want to look into the camera, you want to look approachable, you want a really good background, something that stands out, or perhaps use a tool like Canva to get yourself a nice background. So that’s the first thing people will notice about you, it’s the first thing that matters about making a great impression, it’s your profile picture. Here’s an example, this is Maria, she’s based in Spain, she owns a design agency, and what a lovely smile, wouldn’t you want to check her out?

Now the next marketing asset you have with your profile is actually your headline. The headline is the text just underneath your name, and guys, if I’m really honest, I often see so many boring headlines, just the job title and nothing else. So what do you want to do, you want to add some keywords, you want to show how you help, maybe you could even add some personal talking points, anything for people to see, oh my God, this is just the right person for me, and to really connect with you. Again, Maria has done a brilliant job here.

Now, I always think LinkedIn is your stage, the same as we’re now sharing this virtual stage, LinkedIn is really just a massive networking opportunity. I wanted to show this picture of Jess to you, she’s an award-winning speaker, and of course speakers have lots of things to shout about, but take some of the key learnings from this. Really say who you’re for, so for Jess she always makes her audience laugh, cry, and leaves them on a high, she has some amazing testimonials, she’s had a TEDx talk, she looks a bit like Beyoncé, so you can see she’s adding some personality there already in her headline, you can see some emojis in there. So think about it for your own headline on LinkedIn, what can you say to help you connect with your audience, to stand out, to highlight your skills, and to show who you want to be found by.

Brent Weaver: Hey Nicole, real quick, we’re not seeing the slides change, so just to make you aware, we’re just still seeing Seth’s quote, so not sure if that has shown up on your end.

Nicole Osborne: Oh my goodness, it hasn’t. How are we going to fix that? Okay, I’ve got the about section, can you see now?

Brent Weaver: Now we’re seeing your about section, but we’re seeing it within PowerPoint, we’re not seeing it in slide mode. Let me just fix that. I think it must be on two monitors, and you’re showing the presentation on a different monitor and we’re seeing the raw slide, so I’m sure a quick little tweak will help that.

Nicole Osborne: Can you now see the about section?

Brent Weaver: We just see it within PowerPoint.

Nicole Osborne: Okay, do you know what, I love to have a technical challenge, let me just see how we’re going to fix this. I can definitely see this lovely screen within PowerPoint, and obviously you want to have the entire picture, don’t you. If you want to go into slideshow mode that works too, you might have to reshare inside of Zoom. Yes, let me just do slideshow, I’m going to stop sharing, we’re going to see how this is going to work again. Oh, this is always so much fun, this is why we like events, because things can just go wrong and our audience gets a good impression of how we deal with these things.

Brent Weaver: I’m sure this isn’t your first rodeo.

Nicole Osborne: It definitely is not. I am especially excited about being able to share the actual LinkedIn profile, so as long as we can see the LinkedIn profiles, we’re going to have an amazing session. Yes, I am on Windows, so it’s not sharing. Let me just see, I’m going to share the screen again, entire screen. Do you know what, I might not be able to fix it, so I’ll run with what you’re sharing right now, and if you want to step through those slides that would be absolutely fine.

So guys, on this slide, which I hope you can see about 80% on the screen at the moment, I have shown you a really good profile picture by Maria, and you can see she looks into the camera and it’s really friendly. Here it’s also Maria’s tagline, and I wanted to emphasize it’s an opportunity for you to highlight your skills, to say who you are, the value you bring, whether that’s you as a student looking for a position or you as an agency owner or a business owner. A great example, just to get some inspiration, here’s the picture of Jess, which I think you couldn’t see earlier, she’s an award-winning speaker, she used to be one of my clients, and there’s obviously so much she can highlight. But for every one of you, LinkedIn is like being on your own stage, so really take advantage of it.

Now, your about section, often people say, I have got no idea what to write about. So just think about what skills to highlight, how can you connect with your audience, what do I struggle with, and make it about them, bring them in with a hook, but it’s about them. Here, JP, a digital agency owner, has done it really well, he talks about how his agency is different, the kind of things they can help with, what it’s like to work with them, and also how to actually get in touch with them. This is something people often forget about on their LinkedIn profile, to think about, okay, what next step do I want people to take, perhaps you have a free download or you want them to send you a DM, so really make sure you include that.

Finally, one of your biggest tools is really to celebrate your achievements, celebrate your skills, and add social proof wherever you can. Here I’m showing you a recommendation, so you could get your clients or former peers or people you’ve worked with to recommend you. There’s a new feature right now on LinkedIn if you have a premium account where you can actually feature this as your featured post, but the simplest thing to do is to connect with people you’ve worked with in the past, clients you’ve delivered projects for, and ask them for a recommendation. Normal people are really helpful, especially if you also give some recommendations in turn, so don’t overlook this feature to really show how good you are and what kind of results you can offer to your clients.

Now I wanted to finish on this point, really make sure that you have a unique voice, because it is so easy to go into ChatGPT or Copilot or any other system you’re using and ask it for some copy. What comes back, you need to show your personality, make sure it hits the right notes for your audience. So really ask yourself, what can I do to give it a unique voice, because in my experience, with LinkedIn being so busy, if you are playing it safe, if you are boring, if you sound and look like everyone else, it just won’t get you on the best shortlist, whether that’s for the next project for your company or that next job you’re hoping for.

So in essence, bear these things in mind, consider when you look at your LinkedIn profile, who am I writing this for, who am I trying to attract, what are the things I need to tell them about, what keywords do you need to add, do you have a good photo, do you have social proof, what talking points do you have? You really want to show that you understand your audience and encourage them to take that next step. So what I’m going to do now when we finish this session, I’m going to give you a quick link to download some free post ideas, but right now I’m super keen to go into the profile review, so I’m going to for a moment stop sharing to have a look at the comments.

A friend is saying, life reviews, hardly can see the text on the slides. Listen, I’m so sorry to hear that, but hopefully by going through the profiles and the principles you still have key learning points. So let me go into some of the profiles. We had people register for the session and there are loads of you, so we went through and picked a sample to make sure everyone is getting some good learning points. Before we do that, tell me in the comments, who is ready to start updating their profile? Oh yes, lots, brilliant. And let’s hold each other accountable. Maybe the one thing to do, and Abby said this earlier, if you want to generate more business, create some time in your diary, so while I’m doing the review, have your calendar booking system open and just put in one hour to make some of these updates.

Okie dokie, so I am now going to call up some of these amazing profiles. I’m just going to share my screen. Please confirm that you can see the lovely Lexi on the screen.

Brent Weaver: We can see it. I don’t know if you can give us a couple of those command pluses just to zoom in a smidge for some of our viewers.

Nicole Osborne: Okay. I’ve gotten older, Nicole, and my eyes aren’t as good as they once were.

Brent Weaver: It’s the same for me.

Nicole Osborne: I would like to show you guys Lexi’s profile. Lexi is a front-end developer and she is based in the US, and first of all I just wanted to say her profile picture is really friendly, guys, I hope you all agree with me. She looks directly at the camera, it’s a beautiful smile, so Lexi, if you’re here with us, super well done. In the top section I also really like that you’ve got an image behind your photo, you already talk about web development, so if you come up in search we can see immediately this is your area of interest, so super well done. And for everyone with us today, think about how you can use the header image to really draw attention to yourself in a good way.

The next thing I wanted to highlight, Lexi, you have a fantastic headline here, you say front-end developer, expert in Angular, JavaScript, and you manage to name all the different tools, and the last thing you say is agile and DevOps. So well done for putting in some additional information. I’d suggest to also maybe have personal interests or what kind of companies you particularly like to work with, just to make it even more relevant for the person you want to be noticed by. Now, the other thing I want everyone to learn is that usually the first 45 or 60 characters in the headline are what comes up in search, which you can see on the right-hand side, so you want to make sure these are really optimized and that you’ve set something other than just your job title.

The next section I would like to show you is the famous about section. So we all have an about section in our LinkedIn profile, which is such a marketing asset, and so often people are not making use of it. Now Lexi, you have already written quite a lot of text, it’s really in detail, you talk about what you’re passionate about, you’re saying you’re currently looking for opportunities, so well done for having the contact detail on there. Sometimes you can further optimize this by maybe some bullet points and shortening some of the sentences, because we know people on social media have really short attention spans, so let’s draw their attention to how can you get in touch with me, what are the projects I’ve worked on, what skills do I bring to the table. So Lexi, it’s already a really good about section, I would just say maybe work a little bit on the format so it’s easier to read when people are short of time.

Lexi, you’ve also done an amazing job by having some really interesting posts which show different interests you have on your profile. Guys, let me know who at the moment has discovered their featured section as an opportunity to perhaps promote a specific service or an event you’ve been to, let me know in the comments if any of you is using the featured section, that’d be great, because it’s such an opportunity. LinkedIn has given us this section quite a while ago and they’re continuously changing what you can do with it, but whichever things come up in terms of new features, try and see if you can make them work for your profile just to make it stand out a little bit more.

So further on, Lexi, well done, you are active, so for everyone here who might be looking for a job, but even when you are a business owner, the experience section is really your area to showcase how you can help your audience, what achievements you had, what projects you worked on, why people should be connecting with you. The reality is that only a small percentage go all the way to your experience section, but again it’s an opportunity to add keywords and your contact details. So if you’ve worked for some amazing companies just like Lexi has done, offer some detail, just say what the company does and highlight two or three of the projects you’ve worked on, that’s a really good hack for completing your LinkedIn profile. And LinkedIn itself is really good with this, you get lots of guidance if you follow LinkedIn step by step to help you get the additional star rating for your profile. Education is on there, fantastic.

Now, the thing I really wanted to highlight to everyone, look at this recommendation section, I said this earlier in my presentation, which is such a marketing opportunity, and Lexi, well done for having some really current recommendations. Everyone here with us, to really thrive on LinkedIn, try and get some recommendations, be generous with people, share some recommendations. So Lexi, super well done, hope this is really helpful, let’s get on to the next profile. Tell me guys, what are you learning so far, what’s the one thing you’re going to implement? I want to see if all of you are going to update your photos or your tagline. I’m looking at the chat at the moment, people are saying me, me, fantastic.

Now I would like to introduce you all to Michael. I think I might have to briefly come out of sharing to go into it again, one moment, we will set this up.

Brent Weaver: Nicole, one of the things I thought was just super cool about your profile is on the featured, your first featured is a link to book a free call, and your image for it has this beautiful, attention-grabbing CTA. A lot of times people look at LinkedIn featured and they just do posts, but they don’t think about what kind of different types of content or headlines they can include in there, so I love that. I hope everybody here that’s got a freelance or agency business, that first one should be book a call, right?

Nicole Osborne: Absolutely, book a call, or check out our portfolio. In the featured section, as Brent just said, if you upload an image with the link behind it, people directly click on it and go to your website or landing page. So worth doing. For everyone, please update your contact details if I haven’t said this earlier, but for the featured section, think about what is the next step I’m encouraging you to do, perhaps a discovery call or a freebie you’d like people to download, or a portfolio you want them to look at, especially web designers, so highlight your portfolio in particular, and you can use Canva for a simple design that really grabs attention.

Sebastian is saying he’s going to think about a little bit more about who to address in his profile, and do you know, Sebastian, I think this example I’m showing you now by Michael will be really helpful. Michael actually is an agency working in the not-for-profit sector, and this is the one thing you notice straight away when you look at his profile. So really think about all the key indicators, what’s my niche, how can I speak to them, and how can I really highlight it. I found this on my own LinkedIn profile, for a long time I just talked about helping agencies with their marketing, and yes, in essence this is what I do, I help agencies generate better leads with LinkedIn and their personal brand, but then I switched it up to just saying, you know what, I train you in LinkedIn so that you can get more leads for your digital agency. And as soon as you make it that specific, people know what you’re about, what your expertise is, why it’s worth talking to you. So I recommend you all consider who’s your audience, how do you help them, and how can you use the featured images as well as the background image.

Now when we look at Michael, again a lovely picture, he looks into the camera, it’s smiling, it’s approachable, I would not be afraid of contacting him. His headline says your website should look good and do good. Perhaps I suggest maybe switch it around and have that as a question, your website looks good but does it also deliver results for your community, whatever it might be. So it’s a good headline, but just switch it up a little bit. I like that Michael says he’s the founder and president, and the next thing is brilliant, he’s saying helping nonprofit organizations generate funding through a personalized website design approach, so really good already, we can assess his values. Michael, perhaps if you have a unique process, or maybe add an additional talking point just to make it easier for people to reach out and have that common discussion, it’s a little bit like when you’re at a networking event, how can you put people at ease, often it’s by asking good questions, listening, and finding things you have in common, and the principle on LinkedIn is exactly the same.

Now let’s go further down. You can see his about section, so he says what he does and how he does it, so that’s really nicely laid out, easy to get. I also believe the end offers a call to action, so booking a 15-minute call, perhaps for you, Michael, this would be a good idea to have in your featured section, really good. I would say perhaps some emojis just to draw attention if that’s in line with your brand. What I specifically like, and guys, I want you to pick this up, it’s a really good approach, Michael has added some short testimonials already to his about section, so you know what others say, and I think that’s such a good idea, so well done Michael. Again, your experience section, it’s definitely worth adding some more details, who do you work with, how many clients have you served, what results can you get, just offering a bit more detail. The idea with your LinkedIn profile is, for all the sections you’re offered, if you have special certifications, projects, or published work, try and find ways to add them on LinkedIn to really show off what a great asset you could be to a new company.

You’ve got the skills, so everyone, good learning point here, you want to show the skills which are really relevant to the projects and clients you want to attract, so carefully always think about updating your skills and adding to them. Again, you have some recommendations, Michael, that’s brilliant, I would say if you get a moment, go in there and get some more recent ones, and I know, as we run our businesses we always evolve our services, so it’s always good to have recent recommendations for the services you now want to promote, because they’re your most attractive services.

I’ve got a really good question here, what’s the best way to indicate a career transition from one industry or role to another? I think this is really typical nowadays, we have a portfolio career, and it’s worth highlighting all the relevant aspects for your new direction, and people really expect us to change and evolve. So don’t be afraid of going over your LinkedIn profile and updating it for a new direction, maybe in your about section, maybe you give the jobs you’re going for more of an emphasis in your experience section. It is totally normal, we all evolve, so it’s worth it every few months to see, is this still serving my personal goals, my career goals, and my business goals, and then just rewrite it, because it’s so easy, it’ll take you 10, 15 minutes, it’s not like we’re going to print a big advertising billboard, this is just LinkedIn, it’s your digital PR.

Honey is saying she likes the about section really concise, is there a good or bad length to the about section? Oh Honey, such a good question, there are arguments both ways. My advice would be, make sure you talk about the people you want to attract and their problems, show briefly how you can do that, and show how they can get in touch. If you can fit all this in really concise copy, do that, if you want to say a little bit more that’s fine. I always aim for really easy readability, short sentences, active language, use some words you would typically use, Brent told you earlier I’m originally from Germany, so every now and then I say a German word because for me it’s on brand. LinkedIn will give you a character limit, you don’t have to fill it all, but at the same time it’s a really good advertising asset, just make sure it’s easy to skim read, so use bullet points, maybe some emojis, some white spacing, that will make it much easier to read.

Brent Weaver: Michael, real quick question, Nicole, on Michael’s, he put a URL, spelled out the URL in the about section, any thoughts on that? Is that fine, or do we want to use the featured for that, if we want somebody to go to a URL?

Nicole Osborne: Do you know, it’s a really great question. The nice thing is, about having the entire URL in there, when people access LinkedIn on mobile, which the majority do, it actually is a hyperlink, so it’ll come up as a blue link and people can click on it. I know it doesn’t look so nice on desktop, but on mobile that is really valuable. And a really helpful tip for everyone, when you make changes on LinkedIn, check them out on desktop and check them out on mobile as well, so you really optimize for mobile, particularly with images and where you put text. So yes, Money, it’s hyperlinked on mobile, so how cool is that? We talked in the earlier session about sending traffic to your website, really qualified people, this is a really good way of doing it. So on Michael, this is what I want to highlight, I hope that’s really helpful.

I wanted to show you an entirely different profile now. The good thing is that LinkedIn hasn’t crashed on us today, guys, we haven’t broken the internet yet, we can fix a slide screen share, can’t fix LinkedIn being available or not. So I would like to introduce you all to S, who submitted his profile, he is based in Bangladesh, hello, let us know in the comments if you’re here live or watching the replay. Again a really nice picture, what I particularly like about your headshot is that it really stands out, the contrast of the colors, you put yourself against a red image and then in the background you have a blue image. Now about your heading, there’s probably ways we can make it a little bit more interesting. Actually, this is a good one, sorry, I’m mixing up, he’s saying he’s into data-driven strategies, he’s a digital marketing guy, a lifelong learner, so these are really good key points to mention, and it’s probably also optimized for mobile, so that’s worth checking. I particularly like how he’s done his tagline, he’s a growth strategist, a doer, a believer, an observer, thinker, minimalist, he loves books, and he’s also a CMO. I like it because it’s got some personality, we can get an insight into his values, he’s putting his job title actually last, I just want to make sure you have all the keywords in there. Overall I think this is a really excellent top section of a profile. Guys, let me know, do you think that’s a good way to adopt a nicely laid out headline with a little bit of personality?

So don’t be afraid of showing some personality, we do business with people, we hire real people, so LinkedIn is your way of showing that. I know you might be thinking, oh but we have to be so professional, you can be professional and still show your personality, the old ways of LinkedIn being just really stuffy are completely gone. I want to hear anyone in the chat who is ready to embrace some personality, I know Brent is going to add a hobby.

Brent Weaver: My perspective is, if you project this really non-personal-brand persona, it might attract opportunities that don’t align with your personal brand, like if you have a stuffy, no-personality corporate profile, then you end up with a stuffy, no-personality corporate job that you’re like, I don’t know why, I really don’t like this job, it’s really boring, but you projected that essence, versus attracting opportunities that might align better.

Nicole Osborne: Completely right. So reflect on, who do I like to work with, if I’m looking for a job, what teams would I really thrive in? Whenever I look at the Cloudways page, it’s fun, it shows fun, so project that, and you can do that in your personal profile. My husband always says to me, are you working, I hear you laughing a lot, and it’s because I’ve chosen to come across as a fun person, because I like to have fun while I work, because let’s face it, not everyone wakes up thinking, hey, I want to optimize my LinkedIn profile, so if I make it fun for you guys, it’s going to be more achievable.

So let’s see what else we’ve got with S. Well done, he’s got a good about section, I would definitely say let’s add how people can get in touch with you, what would you like them to do next. I also wanted to show you how S has added his services, so as a member of the public I can go and click and request his services, so that’s worth setting up, he’s given specific keywords for them, LinkedIn offers you options, you can also get recommendations and reviews for your services, so that looks really good. Look at his featured section, really good use of it, he has launched different newsletters for different areas of expertise, cybersecurity, growth marketing, business development, and what a nice way of getting people to get notified when he sends out a newsletter. So if you’re already having a newsletter or considering one as a way of growing your personal brand, definitely promote it in the featured section. In his experience section he’s got some good details, he’s added the skills, so this is a really good profile already. At that level it might be worth considering adding some video to your content, because LinkedIn is really pushing video at the moment, so if you’re feeling brave and want to give people that extra insight into you, add some video posts as well. I really like that you’ve added volunteering, the different projects, licenses, and certifications, and guys, this goes back to a point I made earlier, anything you have to show up your skills and expertise, use it on LinkedIn just as S has done here. And yes, request reviews for your services so people can really see the results you delivered and how happy your customers are.

One tiny thing I would like to show everyone, when we have a LinkedIn URL for our personal profile, LinkedIn gives us this really long data code, a string of numbers, so this is one of the first opportunities you have to customize it by just going into your settings and taking out the number string and putting something more unique, and if you’re lucky your name will be available like that. At the same time, check your profile settings to make sure people can see your picture, your name, and your headline, because it looks really bad when you haven’t done that and people are met with this gray box of boringness. When you get a message from someone, who are you more likely to say yes to, someone who looks friendly, there’s a picture, it says what he does, or someone where you’re just met with a gray box and no personality? Ask yourself, who do you want to be? I use a system just to keep track of my prospects, customers, and influencers, but there are other systems as well, you can even just put all your prospects on a spreadsheet if you’re getting started, it all works.

Now let’s see, Brent, do you think we have time for one more person?

Brent Weaver: I think we can squeeze it in if I start doing this, like we’re going to close up.

Nicole Osborne: Okay, I want to find a lady, let me show another lady. My keyboard is on fire, everyone else’s keyboard is on fire, which is brilliant. There we go, everyone meet the lovely Monika, and I’m really sorry if I don’t pronounce the name right. Monika is currently working as a UX designer, really lovely picture, everyone can see an amazing font image that says straight away what you do. If you have a little bit of time, use today’s tips to add a bit more detail to your tagline, perhaps say what kind of companies you work for, what systems you’re really good at, maybe also a personal talking point. You have already a good about section. Do you know, Monika, the reason I wanted to chat to you is because you do such amazing illustrations on Instagram, and I want to invite you to actually share some of them on LinkedIn, because it really will show your skills, they’re beautiful on Instagram and you can totally share them on LinkedIn, maybe talk about what inspired you, do that as a regular feature, and I think it will draw a lot of interest to your profile, which is already really interesting for people to follow. Monika is using the featured section really well, she’s regularly on LinkedIn, which is amazing. I would say, Monika, share some more of your experience, talk a bit more about who you’ve worked for and your specific contributions, you’ve added all the licenses and certifications, you’ve got your skills, and the final bit everyone, what am I going to say, it’s about the recommendations, it’s worth getting some if she hasn’t already.

Right guys, this is the final profile. Very briefly, if you want to get some more post ideas, because optimizing your profile, making your show window look amazing, making sure the right people find you is number one, the next thing you want to do is post regularly. I’ve got a free booklet for you with 33 ideas you can apply whether you’re a business owner or a digital agency, and then make sure you have relevant posts that are interesting and really draw your audience. So everyone, come to my website, wunderstars.com/content-inspiration, and get yourself a free download.

Brent Weaver: Oh Nicole, I am super excited that you guys invited her here today. I’m going to steal you for one or two more questions, the audience might have quick answers. How do you feel about the open to work badge, when do you recommend people do that? I imagine some people that are gainfully employed might be concerned if they put a signal out there that they’re looking for something new.

Nicole Osborne: It’s a tricky thing. Great question, Sally. I would say, the open to work badge, if you are proactively looking, perhaps if you’re not in a job, because if I was a line manager I’d probably be checking into LinkedIn every now and then, and because I’m connected with you at the same company, I might just notice that, so I would be a little bit more discreet with that. But if you run a business and you’re looking for clients, definitely put this on, LinkedIn is there to network and help you with opportunities. And for everyone else, take every opportunity to be generous, if you ever see a post looking for a position, share it, because this is what social networking is all about, be generous. So if you’re in a job, maybe not, unless you’re very open with everyone about that.

Brent Weaver: There was another question about how can I get verified, I don’t know if that’s a quick answer.

Nicole Osborne: Very quick, LinkedIn gives you step-by-step instructions, some of them involve just uploading a picture of your passport, you don’t have to do it, it’s completely up to you, I haven’t done it on my profile, but the option is absolutely there.

Brent Weaver: I was like, have I done it, apparently I have, apparently I uploaded, here LinkedIn, here’s my passport, so hopefully that’s secure. Any recommendations for paid, like what benefits you’ll get? Every time I log into LinkedIn I feel like I’m getting hit with premium, premium, premium.

Nicole Osborne: Do you know, I’m on the premium version, it’s about $50 a month, and I love it for two reasons. First of all, I have better access to people who viewed my profile, so with those people I can look them up and follow up and say, hey, I saw you on my profile, anything catch your eye, and start that conversation if it’s an interesting person for you. Also the statistics are a little bit more manageable. Everyone can get a free trial for a month, so if you’re unsure, try it out. The step up from that is Sales Navigator, which is particularly helpful if you want to do a lot of proactive lead outreach, you can get notifications when your target personas have posted, it’s really easy to go in and comment so you’re visible and move the conversation on, and it feeds into your CRM. So depending on where you are currently, you can achieve so much with a free LinkedIn version, you really can, but why not try a month of the premium version. The way it’s moving, LinkedIn is really pushing premium, so there’s more features only available if you’re a premium user, but obviously it’s quite expensive at $50, so not everyone can spend on that, so I want to encourage you, the free profile is still really amazing, there’s so much you can do, show your personality, all the things we talked about today.

Brent Weaver: Awesome, and last question, Nicole, how has your experience been now your second Prepathon here with Cloudways?

Nicole Osborne: I always love the Cloudways team, they make you feel so welcome, and the community, look at the chat, Brent, it’s on fire, there’s so many good questions. So everyone please reach out on LinkedIn, I’m really happy to help, and it’s such a good vibe. I listened to the panel, oh my goodness, it was so interesting, I’m going to watch the replay because of the time difference, but I think you’ve created such an amazing event over the three days, so much value, all the networking going on amongst the delegates as well, it’s brilliant.

Brent Weaver: Very good, well Nicole, thank you, audience, let’s give Nicole a little bit of love as we send her off, amazing value. I know I’ve got some homework tonight on my LinkedIn profile, I think we’re going to see some new featured links on my profile. Thank you Nicole, excited to have you hanging out with us, maybe on future Prepathons, and definitely drop your link to the Wunderstars resource in chat if you haven’t already. Thank you everyone, have fun.

Nicole Osborne: Thank you very much.

Brent Weaver: Stick with us, we’ll be right back for a Pitch Perfect activity, we’ve got some amazing prizes, free hosting credits, Cloudways swag bag, all that good stuff, so get ready and stick with us at Prepathon 2024.