📈 Your Profile Is A Landing Page

Read time: 4 minutes

I was at an event last week and someone asked me "what's the most overlooked part of building a business on LinkedIn?"

I thought about it for a minute. "Your profile. It's the most boring part to fix, but it drives conversions."

They looked confused.

So I explained.

Your LinkedIn profile is a critical part of your business funnel. 

Think about it: Someone reads your post. Gets curious. Clicks through to your profile.

They have intent at this point. They're trying to figure out if they can learn from you. If you can help them.

But most profiles, like most websites, don't make it clear.

Generic headlines. Buzzwords. About sections filled with corporate jargon.

Even as I'm writing this right now, I'm thinking "I need to update my about section, it's out of date."

But updating profiles is no fun compared to making content where we get immediate feedback on how we did.

Which is exactly why most people never do it.

It's like having a website landing page with no clear value proposition.

People leave confused. You lose a potential follower. Or worse - a potential client.

The good news... it is pretty easy to fix.

Just like optimizing a landing page, there are specific elements that convert profile visitors into followers or leads.

The 8 Second Profile Rule

Your LinkedIn profile needs to answer three questions in 8 seconds:

"Who do I help?"

“How do I help them?”

“What proof do I have I can deliver results?”

Not your job history. Not where you went to school. Not your certifications.

You want viewers to instantly think one of two things:

"This is exactly what I need" or "This isn't for me."

Both are wins. Clarity over sounds smart.

The Hero Profile Method

• Headshot that builds trust

• Eye-catching banner

• Relevant headline

• Optimized about section

Let me break this down:

1. Headshot that builds trust

Selfies or photos with other people in don’t cut it.

Use a close-up photo where you're smiling directly at the camera. High quality (400x400 pixels minimum).

Solid background that matches your brand colors. I recommend InstaHeadshots if you want to save money.

2. Eye-catching banner

Your banner is free advertising space. Use it. Use your brand colors and include a clear value proposition, a call-to-action and relevant social proof.

Examples that I like:

• Desma Rovina D’Souza - makes her target audience super clear

• Eric Partaker - clearly references target audience

• "Helping B2B SaaS businesses scale from $1M to $10M ARR | 7 Years of GTM Leadership"

Design it in Canva. Dimensions: 1584x386 pixels.

3. Relevant headline

Your headline should make people think: "This person can help me and they’ve helped other people like me before."

My recommended formula:

[Your Role/Position] helping [Target Audience] [Achieve Goal] | [Relevant Social Proof]

You have 220 characters but you want to be as succinct as possible - 2 lines or less. Anything more and people just don’t read them.

I’ve written pretty extensively about LinkedIn headlines here. This headline shows great social proof.

4. Optimized about section

This is where most people blow it.

They write their life story rather than about how you help others.

If someone has made it to your about section, they are curious.

A couple I like:

• Desma Rovina D’Souza - highlights customer pain points

• Justin Welsh - shows how people to become customers

Structure it like this:

• Hook with how you can help your followers

• Share parts of your story that are relevant for why people should follow you

• End with an actionable next step

Keep sentences short. Use line spacing. Write at a 5th-grade level.

Your Next Move

I told the person at the event all of this.

They pulled out their phone right there and showed me their profile.

Generic headline. No banner. About section from 2023.

"How long would it take to fix this?" they asked.

"30 minutes for your headline. Maybe 2 hours for everything."

They laughed. "I've been putting this off for a year because I thought it would take forever."

That's the thing.

We spend hours crafting the perfect post. Days planning content calendars.

But we won't spend 30 minutes on the thing that actually converts visitors into followers.

This weekend, fix your headline. Just your headline.

Next weekend, tackle your banner.

In a month, you'll have a profile that actually converts.

Small fixes. Big results.

See you next time,

Will

P.S. Profile fixed? Great. Now you need better content. I write all my posts in Saywhat Collab - just search what's trending and adapt it to your niche. Start free here.

Will McTighe

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