Whether your goal is to go from charging $100 to $1,000 for blog posts or to work with better clients on bigger projects like content strategy, your online presence can make or break your efforts in reaching your goal.
What’s your online presence made up of? Your branding, positioning, messaging, and network.
Since improving my LinkedIn presence this year, I got my first client paying $1,000 per blog post, a podcast appearance inside a private community, and better leads at my new rates!
Let’s see how you can elevate your LinkedIn presence and take your business to the next level.
5 Simple Steps to Elevate Your LinkedIn Presence
1. Visual Branding
Read this article about brand colors to learn what each color signifies. Finalize three colors for your brand based on the business values you regularly practice. Note down the HTML color codes of your brand colors to have them handy when you’re designing a carousel in Canva or a landing page for your website.
Next, fonts. Read this article about infusing your brand with personality through fonts. Since there’s little distinction between your business and yourself as a freelance writer, bring your personality to your business brand with the right fonts.
After you’ve chosen two fonts… one for headings and one for normal text… it’s time to get a professional headshot… or six.
A professional picture of yourself can set you apart from other freelancers and help you appear like a put-together, legitimate business owner.
If you feel overwhelmed by this first step, remember all of this is a one-time investment. You don’t have to update your business branding anytime soon. Maybe a headshot once a year, but that’s it. So, this exercise will serve you for a long time.
Notice my brand colors and fonts in the image above, as well as the glaring difference between my headshots. We’re all friends here. Otherwise, I’d be too embarrassed sharing that ‘before’ picture, especially since that was my headshot even after four years in business (eek!).
2. Positioning
No matter how hard you work on your positioning, you’ll inevitably refine it multiple times throughout your career. So, give some deliberate thought to your positioning, but don’t feel like it has to be ‘perfect.’ I used to position myself as a freelance tech writer. That’s the name of my website (freelancetechwriter.com), and that worked well for a while.
About two years ago, I realized I no longer wanted to do short-form social media posts, ads, copywriting for landing pages, etc., but instead wanted to focus on long-form content. So, my positioning became “Freelance B2B Tech Long-form Content Writer.”
Then, I narrowed my niches to “AI, IoT, Web3, Cybersecurity, Blockchain, and AIOps.”
The kind of writing you do, and your niches are just the starting point of figuring out your positioning. As of now, my positioning statement says,
I create long-form content that hits the sweet spot between audience pain points, product features/benefits, and the competitive positioning of my clients.
That? That’s the essence of what I do for my clients. Now, there are other ways I could position myself:
- I simplify complex tech jargon into understandable and meaningful content.
- I’m an engineer-turned-writer who “gets” technology products inside and out.
I use these in my messaging sometimes, but they aren’t my primary positioning.
So, figure out yours. Journal about what you help your clients do, why you’re the right person for the job, what makes you an ideal content partner for your clients, etc. Also, listen to what your clients say about working with you. Even use AI to put all that feedback into and see what ChatGPT has to say about it.
Your elevated positioning will emerge from these explorations.
3. Show, Don’t Tell
Gather proof that you know what you claim you know.
Proof = testimonials, stories, samples, ongoing learning. Anything that allows you to show, not tell your prospects, that you know your stuff.
Testimonials show your clients you’ve done it before for other clients, you have a system and a process, and you can repeat it for them to achieve similar results.
Stories show the day in and day out of working with clients, delivering results, and overcoming challenges.
Samples of work show your clients the end results of working with you. How is their marketing going to improve with POV (point-of-view)-led content? What results should they expect to see? What are the actual deliverables you provide to your clients?
Ongoing learning talks about the courses and workshops you participate in to evolve your services and skills for your clients.
Elevating your LinkedIn presence and messaging involves digging up these credibility boosters and intentionally using them throughout your LinkedIn profile, website, and content.
4. Elevate Your Content
If you’re posting haphazardly on LinkedIn, consider working on a content strategy. Without an intentional strategy, you flail about aimlessly, your content is directionless, and it never compounds into tangible results like signing clients and getting money in the bank.
Here’s how you can create your content calendar. Take your content from mediocre 5 a.m. productivity posts to service-specific lead-generating posts.
If you’re looking for a few examples to get started, I got you.
Here are three LinkedIn posts from yours truly that talk about my services in different ways.
If you want to charge higher rates, elevate your LinkedIn content to show you’re worth it.
5. Carefully Network and Build Connections
Every opportunity for more visibility and better pay is tied to a person.
We think about opportunities a lot, but we need to pay attention to the fact that it’s people who bring us opportunities.
So, my final tip for you to elevate your LinkedIn presence is to create a meaningful network of professionals who would support you and say your name in a room full of opportunities.
One simple way I’ve built my network of friends and referrals is by having no-strings-attached coffee chats with people I respect as my peers or mentors. Sometimes, I reach out to them. And sometimes they do the reaching out.
All of these chats are two-way streets. Whether you’re gaining knowledge from someone with 10 years of experience or guiding someone who’s just starting out, you stand to gain as much as you give.
Every successful freelance writer you know has taken these steps to reach where they are today. If you’ve been feeling kinda stuck in your business, it might be time to uplevel your marketing and presence. Spend 30 minutes each day elevating your LinkedIn presence, and you’ll reap the results soon.
