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Back to Business on LinkedIn!

09.09.2020 by Elizabeth // Leave a Comment

Today’s guest post is from my friend and favorite LinkedIn Expert – Karen Rosenzweig of One Smart Cookie Marketing. Karen is THE PERSON for all your LinkedIn and social media questions. You may still be wearing yoga pants to the home office, but it’s time to spruce up your LinkedIn profile this fall my friends…

back to business on linkedinSeptember has arrived, which means back to school time – and back to business time! The summer is behind us and it’s time to set some solid business intentions to earn you more visibility and more money.

A great place to start is reviewing your presence on LinkedIn, the world’s largest business social network with 675 million members. This is a place to be found, look good, and get business done, so here are my top tips to do just that.

Be Found

Before any of the magic can happen, you need to be “found” on LinkedIn. This happens via introductions from your connections, LinkedIn searches, and clicks from the news feed. To be sure you maximize your visibility here, it’s time to freshen up your LinkedIn profile.

  • Revisit your “headline” which may just be your job title now – but consider boosting its effectiveness by creating a keyword-laden headline (search friendly) or a benefit statement headline (what people experience when they work with you). Here’s an easy article to get you started with that.
  • Be sure you have “keywords” throughout your profile for the areas you want to be found for – realtor, Portland, first-time home buyers, small business owners, etc. Be sure those words are in your headline, about section, job experiences, and recommendations to give you maximum “findability”.

Look Good

If you’re lucky enough that someone finds your profile, make sure you look like the amazing business professional you are! Your profile needs to be current, interesting, compelling, and demonstrate how you can help your target audience.

  • Your “about” section is similar to a cover letter that accompanies your resume. More than 50% of people on LinkedIn don’t have an About section now and that’s simply crazy! You don’t want to be judged solely on the jobs you list in your profile (right?) so here’s where you craft a compelling and valuable narrative. Tell your story and earn their business! Check out this article with an easy-to-follow structure for your About section.
  • If you searched for someone on LinkedIn and found two good candidates – one with 14 recommendations and one with 0 recommendations, which would you click on first? It’s time to get that social proof on your profile, so invite your 1st degree connections to write you a recommendation – and perhaps start the party off by writing them one first.

Get Business

Do you sometimes feel like you are the best kept secret in your industry? You can change that dynamic in a hurry by creating a strategic plan to share your great content and engage with others so you show up on their profiles. You must do something to stay top of mind with your connections and establish yourself as the trusted resource in your field.

  • Posting regular “status updates” (original or shared) on LinkedIn allows you to demonstrate your expertise and add value to other businesses. Taking it a notch up by writing LinkedIn Articles – which are essentially longer form blog posts – that allow you to show your knowledge, provide insights, and establish yourself as a go-to person in your field.
  • “Liking” other people’s posts is a fine strategy but a much better one is to actually comment on their posts. When you comment, you leave your name, photo, and headline on that post, allowing others to notice you and perhaps click over to your profile (especially if you have a snappy headline!) It’s like dropping little business cards all over LinkedIn, but not in a cheesy way – because you are adding smart, insightful comments, not trying to sell anyone.

There you have it, an easy game plan for the fall (I can’t wait for football!) to boost your visibility and credibility on the world’s largest business social platform. It’s a strategy that has worked for thousands of business professionals so give it a shot and let me know what magic happens!

For those that need a little boost to get started, I invite you to check out my LinkedIn Reality Check service ($97) – a full written evaluation of your LinkedIn profile along with a 30-minute Zoom call with me to review the feedback and get your questions answered.  I look forward to working with you soon!

About Karen

Karen Rosenzweig is a marketing consultant, social media coach and trainer, author, and owner of One Smart Cookie Marketing. She has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs and small business owners increase their customer base and gain visibility through Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging and other social media tools.
Her coaching program allows her to act as “training wheels” for a business, teaching them how to authentically and successfully manage their own social media.

She is a fun and dynamic speaker and presents engaging workshops to audiences eager to learn how to leverage social media tools to make more money in their business.

Categories // Marketing, Social Media

3 Marketing Updates You May Need to Check In On

05.15.2019 by Elizabeth // Leave a Comment

3-Marketing-Updates-You-May-Need-to-Check-In-OnThis morning I was thrilled (please note the dripping sarcasm) to see that Mailchimp has decided to completely restructure their billing and their plan offerings. The good news if you already have an account –  you’re safe. But if you need to move to a paid plan (which based on what your automation and list needs are, you might) you are going to probably pay more. I’ve seen a few changes to marketing technology lately and I wanted to share 3 marketing changes that you may want to check in on for your business.

  1. LinkedIn Showcase Pages – I was talking with a client today about how great the LinkedIn Showcase pages are as a compliment to your business page. Then I clicked on mine to show her and the page was in need of a major update. SO – if you’ve had a business page setup on LinkedIn and added featured pages for specific products – it’s time to jump over and make sure it still looks as good as you hoped!
  2. Google My Business – With Google+ gone what’s a small business owner to do to promote their content on Google? Luckily if you have a Google My Business Page setup (and if you don’t stop now and do that first) you can add a post to your account. With G+ you could schedule these out like other social media posts, but with Google My Business you have to manually go in to add in a post. However, I appreciate that GMB will alert you when your post is about to expire so you can go in and post something new. Which you should…
  3. Mailchimp’s Update – If you have Mailchimp take a look at the email they sent out today with their updated terms of use and their new snazzy pricing structure. Reminder – if you already have an account – you’re safe!

Software and marketing tools are constantly changing. These are 3 that just happened to be talking about TODAY that I thought I’d make sure you’re aware of. What software has changed recently that small business owners need to be aware of? Please share in the comments…

Categories // Marketing, Newsletter, Social Media

5 Tasks to Add to Your Blog Post Checklist

03.13.2019 by Elizabeth // Leave a Comment

5 Tasks to Add to Your Blog Post ChecklistThe other day while chatting with a client she asked if I have a checklist for blogging. I sure didn’t (well, I do in pieces in my head) so I decided we should create one.

A few years ago I wrote about how 40% of my traffic comes from social media – but let’s update that for 2019…

  1. Linktree – If you’re using Instagram as part of your social media then you know that you only get ONE URL in your bio. Which is DUMB. With Linktree you create a page that has all your relevant links to your recent blog posts and any other links you reference in your Instagram. Check mine out…
  2. Buffer – you need a social media sharing tool to help keep you sane. I pay for Buffer and it’s awesome. I still mostly stick to this social media sharing schedule from this post a few years ago. Lately I have been monitoring how many tweets are scheduled/work/promo and how many are LIVE me. Evaluate your social media regularly to make sure you aren’t talking AT your audience but are talking to and with your audience.
  3. Add to your Newsletter – each month in my newsletter I feature a few of my latest blog posts. It’s a great way to get some additional exposure to folks who many not follow my blog.
  4. Reference Your Posts – a lot of my blog posts (this one included) are written so I can easily share my recommendations down the road without having to write this all out again. Make sure if you took the time to write a helpful blog post that you’re sharing it with your clients or a specific audience when the time comes. I was on a group call last week where we ended up talking about a topic I have written a few posts about so I was able to share those posts and get new eyes on my website.
  5. Add to Google My Business – Now that G+ is going away don’t forget that you can add a post to your Google My Business page! It expires in time but once you start posting you get a heads up – which might even prompt you to write another post!

What other behind the scenes tasks do you do on your blog?

Categories // Lessons Learned, Marketing, Social Media

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Yellow Dog Consulting is a sales and marketing firm located in Hillsboro, Oregon with clients around the world. We work with small business owners who love what they do, but the sales and marketing part of their job sucks their will to live.

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