Who’s Looking at You?

• 14 years ago

Are you one of 90 million people on LinkedIn? One of the more interesting features of the business networking site is the ability is to see who has viewed your profile.  Even though I have an unpaid subscription, I can see enough about the people visiting to know that my profile is something I need to pay attention to.

For example, in the past five days, my profile has been viewed by five people, some of whom I recognize, and some of whom I don’t.  In the past 15 days I have turned up 11 times in the search results.  Last year there were more than two BILLION people searches on LinkedIn. Just as you can improve your website’s rankings with the use of keywords, the same is true of your LinkedIn profile.  Did you know LinkedIn now offers an enhanced profile for companies?

Who’s looking at you? Potential customers, bankers, vendors, journalists, former colleagues, future employers– anyone and everyone who might want to find out more about you or your business is searching online.   So what does your online presence say about you? Are you professional, up-to-date, well-connected, well-read, and highly recommended? Can you be found through LinkedIn or Facebook? Does your company have a website? How easy is it for someone to find you if they can remember your name, but not your company; or your company, but not your name?

For those of you who are diligent about maintaining your LinkedIn profile and website you are probably already reaping the benefits of your efforts.  But I know for a fact, there are many people and companies who still want to do business the same way the have always done it.

Does the construction industry lead the world in terms of companies without websites? I think it must. I was recently looking for a Las Vegas contractor to interview for an article I was working on. From a list of about 25 highway/heavy contractors, I was shocked to find that fewer than half had websites. This correlates with other research that shows that fewer than half of all small- and medium-size businesses have a website.

Now I had the names and phone numbers for the companies without websites. I could have easily called them for the article, but I didn’t. Why? Because I would much rather have some background information on your business before I make the first contact. How many others come to the same conclusion about working with your business?

While personal relationships are still the cornerstone of many business marketing efforts, companies must recognize that an online presence is a necessity in today’s world.  At a minimum, create a LinkedIn profile and periodically review who is looking at it.

So please pass this post along to someone who needs to hear it. Ninety million people can’t be wrong.