Maybe you’ve decided to cold email your way to freedom.

But you’re stuck before you can even start, because you can’t seem to find good leads to reach out to.

Freelancing job boards are full of people just looking for a deal on a one-and-done project (though occasionally you might find a unicorn!), and you’ve started to doubt good clients even exist.

Don’t worry though, good clients – even dream clients – really do exist.

To find them, try looking in one of these nine, unexpected places to dig up some qualified leads.

1. Turn The Facebook Ads Algorithm Into A Personal Lead Generation Tool

A little known secret is that you don’t need to run Facebook Ads yourself in order to use them as a lead generation tool.

In order for this to work properly, you need to have shown some interest in some movers and shakers in the niche you’d like to freelance in.

However, once you do, Facebook will start to show you ads related to those interests.

For once, you’ll really want to pay attention to the ads in your newsfeed.

Because the folks running these ads are actively investing in their businesses and looking to grow. As Billy Bross writes for Teachable.com:

“Smart online marketers know that “hope marketing” is a lousy way to grow a business. What is hope marketing? It’s HOPING people visit your website. HOPING they then visit your sales page. Then HOPING they’ll buy. You can’t predictably scale a business relying on hope, which is why we have sales funnels (sometimes called a “marketing funnel”).”

Anyone running Facebook Ads for their business is a potential client who knows how to take action and control in their business, which are two crucial aspects for business success.

That means they are pre-qualified leads you can reach out to.

The more you interact with these ads, click through, “read more,” comment and like, and search for related content, the more Facebook will show them to you.

Basically, you’re turning the Facebook algorithm into a personal lead generation tool, to help you connect with the more than 5 million businesses running ads with Facebook.

For free.

Another bonus about this method is that there is usually a link to the prospect’s website on their business page (heads up: if there isn’t, they are likely working as an affiliate and not actively marketing their own business) and sometimes even a direct contact email.

That should help you find the right email to reach out to, or at least the name of the person you’re looking to connect with on your social media of choice.

2. Capitalize On Abundant Facebook Groups To Hunt Down Niche Prospects

There’s a group for everything on Facebook.

Including niche businesses and products.

Use this to your advantage by joining up and following groups for people you’d like to work with. If this means financial coaches, search Facebook for groups and pages dedicated to financial coaches, or even just ambitious coaches.

If this means artisanal soap producers, do the same.

Once you get into the groups or onto the pages, start interacting and sharing whatever value you have to share with the people you think might make great clients – consistently.

“The algorithm is smart. ONLY if and when you show consistency, will your posts be automatically shown to more members of the group. As a result, you want to be consistent and concentrate on 2-3 awesome Facebook groups (that are ideally filled with potential ideal clients/customers for you) at a time.”

Cornelia Pauline, Founder and CEO of Funnelgal, writes.

Answer questions, or even ask questions to get to know your prospects better, and keep providing content in the group that educates, entertains, inspires, and builds up your authority with its members.

(If you need ideas for what kind of content to create and share in these groups, check out Episode 7 of The No Pants Show podcast, 21 Ways To Attract Your Dream Client With Easy To Make Content.)

Often times you can find contact information and websites for the owner’s of the groups, who are usually great leads themselves.

This way, you start shaking hands with members at all stages in your niche, building your reputation, and growing your authority.

Just remember, as Ilean Harris reminds us in her article for Forbes:

“Pretend you are speaking to people in-person, offline. In real life, you would never put your link on a sticky note, stick it on a person and walk away. You would talk to them and add value before inviting them to work with you. Don’t forget your offline charm when you are online and this strategy will be fruitful for you.”

The more value you share and the more help you give, the more your demonstrations are likely to attract clients looking for your flavor of expertise.

3. Use LinkedIn To Tap Into A Powerful Network of Business-Minded Leads and Built-in Audience

LinkedIn is a gold mine not only for finding qualified leads, but for building relationships and authority with them as well.

First off, if you know who your ideal client is, you can simply search their title and narrow the results by “People” to get a long, long list of potential leads.

As you connect with each one, send a short introductory message, or even your typical cold email, to familiarize them with you, what you do, and why you’re reaching out.

When a lead accepts your request, not only will you have access to their contact information for follow ups, but they will also become part of your “micro-audience.”

This means that when you post something on LinkedIn, your connections become a a built in audience – no external traffic source needed.

“B2B marketers love LinkedIn — and for good reason. The platform drives 80 percent of B2B social media leads. Companies such as HubSpot use LinkedIn to republish blog posts, maximizing the number of people reading and sharing their teams’ ideas. LinkedIn provides a perfect venue for publishing insightful, shareable content that’s tailored to your network.”

John Hall, CEO of Influence & Co., writes for Forbes.

So post articles sharing value, ask questions, write daily email style updates and interact with your connections in the news feed.

The more you interact, and your connections return the favor, the more often your content will be moved to the top of their news feeds by the LinkedIn algorithm.

In this way, you warm up leads, build relationships, your reputation, and authority all in one place and in as little as fifteen minutes a day.

You can also direct your micro-audience and new connections to a lead magnet and add them to your personal email list, for more valuable opportunities in the long-term.

4. Try Smarter Google Searches To Track Down Leads With A Few Simple Tricks

For pure simplicity’s sake, Google is your friend.

Refine your results so you don’t get lost twenty or more pages deep by looking up the title of your ideal client as well as a particular city or area, and using these Google search cheat codes.

Doing this, you can often find leads that you would never come across another way.

They may not be active on social media or rank highly on search engines (something you may be able to help them with!).

You can also use Google to further your LinkedIn strategy by getting around some of the less savory aspects of LinkedIn, such as search limits without upgrading to Premium, and sifting through pages and pages of profiles looking for the right “Jane Doe.”

Try searching within LinkedIn using the prospect’s name, company, and title, like this:

To find the person you’re looking for at a specific company on LinkedIn.

This way, you can make more deliberate connections and get on the radars of bigger fish in your niche.

5. Channel Surf YouTube Using Niche Specific Questions to Find Pre-Qualified Leads

(Source: Unsplash.com)

Video marketing is here to stay, which means YouTube is becoming an ever greater resource for tracking down great clients.

“81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool — up from 63% over the last year.” – Biteable

Those investing time and/or money into maintaining a YouTube channel for content marketing purposes are also pre-qualifying themselves as the type of client who invests in their business.

Try searching for question and how-to type videos you believe the audience of your ideal client would be looking for.

Great clients will be the ones solving problems for their audience in video format and then plugging an opportunity or product to buy for further help at the end, much like great blog posts do.

This is also a great way to find prospects because you can get a sense of their personality, humor, communication methods, and principles based on the content they produce and their behavior in the video.

You won’t jive with everyone, so this is a great way to “screen” some leads and better qualify them for your outreach.

And lastly, the recommended videos section could easily point you to more prospects in your niche, making the dreaded YouTube rabbit hole a productive activity for the first time ever.

6. Use Podcasts To Find Forward Thinking Prospects

Podcasts are growing in marketing value and popularity alongside video marketing, so try tracking down podcasts in your niche to find new prospects demonstrating commitment and investment in their business.

“Podcasts have a unique way of making technology disappear. You simply listen to your device; there’s no tapping, swiping or clicking. In this way, podcasting reduces the friction and noise associated with traditional digital advertising, allowing brands to instill a connection with consumers (away from their screens).”

David Shadpour, co-founder and CEO of Social Native, writes for Forbes.

That means smart and savvy clients who like to be ahead of the curve can be found podcasting as part of their marketing strategy.

In fact, The No Pants Project has started sharing regular podcasts too – catch those here!

Mike Shreeve, Founder and Head Troublemaker of The No Pants Project, recently did an episode all about starting a podcast for your own business, where he says,

“You should present content in the way that best suits you. Do the format that’s natural for you. I have a face for radio. I don’t want to get dressed up and do another extra step.”

That means, like video, podcasts let you further qualify your lead by allowing you to gauge their personality, perspectives, and working style, and whether they actually line up with yours.

Another great thing about podcasters is that they demonstrate a value-first approach, like people who run YouTube channels or regularly updated blogs.

7. Try Out A Coworking Space For Some Old-Fashioned Offline Networking

A great way to find surprise clients is offline networking – going old school!

It may seem difficult to attend trade shows and conferences in your niche with no guarantee of success, especially if you’re an introvert, but there are plenty of ways to get around that overwhelm and still network offline.

For example, you can try a coworking space, where:

“You will usually find tons of other freelancers and business owners in coworking spaces. That gives you plenty of opportunity to connect, create synergies or collaborate.”

Denise, of DigitalNomadSoul, writes.

But the best way is to simply tell people what you do.

Whenever you meet someone new and they ask about you, tell them how you help people and why.

In fact, tell your family and friends too – you never know who they might know.

You’ll be surprised at how many local business owners there are, and how many of them can see the value of your services and are looking for your help.

They may not fall in your niche, but they are valuable opportunities to help your local community and sharpen your skills.

I once caught the interest of my local computer repair shop owner by simply explaining what I did when he asked, which is a prospect I would never have thought of or reached out to on my own.

8. Contribute to Industry Forums and Question Sites and Value-Bomb Your Way To The Top

Question forums such as Quora and niche specific forums are great alternatives to value-bomb your way to new clients if you’d prefer not to turn your personal Facebook profile into an aspect of your business.

Just like on Facebook or LinkedIn, the key is to give.

Give freely, give generously, and give without worry of whether or not you’re leaving yourself anything to charge for.

This will establish your reputation, build your authority, and add exposure to your business and yourself as a brand.

There are more than a few big names out there who got their start by incessantly answering questions on sites like Quora.

“According to Hanson Cheng, an American videographer who at one point got over 1 million views on Quora in under 45 days, questions found on Quora can prompt entrepreneurs to write responses showcasing what they know and/or care about in a clear-sighted way. ‘Quora seemed like a great way to flesh out my ideas to create content,’ Cheng told me in an interview. ‘It was my way of finding out what people were interested in learning about and whether any of my experiences could help them.’”

Jonathan Jeffery, growth manager for 24Slides, writes for Entrepreneur.

The key is to put the effort in to present and communicate like a professional, and really go above and beyond with your answers.

The best answers are usually formatted similar to a blog post and offer tremendous value to their readers.

9. Pin Your Way To More Creative Leads With Pinterest

For more creative and social niches, Pinterest can be a hugely valuable marketing channel, and you can find prospects there that you won’t find anywhere else.

While Pinterest isn’t as big as LinkedIn and Facebook, it is actually even more lucrative when used correctly because Pinterest users spend the most money of popular social media users.

To find great leads here, search for boards geared toward helping your ideal client’s audience solve a problem themselves and see who created it.

That’s your lead.

With 70 million users and 500,000 business accounts, a little digging should turn up a small fortune in great potential clients for you to reach out to.

9 Places and Strategies to Find Great Clients:

You don’t need to race to the bottom on freelance job boards.With a little elbow grease and personality, you can find your dream clients on your own terms.

Here are 9 places to look for seemingly mythical “great clients”:

1. Turn the Facebook Ads Algorithm Into A Personal Lead Generation Tool
2. Capitalize On Abundant Facebook Groups To Hunt Down Niche Prospects
3. Use LinkedIn To Tap Into A Powerful Network of Business-Minded Leads and Built-in Audience
4. Try Smarter Google Searches To Track Down Leads With A Few Simple Tricks
5. Channel Surf YouTube Using Niche Specific Questions to Find Pre-Qualified Leads
6. Use Podcasts To Find Forward Thinking Prospects
7. Try Out A Coworking Space For Some Old-Fashioned Offline Networking
8. Contribute to Industry Forums and Question Sites and Value-Bomb Your Way To The Top
9. Pin Your Way To More Creative Leads With Pinterest

The same things that make these great places to find ideal clients also make them great options for your own marketing strategies, when you reach that stage of your business.

If you have the time and money to invest, any one of these places can become a successful client-getting faucet strategy for you to use.

But if you’re just looking for some qualified prospects to reach out to, these places are gold mines for finding leads.

Now all you need to do is take a deep breath, move past the fear, and start talking to prospects. Remember that the secret to getting what you want in life is to persevere no matter what.

And if you’re ready to take your freelance business to the next level, join us in The No Pants Project today to find out how.

The post Where Are All the Good Clients? 9 Places to Look for Leprechaun Clients That Aren’t Under a Rainbow appeared first on The No Pants Project Blog.

LinkedIn!

A place to find great clients, right?

Yes, but that’s a blog for another day.

LinkedIn is also a place for great clients to find you.

Yes, you.

You’re valuable and your skills make you crazy desirable to the right client. You can solve their problems and make the world a better place.

But they’ve got to find you first, and a lackluster (or worse) run-of-the-mill LinkedIn profile won’t cut through the crowd. You’ll be bypassed, or simply not found in the first place.

Not cool. Or lucrative.

Is LinkedIn worth the effort?

LinkedIn can — along with your freelance website — be your 24/7, always looking their best, always know-what-to-say ambassador.

Get LinkedIn right and you won’t be stuck having to pitch clients to get good work. They’ll come to you.

(Disclaimer: This is going to take longer than five minutes. But if it means high-ticket clients are knocking on your door, it’s got to be worth it.)

1. Nail first impressions with a good LinkedIn profile picture

You need a good head shot, and it’s not just to strut your stuff. LinkedIn members who include profile photos get 21 times more profile views and up to 36 times more messages.

Profiles without faces are remote, detached and a little scary. LinkedIn is all about working relationships, and you can’t forge relationships without putting a face to a name.

It doesn’t have to be like something out of The Usual Suspects. Wear makeup, do your hair your way, use color. Get creative.

But don’t get cute.

Picture of your beloved Mr. Snuffles? Nope. Cartoon of yourself? Nah uh. Not even that caricature you show all your friends at dinner parties.

Take a photo with a plain background (or blur it out) and use that. It doesn’t need to be done by a professional, just so long as it’s crisp, clear and not boudoir or gimmicky. Get a friend or family member to take a few snaps and pick your best one.

This is a professional networking site, not Facebook.

You might think pictures aren’t important, but a grainy or inappropriate LinkedIn photo will play into how a potential client sees you, no matter how amazing the rest of your profile is.

Find something suitable and upload.

(Credit to pexels.com. No idea who this lady is – for now, she’s our Jane Doe.)

That’s the easy stuff. Everyone can do that bit.

Time to move onto the writing — buckle up.

2. Write a compelling headline, current position and summary

Click on the pen to the right of your profile box. This window will pop up:

You’ll notice the headline and current position are identical.

Keep these as is, and you’ll be missing out on crucial seduction opportunities.

Start with with the headline. That goes smack under your profile picture.

It’s got to:

• Say what you do

• Differentiate yourself from the competition

• Be memorable

… all at once. It’s tricky. But there’s a simple formula to nailing this:

• Don’t use the words “motivated,” “skilled” or “hard-working” (or anything similar), because they’re just noise. Everyone on the internet is motivated and skilled nowadays.

• Describe what you do and/or what problems you solve.

• If necessary, break it up.

Let’s say you’re a writer who dabbles in copywriting, digital marketing and strategy.

Don’t assume clients will know what a copywriter does — they may be hiring one because they have no clue about content. They may not know that copywriters actually handle content strategy, social media marketing and all manners of digital wizardry.

List all your skills and break them up with vertical bars or bullet points, like this:

If you’ve got a particular niche, add that in — it will automatically cut your potential prospect pool to your perfect clients. That’s not a bad thing — wasting time on ill-matched prospects is no fun.

Displaying your niche also demonstrates you’ve got specialist skills, which marks you up as quality material. If you don’t have one yet, don’t worry — but if you do, milk it.

Tips: Never put “looking for new opportunities.” It looks needy. You want your LinkedIn profile to attract clients who take you seriously, and acting desperate makes you look like inexperienced. You can tick that you’re open to gigs in your settings instead, which makes you searchable and professional.

Now to the summary.

A lot of LinkedIn summaries read like old-school CVs — Times New Roman, black and white, fill every bit of space and use every synonym for “motivated” kind of CV.

That won’t fly for most freelancers.

You probably already have a brand tone of voice. If you’re a marketer, you may be zippy. A front-end specialist may be a little more serious. Either way, whatever you’ve got on your website, social or other marketing channel — stick to it.

Our Jane Doe is a writer, so her summary has to be impeccable. Would you hire a writer who can’t write a LinkedIn summary?

Yeah, me neither.

Don’t be afraid to be approachable. Use normal human words. If clients are impressed and fascinated, they’ll reach out. If you’re too impassive, they’ll either be intimidated or just won’t rate you.

Your summary must have:

• A hook

• Your value proposition — who you work with, why you’re the best and how you’re different

• Some proof

• An easy point of contact

Remember: Summaries are collapsed at first, only displaying two lines. Make them snappy. “Hi there’s” work for a lot of people, but considering you’ve only got two lines to grab your dream client’s attention, it’s a good idea to use the precious space for something catchier.

Something like …

“Verbal virtuoso and creative coach with five years experience copywriting for SMBs, start-ups and innovators to make their dreams a rockstar reality (and die-hard foodie.) MY adventures in the writing and digital space include … ”

This reiterates in an eye-catching way what you do and adds an element of humanity — something unexpected to catch the attention of a busy client.

Then fill in the rest …

“My adventures in the writing and digital space include:

•  this blog post that got a million-thousand-hundred shares
•  this re-branding project that netted the client a billion prospects
•  this work got featured on Forbes/Entrepreneur/God’s wishlist
•  this blog ranks on the first page of search

I’ve worked with some pretty amazing people, including Company X, Y and Z. I’ve got loads of experience working with the C-suite (you are all superstars) and I’ve got a special love for taking a core concept and finding its voice, heart and selling power in a full content strategy.

If you want to work with me, contact me at jane@totallynotarealemail.com

Jane”

Don’t fret about how long your summary is. There’s no right or wrong length.

Some summaries go on forever — and if it’s full of good stuff, that’s great. List your achievements and display your results.

Some summaries are tiny — if there’s nothing to add, don’t waffle.

But now for some marketing, no matter what your industry is …

(Don’t worry, it’s easy.)

3. Draw prospects in with a quality opt-in

This section is your biggest opportunity to build a quality email list of pre-screened, quality potential clients — without you needing to do a single thing.

Adding eye-catching media to your summary is easy. Located below your summary, this box offers you a place to add external documents. Link up to your website — or your magnetic, lead-generating opt-in.

If you’ve got a quality opt-in to an eNewsletter, free checklist or a downloadable eBook (which you do, right?) LinkedIn could be your pedestal.

All the people looking at your LinkedIn profile want your knowledge, your skills and your insight.

Offering up a free opt-in shows them that you know your stuff and you’re willing to hand out free, valuable industry know-how because you’re just that brilliant.

4. Complete the rest of your LinkedIn profile

The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

To get a feel for the whole lot, look to the right of your screen and you’ll see this blue box. (Big black arrow — can’t miss it.)

Click on it and you’ll see everything you could possibly add to your profile. It’s split into three sections: background, skills and accomplishments.

They’re all pretty simple.

They’re also great places to drop more opt-ins and garner new leads.

If you’ve nailed your summary, your potential clients will be reading the rest of your profile. They’ll look over your experience, scour your skills and devour your testimonials and education.

They want to know you. And they want your content.

It’s best not to scatter links in everywhere. Be careful with them, like pixie dust, and they’ll do all the work for you.

5. Get more quality leads with tactical LinkedIn opt-ins

Your rockstar summary aside, the two top places to flaunt your opt-ins are the work experience fields and project fields.

Work Experience Opt-Ins

Head to your “experience” field and give it a click.

It currently looks like this. Blah.

Don’t panic.

Give it a click and get to filling in those form fields. It’s easy-peasy.

(If you’re not sure about dates, just click the “I currently work here” button to show it’s an evergreen piece of content.)

Stick to your format and don’t revert to plain CV style for this. It needs to be just as interesting as the rest of your profile.

Now, for the master stroke.

Remember the “add media” button you used in the summary?

You can use that to make serious magic happen.

Just do it again here!

Add your opt-in link, exchange emails for freebies and follow up with a great email sequence to turn prospects into high-paying clients in a snap.

(Well, it’ll take a week or two. Don’t want to overwhelm potential clients by spamming their inbox.)

Project opt-ins

Head down to accomplishments and open the dropdown tab.

Open the projects option.

First, name the offer.

You can be more creative here than in your summary and work experience — and you should be, because there’s no option to put media links here.

But projects tie experience in with expertise — it’s a double-win.

Treat the title like a sales pitch, like “10 Ways To Send Your B2B Website Conversions Skyrocketing,” or something equally valuable. “Free Insider Tips on XXX” or “How To Be A Conversion Machine.”

Add a call to action to get people to click, such as “Click Here To Get It” or “Click Here To Subscribe.”

Add your URL to the link field, and add the same kind of sales pitch you’ve used to get subscribers in the past to the description field.

It should look something like this:

And don’t forget …

This is a quality place to put an opt-in because the client has probably read your profile. They’re sold on you already — there’s an element of trust.

Once you’ve filled out your entire profile, you can move different elements around and reorder them — maybe your work history is pretty spectacular and you want that to be front and center.

Or maybe your niche is charities — you might want to put your volunteer history at the top.

Or if your opt-in is truly spectacular, you can put that at the top. You can have as many as you want, so long as they’re all valuable and targeted at your dream clients.

Just make sure the opt-in page the link takes clients to is optimized and easy to use, with a clear no-spam label and an easy download.

6. Publish articles on your LinkedIn profile

Opt-ins are gold.

But you need to stay on top of your game.

It doesn’t matter if you’re not a copywriter by trade. LinkedIn Publisher is the key to establishing serious industry authority.

Head back out to the main LinkedIn feed and click “write an article.”

It’ll take you to the writing page where you can add a headline, an article image and an article.

This can be a thought piece, an industry insight, a how-to or an in-depth guide — anything you can think of that would provide value to your potential clients.

Having a few published articles makes your profile look more complete and authoritative.

But LinkedIn Publisher can do more than that.

If you …

• Write a persuasive, specific, targeted headline

• Write an in-depth, non-plagiarised, targeted article

• Interact with the people that comment on it and like it

… you’ve got a good chance of attracting a high-value client. By providing great content in their niche, you’ve demonstrated your expertise and that you’re perfect for the role.

Think deeply about your perfect client and how you can flaunt your skills in their industry. Tackle a common problem and demonstrate insight.

This does mean writing a bit for free — but good clients will pay the time back.

You can also repurpose the post on your freelance website blog to draw in more readers, so the time isn’t really wasted.

Remember: Post consistently.

The posts don’t have to be thousands and thousands of words. But post regularly. Regular readers help grow your network, drawing a bigger and bigger audience to your material — and your profile.

If your post gets serious attention, it could be featured on LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform. Hello ginormous audience and even bigger pool of potential clients!

Next Steps

You should now have a solid handle on how to write a client-attracting LinkedIn profile.

But LinkedIn profiles are pretty big and they take time to perfect. There’s 13 potential sections to fill out, and don’t forget you’ll need to interact with your connections. LinkedIn is the best platform for meeting potential clients, but it’s also a relationship builder, and that takes time.

Nail your summary and bio, and fill out your profile according to the same writing rules. Interact with connections, recommend people and tie in your LinkedIn profile and your professional website. Don’t spam people with offers, and stay connected.

And don’t worry about making changes. Even the best marketers edit and tweak as time goes on. And every tweak gets you that much closer to nailing that next big dream client.

Want More Help?

If you think you need more help than just a new LinkedIn profile to build your freelancing business and start attracting new clients, come check out our 90-day program to building your freelance business from zero to full-time.

We call it The No Pants Project because you can do this all while wearing your pajamas and working from home (or traveling the world, whatever your preference)!

Come check it out.

The post How To Write A LinkedIn Profile That Attracts Better Clients appeared first on The No Pants Project Blog.

Imagine being able to fill your calendar with high-quality dream clients who can actually afford your freelancing services (no more bottom-of-the-barrel price shoppers on those freelancing sites).

It’d feel pretty amazing, right?

You might even catch a glimpse of what it’s like to be a kid who unearths buried treasure in his own backyard. Or maybe like Dougie Jones, who just can’t stop hittin’ tha jackpot…

Now, what if I told you that you could consistently pull in these top-tier clients month after month, all by leveraging a social media profile you most likely already have — but ignore?

And what if you could tap into this treasure trove without spending a dime on paid traffic?

Good news: You can, and I’m going to show you how — with LinkedIn.

There are some great ways to leverage paid traffic, but this strategy won’t cost you a dime. No paid ads. No complicated content marketing strategies. Most of what you’re about to discover requires simply bulking up your profile and spending 15-30 minutes on networking a day. That’s it.

So let’s get to it.

Why LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is easily the most powerful business-to-business networking channel on the Internet, but oddly enough very few freelancers take advantage of it.

The social media site is a watering hole for over 467 million people, many of whom are buyers, business owners and key decision makers interested in buying what you’re selling. Unlike Facebook, these people are gathering on LinkedIn to talk business, not watch funny cat videos and escape their business.

According to the LinkedIn Sales Blog, LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation than Facebook or Twitter.

Furthermore, LinkedIn is the No. 1 platform for distributing B2B marketing content, and 7 out of 10 professionals say they consider LinkedIn to be a trustworthy source of professional content.

And get this: LinkedIn users earn the highest average household income out of all the major social networks, which means it’s the best place to find clients who can afford you.

Bottom line: If you’re not leveraging LinkedIn to get free traffic and find your dream clients, you’re leaving money on the table.

With that in mind, let’s explore 10 uber-practical ways to get those high-paying clients on LinkedIn, starting today.

1. Take a great headshot

This might seem like a no-brainer, but did you know that according to DMR’s latest LinkedIn statistics, profiles with professional headshots get 14x more views?

Forego the selfies and avoid a stuffy, staged photo with a fake smile.

Instead, have a friend make you laugh and snap your picture. A natural, approachable look will show your personality and draw in your dream clients.

There are tons of great resources out there outlining best practices for ensuring your profile is complete with a professional photo that makes a stellar first impression.  

2. Craft an attention-grabbing headline

Advertising legend David Ogilvy once said “when you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”

In other words, when optimizing your LinkedIn profile for leads, you should be spending 80% of your time on the headline.

This little space at the top of your profile is prime real estate when it comes to attracting the right clients. Along with your image, it’s their first impression of you, and the last thing you want to do is underwhelm with your job title.

Instead, grab readers by the throat and suck them into your profile with a benefit-driven headline.

For example, take a peek at these two profile headlines:

Mario

Head Plumber at Mario Brothers

Yoshi

Helping Positive Business Owners Quickly and Safely Get Where They’re Going |

Loyal Friend | Transport Service

Now, which one got your attention and why?

Most likely, it was the second one, which speaks directly to Yoshi’s dream client and succinctly tells that person how he can solve their problems.

The best LinkedIn headlines stand out from the crowd because they’re unique and focus on the “what’s in it for me” benefits your dream clients are looking for.

You can do the same thing by focusing on all the awesome stuff you do for your dream clients and turning that into your headline.

Here are some questions to get you thinking:

• How do you help people?

• • How do you do this better than anyone else?

• • What do you do specifically that makes your clients love you

• What can you say — in as few words as possible — that would make a prospect remember you?

Don’t be afraid to tie in your personality or be funny like Michael Bense:

More importantly, tie in keywords that your dream client will be searching for (i.e. copywriter, digital marketer, graphic designer, editor, etc.).

Aren’t sure who your “dream client” is or how to talk to them in a way that inspires action? Check out Mike’s Anti-Commodity Formula and discover how to attract your ideal clients, charge more than competitors, and build a freelance business you LOVE!

3. Optimize your summary

If your headline is the “hook” that reels in your prospects, your summary is the story that gives more detail and keeps them interested. If done right, this is the part of your profile that can lead to qualified leads contacting you for help.

As marketer, blogger and business growth expert Neil Patel says, “If someone’s reading your summary, they’re interested in seeing what you have to offer.” That means you’d better be laying out all the benefits you have to offer your dream client in this section.

When writing your summary, leave the stuffy jargon at the door and pretend you’re speaking directly to your dream client. Be authentic and straightforward, and use the first person (I) to make a more personal connection. Keep in mind that your summary is a mini sales page that’s going to be working hard on your behalf to show prospects why you’re the obvious choice.

Remember: After a few lines, LinkedIn will automatically cut you off with a “see more” option, so be sure to squeeze as much juice out of those first couple lines as you can. Lead with your value proposition or ask a question that targets the pain points of your dream client.

Here’s an example of an optimized summary featured on the Linkedin Talent Blog:

In this example, Marvin includes several of the 6 key things to include in your summary to make the most of it:

• Clearly communicate your value proposition: Explain who you help, what the benefits are, and how you perform your freelancing service uniquely well.

• Tell them WHY: People buy why you do what you do, not just what you do. Consider sharing your story or including the driving beliefs behind your career choice to create an emotional bond with your dream client. Learn how to do this effectively, and people will pay you MORE just because they feel emotionally connected to you on a subconscious level.

• Use white space. Don’t bombard readers with a wall of text. Remember, this is a sales page, so keep your  paragraphs short and to the point so your summary is easily scannable.

• • Add personal interests. Talking about your pets or favorite hobbies can boost your likeability factor. Just make sure that this doesn’t detract from your overall message.

• • Use keywords: When potential clients are searching for you on Linkedin, it’s important to feature the keywords they’ll be searching in your summary. You can do this by adding your key skills as a bulleted list of specialties.

• Focus on the “what’s in it for me”: People don’t really want to hear how “self-motivated,” “driven,” “experienced,” and “trustworthy” you are. What they really want to know is how you are going to solve their problems. Show prospects that you understand their needs and are adept at meeting these needs by shifting the focus of your summary from being about yourself to being about your dream client’s desired outcome.

An easy way to do this is to add a “so that” statement in the first couple lines of your summary. For example: “I help online coaches and course creators build simple, high-converting funnels so that they can stop spinning their wheels and start living the ultimate online freedom lifestyle!”

See how much more powerful that sounds compared to “I’m a copywriter and consultant who builds sales funnels”?

Follow this template if you get stuck: “I help [who you help] [what you help them do] so that they can [get desired end result].”

Now, continue on to No. 4 to discover exactly how to turn readers who check out your summary into real, qualified leads …

4. Call prospects to action

This is so important that it gets its own number on the list, even though it’s actually part of your Linkedin profile summary.

You can’t just tell a great story in your summary to get the prospect hooked and then stop. Remember, it’s a sales page, and every sales page worth anything has one thing in common:

A call to action!

Your prospect can’t read your mind. You need to tell them exactly what you want them to do next at the end of your summary. This can be as simple as connecting with you on LinkedIn or sending you an email.

Or, if you really want to go the extra mile, give away free stuff.

LinkedIn is about building relationships with clients, not just blasting them with your service offers. The more you give to someone, the more likely they are to reciprocate the action and give back to you by working with you. So consider ways to provide value to your prospects upfront before asking them for anything in return.

For example, you could create a piece of content such as a checklist, template, case study, video training, etc., and then include a call to action for them to download that free piece of content from your summary. Once the prospect hits your opt-in page, ask for their email in exchange for your freebie. Then all you have to do is follow up with trust-building emails to turn those LinkedIn leads into paying clients.

Whatever you do, don’t forget your call to action in the summary!

PRO TIP:

Create a custom call to action link. LinkedIn allows you to insert links into your summary as well as under your work experience. Instead of simply uploading a link to your website, add a link to your blog, vlog or free offer.

Once you add the link, you can edit the title and description to say something like “Download My FREE Email Template” or “Get Free Marketing Training” — whatever is relevant to your client and more likely to grab their attention.

5. Use video

I’ve looked at a LOT of freelancer profiles in the last week. And let me tell you, the vast majority suck. They’re boring, lack detail and blend in with one another.

The good news for you is this: It won’t take much to stand out from the sea of freelancers with a fully optimized profile.

I know at least 90% of the freelancers I saw on LinkedIn aren’t actually as boring as they made themselves out to be. We’re all creative in some form or fashion — otherwise we’d be working for “the man” for the rest of our existence.

It’s time you pour some of that creative sauce all over your profile for clients to see, starting with adding video.

According to a recent article on Social Media Examiner, video on LinkedIn can help you:

• Establish your credibility and expertise
• Showcase your services/products in a unique way that helps you stand out from your competitors
• Engage your target audience more effectively

You can easily add video directly to the top of your profile by editing your intro. There’s an option at the bottom of the editing screen to upload media, such as a YouTube video set to autoplay.

This way, as soon as someone hits your page, they get sucked in to your personality. This could be a video welcoming your dream clients to your profile, or it could be about what you do and about it is unique. Just be sure to keep it short (around 2 minutes or less) and focused on the benefits for your dream client, not just you.

You can also upload video content as a personal update or to LinkedIn Publisher to create a compelling and unique content strategy.

Lastly, being on screen isn’t for everyone. If you’re not comfortable on camera, start asking for video testimonials from clients and upload one or two of these onto your profile to stand out.

6. Show off your best work

You create stuff for people for a living. Treat your LinkedIn profile as your virtual portfolio and link to your best stuff.

This isn’t the time to be humble. Be proud of your work!

Here are a few ideas of what you can showcase:

• Add an over-the-shoulder video of what you do for clients
• Link to a powerful case study that shows real results you’ve achieved
• Upload writing samples
• Link to a presentation you’re particularly proud of
• Add a link to a website you’ve designed
• Show screenshots of a sales funnel you’ve built

The easiest way to add these portfolio pieces to your profile is to go to the “Experience” section of your profile. You can edit any of your work experience sections to link to documents, photos, websites, videos, presentations and more to show off your best work.

7. Drop value in LinkedIn groups

Facebook groups are all the rage these days, but did you know LinkedIn groups can be a goldmine of your dream clients?

By joining relevant groups in your industry, you can start to build relationships with prospects who are looking for help in your area of expertise.

As an added bonus, according to this infographic by Link Humans, your profile is 5 times more likely to get viewed if you join and participate in groups. And if you’ve optimized your profile like we’ve already covered, you should be getting warm leads from these groups.

How to use LinkedIn groups the RIGHT way:

It can be tempting to just go into a few groups and tell people who you are, what you do, and drop a link to your email or website. But if you go this route, I can guarantee you won’t get the desired results.

Instead, do this:

• Ask yourself: “How can I be of service to the people in this group right now?”

What questions do you see popping up over and over again that you can answer? What problems do the members of your group have that you could write a post to address? How can you motivate and inspire them to keep going?

Remember: LinkedIn is a relationship-building platform. Serve the people in your groups well and start building relationships.

• Be patient. Building a relationship of trust doesn’t happen overnight. Keep adding value as often as you can. Spend 15 minutes a day in groups answering questions and dropping knowledge bombs, and it’ll pay off.

Can’t find a group relevant to your niche?

Start one and invite people to join! This can be one of the best ways to position yourself as an expert on LinkedIn.

8. Connect with everyone

Instead of building a tiny, trusted network on LinkedIn, get out there and connect with everyone.

The more people you connect with on LinkedIn:

• The bigger your network gets and the easier it is for prospects to find and contact you
• The more traffic you can drive to your site
• The more leads you will generate
• The more opportunities will come into your freelance business (which means more recurring income!)
• The more influence and thought leadership you will create

One way to get a head start is by importing your existing customer database or email contacts. You should also add your LinkedIn link to your email signature, social media sites, website, etc. to get more inbound invitations to connect.

When you start adding new connections outside of the “people you may know,” you can search for people with the job title of your dream client.

Just be sure to personalize your request to connect. Check out their profile, stroke their ego and give them a reason to connect with you. This will make them much more likely to accept your request, and it’ll make you stick in their mind.

9. Thank new connections

Don’t just add new connections, follow up with them!

For the most part, we humans love interaction with other humans. Don’t randomly add people without taking a moment to create that personal connection. It’s not just the polite thing to do, it’s how you get more leads and clients.

So, after someone accepts your request to connect via LinkedIn, have a canned response ready that you simply customize, copy, paste and send.

Keep this first contact message short, sweet and value-based. Here’s a few tips for crafting your follow-up message:

• Thank the other person for accepting your request.
• Tell them why you’re interested in connecting with them (NOT to turn them into a client, but because you found their profile interesting and enjoy helping people in their space solve a problem).
• Give them a next step such as meeting for coffee, a free 15-minute call, checking out your latest vlog post, etc. (Make sure this is a small ask, could be as small as asking an open-ended question about what they love about whatever they mention in their profile).
• Follow up with another message or two so that you can ascend that new contact into a potential lead by directing them to your free offers.

LinkedIn expert Mirna Bacun (who used LinkedIn to generate nearly $50k in recurring revenue with zero ad spend) actually uses LinkedIn messages as a sales funnel by sending a series of messages that direct people to her content and freebies.

Bottom line: Be strategic with what you do with your new connections so they don’t turn into a pile of old business cards you never do anything with. Social media makes it easier than ever to connect with your dream clients, so use it wisely.

10. Post valuable content consistently

The more you grow your network through LinkedIn, the more eyeballs you can get on your content, which means you can set yourself up as a niche expert and thought leader in your industry.

Don’t forget: 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute their content, and 7 out of 10 professionals view LinkedIn as a reliable source of professional content.

When you post high-quality, valuable content regularly, it keeps you in front of your connections, making them more likely to remember you when they have a problem you can solve. Plus, they can share your content to expose you to an even wider audience with more opportunities.

Who knows, with the right traffic and engagement, your post could even get featured in LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform, which would exponentially increase your reach and boost your credibility.

Furthermore, posting great content consistently provides more value to any connections who view your profile, and building a long-term, profitable relationship starts with giving others value upfront before you ask for anything in return. Your content itself will also qualify any potential leads by showing people what you’re all about.

To effectively convert anyone who views your content into a lead and eventual client, be sure to include a call to action to download your free guide, checklist, template or other offer so prospects know exactly what to do next to keep getting more value from you.

So, whether you want to publish relevant blog articles or infographics, repurpose your weekly vlog, or share others’ top-notch content, posting consistently on LinkedIn will help you become a well-known expert and authority who your dream clients will flock to.

The Golden Key to Getting High-Paying Clients on LinkedIn

The key to getting high-paying clients on LinkedIn is this:

LinkedIn is about relationships, not sales.

As Josh Turner, founder of Gateway CFO Solutions and Linked University said:

“The biggest mistake you can make is trying to sell somebody. People don’t want to be sold to on LinkedIn. The right way to convert within a LinkedIn campaign is to position yourself as a trusted, expert resource. Provide content that truly helps your prospects, without asking for anything in return, and do it consistently. When the time is right, you’ll be the one they think of.”

People on LinkedIn might have a more business-oriented mindset compared to those on Facebook, but that doesn’t mean they want you bombarding them with offers.

Instead, use the 10 tips in this guide to set yourself up as an expert and build relationships with the kinds of clients who will be happy to pay you what you deserve for years to come.

To learn more awesome tips like these and get step-by-step help building the freelancing business of your dreams, come check out The No Pants Project.

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