What's a LinkedIn Public Profile URL?

Every LinkedIn member has a Public Profile URL which can be personalised as per the example below:

When you first create your LinkedIn profile, your Public Profile URL will read something like this: http://au.linkedin.com/pub/karen-moloney/16/b16/225

If you go into the tab to Edit your Profile you will be able to change this to something more personal and I would suggest it's your name. After all, your LinkedIn profile is all about you!

If your name is already taken, you may like to use a middle name or initial, or one of the suggestions that LinkedIn gives you. The important thing is that your first name and surname both appear in the URL.

Why would I personalise my Public Profile URL?

Google and LinkedIn are great mates, so if someone searches on your name in Google your LinkedIn profile is likely to appear near the top of the list of search results displayed – try it with my name, Karen Moloney.

How else can my Public Profile URL help me?

There are several ways you can actively direct traffic to your LinkedIn profile which, if it is complete and up to date, can be a much better marketing tool for you than even your company website. People do business with people and people want information about people. So why not direct them to a place where they can get all the information they need about you?

Here's five ways you can easily drive traffic to your LinkedIn profile and really make it work for you:

1. Email signature
Everyone includes contact details like email address and phone number on their email signature, but what if you leave that company or change your contact details? Your LinkedIn Public Profile URL will remain the same wherever you are working and whatever your contact details are, so isn't that a much better piece of information to share?

2. Business card
How many times have you accepted a business card at a conference or networking event, then got back to the office and thought "I can't remember who that was"?! Even for those with great memories, sometimes at events you don't get long to chat with people so wouldn't it be nice to have a way you can find out more about them and even see a photo to remind yourself who they were? You may also find that if you dig out a business card for someone you'd like to contact six months after you met them, they may have moved on from that organisation. But if they have included their LinkedIn Public Profile URL on their card you will still be able to make contact.

3. About Us page on website
Maintaining information on your website can be a time-consuming and sometimes costly job if you are engaging a third party to administer your content. When talking about yourself and other members of your team on your website, why not give a brief intro to each person and include their LinkedIn Public Profile URL so that visitors can get more detailed information on their experience and skills? As long as each person keeps their LinkedIn details up to date, this can be a great way for potential clients and business partners to get to know you and your team. See an example on one of my websites http://www.theelearningexperts.com.au/about-us

4. Articles
If part of your business marketing includes writing articles such as this one, why not include your LinkedIn Public Profile URL with your signoff or bio instead of a website URL? I'll say it again – people do business with people, so make it easy for them to find out more about you.

5. Social media
Social media networks are a great place to cross promote yourself and using your LinkedIn Public Profile URL is a great way to do that. For example, when you create a Twitter profile you have one field to enter a website URL. You can either use this for your business website, or you can enter your LinkedIn Public Profile URL. This will drive traffic to your profile where people can find out more about you or check out the links to your company website, your blog and any other website you have displayed on your profile.

Author: Karen Moloney
http://au.linkedin.com/in/karenmoloney