Over the past decade, I have earned at least $100K, probably more, from clients who found me on LinkedIn. Yes, I am serious. 

Behind referrals (from both writers and clients), one of my best sources of leads is cold LinkedIn messages. Sure, not all of the gigs end up being a fit. But I get 8 to 12 inquiries most months and even if only one turns into a fabulous client, that’s a huge win. 

The benefits of finding new clients that reach out to you are huge. You know they are looking and you don’t have to spend time marketing. The downside is that you have to qualify them to make sure that they are reputable and pay professional rates.  

I don’t do anything fancy on LinkedIn. I don’t look for contacts. I don’t belong to groups. But I do keep my profile updated regularly to help potential clients find me. I also take a few small steps that I think make a very big difference in helping great clients find me. 

Clients head to LinkedIn when they need a writer and then they use the search feature. When updating your profile to increase leads, you want to improve your profile so that it shows up in searches for clients likely to hire you. Once a client clicks on your profile, you want them to get the information they need so that the clients who are a match for you will then reach out to you to start a conversation. 

Here are 5 things to do:

1. Put your main niche in your LinkedIn headline. Stop reading this post and go to your LinkedIn profile and add in your niche. I have heard from many writers who tell me that following this one piece of my advice increased the number of clients reaching out to them on LinkedIn. The reason is that the LinkedIn search algorithm uses your headline to match keywords. If a client searches for ‘cybersecurity content writer’ and you have that in your headline, your profile will show up higher in the search results than mine, which only has cybersecurity in the About section. 

I recommend putting the broadest niche that someone would search for. For example, I use ‘technology,’ but if I only wrote about cybersecurity then I would make my headline Cybersecurity Content Writer. I also suggest including the word Freelance to increase your chances of being seen by the right clients. And if you do two niches, then it’s totally fine to put both in the title, but I wouldn’t do more than two. Yes, there are some situations where this doesn’t work based on niches or journalism clients, but in most cases, this is step is a must-do for content marketing writers. And if you aren’t sure what to call yourself beyond the niche, check out this post. 

2. Add in all niches and subniches in your About section. When you put your niches in your About section, you will show up in searches where the potential client uses those as keywords instead of the broader title like health or technology. I recommend putting as many as you think that someone could search for when looking for a writer. Here’s what that looks like in my About section:

3. Proactively get LinkedIn Recommendations. Another great way to get clients to reach out is to have many amazing recommendations over the years from past clients. I have had so many people tell me that they reached out because of my recommendations. However, people don’t just write them. You have to ask. Every time you finish a project and a client gives you a compliment, take a moment to ask for a recommendation. Check out this post to find out how. 

4. Include your past clients in your About section. Once you show up in a search, the quickest way to prove to a potential client that you don’t suck is through your past clients. On my LinkedIn profile, I put that have worked for IBM for the past six years on five different projects and also work for Microsoft, Facebook, Google, AT&T, HPE, Adobe, and Verizon. With very few words, potential clients know that I am a good writer, know tech, and am in demand by top companies. It’s the best proof I can give a client. I personally think that by adding impressive top clients, you increase the odds of a client clicking on your profile and reaching out.  

5. Check to see who has viewed your profile. OK, so this is technically not about getting more cold outreach messages, since you do have to reach out to the client. But in this case, the client finds you on LinkedIn first. You just send the message. This strategy has landed me a ton of great clients over the year, including a Fortune 500 company. Check out this blog post to see exactly how to do this. The trick is to check your views every few days. It doesn’t always work but if you do it consistently, you will almost definitely land a great client. 

When your LinkedIn profile shows up in searches for the right clients and encourages those same clients to reach out, then you are actually marketing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by making it easy for clients to find you. It’s easy to think LinkedIn requires a lot of time and effort. But you can make a big difference in your income with a few simple changes.

What tweaks have you found to help increase your LinkedIn cold inquires?