How to Find New Clients via LinkedIn
Before you start seeking new clients on LinkedIn, your LinkedIn profile must be up-to-date and include detailed information on at least your last three job positions. Include what your responsibilities are and what you accomplished while you were there. Your profile is essentially your resume.  This is what a potential client will look before contacting you.  Be sure to point out areas in which you have expertise. Your LinkedIn headline must reflect what it is exactly you do. Include a word like “expert”, “specialist”, “senior”, “consultant” or “experienced” in your title. Your title will be the first impression you make.
Secondly, post links to your website and your portfolio. If you regularly update your blog, post a link to it too. An infrequently updated blog gives off a bad impression, so don’t link to it unless you’re posting at least every other week.
Once your profile is ready, connect to as many people as you can. This includes clients, vendors, friends, colleagues, past colleagues, family, etc.. If it’s not a close acquaintance, be sure to include a personal note stating who you are and how you know them. From now on, attempt to connect to everyone you meet. Building your network is extremely important. When a search is conducted on LinkedIn, contacts are often ranked by the number of connections they have. Plus, the larger your network the more often you will show up in searches. Get as many recommendations as you can (tip: recommend your connections first).
Those are the basics. The real key to finding new work on LinkedIn is participating in the network and increasing your visibility. The best way to do this is by asking and answering questions on LinkedIn Answers.
Answers are by far the most visible part of the LinkedIn community.  Answering a question helps someone out and establishes yourself as an expert in that field (it will show up in your profile too). Many questions are often along the lines of “Do you know someone who does…?” Be sure to state that you have experience in that area and you’d be happy to help (if you truly do have experience in that area). And if you answer enough questions in a particular category, you’ll be shown as an expert in that category.
Asking a question also increases your visibility.  If you need help with something business related, LinkedIn is a great place to ask. Keep your tone and grammar professional at all times.
It’s important that you be genuine with all your answers and questions. Make sure your answers are detailed and relevant. LinkedIn is just like networking in the offline world. It’s a great place to meet people and help them fix their problems. If you simply try to hand out business cards, it won’t do any good.
The second great way to pick up new clients is through a recommendation. Recommendations can come from a connection’s profile or from a connection answering a question. The easiest way to get recommended is by recommending others and remaining active in the network and in their lives.
If you’ve found any clients on LinkedIn and have any additional tips, please share!
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