Most professionals are now on LinkedIn - but the majority simply have it as somewhere to hold a watered down version of their CV. So they just have the same information here as they do on their profile page on their company's website. LinkedIn is a place where everyone is telling the world that they are an expert in what they do, but if everyone is doing that then how do you pick who to do business with? How do you decide who is the best lawyer, accountant or consultant to hire, who is the best head hunter to use to hire your next senior appointment?

Before making a B2B purchasing decision, 77% of us search the individuals we will be working with on Google. This means, that if someone is looking to hire a consultant and they have a shortlist of, say 3, who will they pick based on everyone saying the same thing, i.e. "I am an expert in this area of consulting"? This is where demonstrating expertise becomes so important. If you can write ongoing insights and commentary in the market you work in, demonstrating your expertise and knowledge of that topic, then when people search you against your competitors they will see that not only do you say you are an expert but they can also see you demonstrating your expertise. And that is a lot more powerful.

If you start demonstrating your expertise on a regular basis then you will start climbing the Google rankings - there is nothing Google loves more for SEO these days than fresh relevant content being updated on your website on a regular basis. You can also start sharing your insights and commentary to LinkedIn AND LinkedIn groups and all of a sudden your LinkedIn page becomes so much more than a watered down CV. You can start to be seen as a true expert in the niche that you work in and your competitors are probably not doing that.