LinkedIn for Service Businesses: Beyond CV Updates

Personal profile beats company page

Nobody follows company pages. They follow people. As a service business owner, your personal LinkedIn will outperform your company page 10-to-1 for reach, engagement and inbound leads. Put the effort there.

Optimise the top of your profile

• Headline: what you do + who for + outcome (not job title)
• Banner: real image conveying what you do, not a stock quote
• About section: written like a person, first-person, 2-3 short paragraphs
• Featured section: your best posts + one call-to-action link
• Custom URL — linkedin.com/in/firstnamelastname

Post like a human, weekly

One good post a week beats five mediocre ones. The formats that work in 2026: personal stories with a lesson, contrarian opinions in your industry, breakdowns of client work (with permission), lists of mistakes you've made, behind-the-scenes of running the business.

Ignore anything that starts 'Excited to announce...' — LinkedIn's algorithm quietly hates it now.

The comment strategy

Reach on LinkedIn comes as much from commenting as posting. Spend 15 minutes a day leaving thoughtful comments on posts by potential clients, referral partners and industry peers. It compounds fast — you'll start showing up in their followers' feeds.

DMs without being creepy

The playbook: engage with their content genuinely for 2-3 weeks, then DM. Reference their post specifically. Ask a question. Don't pitch. Book a call once there's a real reason to.