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LinkedIn can be a very powerful tool for discovering new insurance customers and making important industry connections. It’s particularly effective if you sell commercial lines. Most people who use it, however, don’t get as much out of it as they could. Here are a few ways to make sure your LinkedIn profile is as effective as it can be.

Always use a picture. Be sure you’re using a good, well-lit picture that’s professional, approachable, and friendly. You’ll get about fourteen times more views with a picture than without one. It’s worth it to hire a professional photographer to make sure your pics look as good as they can. Your picture on LinkedIn is your customer’s first impression of you, and you want it to look as good as possible. Stay away from quirky or casual pictures of you; stick to professional and friendly. Avoid using selfies, your company logo in place of your face, or casual pics of you on vacation or hanging out with friends.

Fill everything out completely. Be sure there are no gaps in your profile. LinkedIn qualifies completed profiles with “All-Star” status, allowing you to share your profile on Twitter and Facebook. In addition, completed profiles show up as top-ranking in LinkedIn search results, which can make a huge difference in whether your ideal prospects are finding you. Be sure you include your industry and location, current and at least two past positions, education information, and at least three skills. You’ll also need at least 50 connections to achieve full completeness.

Claim a vanity URL. The default URL you get on LinkedIn involves a bunch of random numbers. Ditch the default and change the URL to your first and last name. This will make your profile much more SEO-friendly and make it much easier for prospects to find you.

Get recommendations from current customers. Recommendations do a good deal to add to your credibility. LinkedIn used to require profiles to have at least three recommendations to be considered complete; this is no longer the case, but they are still highly useful for sales purposes. Writing recommendations for other people in your network is a great way to nudge them to write one for you.

Get endorsements for skills. Add skills to your profile, and people in your network can click to recognize you as having that skill. Having an endorsed skill on your profile means your profile is searchable for that skill. The more people endorse you for that skill, the more likely you’ll show up in search results for it.

Give some thought to your headline. After your pic, the headline is usually the first thing people notice on your profile. Instead of “Insurance Producer at XYZ Company,” use keywords that indicate the kind of insurance your prospects are looking to buy, and the area and industry you primarily serve. This headline will be used as the title of your most current job, and will show up often on LinkedIn—so it’s important to be sure it sells you the right way.

Join the right groups. Joining insurance industry groups can be useful, but it’s even better to join groups where your prospects hang out. Look out for groups that appeal to the decision-makers you sell to. Participate in those groups as much as you have time for; answer insurance-related questions and post articles that can help answer those questions in more depth. This is a great way to both connect directly with prospects and keep an eye on the questions, problems, and pain points these decision-makers face, which will help your sales and marketing.

Be careful when building your network. Once your profile is ready, connect with others. Always personalize the request; tell them how you met or how you know each other. If you don’t know a person well, it’s vitally important to do this. Bear in mind that if someone marks you as someone they don’t know after you invite them to join your network, you will be temporarily blocked from extending new invitations to people you don’t already have an email address for.

Some insurance professionals spend a lot of time on LinkedIn; others use it sporadically. You don’t necessarily have to use it a lot to get a lot out of it, especially if you optimize your profile well, although participation in groups where your prospects congregate can be very useful. Get your profile in shape, and you’ll likely see more leads come in through the website—and get more value out of LinkedIn.