Fractional Resources

I see this question often from new fractionals - this one came up in a Slack thread recently:

“Should I approach potential clients on LinkedIn or build a personal website with my skills and experience?”

Hold up. These are two entirely different things.

“Approaching potentials on LinkedIn” is about cold outreach for client acquisition.

“A business website” (not personal! you’re a business!) is something you build to represent you. It’s not a client acquisition strategy. But it could be part of one.

Let’s untangle this.

Business Website vs LinkedIn Profile

Using your LinkedIn profile as an alternative to having a website for your business? That’s fine. But it also suggests you aren’t in this for the long haul.

A “business card” business website is just fine to start - and this isn’t something you need to pay to build or operate. Substack, Carrd, Webflow, Wix, Dorik are all easy options. Having a website isn’t going to distract a buyer, btw.

When you start figuring out your marketing strategies (hey, you’re building a business - yes, you are now CMO), using your website as the base of content and marketing operations is very useful. You may use other platforms, but having your own platform (and mailing list) gives you control and ownership. And eventually SEO can happen.

Most Fractional LinkedIn Profiles Need Work

I looked at a fractional CTO’s profile recently and saw the same problems I see everywhere: word salad. Nothing clear that says “I solve for .”

As a buyer, they should be able to see themselves in your offering - how you align to them. But most profiles don’t even show the offering.

This person’s description suggested the most important thing they brought was working for a big tech company. Ten years ago.

Here’s what works better: “I’m a Fractional CTO who helps [specific audience] solve [specific, expensive problem] so they can [valuable outcome].”

Then prove it with:

• 1–2 client-type examples
• 1–2 results or things you’ve made go away
• Who this is actually for (Series A startups? US companies needing offshore dev teams?)

About Cold Outreach

Pure cold outreach is generally very, very, very low return effort. A 1% response rate is considered a successful campaign (and those won’t all convert).

A content publishing strategy, answer bombing, using your network, attending your-focused-niche industry events - these tend to be better at finding leads.

The Real Question

All of this is reinforcement - not really discovery. Until you’re doing something to drive clients to you, your website and LinkedIn are just one of a million sitting there saying “I’m a fractional CTO. I hope you know what I do.”

So the goal is when they land, they see enough to understand you can help them.

Then you have to go find them.

What are you doing to find leads?

Need help getting clear on your fractional positioning and lead generation strategy? Book a discovery call and let’s talk through what’s actually working.