Turning LinkedIn Visibility Into Business

By Richard Bliss for the Appraisal Institute

In my first piece for the Appraisal Institute, I made the case that your LinkedIn profile is your new first impression. In the second, I showed you how commenting three times a day makes you visible to the right people. The question I hear most often now: how does all this activity actually turn into business?

It already is. You just need to recognize how.

The Referral You Never Knew You Earned

Most appraisers get work through referrals. An attorney recommends you. A lender adds you to their panel. A colleague passes along a project outside their specialty. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is how those referrals start.

When you comment consistently on posts from attorneys, lenders, and estate planners, your name shows up in their feed week after week. They see your headline. They read your perspective on a valuation issue they care about. Over time, they start to associate your name with the kind of work they need done. Then when a client asks them, “Do you know a good appraiser?” your name comes to mind. Not because you asked for the referral, but because you were already familiar to them.

That’s how referrals work now. They don’t start with a phone call. They start with someone recognizing your name because they’ve been reading your comments for the past six weeks.

AI Is Now Your Matchmaker

LinkedIn’s search works differently than it did even a year ago. It no longer matches keywords. It uses artificial intelligence to read your profile and your activity to figure out what you actually do.

So when someone searches for “commercial appraiser for litigation support” or “residential valuation expert near Nashville,” LinkedIn’s AI decides whether you’re a credible match. It looks at your profile, sure. But it also looks at your comments, your conversations, and the topics you engage with. If you’ve been commenting on posts about valuation methodology, estate planning, or market trends, the algorithm recognizes that you know what you’re talking about in those areas.

Your commenting activity is teaching LinkedIn what you do. And LinkedIn uses that information to connect you with people who are searching for exactly what you offer.

The Find an Appraiser Connection

The Appraisal Institute’s Find an Appraiser directory does its job well. And think about what happens after someone finds you there. They search your name for additional context. And increasingly, AI search tools pull from multiple sources to build a picture of who you are professionally.

If your LinkedIn profile is strong and your activity shows consistent engagement in your area of expertise, that picture holds up. If your profile is thin and your last activity was three years ago, it raises questions. The directory gets people to your name. Your LinkedIn presence is what gets them to pick up the phone.

What To Watch For

You won’t get a notification that says “You earned a referral from LinkedIn.” It’s more subtle than that. Watch for new connection requests from people you haven’t met. Profile views from attorneys or lenders in your market. A phone call that opens with “I’ve seen your name around” or “someone mentioned you.” Those are the signals that your fifteen minutes a day is working.

Putting It All Together

Across these three articles, the approach has been straightforward. Your profile establishes credibility. Your comments create visibility. And that visibility becomes business when the right person needs what you do. None of it requires you to become a content creator or post every day. A clear profile, fifteen minutes of thoughtful commenting, and enough consistency to let people start recognizing your name.

You worked hard to earn your appraisal designations. Your LinkedIn presence should be working just as hard to earn you referrals.

Join Richard at the Appraisal Institute’s 2026 Annual Conference to learn more. Register today.  Richard Bliss is a LinkedIn strategist and the author of Digital-First Leadership. He will be presenting at the Appraisal Institute’s 2026 Annual Conference in Nashville on April 14. His sessions will provide practical, tactical strategies for building your brand and expanding your influence on LinkedIn.