I recently did a private consultation session with a fellow speaker, and we went through some important LinkedIn makeover points. I wanted to share some of these changes we discussed that we all could benefit from.
1. Photos- There are two important photo sections: your profile picture and background image. Ideally, your profile picture will be a professional headshot, but no matter what, make sure it’s current and relevant. For your background photo, use this to visually explain what you do– either with a picture of you doing your thing, or a professionally designed graphic incorporating some text about what you offer.
2. Name and tagline- clearly state who you are and what you do. Your tagline section should describe what you do in an easy to understand way. Think about it from an SEO perspective- if you were to type into Google a few keywords about what you do, that’s what you should be putting as your tagline. It’s important to do this because Linkedin is a search engine, and people can find your profile with these words.
3. Professional summary- this the first opportunity people have to read about you. The biggest mistake I see people make is they make this a bio instead of a professional summary – only do this if you are looking for a job! Make it a benefit-rich summary about how you help others. And use bullets over paragraphs!
4. Experience- I’ve used this section to highlight brands that I’ve worked with or consulted with or spoke for. It will often be more relevant to use this real estate on your profile to feature these client relationships, rather than listing jobs I had 20 years ago.
5. Recommendations- It probably goes without saying, but recommendations and testimonials are IMPORTANT. We want these LinkedIn recommendations to be current, meaning within the last 2-3 years. And we want them to be from buyers, not colleagues or friends.
Let’s make sure we are building (not losing) credibility when people visit our profile!
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