A fully developed and properly designed LinkedIn profile is vital in order to get the attention of the right audience, particularly potential employers or business partners. There’s just one problem: Everybody seems to be looking for something different, and that makes it difficult to cover the bases.
The eight elements that I’m about to share with you will give your profile the kind of well-rounded quality that will attract the kinds of attention you need, regardless of whether you’re using LinkedIn to find a job, to do some B2B link building, or for professional networking.
1. Your Profile Picture
The first thing that people will see in your profile is your headshot. This is your first and best chance to make a great first impression. That’s why so many experts recommend that you use a professional photo for your profile. If that’s not in the cards for you right now, at least choose a photo that looks professional and showcases some aspect of your professional life.
2. Your Headline (or Tagline)
This ranks #2 on the list of most important elements, because once you’ve captured your audience’s attention with your picture, you need to tell them why they should look any further. Now here’s the best part: You need to accomplish this inside of 120 characters.
Contrary to what some may tell you, this is not the place to seed with keywords, especially if doing so makes the headline seem inorganic. If you can manage to slip in one or two, that’s great. It will definitely help, but do not go overboard. There’s a great article that I saw once that provides a number of examples of headlines that are winners on LinkedIn. As someone who provides custom writing services, I refer to it and recommend it to my copywriters.
3. Your Summary
Here is where you have the chance to expand a bit on what you say in your headline – 2000 characters, to be exact. If you’ve captured someone’s interest with your image and headline, chances are that person will at least skim your summary.
Statistically speaking, most people will read the first sentence of every paragraph or at least a few paragraphs to get an idea of whether they want to read the entire thing. Most won’t, which is why you have to strategize how you word your summary.
Another way to steer attention to the most relevant bits is through bullet points. Most people will read a header and bullets before they will a brick of text. That reminds me: Keep your paragraphs short. It’s more likely that someone’s eyes will fall on something relevant if they can view the text in small chunks.
Your summary should also include a concise call to action that not only gives your contact information but also encourages the reader to use it. “I can be reached via Skype at…” doesn’t have anywhere near the impact of, “Feel free to add me as a Skype contact at…”
4. Your Professional Experience
Here, you also have 2,000 characters in which to describe your professional experience. This is another area where bullets can make a big difference. Highlight your skillsets without a lot of fluff. It’s also a good idea to add any kind of collateral that verifies and reinforces the claims you make. These can be in the form of webpage addresses, presentations, and anything else that represents your talents and abilities.
5. Your Skills Endorsements
This is a great function that LinkedIn introduced in 2012 as a means for members to endorse other members using skill-based keywords. This is a great way for potential employers or partners to learn the kind of impact your work has had and within what other professional circles you move and interact.
The more endorsements you have for a variety of skills, the more interesting your profile becomes. People statistically spend a good bit of time reading your endorsements, so more is always better. That said, it is recommended that you adjust any endorsements that you feel might be inaccurate or those you don’t wish showcased in your profile.
6. Your Recommendations
These carry more weight than endorsements because, well, quite often people play the endorsement-for-an-endorsement game, and anyone looking at your profile knows it. The best way to authenticate your endorsements is to have recommendations that validate them. How do you get those recommendations? The easiest way is to simply ask for them, preferably from people who are legitimately familiar with your work.
7. Your Education Profile
I won’t get too far into this one, since it is pretty self-explanatory. All I suggest here is that it’s complete and accurate. If there is anything noteworthy about your education that you want to share, you have 1,000 characters dedicated to it, so use them well.
This is a vital part of the profile for job seekers, so if that describes you, pay special attention to it and make it look good. Also, from a networking standpoint, your education section can open doors for alumni association groups, which can actually work in your favor for networking purposes as well.
8. Published Works
Do you run a successful blog? Are you a successful e-book writer? Are you published through a well-known publishing house? Your contacts need to know. To many potential clients or partners, it’s a big deal to find someone with above-average communication skills.
9. Other Sections
Sections like groups and projects can be very helpful if you are looking to network with a specific group of professionals or within a specific industry or area of interest. Remember that while LinkedIn is a social platform, it is much different from Facebook, so your interests shouldn’t look like they’re all over the map. Stick with things that draw attention back to you primary message and objective.
In Summary…
Here is one of those aforementioned effective bullet lists that sums up everything to check for in an effective LinkedIn profile:
• A professional or professional-looking headshot
• A strong headline
• A well-planned and developed summary free of spelling and grammar errors
• A well-presented list of relevant experiences
• Relevant endorsements
• Relevant recommendations from peers, clients, and colleagues
• Group affiliations that reflect your objectives
• A complete education profile
• Highlight of relevant projects
• Any works published (including self-published books, articles, etc.)
If you feel like your profile could use a professional once-over, there is nothing wrong with running it by a copywriter or copywriting company for a good edit or rewrite, so definitely consider it if you feel like your profile could be better.