Guide for Fixing LinkedIn Profiles
You only have one first chance to make one first impression that lasts a lifetime.
Nowadays, your LinkedIn profile page is the first thing people check before contacting you or responding to your email. Have you ensured that it generates a trustful image of you?
Over the years, LinkedIn has become the main channel via which sales & hiring gets done. People use it to find the relevant leads, perform background checks and contact suitable prospects. However, most profiles I’ve been looking at are not complete or engaging, resulting in not the best first impressions.
The good news is that fixing any LinkedIn profile is quite a simple process — as long as you know what to focus on. Unfortunately, there are so many different guides to get you going, each only covering parts of the whole picture. That’s precisely why our clients at Springrise asked us to put together an easy step-by-step guide for fixing LinkedIn profiles.
I checked around 50 different profiles for this guide, looking for at least one example of a perfectly fixed profile. In the end, the only one I felt was all right was Gary Vaynerchuk’s. So the rest of the guide is using his profile as an example.
In total, the guide has 16 steps, starting with:
1. Choose the right profile picture
Make sure the picture is recent and looks like you, with around 60% of it being your face, wearing clothes you would regularly wear to work, and smile with your eyes!
- Be the only person in the picture;
- Avoid distracting backgrounds and the use of selfies;
- Also, don’t overdo with filters.
The ideal size for your LinkedIn profile picture is 400 x 400 pixels. Larger file sizes are also acceptable (although 8MB is the max), but try to avoid small, low-resolution images.
2. Add a background photo
Background photo should grab people’s attention, set the context and show a little more about what matters to you.
Find an image that expresses a message that supports your brand. You might use your company banner, something symbolic of your work or industry, or go for a scenic image.
This photo’s size is 1400 x 425 pixels and should be a .jpg, .gif or .png file.
Example of Gary Vaynerchuk’s profile picture and background photo.
3. Make your headline more than just a job title
Your headline should not be your current position without any context. Instead, it would be best to describe what you do and how you can help people visiting your profile.
- If you want, add a call-to-action or your contact info there as well.
- You can use the pipe symbol “|” to separate words within the headline.
An Example of a Before and After Tagline:
BEFORE: SVP, Stanford Capital Partners
AFTER: Financial Services SVP/COO | Investment Management | Client Services | M&A Integration | Increased Margins
4. List your current and other most relevant job and volunteering experiences
Your job and volunteering experiences list should only list the more relevant job experiences, not every position you’ve held since high school.
Ensure all positions accurately list your responsibilities and describe the company itself.
5. Turn your summary into your story
Your summary is your chance to tell your own story. Remove the clichés and instead make this section jam-packed, letting your personality shine through. Don’t just tell someone you are results-driven, demonstrate this fact by citing specific results in your profile.
Make sure you give your best first impression in the first 363 characters of your profile section. That’s the number of characters that appear on your page without someone having to click through to read more.
NB! Don’t use buzzwords in headlines and summaries. Some of the most over-used buzzwords include terms like ‘specialised’, ‘leadership’, ‘focused’, ‘strategic’, ‘experienced’, ‘passionate’, ‘expert’, ‘creative’, ‘innovative’ and ‘certified’.
Example of Gary Vaynerchuk’s about section.
6. Update Your Location
Make sure it’s showing the up-to-date location.
7. Add (or Update) Contact Information
List your email, phone number, website and other professional social media platforms.
8. List your relevant skills
You want your skills section to do two things: include keywords that make you more searchable and reinforce the story you’re telling of who you are and what you can do.
A long list of skills, like “Microsoft Word” & “Google Docs”, don’t accurately describe you and is detracting. So, do three things:
- Delete any meaningless skills;
- Add skills that are key for someone in your industry and role;
- Reorder the list, so your most important skills are on top.
9. Ask colleagues for endorsements, and endorse others
Endorsements from other members substantiate your skills and increase your credibility.
For starters, go through your network and identify connections whom you feel genuinely deserve an endorsement from you and endorse them. Next, reach out with a message asking for endorsement for a few critical skills as well.
A good goal is to have a minimum of one endorsement for every role you list.
Example of Gary Vaynerchuk’s skills & endorsements section.
10. Request recommendations
Recommendations are personal testimonials illustrating the experience of working with you.
There’s a handy drop-down menu in the Recommendations section of your profile that makes it easy to reach out to specific contacts and request recommendations. Take the time to think about whom you would most value a recommendation from — and personalise your request. It’s worth the extra effort.
Example of Gary Vaynerchuk’s recommendations section.
11. Spotlight the services you offer
Services is a new LinkedIn feature that helps consultants, freelancers, and smaller businesses showcase the range of services. Filling out the Services section of your profile can boost your visibility in search results.
12. Make Your Profile Public
Check your account settings, and make sure that your public profile’s visible in searches.
13. Create a Customized URL
A custom URL makes it so much easier to send people to your profile — and means you no longer have to worry they won’t find you.
14. Constantly grow your network
Try to get at least 500 connections for LinkedIn to show that you have 500+ connections. This works as social proof and makes people more interested in connecting with you.
- Sync your profile with your email address book;
- Get into the habit of following up on meetings and conversations with LinkedIn connection requests.
15. Constantly share relevant content in your feed
The marketing collateral that you produce for your business should be shared on your profile as well. Firstly, this helps to initiate algorithms that help spread the business message. In the meanwhile, sharing case studies, white papers, and other brand content helps show what the company you work for is all about.
At the same time, it is vital to share other types of content that you find genuinely interesting in your feed to show yourself as a more exciting person.
For best results, post any content at least once a week. And always leave a comment that shows why you think a particular piece of content matters.
16. Produce long-form thought-leadership with Publications
The Publications section is one of the most under-used elements in LinkedIn profiles. Share all articles written for your company, as well as other long-form content there.
If you need help with getting any of that done, let me know, and we can help you.
