Why Your LinkedIn Profile is Rubbish and how to fix it quickly.
I’ve not really written much about LinkedIn on Traffic and Copy, but I have been on podcasts as an expert,having built a pretty decent network there and been paid to fix other people’s.
That’s right fix, people mess it up that badly!
So I have some insights that I’ve accidentally been holding back from you guys so it’s about time to share the wealth.
- Before making batch changes — click the ‘Notify Your Network’ box on the right to off/red. People get pissed…
- What is the point of your profile, to sell or to get a job… use that mindset before you edit anything!
- Profile image — in most cases you simply want a professionally taken headshot. The only exceptions are for creative people, big personalities and if you’re trying to make a point more than win business.
- Professional Headline — this automatically populates with your job title. Get more creative. As with any other headline, what are people going to open? Why would they click you? What are they searching for? Write a headline that encapsulates that.
- Summary— Make you sound interesting! The best I’ve seen manage to capture the most outrageously impressive stuff someone has done, why you would use them and how they can benefit your business. Always remember to add images/links that demonstrate your authority.
- Experience — As with the summary but for each position. You want to portray why this experience shows that they should hire you to work on their project. And again, always remember to take advantage of the opportunity to show your authority by uploading images, videos and links that prove you kick ass.
- Experience related recommendations — if you look at my profile under LFA you you will see I’ve got some personal recommendations from clients and community members. Get these for the most recent and relevant positions only as these are all that matter.
- Volunteer — fill this in properly. If you are supporting causes that are relevant to you, your personal brand or your business (and if they aren’t to any of the three why are you supporting them?) then put them in here. It’ll help people understand more about you and your business, and in a positive light.
- Skills and endorsements — whilst 99 is the magic number, these are getting less and less sway from the search algorithm. I would suggest slowly building these up and trying to make anything you growth hack into it look natural. I tend to only recommend 5–7 different areas and tend to try and help people out by not making it look like I didn’t really think about it. Takes a few seconds longer and you get a more natural looking profile, which is ultimately the point you are looking for, a better natural profile!
- Test Scores — nobody cares if you got a 1st at uni… what they might care about is that your dissertation was on a niche subject that they really care about… think before just plonking anything in.
- Honors and Awards — if you’ve won them, put them in, but for God’s sakes don’t waffle on and on about it. Waffling makes the prize seem less relevant so use a few sentences to pack the most punch!
- Publications — if you’ve been featured on somebody else’s podcast, website etc. then this is an area to show it off. So make use of it.
- Following — make sure you are following relevant people. I rarely if ever actually read the content but I do get comments on a near weekly basis when speaking to new people about one of the influencers I have followed… It pays to pay attention to these little things
If you read through all this and update your profile then remember to connect with me there (Dan G Rice — Leading From Anywhere — Creative Strategist for Your Tribe) then I’ll take a look at it for you to make sure your profile is sharp.
If you want to get in my good books, hitting + for membership management is obviously a good place to start.
