LinkedIn is THE networking site to be on these days; a platform for other industry specialists to view your professional profile and a good opportunity to present yourself at your best. However, many of us haven’t optimized our LinkedIn profiles to the point that we are getting maximum mileage out of it. As a result, we end up getting only a few profile visits, and even fewer job opportunities.
For that reason, we took a look at what business profiles that got a lot of views and ranked high in the search results were doing right and have collected the best points here for you to benefit from:
- Profile picture:
- Profile description:
- Optimize your summary:
Your profile picture is your first impression, and that’s how you should think of it. Unlike Facebook, where it’s accepted to be as casual as you like, LinkedIn is a professional’s platform. That means that you should treat it as your office and your photo should look the way you would if you were walking into a business meeting, determined to impress a new client. Make your photo a professional, clean- cut head shot.
Unless you’re the CEO of a world-famous company, let’s be honest, no one out there really cares about your position. Instead, think of keywords that describe what you do and that will show up when someone searches for your particular skills. Believe me when I say, it is much more effective.
Your summary should start with a question – a question that gets prospective clients thinking about how you can help them. At first glance, your summary should answer the question: what can you do for them? Write the summary as if you were talking to just one person. Keywords are also very important here. Your summary should contain the keywords or buzzwords particular to your industry and these keywords should be repeated again in checklist form at the end of your summary, describing each one of your skills. People may not read through paragraphs, but everyone loves a checklist, so be sure to include that.
The important thing to remember when creating your profile description and summary is to optimize according to your niche. Some industries are highly competitive, making it more difficult to stand out, and you will have to rise to the challenge; but by keeping these 3 vital points in mind and updating your profile accordingly, we can guarantee much better search results, resulting in better network connections for you.
