You have made a Profile on LinkedIn, but never have given real thought what to write so potential customers or other people who might be interested in your Profile can find you? Or when they have found you that they are interested in contacting you and start a business relationship?
Then apply the first 6 tips in this article (the next 6 tips can be found in the next article).
1. Name: since LinkedIn is website for business networking, use your own name and not a “nick name” you would use on other websites.
2. Picture: use a professional picture and not a holiday picture of yourself in bikini or swimming trunks or with 10 cocktails in front of you. A recent headshot where you gently smile is perfect for LinkedIn. Firstly this helps people to recognize you when they meet you in person and secondly it shows you take networking on LinkedIn seriously.
3. Professional Headline: this is the most important part of your LinkedIn Profile. The reason? This is what people see when they search and also what is put next to a comment of yours in a Discussion or an Answer. If you want to be found by others on LinkedIn and on the web, use words they use to search with when they are looking for someone with your expertise. If the title on your business card is Marcom Director, but people search for Vice President Marketing or Communication Manager, chances they will find you, decrease dramatically.
4. Public Profile: if you want people to find you when they use your name in a search action on LinkedIn or via Google or another search engine, make sure you modify this link and replace the number/letter combination with your name.
5. Summary: Professional Experience: when you write more than two lines of text, make sure it looks nice visually. For example use bullets. Also don’t write too much copy because people won’t read it. Focus on the results you have obtained, not on the function you had. That is more attractive to the reader. When you talk about yourself, use “I” and not “He” or “She”. The latter looks like an advertisement. This causes more dislike than attraction. When you have a conversation with someone, you also don’t talk about yourself as “he” or “she”. Consider your Profile as a virtual you who answers questions like “What do you do? What is your expertise? What are you willing to share?”
6. Summary Specialties: this is the place to share the skills and experience you have acquired during your professional career. If you have a certification like Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, this is the place to share that. Also use abbreviations when they are frequently used. In this example that should be MCSE.
The next 6 tips to optimize your LinkedIn Profile can be found in the next article.
Jan
Jan Vermeiren, founder of Networking Coach
PS: more tips can be found in the Amazon Best Seller "How to REALLY use LinkedIn".
Make sure to get your FREE light version of the book at: http://www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com