7 Ways To Power Your LinkedIn Profile Linked4Success

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Maximising the impact of your ‘headline’

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In searches or lists, your name, picture and the first line (located under your name) are visible.

Most people insert their job description and organisation, but what a wasted opportunity to

stand out from the crowd and generate interest.

Instead, use that first line to describe the benefit of what you do, rather than simply what you

do. Here’s mine:

Remember to separate the details of your offer using the | or > symbol – this chunks the

information so making it easier to read.

You might also want to make your name stand out by capitalising it.

Top Tip!You might also want to make your name

stand out by capitalising it.


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Picture imperfectBecause LinkedIn is all about people connecting with people, not having a good picture of yourself on your profile is a big mistake.

Worse still is having no picture at all.

It would be like walking into a room wearing a paper bag over your head.

Ensure that your picture is smart and professional (no pets, children or spouses please!) and

that you’re recognisable, as people will use it to judge whether they know you from an event, for

instance.

It’s worth investing in having a picture taken by a professional photographer, as like it or not,

people judge on appearances.

Smart move!Adding a photo to your profile is a vital element to reaching a ‘100% complete profile’

with LinkedIn, which is key to ranking higher in seaches.

Profiles with pictures are likely to generate much more interest than those without.

Remember to smile too. After all, who wants to approach someone who looks

unapproachable?

Who would you rather connect with?!


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Making your profile all about you

Many people understandably think that their personal profile is all about them.

This is a big mistake.

Why? Because if the primary purpose of your LinkedIn activity is to generate leads (rather

than find a new job for instance) your profile needs to focus on the value that you deliver to

your customers.

Talk about why the customers choose and stay with you and demonstrate that you

understand the types of problems they may experience in their business.

For even greater impact, include quantifiable, specific, tangible results too. Remember to add

your contact number in this section aswell. Here’s my summary:


Making your profile all about you

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For your current position, add a number of roles, even if for the same company.

This increases your search engine optimisation and also highlights your key areas of expertise.

To do this, Click on the Profile tab on the top menu > then Edit profile. Under Current click on

Add a current position and fill in the details.


#Increase visits to your website(s)

Instead of using the standard setting which just shows your URL as ‘Company website’, you can customise the link to increase interest and improve SEO.

To do this, go to Profile > Edit Profile and click on

the Edit button next to Websites.

Where it says Websites, select Other and

fill in the text box with the benefits of your

service name or another search engine

friendly term.

For instance, you can see to the right that

I’ve used ‘Real Marketing Results’ – this

actually hyperlinks to my other company,

giraffe communications’, website.

Smart move!You can enter three websites, so why not make one of them your corporate Facebook

or YouTube page?


#Get yourself found with effective key words

Ensure that you use key terms for the kinds of services or products that your organisation offers or

seeks throughout your profile.

Smart move!A quick tip is to include the key words people might use to find your website for

search engine optimisation purposes.


#The Power of Endorsement

Recommendations are a powerful way to

stand out and build confidence in you and your

business. This is the case for both when people

search for you or service providers in your area.

Profiles with recommendations are three times

more likely to get enquiries from searches than

profiles without.

Who would you rather use? Someone with

proven experience and many recommendations?

Or someone with few or none?

Aim for 15 recommendations within the first

month and 30 by the third month. And

remember when asking for recommendations to

ask the person to say why they have valued your

input – it will make the recommendation far more

impactful.

Smart move!When requesting recommendations, ask people to do so with regard to your current

job title that most relates to the recommendation.

PHEW!That’s it. You’ve now discovered the first 7 ways to power your LinkedIn profile.

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7 Ways To Power Your LinkedIn Profile Linked4Success