5 Quick Fixes to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile - Make a better first impression in 5 minutes

By Josh Steimle 

Love it or hate it, there is no denying that LinkedIn is a big part of building your online platform — especially as an entrepreneur. In fact, the social media network now boasts over 744 million members, with over 57 million companies listed on the site.

Depending on your needs, a quality LinkedIn profile can help you grow your business connections and personal brand, find new potential customers for your B2B services or connect with new talent to grow your team.

Unfortunately, your LinkedIn profile can keep you from maximizing these opportunities. By making a few simple fixes, you can ensure your profile helps your growth efforts, rather than hinders them.

4. Start providing value to your network

Your business produces a lot of content — and most likely, much of that content will have value for people in your network. Sharing case studies and other brand content gets you to show up in the news feeds of those in your network.

Don’t be afraid to share content from others that you find interesting or insightful. When you consistently share content that provides value and starts a discussion, you can also help strengthen your personal brand.

Of course, this sharing can be even more valuable when you are writing original content. While this will obviously take more than five minutes to complete, this is a great opportunity to establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche and start conversations. The more you publish, the more top-of-mind you’ll be among others in your network.

5. Write a jargon-free summary

Your summary — or the “About” section, as LinkedIn likes to call it these days — shouldn’t read like a boring list of past jobs and achievements. Rewriting your LinkedIn summary so that it flows more like a story helps bring your skills to life. It shows why your experiences have made you into the person you are today. It gives connections a better opportunity to understand who you are, what motivates you, and what you hope to accomplish.

When making this update, avoid the temptation to litter your LinkedIn summary with meaningless jargon and buzzwords. You’ve seen these words and phrases countless times — passionate, innovative, leadership, results-driven — the list goes on and on.

Part of the reason why we’re so sick of seeing these terms is because they don’t really tell us anything. Avoiding overused buzzwords will help your summary be more engaging and unique by encouraging you to provide more specific details.

Read Quick Fixes 1-3 and the complete Entrepreneur Article

Unleash your LinkedIn profile’s potential

As with any other social network, LinkedIn requires ongoing attention, especially if you want to use it to grow your personal brand. Polishing your profile ensures that you’ll make a better first impression with those you connect with, regardless of why you’re trying to connect with them in the first place. Taking a few extra minutes to spruce up your profile now will pay big dividends later on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 Mistakes 99% of LinkedIn Profiles Contain

By Josh Steimle

A dazzling LinkedIn account is an invaluable asset for professionals and almost necessary for networking purposes. The website currently hosts nearly 740 million accounts, and all it takes is a few costly mistakes to make your professional peers roll their eyes and move on to other profiles.

To make matters worse, most people don’t even realize when they are making a misstep on the platform. It’s understandable as not everyone is experienced with the effective business card of the internet. Still, some unofficial rules and guidelines guarantee your profile promotes you in the best possible light.

By rooting out these common errors, any profile can be fine-tuned and become far more effective in finding opportunities and keeping your business network strong.

1. A lackluster headline

If your headline doesn’t have a hook, your profile isn’t likely to garner much attention. Just like a magazine headline or book title, a LinkedIn headline should be a brief advertisement of what a reader can expect to come in the profile. It’s the first thing people will see, so it’s important to make a positive first impression.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you should copy and paste your job title. Instead, focus on using keywords and actions relevant to your work, as this can improve your search ranking association.

The best headlines are brief — some say under 120 characters — impactful and leave the reader with a positive impression. It’s worth tweaking and experimenting with your own until you feel this has been accomplished.

5. No personal URL

Creating a personal URL for your LinkedIn profile is an easy step that adds a layer of legitimacy to any profile. Unfortunately, those who simply go with the default setting of random numbers and letters appear less professional than those who take the time to customize.

Not having a personal URL has several negative drawbacks, the most immediate being it becomes more difficult for people to remember or find your profile. It also can show a degree of laziness or technical incompetence, neither of which are helpful labels for any professional.

When taken as a whole, a LinkedIn profile is a critical step in creating an effective digital presence for your professional self. Creating a clean and effective profile isn’t that difficult, and the positive effects of doing so can connect you with global opportunities that are truly life-changing.

Read all 5 mistakes and the complete Entrepreneur article