Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn profile sets the stage for your entire account. It is your grand entrance and first impression to prospective new clients or synergistic relationships on LinkedIn. A poorly optimized LinkedIn profile will impact connection rate and decrease the number of opportunities generated through outreach. So where should you start?

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How Does It Work?

There are quite a few areas to update in order to optimize your LinkedIn profile.

Profile picture

A profile image sets the stage for your entire account. It is the first place people will look when gauging whether or not to connect with you.

The goal here is to have a picture that feels authentic, professional, warm, inviting, friendly, and sharp with confidence. It is recommend to have a professional headshot or a clear, bright and high-resolution photo that's zoomed into your smiling face. Avoid unclear photos or photos that would be difficult for others to identify you in the picture.

Banner image

According to LinkedIn, the ideal cover photo size is 800 x 200 px, though you can zoom, crop, and adjust a background photo in the LinkedIn editor.

We've found photos falling under these three categories to be the most impactful for our clients' connection rates:

• Location: If location is an important component to establish relevancy to the people you will be targeting, select a high-quality image of the city you are based out of to establish your place of activity.
• Social: Social banner images display volunteering, teaching, or speaking activities you engage in.
• Personality: Images that speak to your personal brand and establish your individuality and identify what makes you unique.

We recommend staying away from any banner image that appears to "salesy" or corporate focused. You want to represent yourself, not just your company here.

Headline

One of the most critical components of your LinkedIn profile is the headline. Alongside your profile and banner images, it’s the first thing the user visiting your profile will see. The quality of that headline can make or break your LinkedIn branding and can impact your connection rate.

The formula for writing the perfect profile headline goes something like this:

(Title) | (Company) | (USP) or (Benefit of Working with You) | keywords related to your role | keywords related to your personal brand to add a touch of personality and pizazz

• Here are a few examples:
1. Founder | LinkedIn Lead Gen | We turn your personal brand into a LinkedIn lead machine | Forbes Top 12 Innovative Founders | 350M+ Views On LinkedIn | 5X Author | Proud Dad
2. Director of Customer Success | Seasoned Entrepreneur & Multi-Startup Expert | Communications Specialist | Marketing & Operations Connoisseur | Business Relationship Builder | Passionate World Traveler
3. Founder and CEO of Rapid Brands & The Johnson Group | Shark Tank Entrepreneur | Investor | Family Man | Scale-Up Mentor | Community Impact | Keynote Speaker

Creator Mode (add hashtags)

Activate creator mode on your account and add up to 5 relevant hashtags to display on your profile underneath your headline. Your profile will come up when people search these hashtags or keywords.

To turn on creator mode:

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
2. Click View Profile.
3. Scroll down to Resources and click on Creator mode: Off.
4. Click Next on the Creator mode preview pop-up window.
5. Add topics (hashtags) to indicate the topics you post about the most.
6. Click Done.

customize your profile URL

Promote your public profile and allow others to easily identify you in search results by changing or customizing your public profile URL. If you do not update your profile URL, it will be a string of random numbers and letters. Having a custom public profile URL will help other members identify your profile easily and connect with you. We recommend using your first and last name, if not already taken by another user.

To create or edit your public profile URL:

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
2. Click View Profile.
3. Click Edit public profile & URL on the right side.
• You’ll be redirected to the Public profile settings page.
4. Under Edit your custom URL on the right side, click the Edit icon next to your public profile URL.
5. Type or edit the last part of your new custom public profile URL in the text box.
6. Click Save.

Check your emails

You can quickly and easily update the email addresses that are associated with your account, or change which primary email address you want to use for your LinkedIn notifications.

You can add multiple email addresses to your LinkedIn account. You can log in to your LinkedIn account using either primary or an additional email address account. We recommend that you add at least one personal address and one work address to ensure you can always access your account.

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage, then click Settings & Privacy and click Sign in & security on the left.
2. Click Change next to Email addresses under Account access.
3. Click Add email address and enter the new email address into the text box.
4. Click Send verification.
5. Enter your LinkedIn password to proceed.
6. Log in to your email account and follow the prompts in the email to validate your new address.
• If you'd like to make your new email address your primary address, click Make primary next to the email address you've added.

Follow some big players

You can learn a thing or two from people who have amassed large followings and are seen as respected leaders in their space. Following these "big players" and modifying your profile to include all of the optimizations they have included on their profile can help you grow your following and position yourself as a thought leader in your industry or area of expertise too.

We recommend you spend time finding and following 5-10 big players you admire.

About Section

The About section is one of the most valuable parts of your profile and, at the same time, one of the most challenging. Why does this matter so much?

The About section is a very important part of your LinkedIn profile because you have a lot of space to share your story - who are you (as a professional), what do you do and whom are you helping. Take advantage of 2600 characters, offering a place to insert stories, keywords, highlights, etc

Here are a few examples:

Keywords that quickly and succinctly describe you.

Company branding: present company/organization, USP, etc.

Personal branding: talk about your role, skills, highlights

Call to action: add an action your visitor should do next: send an invitation to connect, register for an event, download a piece of content (do not forget the UTM parameters to track the results), etc.

Experience Section

Ensure your experience section is up to date and includes any relevant roles you've held during your professional career. Not everyone's professional path has been linear. We recommend you stick to roles you've held in your current niche to emphasize your expertise. If you have any relevant media, be sure to attach it to the role for people who may want to dig further into your achievements in each role.

Benefits & Value

Learn how to tap into the power of LinkedIn to build a professional network, establish your digital footprint, stay up to date in your industry, and much more.

A LinkedIn profile allows you to provide a more in-depth look at your personal brand and accomplishments than a resume does. This card covers how to set up a new LinkedIn account and create a strong profile that grabs attention for all the right reasons, then offers tips for building and expanding your LinkedIn network, and building a professional brand.

Related Topics

• Building Your Network (Starting From 0)

For more information, contact your Admin or Account Manager.