By Kerry George
Everything has moved online. If you need a job, you are going to find it online. If you need a customer, you are going to find them online. Whether you have a business, or if you are looking to get into business, everything is online.
LinkedIn is the place to go to do these things. However, if your LinkedIn profile does not look very sharp, then the people that you need to connect with will not be interested in connecting with you. Here are three quick tips to make your LinkedIn profile more successful.
#1 Pictures
There is nothing more on unstimulating than looking at a LinkedIn profile that has ugly pics. The profile spot should not have a silhouette in it, and it should not have a logo in it. It should have a picture of you, the person whose profile it represents. It would be best to have the picture professionally taken, however if that is not possible at least take a good picture in a well-lit area with something colorful behind you while wearing a collared shirt.
Do not use a cut picture where somebody’s hand is still resting on your shoulder. You should be standing there holding a fish unless you are a professional fisherman. The people who would be looking at your profile want to see what you would be like in a business environment. Get someone else to take the shot. Do not use a selfie. While these things would be acceptable on Facebook, this is not Facebook.
There is also now a backdrop picture that can go behind your profile and something professional should be in that big blue spot. If you do not have anything that represents your industry, or some professional branding, then go to pixabay.com and use a free, brilliant picture of your city behind you.
#2 Set up your whole profile
Book an appointment with yourself to spend an hour on this project taking the time to fill in every spot that you can on your LinkedIn profile. If you have a website, Twitter address, video, or if you have been recognized with any kind of award, you want to take the time to put this into your LinkedIn profile. Consider that the person who is looking at you, maybe comparing you to others that they are also finding on LinkedIn. If you have a lot of information about yourself, then they feel like they are getting to know you. If your competitor has a poor profile without this information, then you will quickly win the day.
#3 Pro tip on contact information
This last tip is something that will differentiate you from every amateur on the internet. Most people feel that if they put their contact information into the spot on the profile that asks for their contact information, they have done enough. If you want the call that gets you the job, the client, or the money, you need to do better than that.
There are many people who will look at your profile because they googled your name, and if they are not in your first line of connections on LinkedIn they will have no access to that contact information. This means people who do not use LinkedIn, will be able to see your profile when they google your name, but they won’t have access to find out how to contact you.
If it takes them longer than 30 seconds they are gone! Fix this problem simply by going to your “About” section. The very first statement should read I am open to making connections, my phone number is 999-999-9999 in my email address is whatever@gmail.com. Now when somebody finds you on Google, and they are comparing you to a competitor, they can call you immediately because your phone number is showing up on Google and it is blue. They can press it and call you right now. The job, the client, the money is now yours!
