LinkedIn is more than just a place to post your online resume. It’s become the best platform to network with other business-minded people.

Your profile should highlight how you help others, what services or products you offer, and why working with you is the right thing to do.

Therefore, there are a few things to consider when optimizing your profile.

  1. Know your goal – what do you want someone to do after viewing your profile? Do you want them to connect with you on LinkedIn? Do you want them to call you? Do you want them to subscribe to your email list? Do you want them to go to your website? What exactly do you want them to do?
  2. Provide a “What’s In It For Me” tagline. This should showcase how you help others in a brief statement. Don’t use this to display your job title. It’s much to valuable a space for that!
  3. Share your contact information. The first two lines of your About section should display how you want people to reach out to you. Make it clear and easy to reach you.
  4. Make the About section, about your target audience. Sounds funny, huh? The About section is about you, but the focus is on what it means to your target audience. It’s always about them. Showcase the problems you solve, the value you add, and testimonials or case studies to prove you’re effective at what you do. And include a call to action. Remember point #1!
  5. Think differently about your Work Experience section. Use each work description as a place to highlight how you serve others, or how your experience benefits your target audience.
  6. Utilize the Featured section. Ideally, have 3 videos that showcase customer testimonials, products or services, or resources your audience will find valuable.
  7. Use hashtags. Adding hashtags that people are searching for can increase the number of people who see your profile.
  8. Offer a Freebie. Marketing 101 will tell you to offer value before the sale. What could you offer your audience? Make it a link in your profile.
  9. Format for eyeballs. Please don’t write a wall of text in your About section or in the work experience descriptions. Remember most people won’t read everything. Think about those who skim. Format to allow it to be easy to skim so readers get what they need fast. Use white space, bullet points, and emojis to break up the text. Use headlines and sub-headlines so someone can get the gist of it by reading only the headlines.

Remember, that your LinkedIn Profile is one of the many tools you have to help people find you. Optimize it so people can see the benefit of working with you. If you need help with that, reach out. I’m only a phone call or email away!