by Petra Fisher | May 2, 2017 | LinkedIn Profile |
LinkedIn gives you 2000 characters to write your summary! That is great. Don’t let the word ‘summary’ fool you, this place can be utilised much better than by literally summarising your profile. As I said before: “Never use your LinkedIn Summary to ehm … summarise“.
LinkedIn underwent a major overhaul early 2017, this affected how your summary displays big time! Out of those 2000 brilliantly worded characters people get to see either: about 200-230 or as little as 60 characters.
BEWARE EXTREME LOW VISIBILITY
Your LinkedIn Summary is easily overlooked. Two lines of text. You’ll need to find a way to interest readers to click to see more. It gets even worse on mobile, only about 60 characters displaying.
Beware of missing spaces! Notice something strange in the image to the left, thanks Sarah Haïlé-Fida for letting me use your profile. What is a STORYAs? That is when you add a ‘return’ to go the the next line and LinkedIn kindly removes it to display more of your summary!
HOW TO FIX MY ☆ STORYAs
Is your first line shorter than what’ll be displayed? Maybe you started with a heading or short statement? In that case start the second line with a hyphen and a space. In the full profile it is still the next line. In the preview it looks like this: ☆ MY STORY – As a manager. Just a tad easier on the eye.
HOW TO EDIT YOUR LINKEDIN SUMMARY
- Click your pretty little face top right
- Scroll down to summary (add one if needed)
- Click the pencil
- Write a brilliant, catchy, enthralling first line
- Click save
For more help on brilliantly compelling summaries, read this clever little piece I wrote some years ago.
Still pretty darn useful if I say so myself.
>>> TELL ME what are the first two lines (not sentences) of your summary? <<<
by Petra Fisher | May 1, 2017 | LinkedIn Profile |
Your LinkedIn Profile is not a verbatim copy of your resume, or your business card for that matter. LinkedIn displays the job titles on your profile (under experience) in bold, this makes them one of the few items to stand out. After the introduction of the ‘New LinkedIn’ your profile has a cleaner look; that is nice. It also means less information is visible at once; this is not so nice. People actually need to click to see the description of your experience.
With 58% of LinkedIn visits being conducted on mobile, the majority of visitors to your profile will ONLY see your job titles. Your visitors on desktop are treated to your most recent position in full, the rest of your experience is collapsed, into job title, company and dates.
First impressions are made in seconds; the internet is a fast paced environment. When a recruiter -or potential client- visits your LinkedIn profile, they need to see at first glance if this profile is worth further scrutiny. Descriptive headlines give a preview of what to expect if you click through to see the full experience description.
★100 CHARACTERS AVAILABLE FOR YOUR JOB TITLES★
Now that we need to click to see your description, your titles need to be descriptive. Please say goodbye to: ✘owner ✘founder ✘director ✘manager ✘consultant ✘trainer. These ‘titles’ tell me nothing about you or your expertise! The tricky bit is: you’re dealing with search engines and human beings. You need to show up in the right searches and give additional information to the human reader.
Start by using a very well-know, common job title such as “project manager”. Next elaborate on your expertise: “Project Manager: focused on global renewable energy projects and sustainable building innovations.” BOOM! 98 characters including spaces and the full stop at the end.
HOW TO EDIT JOB TITLES ON LINKEDIN
- Click your pretty little face top right
- Scroll down to experience
- Click the pencil
- Fill in the blanks
- Click save
For more help on brilliant job titles, read this clever little piece I wrote some years ago.
Still pretty darn useful if I say so myself.
>>> TELL ME what titles have you got on your profile in the experience section? <<<
by Petra Fisher | Feb 11, 2017 | LinkedIn Profile |
First impressions are made in seconds. On LinkedIn it is your LinkedIn Profile Picture, your name and your headline that create this first impression. I was pretty happy with my head-shot for years, but there you go: YEARS! it was nearly 5 years old and although I still look stunning as, it was time for an update.
IN THIS ARTICLE YOU WILL READ:
- The hilarious adventures we had doing the photo-shoot
- My top three tips in regard to a LinkedIn Profile Picture
- The top three tips from the photographer I worked with
HILARIOUS ADVENTURES
We decided on an outdoor picture, with a background that somehow helps strengthen the message that I work with clients worldwide. This meant I did NOT want to have your very recognisable Amsterdam city-scape. We met at a train station with an abundance of office buildings surrounding it.
I got told off for not having put on a little make up. I quickly popped into the pharmacy at the station to buy some. I’ve seen people put on make-up on public transport heaps of times. See it happen at the ferry daily. I’ve not seen people do their thing in a passageway of a busy train station yet. I just figured it was best to use as much natural light as possible. Now if you thought the place to apply the lipstick was a little funny, how about this? When I was done the photographer took the lipstick off me and applied it to my cheeks! Strange places for lipstick all around.
I AM A PHOTOGRAPHERS NIGHTMARE
I find fault in every picture. My smile is too big, my eyes too closed. I look insecure, I stare too much. My posture is an inch out of whack. Oh and I just CANNOT pull of facial expressions (such as a natural smile) on cue. When I did more or less get everything right a gust of wind would blow my hair straight up in the air. We weren’t really getting results, but we had great fun. Especially when noticing the commuters walk past, wondering what kind of photo shoot this was.
After a while we decided to move to the other side of the train station. Little did we know the background was much better there, it was more sheltered from the wind and even the sunlight seemed to catch me at a better angle.
At the end of the day I have to say, Vanessa Lam, from Lam Studios DID manage to get some great images of me. The one I like best are not suitable for LinkedIn though. Now I have just one tiny little problem. Picture #10 has captured me in the best possible way. I look just like I should look for a LinkedIn Profile Picture. Friendly, approachable, confident and businesslike all in one.
SO WHAT IS MY PROBLEM?
I now have 1 pic in which I look absolutely stunning! Yet I have another picture with the best background, making me stand out. Dilemma, dilemma, I don’t know which one to use. I’ll show both options at the end of this post, hopefully you can help me make up my mind.
TIPS BY PETRA FISHER
- Picture needs to support and strengthen your written message. In my headline you read that I work with international professionals; I won’t use tulips and windmills as my backdrop.
- Look directly into the camera. Looking at your profile means I am asking you: “What do you do?” When you answer me, it is nice to have eye contact.
- Head and shoulders. The more of you in the picture, the smaller you become. Networking is about engaging and building relationships so it is important that you are easily recognisable.
3 TIPS BY VANESSA LAM
- Be yourself. Wear clothing that reflects your personality and that you feel comfortable and confident in. If you’re not happy with your clothing, it will show in your face and in the photos.
- Plan on wearing make-up. The camera absorbs a lot of it, so plan to wear some if you never wear any, or about 20% more than you normally wear if you wear some regularly.
- Relax and let the photographer guide you. The majority of people are not comfortable posing in front of a camera or even looking natural on cue.
WHICH HEADSHOT?
◄ ►
Please help me out here. Which headshot should be my LinkedIn Profile Picture? In the comments below give me your option on WHY you be believe the left or right picture is the best fit for my LinkedIn Profile.
◄ ►
by Petra Fisher | Dec 4, 2015 | LinkedIn Profile |
Your LinkedIn Profile is viewed for your knowledge, experience and skills so branding your profile with your talents is really important. Your profile is puts you in the limelight, not just through LinkedIn search results, your LinkedIn Profile is also made available to Google for indexing.
In order to get the best results out of this, make sure the settings for you ‘public profile’ are set to showcase as much as possible. Whilst your there … fix up the URL to your public profile as well. It looks a lot more professional and now you can add it to your email signature without hiding under a rock in shame.
Best LinkedIn Profile Tip: SHOW me, don’t tell me
I can’t stress this enough in training and in blog posts. Don’t tell me what you are good at, show me! Let your experience and achievements do the talking. Really, from your job title I can guess most of your responsibilities, no need to write them down. If you were any good it, add those responsibilities as skills so people can endorse you and they help you being found as they function as keywords.
Be as true to yourself as you can whilst staying professional
You have no control over who visits (and reads) your profile. Your readers are as diverse as they come, so there is no pleasing them all. How about just pleasing the ones you really like? The people you dream of working with as your next client/partner/employer? That is just SO MUCH EASIER than it seems! Stay close to yourself. Don’t pretend. Don’t use formal language if that is not you. The closer you stay to the true you the more your profile resonates with the people you’d REALLY like to work with. Easy as that!
How to not lose your LinkedIn Profile visitor?
It is all very well to write a great LinkedIn Profile, but what if people don’t bother reading it? How do you keep them from visiting one of the other 396 million members? You will need to make a killer first impression. As superficial as it sounds, your profile picture is the first go/no-go decision your reader makes. Next up is your headline. If that doesn’t make it clear WHAT you do and WHO you it for, your reader has no idea if it is worth their time to continue reading. If you kept them intrigues so far it is time to add a summary. This is where you really introduce yourself, what makes you tick, your personality, what makes you stand out from the next person?
Easier said than done?
I just so happened to write a workbook that guides you through all the steps and thinking involved. You still need to do the work, but I’ll be there (almost) to hold your hand. Just grab your copy of the free LinkedIn Profile Workbook by clicking the image below.
If you do prefer to work together, just let me know. In a 4-hour Skype session we’ll get the job done. It is hard work, no denying that, but the results are worth it. At least, if you believe the people that worked with me so far. Find out more about the LinkedIn Profile Reboot Program here.
>>>What is the first thing you’ll fix up on your profile after reading this post? Let me know in the comments below<<<
by Petra Fisher | Nov 20, 2015 | LinkedIn Profile |
It’s been a while, well over a year actually, since you and I talked about LinkedIn Endorsements. I do need to talk about LinkedIn endorsements though. They are here and they are here to stay. Well, as sure as we can be with any feature of LinkedIn to stay. 🙂
What you ought to know already about LinkedIn Endorsements
Last year I shared some useful information. Love ’em or hate ’em, they are part of your LinkedIn reality. Might as well make the most of this feature. I hear people complain that endorsements have no value as people can click quite willy-nilly on your skills. True. You don’t have to accept that though! Find out in just 30 sec how to get only genuine LinkedIn endorsements. Having said that … once people start endorsing your skills, LinkedIn automatically puts the skill that is endorsed most on the top. No need to put up with that! This is YOUR profile so take back control over your ‘bingo card’. UPDATE MAY 2017: Bingo card is gone, read this instead. (Still useful info below).
Why do you need LinkedIn Endorsements on your profile?
Well, they make quite a nice colourful addition don’t you think? Your LinkedIn profile is all about telling people what YOU want them to know. Endorsements validate your words cos others agree that you are good at the skills you claim you’ve mastered. I actually dragged my skills section to the top for that reason. Visitors read my summary first, where I talk (a lot) about myself and straight after they see my words validated by my network. Pretty cool if you ask me.
Another reason you need endorsements is to help people find you. What if someone needs a copywriter, you happen to be a copywriter, but they don’t know you? They’ll most likely search in Google and maybe even on LinkedIn. Keywords help you appear in those search results. What better place to add them then in the only spot where you don’t have to craft beautiful sentences around them?
Something else I need to tell you…
Technically this is not about LinkedIn endorsements (and neither was my last point). It is about skills, but with skills come endorsements, so time to embrace them. Have you ever clicked ON a skill on someone’s profile? Takes you to a wonderful place. A place where you find articles on that topic, groups about the topic, jobs related to the topic and … professionals on that topic! So if someone clicked on ‘copywriting’ surely you want to be shown!
Best way to get honest LinkedIn Endorsements
Just ask! Ask people that you trust and value, so you know they won’t click just to be nice. It goes like this: “Hi Jill, I finally applied some TLC to my LinkedIn profile and even gave my skills section a bit of a shake up. Would love if you could visit my profile, scroll down to my skills and endorse any you truly believe I’m any good at. If there is anything I can do for you … don’t be shy and reach out.” See, easy peace, just ask.
Final thought … do not, I repeat DO NOT send one message through LinkedIn to multiple recipients. First of all, how genuine is that? Can’t be bothered to repeatedly copy/paste your message and address it properly? Even more worrisome … this now creates a group-chat that is like the Hotel California… you can check out anytime, but you can never leave. Please don’t do this to people you value (or to anyone really).
>>> Well, these are my thoughts on LinkedIn Endorsements. What are yours? Leave me a comment below!<<<
by Petra Fisher | Nov 5, 2015 | LinkedIn Profile |
I always ask during a LinkedIn Profile Reboot session: “What is the most fun you ever had at work?” The question serves multiple purposes. First of all, remembering a fun time, puts people in a good mood: that makes it quite nice for me to work with them. Asking this question also really helps speed up the process of revamping your LinkedIn profile.
Struggling to get started telling your story?
Start with the easy bits! Practice on education if you haven’t already. Then think back to a job or project you really enjoyed. What did you enjoy so much? Was it the actual work or the work environment? Start writing about the skills you developed and results you produced. By starting with a job you really enjoyed, this should not be so difficult.
Write towards the professional you are now.
Think about your ideal job/client/project. What is the person that needs to hire you looking for? Have you got what it takes? Identify the skills and knowledge needed. No prove to me you’ve got what it takes. With each entry in the experience section of your profile describe what you did and how this developed your skills.
Getting stuck?
Don’t stop and think: “I’ll do it later,” get unstuck! Go back to my question. What is the most fun you ever had at work. I bet you were doing something you were good at. What was it that you were good at? Are you still good at it? Is it still useful for where you are going? Then take that as your main point to elaborate on.
>>>Post the description on your LinkedIn profile you are really happy with in the comments to inspire other readers (feel free to add link to your profile)<<<
—
Need some help? I am happy to get you started so you nail that first impression every single time. We can work in Amsterdam or via Skype. Find out all about it here.
