by Petra Fisher | Jul 4, 2017 | LinkedIn Profile |
Your LinkedIn Profile Headline is the most visible part of LinkedIn. I’ve already bored my followers out of their mind, explaining how the FULL headline is visible in Google search results. We all know it is one of the first things people notice on your profile.
FIRST IMPRESSION
- LinkedIn Profile Picture
- Your name
- LinkedIn Profile Headline
THE MAGIC LINKEDIN HOVER
See an update or comment by a person you don’t know? Hover over their name or picture and LinkedIn will give you a tonne of information. Is this a 1st or further removed connection? How many connections do you have in common? The option to directly message them and … the FULL LinkedIn Profile Headline of that person.
EDIT YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE HEADLINE
A funny thing happened recently: when you edit your headline on mobile you can go past the 120 characters! There appears to be a difference in devices:
- Desktop gives you 120 characters.
- Android gives you just a few more.
- Apple allows you to really extend your headline.
TWO TIPS FROM MY WORKSHOPS
Have a look at these two slides. The first one gives you tips about writing your LinkedIn Profile Headline. The second slide gives you some examples. You can opt to write a proper sentence, to use keywords or a combination of both (that is what I have). There is no right or wrong in that respect, chose what best suits you.
>>>Please copy/paste your headline in the comments with a link to your profile, someone might just need you!<<<
by Petra Fisher | May 23, 2017 | LinkedIn Profile |
Every professional photographer is going to kill me. Two out of these 5 tips they will argue vehemently against. Never mind, you want to look your best, professional self on LinkedIn right? Then these three tips are worth checking out.
MIRROR YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE PICTURE (1)
You want to have an open and welcoming posture towards your visitors. Your LinkedIn Profile Pictures sits smack, bang in the middle of your profile. On the homepage, where you share all your clever insights, you appear to the left of the writing. You want to make sure your shoulders are facing straight forward or turned in to the writing. If you face the wrong way: mirror your picture in any old picture viewing software, and upload that version to LinkedIn.
CROP YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE PICTURE (2)
You haven’t got your partner, dog or half empty bottle of booze in your pic right? I think you still want to crop a bit more. The ideal LinkedIn Profile Picture focuses on head and shoulders. It is so tiny, you want your face to be fairly big. Ideally, you crop a teeny, weeny little bit of the top of your hair (if you have any on top of your head). That way you are very ‘present’ instead of framed like on your grandma’s sideboard.
FILTER OR ADJUST YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE PICTURE (3 & 4)
LinkedIn offers filters! Don’t get all excited, you won’t get a rainbow mat rolling out for your mouth like the kids do on SnapChat. The filters can be just what your picture needs if the colour or light is less than brilliant. Which brings me to tip 4. If the filters don’t cut it for you, there is the option to manually adjust brightness, contrast and saturation. Never mind the last option here. We are on LinkedIn, not Instagram.
MAKE YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE PICTURE VISIBLE (5)
Visibility. I kid you not, some people hide their profile pic. LinkedIn is your professional network. You don’t have anything to hide. There is no point to hide your picture from those not yet connected to you. How am I going to make sure you are the person I met last night? LinkedIn themselves state that profiles with a visible picture get 7 times more attention.
>>> Tell me, are you totally happy with your pic or did you implement one of the tips above? <<<
by Petra Fisher | May 8, 2017 | LinkedIn Profile |
First introduced in 2014 the LinkedIn Profile Banner received a major overhaul in 2017. What didn’t change, is that it is widely underused. Basically, there are 3 things you need to understand about using a LinkedIn Profile Banner.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- LinkedIn is not Facebook. Instead of adding a picture just cos it is pretty, think about how the image strengthens the message of your profile.
- The dimensions are 4:1 the recommended size being 1584 x 396px.
- If it looks brilliant on desktop it might still look crap on mobile.
HOW TO ADD A BANNER TO YOUR PROFILE
- Top right click “Me” under your tiny little face.
- Choose “View profile”.
- Click “Update background photo”
- Upload a picture in the right dimensions
- Hit “Save”
SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE BANNER
A picture tells a 1000 words. Truer than ever in creating first impressions. I visited a profile and the LinkedIn Profile Banner had two horses galloping in a meadow. I thought this person might work at some stables. As I was not looking for a horse professional, I nearly clicked away.
Your banner needs to strengthen the message in your headline. So at first glance, people know what you are about. The other option is to have a neutral banner. Be careful though, is it neutral to all readers?
>>> What do you do and what type of banner did you add? <<<
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?
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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.
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