LinkedIn Profile Optimization For Dummies

by Donna Serdula

Overview

Optimize your LinkedIn profile—and get results

Your LinkedIn profile is essentially a platform to shape how others see you, highlight your abilities, products, or services, and explain how your work impacts lives. Yet many people simply copy and paste their resume and expect job offers and networking opportunities to start rolling in—but that isn't how it works. LinkedIn Profile Optimization For Dummies shows you how to create a profile that enhances your personal brand, controls how others see you, and shapes a successful future for your career.

Whether your goal is job search, branding, reputation management, or sales, people are Googling you—and your LinkedIn profile is more often than not their first point of contact. With a focus on who you are, the value you deliver, and the culture you cultivate, the profile you'll create with the help of this guide will make that first connection a positive one—giving you a better chance to see results.

• Create a powerful LinkedIn profile
• Discover your personal keywords
• Showcase your experience and accomplishments
• Be seen on the world's largest professional social network

You never get a second chance to make a great first impression, and LinkedIn Profile Optimization For Dummies helps to ensure you're presenting yourself in the best possible light.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781119287087
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/12/2016
Series:	For Dummies (Computers)
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Donna Serdula is the leading authority on LinkedIn profile optimization. She grew her profile consulting business from a one-person enterprise to a team of 40 serving individual, corporate, and military clients, and is much in demand as a speaker. Visit her website at www.linkedin-makeover.com, and follow her on Twitter at @donnaserdula.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

How This Book Is Organized 3

Part 1: The Strategy Before the Siege 3

Part 2: Getting Your LinkedIn Profile Started 3

Part 3: Detailing Your Career Trajectory and Creating the Ultimate First Impression 3

Part 4: Rounding Out Your Profile and Adding Finishing Touches 3

Part 5: The Part of Tens 4

Icons Used in This Book 4

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 5

Part 1: The Strategy Before the Siege 7

Chapter 1: Determining Your LinkedIn Strategy 9

Determining Your LinkedIn Goal 10

Job Search 10

Reputation Management and Branding 11

Sales and Prospecting 11

Figuring Out Your Target Audience 12

Creating a Compelling Tone 14

Chapter 2: Getting Found on LinkedIn 15

Using LinkedIn as a Search Engine 15

Using the Search Bar 16

Using Search Filters 16

Ensuring a Compelling and Attractive Search Result 18

Understanding the Importance of Keywords 21

Using Online Keyword Tools 25

Using Wordle.net 25

Using LinkedIn Topic pages 27

Using Google AdWords Keyword Planner 28

Ranking Higher with Profile SEO 30

Building Off Profile SEO 31

Chapter 3: Understanding Skills and Endorsements 33

Showcasing Your Skills 34

Adding skills 35

Rearranging skills 37

Obtaining Endorsements 38

Hiding an Endorsement 39

Opting Out of Endorsements 40

Endorsing a Connection 41

Removing an Endorsement 42

Soliciting Endorsements 43

Part 2: Getting Your Linkedin Profile Started 45

Chapter 4: Optimizing the ”Behind the Scenes“ Sections 47

Managing Profile Changes 47

Turning Off Update aAlerts 48

Manually Removing Updates 49

Knowing When to Allow Update Alerts 50

Turning on Your Public Profile 51

Creating a Personalized URL 53

Using Your Name 55

Oh No, My Name is Taken! 55

Marketing Your Public Profile URL 56

Improving Your Profile’s Strength 57

Dealing with a Lack of a Current Position 58

Adding a School without a Degree 59

Expanding Your Network 60

Chapter 5: Establishing Your Calling Card 65

Using the Name Field Correctly 66

Editing your Name 66

Adding prefixes to Your Name 67

Keeping your Profile Confidential 68

Filling Out Location and Industry 69

Choosing your Location 69

Choosing your Industry 70

Suggesting a Missing Industry 72

Including Your Contact Information 73

Adding your Email Addresses 74

Adding a Phone Number 76

Adding your IM Address 77

Adding your Work Address 78

Adding your Twitter Account 79

Adding WeChat 80

Adding Websites 81

Chapter 6: Impressing with the Right Profile Picture 85

Why You Need a Profile Picture 86

Determining If You Need a New Profile Picture 86

Using a Photo Already Taken 88

Working with a Photographer 89

Taking Your Own Profile Picture 90

Understanding the Importance of Light 91

Finding the Right Background 91

Framing the Shot 92

Finding the Right Outfit 93

Choosing and Uploading Your Profile Picture 94

Cropping to Profile Picture Dimensions 94

Resizing and Saving a High-Res Image 95

Uploading your Photo 96

Changing Photo Visibility Settings 97

Chapter 7: Developing a Compelling Headline 99

Grabbing Your Reader’s Attention 99

Adding Flair to Your Headline 100

Saturating Your Headline with Keywords 104

Add your Job Title 105

Add your Specialty 105

Add an Extracurricular Hobby 106

Add a Happy Ending 107

Creating a Benefit Statement Headline 107

Adding Your New and Improved Headline to LinkedIn 110

Part 3: Detailing Your Career Trajectory and Creating the Ultimate First Impression 111

Chapter 8: Getting Your Experiences Ready 113

Referencing Your Resume 114

Determining Which Experiences to Keep and Which to Merge 115

Keep your Target Audience in Mind 117

How far back do I go? 118

Creating a Work History for Recent Graduates 118

Dealing with Employment Gaps 119

Chapter 9: Creating a Powerful Experience 121

Adding a New Experience 122

Making the Start and End Dates Match your Resume 125

Using Month and Year or Just Year 125

Getting the Company Logo to Appear 126

Linking to the Company Page 128

Less Is More — Stop Disqualifying Yourself 129

Summarizing the Company with a Boilerplate Description 129

Describing your Roles and Responsibilities 132

Crafting an Impactful Achievement 133

Giving your Reader a Call to Action 133

Editing an Existing Experience 134

Reordering Concurrent Experiences 135

Removing an Experience 136

Reattaching Recommendations to Different Experiences 137

Optimizing Your Job Title with Keywords 138

Job Title Character Limits 140

Making your Job Title Pop with Symbols 140

Examples of Great Experiences 141

Salesperson Looking for a New Opportunity 141

Salesperson Looking for More Prospects 142

Human Resources Professional Using LinkedIn for Reputation Management 142

Chapter 10: Writing a Compelling Summary 145

Editing Your LinkedIn Summary 146

Writing in First Person 147

Avoiding Resume Speak 147

Revisiting Your LinkedIn Goals and Target Audience 148

Catching Your Reader’s Attention 149

Creating Your Professional Manifesto 150

Explain your Benefits 151

Highlight your Top Achievements 152

Keep the Summary Focused on You 153

Create a Clear Call to Action 153

Formatting a Sleek LinkedIn Summary 156

Examples of Compelling and Engaging Summaries 156

Product Management 157

Leadership 157

Retail 158

Accounting 159

Student 159

Part 4: Rounding Out Your Profile and Adding Finishing Touches 161

Chapter 11: There’s More to You Than Your Jobs 163

Showcasing Organizations 163

Uncovering Your Honors and Awards 166

Choosing the Right Honors and Awards 167

Creating a Strong Description 168

Keeping your Honors and Awards Updated 170

The Three P’s: Projects, Publications, and Patents 170

Adding Projects 170

Adding Publications 173

Adding Patents 174

The Two C’s: Certifications and Courses 176

Importing Certifications from Lynda.com 178

Adding Courses 178

Adding the Languages You Speak 179

Creating a Profile in Another Language 180

Adding Your Education, or Lack Thereof 181

Divulging the Year you Graduated 182

Preparing Activities and Societies 182

Adding your Education 183

Reordering Education 185

Adding Multimedia 185

Adding Volunteer Experiences 187

Pro Bono Opportunities 189

Chapter 12: Making Your Profile Personal and Unique 191

Leveraging the Additional Information Section 191

Adding Interests 192

Providing Details that Show you are Human 195

Offering Advice for Contacting you 198

Blocking People from Viewing your Profile 200

Adding Multimedia to Make Your Profile POP! 201

Determining what to Highlight with Multimedia Files 202

Resisting the Urge to Upload Your Resume 204

Reinforcing Your Brand with a Background Image 205

Finding the Right Image to Showcase your Brand 205

Using Online Graphic Tools to Create an Image 207

Adding a Background Image to your Profile 209

The Importance of Recommendations 209

Identifying People to Recommend you 210

Asking for a Recommendation 211

Ditching the Default Request Text 214

Accepting a Recommendation 215

Reordering Recommendations 216

Removing Recommendations 216

Recommending Others 217

Chapter 13: Following Groups, Companies, and Influencers 221

Understanding the Importance of Groups 222

Determining the Types of Groups to Join 223

Turning Off Group Notifications 225

Joining Recommended Groups 226

Searching for Groups 227

Deleting Groups 229

Turning Off Group Communication Email 230

Choosing Which Groups to Highlight on Your Profile 231

Cultivating Your Following Section 232

Choosing the Right Companies to Follow 233

Following Companies 234

Unfollowing Companies 234

Following News 235

Showcasing Influencers on Your Profile 235

Deciding Which Influencers to Showcase 236

Finding Specific Influencers 236

Discovering Recommended Influencers 238

Removing Influencers 238

Publishing on LinkedIn 239

Showcasing Yourself As A Thought Leader 241

Creating Your First Article 241

What happens after you publish? 247

Marketing Your Blog Post 247

Chapter 14: The Final Review and Reveal 249

Rearranging Profile Sections 250

Viewing Your Profile as an Outsider 252

Your LinkedIn Profile Checklist 253

To Pay or Not Pay for LinkedIn 255

Features of Paid Accounts 255

Unique Features of Premium Accounts 258

Choosing the Best Plan for You 260

Benchmarking Your Profile’s Success 260

Marketing Your Profile 262

Alerting Your Connections of Your Updated Profile 262

Adding Your Profile To Other Social Media Sites 266

Getting Views To Your Linkedin Profile 268

Part 5: The Part of Tens 275

Chapter 15: Ten Profile Do’s and Don’ts 277

Do Use a Professional Profile Picture 277

Don’t Use LinkedIn’s Default Headline 278

Do Turn Off Your Update Notifications 278

Do Use Eye-Catching Symbols Sparingly 278

Do Include Your Contact Information 278

Do Add Multimedia Files 279

Don’t Stuff Keywords 279

Don’t Go Back 30 Years 279

Do Get Recommendations 280

Do Add Interests 280

Chapter 16: Ten Tips for a Perfect Profile Picture 281

Hire a Professional Photographer 281

Use Lots of Light 282

Use a Nondescript Background 282

Dress to Impress 283

Adjust Yourself 283

Keep the Camera Close to Eye Level 284

Say No to the Mug Shot 284

Crinkle, Smile, and Jut 285

Use Photoshop Lightly 285

Crop Your Image 285

Chapter 17: Ten Tips to Expand Your Network 287

Import Your Address Book 288

Import a Contact List 290

Let LinkedIn Help You Connect 290

Join One Hundred Groups 291

Start a LinkedIn Group 292

Make Connecting a Process 292

Link to Your Profile 292

Brand Yourself a LION or Just Connect to Them 293

Join Open Networking Lists and Groups 294

Use an App 295

Chapter 18: Ten Tips to Leverage LinkedIn 297

A-B-C Always Be Connecting 297

Connect and Stay in Touch 298

Gather Business Intelligence 299

Get the News 300

Get Social Proof and Credibility 301

Get Past the Gatekeeper 301

Rub Elbows in Groups 301

Find Assistance 302

Showcase Thought Leadership 302

Network in Your Pajamas 303

Chapter 19: Ten LinkedIn Profile Resources 305

Get Inspired and Excited 305

LinkedIn Headline Generator 306

Virtual Phone Numbers 306

Google Voice 306

Skype 307

Say No to AOL and Hotmail Addresses 307

Your Own Domain 307

Acceptable Free Domains 307

Symbol Variations 308

Stop the Typos 308

SlideShare 308

Photographer Directories 309

Background Image Libraries 309

Online Image Apps 310

Index 311