How to optimize your LinkedIn profile?
If you have recently created your LinkedIn profile or want to improve it as much as possible, this article is for you.
This article could easily be named "By the clothes they welcome, by the mind they send." Let us consider the saying in two parts. The clothes, here included profile picture, banner (cover), headline section and about section. These are the items that users will see first and decide whether to look at your profile in more detail. Mind, this includes the sections Experience, Education, Licenses & certifications, Skills, Recommendations, Honors & awards and more. These are the sections by which users will form their opinion about you.
If you want to attract attention to your profile, you need to get take care of it. By following the tips in this article, you could successfully optimize your LinkedIn profile.
The clothing or welcoming elements on LinkedIn:
- Profile photo: It is preferable to take a special profile picture. Opt for a professionally taken photo or ask someone you know to take your picture. Choose more elegant clothes and make sure you look natural. Your profile picture should show you as you are. If you are a smiling person and rarely have a serious expression on your face, your photo should reflect it. Take a comfortable pose, avoiding leaning on your arm and generally keeping your arms around your face. Choose close-up against a clean background, let the focus be yourself. Last but not least, let air in the picture. Make sure there are equal parts of empty space around your face.
- Banner (cover): Here you can position your expertise, the company you belong to or your product. Don't clutter banner with lots of infomercials - say the most important things that people will understand enough and would like to know more about. If your company has a ready-made banner design, great, go for it. If you want to have a customized banner, it is desirable to match your profile picture, let the two elements complement each other. It is very important to be careful where you place graphic elements or text in the banner, as it displays differently on different devices. My advice is to avoid the left side and concentrate on the right. This way you avoid risking something important to remain hidden behind your profile picture.
- Headline: You have 220 charactersin which you say who you are - short, precise and clear. This section should clarify a few things - what you do, who you do it for and what makes you different. Here's a sample headline if you're new to marketing: Aspiring Marketer | Helping Brands Communicate Better Through Content & Strategy | Obsessed with improving the way brands speak, look and feel.
- About: This is the section where you solidify your first impression. This is briefwhere you can tell your story. Why you do what you do, how you do it, your values, your mission and whatever you feel is important to say. In this section you have freedom to write, 2 600 characters. A short essay about yourself. However, if you decide to be more rounded, make sure you say everything you need to. Let the reader of this section remain without questionabout what you do.
Here's an example of how these elements should look on your LinkedIn profile:
It is important to note, it is preferable to use English when constructing your profile. Your profile will go up in more places and more people will see it, as Slavic languages are not yet considered by LinkedIn. This meanthat you must post and communicate on the platform in English.
The other important part of the profile, besides the "welcoming" elements are those that give value and solidify you as a professional. These are Experience, Education, Licenses & certifications, Skills, Recommendations, Honors & awards and a bunch of other sections you can pin to your profile.
What you should include in these sections of your LinkedIn Profile:
- Experience: What is the thing that can speak for you better than your experience. List the places where you have worked and not only those corresponding to your profession. By adding side experience you show various aspects of your professional culture that have built you up as a whole. Be descriptive and for each job listed include your position, the responsibilities you had and the activities you performed. If you have pictures from different times, add them. Be sure to add to each position the skills you have acquired.
- Education: When adding educational establishments, be sure to indicate The Specialtythat you have studied and acquired qualification.
- License & Certification: Developing professionally, you have undergone a bunch of different trainings and upgraded your knowledge. List these achievements, no matter if they are basic trainings or profiling ones. A potential partner or client may be looking for someone with exactly these skillsthat you have acquired on steady course.
- Skills: 50- this is the minimum of skillsto add. Include your practical skills, personality traits and the skills that put you ahead of others. If you can't list 50 different skills yourself, ask relatives, friends or colleagues to list them for you. If you write down 11 skills and a few people around you point out 3-4 more, you'll have gathered enough for LinkedIn. Quite often we underestimate ourselves for what we can do and need someone another to point it out to us.
- Recommendations: Let's let others speak for us. This section on LinkedIn carries great power. All the things listed above are great and show you in your best light, but what are they if there is no one to confirm them. People's opinions of their experience with you proves your expertise and professionalism. Ask a colleague, associate or someone you've worked with to write you a testimonial. Don't worry about asking to be left one in the future. The more the better.
- Honors & awards: You probably have a prize corner in your home, right? LinkedIn is where everyone can see them without even to come and visit you. By pointing out your honourable achievements, you show determination and ambition.
Conclusion
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile is not a one-time action, but a process, that evolves with you. It doesn't matter if you're just starting out on your career path or already have a solid track record - a well-structured, well-maintained and authentic profile always works in your favor.
After all, LinkedIn is a platform where people are looking for trust, expertise and personality. Make sure your profile radiates just that. With the right attention to detail, consistency and a desire to present yourself in the best way, your LinkedIn profile can become one of your strongest professional weapons.
Don't forget one small but important step: the editing of your LinkedIn URL. It's an easy way to make your profile more professional, easier to share and more visible on search engines. If you're not sure how to do it, you can read the detailed guide in a previous article on the topic.
In case you want to find out more on the subject, you can read in my book "How do you build a personal brand that sells on LinkedIn?". If you want to help me and this article reach more people, you can share it with your colleagues or friends who might find it interesting. And if you want to learn more for me or for my services, do it yet!
The article was written by Kaloyan Kirchev and Emmanuel Tonev
English (UK) 
Български