26/03/2013

By Alexia Leachman, Founder of www.headtrash.co.uk


The most important point in creating a profile is to keep it updated. No-one wants to read stuff that’s two years out of date. Not only is old news irrelevant, it doesn’t reflect very well on you or your company either. If you can’t be bothered to update your own profile for instance, what else in your working life are you lax about?

Photo

We’re not just talking about text when we say get ‘with it.’ Upload a photo that’s no more than 12 months old. If you’ve changed your hair considerably ie it’s a different colour or five inches shorter etc then your new image needs to be reflected on the page too. Also, the photo should be just you – no cuddling any kittens or babies, regardless of how cute. Business clothes or those relevant to your profession are a must too.

LinkedIn upgraded their Business Page in October last year. It now provides space (646 x 220 pixels) for a large banner image (similar to Facebook’s upgrade for personal pages last year). Use this! It’s a fab advertising opportunity.

Job Title and Summary

Keywords are essential here – and not just for the search engines. Dynamic, action-type adverbs are best when describing yourself and your work/company. We’re talking words such as budgeted, engineered, developed, formulated etc.

Believe it or not there are trends in buzz words according to LinkedIn’s own blog. Certainly keywords apparently are ‘out’ due to the fact they’re viewed as outdated or too commonplace. The culprits are: motivated, effective, creative and responsible. Don’t despair though, you can find out what’s ‘in’ at Money-Zine.

If you’re updating a Company Page then the summary is where you write about awards won, record sales achieved and your expanded outreach – in other words, boast about your achievements.

Skills and Experience

It’s all about keywords here too. Luckily LinkedIn’s own tools help out here. Just insert your particular skill into the search bar and it’ll list the best way to write it. For example you may be wondering what to put for writer - copywriting, freelance writing, blog writing press release writing etc.

Backlinks

Always provide a link to your personal blog or company website and FB/Twitter accounts. This will make it easier for others to find you and it’ll improve your blog or company website’s SEO. In the case of a company link to a generic company email as well as individuals.

Updates from Others

Use the function allowing you to follow authority figures in your industry/sector in order to prove you like to keep up with advances and are aware of who’s who.

Endorsements and Recommendations

These certainly won’t hurt. Get past employers to outline your skills and what you brought to their company. Companies should ask customers to review their products or services.

Link to

Not just groups and individuals within your industry but also those companies and associations you’ve always been impressed by. See how they use LinkedIn to promote themselves.

Alexia Leachman is a Mojo-hunter and helps business leaders to find their mojo by helping them to clear their head trash, tell their story, raise their profile, build their digital presence and manage their reputation. Alexia is also the founder of www.headtrash.co.uk, the home of the most powerful head trash clearance technique in the world. She regularly speaks and writes, and has authored a chapter on Online Reputation for the book “Hit me! The Secrets of getting your small business to punch its weight online”. You can follow her on Twitter at @AlexiaL and find out more at www.alexialeachman.com Her new radio show B.the change launched recently and you can hear that here http://www.alexialeachman.com/radio-show.html