Donna Serdula - LinkedIn Profile Optimization For Dummies

Most people simply copy and paste their resume into their profile because it’s easy, but a profile consisting of a copied-and-pasted resume impresses no one. Consider the recruiter who has your resume in his hot hands and wants to learn more about you, so he looks you up on LinkedIn, only to find the exact same information that is in your resume. He would be disappointed, to say the least. To have a strong and optimized LinkedIn profile, you need to move beyond just your resume that details your past and aligns you to a job. An optimized LinkedIn profile tells your professional story, is geared strategically toward your goals, and contains what your target audience needs to know about you.

When you are done with this book, your LinkedIn profile is going to be a true compendium of who you are and what you stand for. It’s going to authentically tell your professional story, and people will see you as someone who inspires confidence and ability.

This book is a how-to manual that shows you the steps to craft a strategic and compelling LinkedIn profile that captures your unique brand and professional story. I show you how to take your profile from nothing more than a simple outline to a robust, full-featured profile of you as a professional that commands attention and evokes action.

Although you can pick up this book at any point, I highly suggest, at the very least, reading Chapter 1and then Part 2. In Chapter 1, I discuss the importance of determining your LinkedIn goal and target audience. If you don’t identify your goal, your profile cannot be written strategically and it will not perform adequately. Likewise, you need to understand your target audience and write to what they need to know about you.

Part 2is all about the intro card of your LinkedIn profile. This is the very first part people see when they open your LinkedIn profile and you want to make sure you capture their attention immediately, or else they’ll surf off to another profile.

Regardless of your LinkedIn goal, you will benefit from the information in this book. Although LinkedIn isn’t rocket science, it isn’t the most intuitive social network either. Plus, writing about yourself is hard! In this book, I break everything down to its core to make it easy for you to use LinkedIn and create an impressive profile that helps you achieve your professional goals.

Having worked with thousands of professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and companies from all over the world, I am going to assume that like them you are optimizing your profile for:

Professional branding/reputation management. You know that people are looking at your profile and you want to showcase yourself in a professional and impressive manner. You recognize that people draw conclusions based upon what they read, and you want to ensure they see you as a thought leader and someone who deserves to be noticed and respected.

Sales and prospecting. You want to use your LinkedIn profile to help you prospect better and sell more. You know that prospects and clients are looking at your profile, and you want them to see you as a solution provider who can help them achieve their goals. You also know that people may be looking for a service or product that you sell and you want to appear in search results.

Job search. You are either currently working or displaced, but you are ready to spread your wings and find the next great opportunity that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning and go to work. Recruiters, hiring managers, and human resources professionals are using LinkedIn to find candidates. You want to make sure that your profile stands out in those searches, and that when they click on your profile, what they read is compelling and makes them want to reach out to request your resume. Alternately, you have likely submitted your resume to various job postings and you know that recruiters, hiring managers, and human resources professionals may look at your LinkedIn profile to learn more. You want to make sure your profile is an impressive introduction that compels them to call you for an interview.

This book is divided into five parts:

Most people just jump into writing their LinkedIn profiles, but not you! In this first part, I show you how to immediately stand out by determining your LinkedIn goals, target audience, and keywords.

In this part, I show you how develop a compelling intro card section by choosing a professional profile picture, creating a compelling headline, and uploading an on-brand background image. I also show you how to create a personalized link to your profile that makes marketing a cinch.

In Part 3, I walk you through filling out the two LinkedIn profile sections the majority of people find the most challenging: Experience and About. You’ll learn how to craft impressive experiences that focus on achievements over pure job description. You also learn how to craft an About section that acts as a professional manifesto that engages and impresses your target audience.

Part 4is all about the extra flourishes you can add to your profile, such as with sample projects, publications, patents, organizations, and more. I show you how to spice up your profile and professional brand by getting active on LinkedIn and joining the LinkedIn conversation. When you are done with Chapter 15, you will know more than most Influencers do about LinkedIn publishing!

The Part of Tens is the traditional end of a For Dummies book and contains lists of ten items that will help you leverage your profile and LinkedIn even better. This part is packed with links to external websites that provide the tools you can use to create a powerful profile.

The last three Part of Tens chapters are pure powerhouses of information. If you want a quick and dirty education on LinkedIn, don’t skip these. By reading these chapters, I promise you, you’ll have more knowledge of LinkedIn than most of those social media “gurus” who have set up shop.

I use a number of icons in this book to draw your attention to pieces of useful information.

This whole book can be considered a series of tips! When I share information that I find especially useful for optimizing your profile, I indicate it with a Tip icon.

This icon is used to flag information that may be useful to remember when you think about and work on your profile.

Whenever something may cause unnecessary work or a headache down the road, I alert you with a Warning icon.

A Technical Stuff icon contains detailed or background information that is not necessary to know to optimize your profile, but is otherwise interesting.