6 Common LinkedIn Profile Mistakes and How to Fix Them

There are a few LinkedIn Profile mistakes I see people make on a regular basis. It starts with not using a professional picture, to not filling out the headline correctly and ends with not editing for typos. Discover the whole list in this post

Everything you do on LinkedIn always leads back to your profile. So before you start using LinkedIn for Social Selling, make sure you haven’t made any of these mistakes on your profile:

6 common LinkedIn Profile Mistakes

1. Not Using a Professional Image

LinkedIn as we all know, is a more buttoned-up version of social networks. So the most common LinkedIn Profile mistake is to add a non-professional picture. You don’t want to put an image of you with your children, or a picture of your cat or dogs. Leave that for Facebook. Use LinkedIn to get professional connections by presenting a professional image to the world.
Here are 5 Key Elements of a Good LinkedIn Profile Picture:

• professionally taken photograph
• right dress code
• positive attitude
• recent
• right size

2. Not Using the Summary Area Properly

To use the summary area properly, use good grammar, punctuation and symbols to separate the information you provide. Reading on a computer screen is difficult and requires a lot of white space and separation. The summary is a great area to explain either what you do, or what you want to do. On the summary, 3 lines is not enough! You have 2000 characters available, use them!

3. Not Using the Headline Area Correctly

Your headline needs to answer 3 questions:

1. What do you do?
2. Who do you help?
3. How do you help them?

You can use the pipe symbol “|” to separate words within the headline.

4. Not Asking Personally for Recommendations

You want to have recommendations that show up on your profile, but do not make the mistake of connecting to everyone and sending a mass message asking for recommendations. Take the time to personally invite each person to provide you a recommendation by reminding them of your skills and what you did for them. Read ‘How do I ask for a recommendation on LinkedIn‘.

5. Not Editing for Grammar and Typos

The worst thing that can happen is to have a profile that has a lot of poor grammar and typos. Have someone else look at your profile to notice any imperfections.

6. Not Creating a Personalized URL

LinkedIn provides a link that is just a few random letters and numbers. It’s important that you personalize it with your name. If your name is not available, play with variations for example sarah_santacroce or sarah.santacroce.

Take action

Using your LinkedIn profile to attract potential connections, get more clients, or find a new job will work if you take it seriously, fill it out completely, use professional language, the right keywords and stay focused on what you want to do. If you need help, consider investing in an evaluation of your LinkedIn Profile. I’ll review your profile in a 20-minute video review.