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7 Elements of a Complete LinkedIn Profile
“LinkedIn users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to
receive opportunities through LinkedIn.”
Wow! That’s a HUGE increase in business opportunities!
The reason for this is that complete profiles tend to show up higher not only in searches on LinkedIn,
but also on Google. A more complete profile will help you to be more visible and more easily found.
So, what do you have to do to have a “complete” LinkedIn profile?
It’s actually quite simple and LinkedIn even gives you a visual representation of your profile strength
on your profile. (which is only visible to you)
There are 5 different levels of profile completion:
1.
Beginner
2.
Intermediate
3.
Advanced
4.
Expert
5.
All Star = 100% Complete (even though there’s a little white space at the top – which LinkedIn
says “there’s always room for improvement”)
© 2015 CathyJennings, www.NoPressureNetworking.com
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7 Elements of a Complete LinkedIn Profile
In order to move from Beginner all the way to All Star (aka, 100% Complete Profile), you need to
complete the following elements in your profile:
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A Profile Photo
Your Industry and Location
An up-to-date Current Position (with a description)
Two Past Positions
Your Education
Your Skills (minimum of 3)
At least 50 Connections
Of course, the key to an effective profile is not just to slap any old information into these profile
sections and call it a day. You’ll want to optimize each section and then have a strategy for
connecting and staying top of mind with your connections. That’s where the real value of LinkedIn is
and where you’ll get the most return on your investment from the site.
Are YOU ready to attract more opportunities for you and your business?
Complete the following 7 LinkedIn profile elements and you’ll be on your way!
© 2015 CathyJennings, www.NoPressureNetworking.com
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7 Elements of a Complete LinkedIn Profile
Profile Photo
Your headshot is one of the most important elements of your LinkedIn profile. A
good first impression encourages the viewer to read the rest of your profile and to
connect with you.
Adding a professional-looking photo makes your profile 7x more likely to be
Adding a professional-looking
photoand
makes
your profile
7x more
to be found
in searches
found in searches
7x more
likely to
have likely
your profile
viewed.
and 7x more likely to have your profile viewed.
Your LinkedIn photo should make the same impression on people as if you were greeting them
personally. Make it friendly, warm, approachable, and professional.
Here are some tips for a GREAT LinkedIn profile photo:
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Use a photo of YOU in your profile — don’t use a logo, caricature or object to represent you.
Make it professional -- stay away from glamour shots, pictures of you at the beach or party
photos.
Your photo should be up-to-date so you can be easily recognized (by your friends and
associates, past colleagues, people you meet at a networking event, etc.)
Don’t have other people in your photos (and don’t crop other people out of your shot — there
shouldn’t be any random body parts in your LinkedIn photo!)
Be sure you have good lighting, that your background isn’t distracting and that the photo is
clear and in focus.
Make sure you are front and center, and the focus of the photo. Your head and shoulders
should fill the frame – LinkedIn photos are very small, so if you use a full body shot, people
won’t be able to see your face clearly.
Smile – you want to look friendly and approachable
Your photo should be as close to a square as possible. This is because once you upload it to
LinkedIn, the site will force you to crop the photo to a square shape and if the original picture is
an oblong, you may find that parts of your face are cut off.
Please no default grey “faceless” photos!
© 2015 CathyJennings, www.NoPressureNetworking.com
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7 Elements of a Complete LinkedIn Profile
Industry and Location
Including your Industry and Location in your Profile enables people searching for
professionals in your business field or geographic area to find you more easily.
Your Location will default to your geographic region and not necessarily the specific city where you
live.
To display a specific city, you can type in your zip code to see if your city is an option in the dropdown
menu. (you may have to try different zip codes from your city to see if one of them will work)
Industry is a general category chosen from a dropdown menu. Choose the one the best describes your
main focus of business.
Education
One of the benefits of listing your educational background is that LinkedIn uses this
to help you find people to connect with.
Also, people often like to do business with fellow alumni, so that can help tip the scales in your favor
when someone is deciding who to work with.
This section isn't limited to just high school, college and post-graduate education. You should also list
any vocational education, certification courses, continuing education classes and professional seminars
or workshops related to your industry or areas of expertise. (choose the “Other” option when you click
on “Add Education”)
Other items to include in this section:
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Clubs/organizations you belonged to (including officer positions you held)
Honor societies, fraternities, sororities
Study abroad
Events you organized
Committees you served on
Internships
© 2015 CathyJennings, www.NoPressureNetworking.com
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7 Elements of a Complete LinkedIn Profile
An Up-to-Date Current Position
(with a description)
You have 2,000 characters in the Description area to showcase your credibility and
expertise – use them! List your Specialties, Services/Products, Clients/Customers
you serve, etc.
Other information you may wish to include:
 Years of experience
 Who you are / what you do
 What distinguishes you from others / makes you stand out
 What clients get or can expect when working with you
 Company accomplishments, awards, media attention, industry list mentions, etc.
 Your WHY story – why you started your business or why you’ve stayed in business so long
Note: It’s another great place to use your keywords.
Two Past Positions
Your Past Positions only need to be brief summaries and NOT as detailed as your
Current Positions, so they take MUCH less time to create!
There is no “rule” or limit to the number of Past Positions you may include on your LinkedIn Profile. It
is good to include positions with work experience, skills and ideal clients that are relevant to your
current position/work.
A good rule of thumb to follow is to go back at least 10 years or 5-8 positions at most.
Again, remember that people are scanning your information, so simply including more because you
CAN, doesn’t necessarily add to your audience’s experience.
What To Include In A Past Position:
 Time Period you worked there
 Location
 Title (100 Characters – include keywords relevant to current work if possible)
 Company Name (100 Characters)
 Description – A brief summary paragraph and/or short bulleted list of accomplishments (similar
to your resume) will suffice. Try for about 200 – 300 words or so. Include any keywords or
ideal client information relevant to your current work.
© 2015 CathyJennings, www.NoPressureNetworking.com
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7 Elements of a Complete LinkedIn Profile
Your Skills (minimum of 3)
This section of your Profile allows you to showcase your top skills and offer “social
proof” of your expertise through the visual display of Endorsements by others.
According to LinkedIn, members who include skills and utilize this section
receive 13x more profile views.
You can type a Skill into the text box and often you’ll start to see suggestions in a dropdown box
underneath. You can choose a Skill from that list (which tend to be the most common ones used) or
you can type something else into the box. Then click the blue “Add” button.
This is a great place to use relevant keywords (what you want to be found for – such as “Accounting”,
“Online Marketing” or “Leadership Training”.
You can list up to 50 Skills. Your top 10 Skills will be displayed at the top, along with thumbnail pictures
of the people who endorsed you for these skills. Below the top ten list, your next 15 Skills will be listed
in the “[Your Name] also knows about . . . “ section. The remaining 25 can be seen by clicking on the
button “See 25+” (at the end of the list of 15).
You control which Skills are displayed and can change the order of them as well – simply click and drag
on the skill and move it to the desired position.
At Least 50 Connections
When reaching out to people to connect, personalize your invitations. Instead of
using the default message of “I’d like to add you to my professional network on
LinkedIn”, customize your connection request.
Write a short, personal note about WHY you want to connect or how you know one another. Perhaps
you are both members of the same professional association or attended the same school or you may
have recently met at an event or conference. Context will get you a better response rate.
© 2015 CathyJennings, www.NoPressureNetworking.com
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Meet Cathy
I’m a situational extravert with a slight cheesecake obsession!
I’m also the Chief Conversation Starter for No Pressure Networking where I
love helping women entrepreneurs, service professionals and small business
owners leverage the power of SOCIAL MEDIA and RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
to stand out and grow their business.
My motto: Relationships are the Key to Opportunity!
Social Media is one of the most powerful tools for marketing and connecting and it’s definitely
introvert-friendly, too.
I teach my clients and workshop participants powerful strategies to ATTRACT and KEEP the best
CLIENTS, REFERRALS and OPPORTUNITIES for their business – Strategies that are relationship-based
and that don’t require you to change who you are, be online 24 hours a day or spend a fortune!
I’ve been an entrepreneur for over 10 years and have built my business organically using BUSINESS
NETWORKING, REFERRALS and SOCIAL MEDIA. I can show you how to do the same!
If you feel overwhelmed by trying to learn how to use social media for your business or if you’d like to
partner with an energetic, creative and knowledgeable expert to help guide and support you in using
social media marketing effectively, email me at [email protected]. I’m here to help!
SPECIALTIES:
★Speaker – Social Media, Marketing, Business Networking
★Social Media Training
★Facebook Training
★LinkedIn Training
★Creating Customized Social Media & Marketing Strategies
★Business Networking & Relationship Building
★Social Media for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
★Using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Blogging for Business
★Developing Social Media Marketing Plans
Connect with Me!
Email: [email protected]
Website/Blog: www.NoPressureNetworking.com
LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/CathyJennings
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/CathyJenningsBiz
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/CathyJennings
© 2015 CathyJennings, www.NoPressureNetworking.com