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Reasons Why Your LinkedIn Profile Stinks
To see if your LinkedIn profile summary stinks – answer the questions below honestly.
- How much time did you spend creating your LinkedIn profile including your LinkedIn summary?
- Did you fill your LinkedIn profile (including the summary) with fluff and put it together real fast without adding real substance to it – then leave your profile alone so it does nothing for you but rot away and stink like a pair of old gym socks left in your locker when you were back in high school?
- Did you just copy the About Us section of your website – or worse yet, copy the “About the Author section” on the back of your book and paste it into the summary section of your LinkedIn profile?
Your lame LinkedIn Profile Summary
Many LinkedIn professionals simply copy their bios from their website or the back of their book. And believe me you can tell. For example, I recently spoke to Ted Gee about changing his LinkedIn profile. I told him that his summary read like a back flap of a hard cover book. His exact response was, “You nailed it! That is exactly what I did”.
Do you remember anything you have read from a bio? No, that is because there is never anything interesting or memorable in an author’s bio. Your profile needs to entice your audience to want to learn more about you. It needs to have strong and engaging copy. It had to make the individual who is reading it scroll down further and eventually visit your website. But none of this can ever happen if your profile is dull and average.
Your summary is too short.
I tell my clients that they should think of their LinkedIn profile as a free marketing tool. What better way to sell yourself and your business then using your summary as the platform. LinkedIn allows up to 1700+ characters for your summary. Why wouldn’t you want to use all the space that they provide so you can give more information about your products and services? Why not use that space to inform people why they should connect with you? Why not use that space to show the value you can provide to prospects, referral sources and the media – and showcase the results that you have produced for your clients.
Your summary is all about you and not what you can do for your clients.
Yes, prospects viewing your profile do want to learn about you. But more importantly they what you to answer that age old question, “What can you do for me?” We live in a society where we want to know how someone can help us and we want to know right away. The best way to do this for your profile visitors is to provide real life results. Show prospects what you have done for your clients. Give facts about outcomes your clients have seen as a direct result of your products or services.
This is your venue to provide your prospects with a reason why they should care about you and your business. Show them what it is they can hope to achieve by using your products or services.
Make your profile summary in 1st person not 3rd person. LinkedIn is a virtual networking platform for business professionals who want to do more business. It is the first step in building a relationship with someone. You wouldn’t introduce yourself in the third person if you met someone at a networking event. – would you? Then why would you introduce yourself on your profile in 3rd person when writing in first person gives you a more genuine and personal touch.
Speak to your audience’s desires, wants and needs. For example here is part of a great introduction:
Imagine being featured on the front page of USA TODAY — and then being able to double your speaking fees immediately just like PR LEADS client Patrick Snow of Creating Your Own Destiny. Imagine the website traffic and sales you can generate if only you can find a way to get more publicity so you can speak to millions for free!
Now, small business owners, solo PR firms, speakers, authors and entrepreneurs can get name-brand publicity tools and publicity coaching they can afford. I’m talking about the same top-tier publicity tools that major corporations use to get mega media placements – but you can get it at a fraction of their cost.
Do you see how the intro speaks to the needs, wants and desires of a small business owner looking to attract media attention?
Reveal mistakes your target audience is making and how you are the solution to their problems. For example, in Skip Weisman’s profile summary we revealed how one of his clients admittedly lost 5 million in ten years before working with him. By showing your audience the types of mistakes they are making (that they don’t even realize they are doing), you will stop prospects dead in their tracks. They will automatically want to see if they are making costly mistakes themselves. The key part of this process is to provide reasons how you can help members of your audience and why they should work with you.
Show client results. For example, on this profile, the user includes results like:
* Ross Jeffries (Founder of Speed Seduction) – For every dollar he spends on internet marketing consulting, he earns several dollars back. In fact, with one of his promotions, he made more than $60,000 in less than 24 hours!
* MaryPat Kavanagh – Saved thousands of dollars after Adam reviewed her website and internet marketing systems. He showed her how she’s wasting money on complex solutions that are actually costing her money.
Failing to funnel your prospects to different areas of your website.
Your LinkedIn profile is the perfect place to direct prospects to all the helpful tools available to them on your website. For example, in my summary I provide the link for people to receive a copy of my free report where I uncover 14 LinkedIn marketing mistakes most business professionals are making. Now who is not going to at least check out what my “free” report is all about? This entices views to actually visit my site and this will lead to them learning more about what I can do for them.