Your LinkedIn Profile Might Suck If…

We are on LinkedIn every day.

Multiple times per day.

And we have seen every conceivable profile.

So, how do you know if yours might suck?

Your LinkedIn profile might suck if:

You have no photo

Prospects, headhunters, competitors are checking you out to see if you are the real deal (at least digitally) or not.

And this does not say ‘real deal’:

There is no excuse to not have a photo.

You’re not using a background photo

Though not mandatory, your use of a background image sends a clear message that you take the platform of LinkedIn seriously.

And this says you don’t:

Here’s how to add or edit this section: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/49960/adding-or-changing-the-background-photo-on-your-profile?lang=en

You have the wrong photo for the channel

LinkedIn is a suit and tie network.

Facebook is a cocktail party.

LinkedIn photos should be of you, alone, without the kids or the wife or the cocktail or…

Facebook photos…well that’s a post that we won’t write.

You have not upgraded your photo to fit the new image box at the top of your profile page

You can upload a mighty big image (up to 4 MB) and LinkedIn will size it accordingly.

That means there is no reason to have a teeny-weeny photo in the box – like this:

You list your name in all lower case letters (or ALL CAPS)

This one always perplexes us, as we assume that the member is simply too lazy to use the “shift” key on the keyboard.

Or their Cap Lock on their keyboard is broken.

You are presenting an image to millions of potential viewers – are you a lower case kind of guy/gal or WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT THEM?

You neglect to liberally use the ABOUT section

LinkedIn gives you 2000 characters to work with – so why not tell the world more about yourself?

It’s a great place to write about how you work with advisors using your PVP – Peerless Value Proposition®.

It’s a great place to put in your contact information.

It’s a great place to post videos, PDFs, SlideShares to your Professional Gallery (see Rob’s ABOUT section here for examples).

You don’t boast a bit about your accomplishments in your Experience section

This does not get anyone viewing your profile the least bit interested in knowing more:

Instead, use your achievement such as this to display yourself – it’s your career, feel free to boast a bit.

Hint: you can use Alt Codes to improve the readability of your profile.

Hint #2: Provide a one sentence summary overview at the start of each job description that quantifies the size of your firm (or division) and the description of what you wholesaled i.e. product type.

You simply don’t care

LinkedIn is a powerful tool – if you take the time to set it up correctly.

Doing so will give you a leg up over too many folks that offer profiles such as this (yes, this is the entire profile):

Want LinkedIn to recommend improvements for your profile?

Try their Guided Editing Tour.

Lastly, become a member of our group at LinkedIn – it’s open ONLY to past and present wholesalers.

We work with our coaching clients on effective utilization of LinkedIn – in addition to countless other wholesaling topics.

Get more information about Wholesaler Masterminds Coaching.