How to Create a More Appealing LinkedIn Profile and Rank Higher

With 660 million LinkedIn users across 200+ countries, there is no denying that this professional platform is a dominating asset to help bolster your career and networking success. In fact, 87% of recruiters rely on LinkedIn to discover new talent, and according to LinkedIn themselves, 3 people are hired on there every minute.

But let’s pump the breaks for a moment.

You see, as wonderful and opportune as LinkedIn can be, the level of success and number of open doors you gain is unfortunately not something that will seamlessly come along by signing up or posting on LinkedIn once in a blue moon.

In short, there is a whole lot of competition on there, meaning if you truly want to stand out from the sea of job seekers, you’ve got to optimize your LinkedIn profile to attract employers and recruiters in the first place.

The Initial Aesthetics

First and foremost, first impressions matter. Due to that, you will want to ensure that your entire LinkedIn profile looks as clean, organized, and professional as possible.

That includes using a high-quality headshot (i.e., no selfies or grainy images of you in non-professional settings) and using an appealing yet still relevant banner.

For some more insight here, try keeping the same color scheme between your profile picture and banner to make your profile more aesthetically appealing and eye-catching.

The LinkedIn Profile Content Itself

Next, and arguably the more important factor, is the quality of the content you used to promote yourself.

This entails how you structured your ‘about’ summary and how you described your education, workplace, and volunteer duties. Now, it goes without saying to proofread your content before posting and use elegant sentence flow to give your LinkedIn visitors the confidence you are as well-versed in your specialty as you say you are.

But it also means to fill out every section applicable, using SEO tactics, and staying updated with any career changes as well.For a quick reference:

• About Summary:Gives recruiters an idea of who you are as a person and gives you the freedom to share your professional story that is generally not on a cover letter or resume. This is an excellent place to boost SEO as well using keywords and phrases that are strong within your niche.
• Custom URL:Make a customized URL for your LinkedIn profile to make it easier for others to find you. Along with this, make sure that your profile is not in ‘private mode’ to give more people access to your content.
• Workplace and Education Sections:These are both core sections to fill out thoroughly to showcase your experiences and skills. For this one, try focusing more on the roles and skills you have acquired that can benefit your overall professional image the most. Here is another great area to incorporate SEO keywords and phrases to increase exposure.
• Recommendations and Endorsements:The more recommendations and endorsements you get, the better your LinkedIn profile will be. For this one, you can’t exactly endorse or recommend yourself, but you can do so for others in hopes they will return the favor.

Posting on LinkedIn

Believe it or not, a cornerstone way to create a more appealing LinkedIn profile is stepping outside of the profile itself and actually posting on LinkedIn.

Once your profile is solid, updated, and SEO boosted, take advantage of the blog posting section of LinkedIn to share quality information such as industry-specific insight to drive organic traffic to your profile. Again, use SEO best practices every step of the way here (such as using SEO hashtags and using backlinks) to reach more people, and perhaps leverage FeedHive to make scheduling posts on LinkedIn more of an exciting factor than a chore.

Overall, posting on LinkedIn is a fundamental way for you to draw others in, gain more exposure, and illuminate your professionalism and expertise on certain topics.

*Bonus Tip: Think about joining some niched LinkedIn groups too to optimize your networking abilities. Doing so and posting and/or commenting in there can get you noticed faster by hiring recruiters within the same industry as you are.*

Summary – Small Changes Now, Big Results Later

Albert Einstein once said, “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then, you have to play better than anyone else.”

Applying that to the world of career hunting and LinkedIn profile optimization, knowing how the platform works and the basics of networking are one thing, but learning how to outshine your competition with those same tools is a whole other ball game.

But as you can see above, getting to that advanced LinkedIn profile level and posting on LinkedIn regularly with quality content just takes a bit of mindful planning and tailoring.The best part is that scheduling posts on LinkedIn can become even easier when integrating automation tools like FeedHive into the mix, allowing you to turn your focus on enhancing other aspects of your LinkedIn profile.

In summary, never underestimate the intensity your LinkedIn profile has when optimized. Because with just a little tweaking on your part and taking advantage of cutting-edge scheduling tools like FeedHive offers, you can effectively liven up your profile and unlock new career opportunities than ever before.