What are the 9 Tips For The Perfect Online Profile?

Struggling to get noticed? Your professional profile is the first thing a potential employer will see. Make a great first impression, and you maximize your chances of getting hired or get a promotion by following these simple steps to improve your LinkedIn profile for a polished, professional profile.

But how can you craft an amazing professional profile to boost your online presence? It does take time to build your personal brand and create a profile that will funnel authority and influence in your direction. Your professional profile on LinkedIn or other business related sites is the first step. You need to think of yourself as your own small business that needs to cultivate its presence on the web, build a network, create content and market yourself effectively.

Even if you’re not selling anything directly like a consultant or strategist you still need to cultivate your professional profile for those times you want o move on in your career and find a new job or press for a new promotion. These event require you to be a “complete package” which goes far beyond just a pretty resume. You can check out the current state of job searches here.

Read on for 8 tried and tested tips for the perfect profile for your business, social media and relationship needs media.

1. Important Things First

No matter what type of position you are aiming for, you have to put your basic information first. This is the technical stuff that readers must know before going into more detail.

You will be surprised by how many people fail to mention basic stuff like their email address, their current position, and even their surname!

Listing all basic info first will show how organized and focused you are. You need to list your name, your degrees, and your contact details in a way that anyone can find in a matter of seconds. It is also a good idea to write a succinct description of your core qualities in ten words or less. For example: “C-Suite Financial Manager”, or “Cloud Computing and Unified Communications Expert”.

2. Be Consistent and Concise

It is easy to get distracted and mix personal with professional stuff in your profile. Avoid this at all costs, and aim to create a concise professional profile. Your potential employers will not be particularly interested in your daily routine.

Employers will also appreciate a consistent profile format where they are able to find what they need without having to guess where you are listing the things that are relevant to them. Your profile must be clean and easy to read, even by executives who are not particularly tech-savvy.

Avoid overly long hyperlinks and make sure to separate fact from opinion when writing about your qualifications.

3. Short, Sweet, and Simple

When creating your professional profile, don’t just copy and paste stuff from your resume. While resumes must be thorough and comprehensive, online profiles must be short, sweet, and simple.

Your professional profile must include all your major qualifications and what makes you stand out from the cloud. Listing all your past positions is fine, but don’t go about writing whole sections for every position you held.

For positions you held more than a decade ago, it is fine to just list the name of the company, the date you started, and the date you ended your tenure. No need to go into specifics, unless you have some extraordinary accomplishment you have to share.

Also avoid jargon, vague statements, and flowery language. List the facts and let your accomplishments speak on your behalf. Potential employers do not appreciate baseless self-promotion.

4. Use Appropriate Media

Your professional profile will need at least one good profile picture to be complete. If you have more relevant media, including video interviews, or podcasts, you should list them in your profile as well.

Any type of media that can help establish your position as a thought leader within your field can help secure your future position. besides adding and publishing articles, videos are an incredible way to create authority  and begin influencing people.

While your initial profile photo will be all important in that they will not even bother with your profile if they don’t like or trust your profile photo ( ask yourself does it make me look professional, trustworthy , authoritative and generally put together?)

However, quality is key here. You should not post any amateur vlogs or personal videos. Focus on media that highlight your key qualifications. If you don’t have any, it is best to just go with a single profile picture.

5. Focus on Formatting

Different social media have different layout requirements. For example, LinkedIn has a rather strict format you have to follow. If you are listing your professional profile on various trade directories, you may have to adhere to different designated formats.

This is not something you can ignore. While LinkedIn may list your profile even if it’s poorly formatted, other directories will just delist you unless you follow their specific layout requirements.

Following a designated format will help you appear more professional to potential employers. It will also help potential employers find you easier among other candidates in trade directories.

When a directory gives you the option to be creative, you should take the time to study other successful professional profiles while designing yours.

6. List Your Strengths, Areas of Expertise, and Past Accomplishments

It is important to list all your relevant accomplishments, as well as your core strengths as an employee. Avoid overly generic or vague claims such as “I am a hard worker”, and instead focus on tangible evidence of success.

Mention specific metrics, awards, and noteworthy qualifications that will help quantify your performance. These will help potential employees evaluate your profile without having to guess at what you are trying to say.

Your aim here is to sound friendly but remain professional. You should stick to formal English but avoid lifeless jargon.

Links to past projects, affiliations, and business partners are your friends. If you are a member of an organization, make sure to mention it along with specific dates and positions. This is also true for volunteer positions.

7. Create Articles and Publish – Publish – Publish

LinkedIn has become one of the best places to publish well thought out and detailed articles. its almost a hidden gem of publishing authority and back links. This is a great way for you to start building authority and influencing others to build your network and build your personal brand. Take some time and come up with some relevant trends in your industry and the write your thoughts in a clear concise way but with enough detail to show people you know what you’re talking about. Usually this works out to about 1500 to 2,000 words.

Make sure to include a FAQ section where you write your own questions about the topic and then answer them.  Also, feel free to use Google Trends or even query any relevant groups on a subject to see what the most interesting trends are these days. Then do your research, form your own opinions and share it by publishing.

Try to publish at least every month if not every 2 weeks. Make sure to ask readers to Connect with you on your profile!

8. Join Relevant Groups and Engage with Members

There are millions of groups operating across LinkedIn and its easy to join. However, just joining is not the goal. The goal is to join and then start engaging with other members in the group by commenting and asking /answer questions. Too many people simply join a group and then start trying to “sell” themselves or their products in the group. Not cool. You need to build a reputation and authority with members of the group before promoting your product or services will be viewed as anything other than spam.

9. Be Sincere

Finally, do not ever think of making false claims about your past accomplishments and qualifications. While these may help you cheat your way into a company, they will only cause trouble down the road.

False claims may cost you your reputation, and in some cases may even lead to legal trouble! Instead, focus on who you really are and what you do best. Your future employer will appreciate your sincerity.

Following these simple tips will help you build your personal brand which can only help you as you build your career, look for a promotion or build your topic authority

Trust Your Professional Profile to Professionals

Your professional profile can transform your future career. This is not something you should leave to chance. Here at Online Profile Pros, we are your best partner for all your online profile needs.

Whether you need a professional profile pic update, or to write a killer narrative resume profile, we are here to help. Contact us today about your online profile needs, and we will make sure you look your best to potential employers.