This is the third post in my series of LinkedIn Tips. Tip #1 covered invitations to connect and tip #2 talked about improving your professional headline. For this time, we'll work on one easy way to improve your LinkedIin Profile.
When you first set up your LinkedIn account, LinkedIn walks you through the steps required to set up your Profile. By default, the Profile contains certain sections, including your Experience, Education, Honors and Awards, etc. You can also add sections to your Profile that help to demonstrate your expertise and make your Profile stand out, including Projects, Publications, Skills and Expertise, and more.
Some of those sections may be more important to your potential clients and referral sources than others, and the level of importance of the different sections of your Profile may change over time. For example, if you're a recent graduate, your Education may be important; you may not have much else to add to your Profile. But as you gain experience in the practice, your Education may become less important.
LinkedIn gives you the option to customize your Profile by changing the order of the sections so that you can put those areas that you think your potential clients, referral sources, or potential employers would find most valuable at the top of your Profile.
How to Re-Organize Your Profile
To change the order of sections on your Profile, drag and drop section headings so that the most important items appear higher up on your Profile. To do so, click on the vertical arrow to the extreme right of the section heading and drag and drop the section to the desired location in your Profile.
You can now also rearrange items within a particular section of your Profile. The process is similar to rearranging a profile section - find the vertical arrow to the right of the item, then click and drag the item to the location where you want it to appear within that section:
Rearranging the order of your LinkedIn Profile is quick and easy, so make the most of this feature and put important items front and center so those who view your Profile will see them right away.
If you want more information about how to use LinkedIn in your practice, check out LinkedIn in One Hour for Lawyers.
Great tip.
Posted by: Carole Levitt | January 30, 2013 at 03:28 PM