LESSON 1: THE INTRO SECTION
In this lesson, we'll cover:
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
What Is The Intro Section?
Choosing Your Keywords
Customizing Your URL
Your Banner Image
Your Profile Picture
Your Name
Your Headline
Your Location
Here we go!
What Is The Intro Section?
The intro section of your profile includes your​ ​URL, banner image, public profile,
picture, name, headline, and your location.
We'll cover basic information and tips for all of these in this lesson. But I'd like you to
choose your keywords FIRST.
Choosing Your Keywords
I like to refer to your Linkedin profile as your sales page. This is the face of your brand
on Linkedin. And it stretches far beyond Linkedin.
Your public LinkedIn profile is what people see when they Google you, even if they're
not logged into LinkedIn or don't have a Linkedin account.
Here you can see what Google shows when you search for my name. My Linkedin
profile is the top search result:
You can see that my name, title, company name, URL, and my headline are all here on
the Google search results. Google also pulled a little bit from my summary “about”
section.
So it's important (whether someone is on Linkedin or finding you another way) to make
sure these aspects of your Linkedin profile showcase your personal brand accurately
and effectively.
Search engines crawl websites for content and decipher how to categorize sites and
content with keywords. So for Google, keywords define what content is about.
In this case, keywords in your Linkedin profile will define what your personal brand is
about. So you want to have an easily searchable profile that clearly communicates your
expertise.
The objective for this lesson is to define 4 to 5 keywords that you want to represent your
brand, and use them throughout the different sections of your profile.
When you're brainstorming appropriate keywords, consider the following:
●
●
●
●
●
your niche
specific job titles you've held: current (or past if relevant)
your skills, competencies, and expertise
your achievements
relevant credentials
Tip
💡Here is a fun exercise:
To find out what keywords your ​current​ profile reflects, you can use a site called
wordclouds.com. It’s free.
Copy and paste your Linkedin profile PDF into wordclouds, and it will tell you what
keywords are extracted from your profile.
If you're building your Linkedin profile from scratch, you can use your resume, or even
your current job description instead of your Linkedin profile.
Here’s how to download your profile as a PDF:
●
●
●
●
●
●
Click “More” next to “Add profile section”
Save the PDF
Go to ​www.wordclouds.com
Select “Open PDF document” from the file menu
Choose your Linkedin profile that you just saved
Now you can see your wordcloud
The words and terms that are the largest size are the keywords your current Linkedin
profile is being identified by now. So from here, you have your starting point. You can
keep what you like, and make adjustments for anything you don’t.
When I insert my Linkedin profile into the wordcloud, it identifies these keywords:
●
●
●
●
●
Revenue
Sales
SMB
SaaS
Selling
I’m happy with these keywords because they're an accurate reflection of my
professional expertise, and I want to come up in the results when anyone searches for
those terms.
If you don't like the keywords that stand out in your current profile, here's another fun
exercise:
Find job descriptions that appeal to you (on career pages, etc).
Copy and paste these job descriptions into the word cloud, and it will highlight key
words, which you can consider for your profile.
When you know those 4 to 5 keywords, write them down and use them throughout all
the sections in your profile.
Tip
💡 ​JobScan​ and ​TagCrowd​ are other websites you can utilize to identify keywords.
Now that you've defined your key words, it's time to build your profile. Let's go!
Customizing Your URL
A URL is an address for a webpage. A customized Linkedin URL is a small attention to
detail that makes it easier for people to find you. It’s a clean way to add your Linkedin
profile address to your resume, business cards, websites, and anywhere else you like.
And doing this shows that you pay attention to details.
Here’s how to do it:
Go to the ​Me​ icon at the top of your ​LinkedIn​ homepage
> View Profile
> Edit public profile
> Click on Edit public profile & URL
> Click the Edit icon next to your public profile URL
> Type the last part of your new custom URL in the text box
> Click Save
You can customize it to be anything that's not already taken. Here are a few good
examples of what you can do:
● Ideally, your URL should be some version of your first and last name. Here are
some examples:
○ Here's my URL: ​https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinwelsh/
○ My wife's name is Jennifer Welsh, and that was already taken, so she
added her middle initial with hyphens:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-a-welsh/
○ My friend Megan Bowen included her maiden name:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganwhitebowen/
Your Banner Image
Linkedin is all about personal branding, and your banner is prime real estate to visually
highlight your brand.
If you don't insert your own image here, you'll have the generic blue background that
basically communicates "Hey world, I haven't put much effort into my profile." So take
advantage of this part of your profile.
People are naturally attracted to visual elements before text, so use this space to
capture attention with an image that will pique interest in your profile and encourage
someone to want to learn more about you.
Here are some housekeeping tips for the image:
● Your banner should be 1584 x 396 pixels ( a 4:1 ratio)
● The file can only be a PNG or a JPEG
● The image should be clean and crisp, not blurry or pixelated.
Here are some image ideas to consider:
● An image that emphasizes your purpose, mission, or industry. Claude Silver is
the Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia. Her brand is all about empathy and
caring. She has an interesting banner image that supports her personal brand.
● An image of you in action, presenting or training. An image that shows you
speaking to an audience lends credibility to your profile. This is Josh Braun
below.
● An image with text promoting a product, event, or service you offer. You can
include a call to action. Here's how I did this for my profile:
Similar to mine, Quentin Allums expertly uses his banner to promote his company and
clarify exactly what he does. Check this out:
Tip
💡: ​Unsplash​ is my favorite resource for professional images that you can download
for free. If you're looking for a stock image to get started, Unsplash is a gold mine.
Your Profile Picture
Your name, profile picture, and headline appear in all your activity (when you post and
comment on anything, etc). Here's what I mean:
These parts of your profile deserve extra special consideration.
Your profile picture is your chance to enhance your personal brand by putting a face to
a name. And like it or not, how you present yourself in your profile picture impacts how
your brand is perceived on the platform.
Your profile picture should be a well-lit, professional headshot. Here are some best
practices to follow:
● I highly recommend getting a professional headshot for Linkedin. This is an
investment, I realize. A profile with a professional headshot increases credibility
and brand equity.
● Your photo should be square (400 x 400 pixels)
● You are the only thing that should appear in your picture. No friends, kids, family,
or pets. Just you.
● Avoid a photo of your full body. It’s too small for the little circle. Your head and
shoulders are ideal.
● You want your photo to be a good representation of what you look like. So if
someone is meeting you for the first time in person, after being connected on
Linkedin, they would easily recognize you.
● Good lighting is critical.
● Choose a good background that doesn’t distract from your face.
● No selfies. If you're going to take the picture yourself, use the timer feature on
your phone.
● Consider a friendly facial expression that feels natural.
Your Name
This is worth mentioning because I see a lot of people get this wrong. If you aren't using
the same name (professionally) across all your social media accounts, you're
weakening your personal brand. And you need to use your first and last name.
Many people simply use an initial for their last name (ie: Justin W.) I’ve also seen
people use nicknames.
Linkedin is not Twitter or Instagram where it’s okay to have a casual handle. So...
● Be straightforward here, and use your entire first and last name. Feel free to
include your middle initial or middle name, if that’s how you present yourself
professionally.
● Use the same name on all your social platforms and professional situations.
● If you've been known by another name in the last few years, you might consider
including your former name in parenthesis, so it's easy for someone to connect
the dots.
Your Headline
Your headline is the phrase that appears below your name.
Not only does it take up prime real estate on your profile page, but it also appears in
searches, before anyone clicks into your profile.
A compelling headline will create interest and earn clicks. But if you don't edit your
headline, Linkedin will default to your current job title. Most people don't edit this, so the
headline is a great way to stand out from the crowd. See the difference:
No headline change (default headline) Snooze.
vs. a creative and captivating headline that stands out. This one is from my friend, Amy
Volas, who's an absolute Linkedin rockstar, as you can see from her badass headline:
See the difference?
Here are some notes about writing your headline:
● There's a 120 character limit for your headline.
Tip
💡: You can get up to 240 characters if you edit your headline on mobile. Note that
only 80 characters appear in the search results on desktop, and 65 on mobile (before
it's truncated), so keep the most important information at the front your headline.
Here's what I mean:
● Your headline should include your specialty (specifically what you do, in what
industry, and who you serve) + your unique value proposition.
● Keywords for your industry and expertise are critical to get discovered in
searches. Make sure to sprinkle in some of the keywords you identified already.
● Avoid fluffy words that don't really mean anything. Words like "creative",
"strategic", and "problem-solver" are overused and don't differentiate you from
the crowd or communicate anything substantial.
● Consider including big wins or noteworthy companies you've worked for.
● There are unlimited formulas for creating a captivating headline. But here's a
basic formula to get started: ​What you do + for who + how​ (the order doesn't
matter). Here's mine:
Your Location & Industry
Specifying your location and industry makes you appear in searches by other people
near you and in searches where someone is filtering for geographic & industry criteria
that you match.
These are small details that make it easier for people to discover your profile.
● Ensure your location and industry is as specific as possible.
● If you're looking for a role in another location (ie: planning to move), insert your
future location in your intro section and explain the upcoming transition in your
summary.
● If you live in a suburb near a large city, I recommend using something like "Los
Angeles" (the big city) over "Pasadena" (the smaller city) so you show up in more
search results. That is my personal preference, and depending on what your
profession is, you should decide what's best for your brand.
This concludes the Intro section of this module. See you in the next lesson.