How to Elevate Your Voice on LinkedIn

About three years ago, I created a checklist to help our clients improve their LinkedIn profiles and articles. A few weeks ago, a thought occurred to me: it's probably time to update the checklist.

So I did. Here it is:

I'm not suggesting that everyone will agree with this, but many of our clients have enjoyed significant success by following this advice.

You can read the checklist yourself, but let me share a few important observations:

1. You have to give people context. You are creating your LinkedIn profile for people who don't know you. Assume they know nothing about you, because that is the reality. They don't know whether you are a spaced-out loser or the second most brilliant person on Earth. They don't know whether "marketing expert" means that you sold bagels on Sundays in your college dorm or that you managed a $1 billion budget at IBM.

You have to tell them everything.

2. People are looking for a reason to ignore you. LinkedIn has over 550 million members. No one spends their time giving every member the benefit of the doubt. No one says, "Sure, her profile is confusing and riddled with errors, but I'm sure that Kkathy Simth is a wonderful person who I should hire immediately."

If others don't find a compelling reason to contact you, they will ignore you. 

If you don't provide that reason, no one else will.

3. It is very easy to confuse busy people.

P.S. We are all busy.

• If you fail to include verbs in your Summary, you will confuse people.
• If you begin your Summary with a history of your early years, you will confuse people.
• Unless you are extremely talented and self-aware, being overly cute will backfire on you.

Tell people exactly how you can help them. This is why I love a Summary that begins, "Clients call me when _____." Here's a fictional example, so you understand how effective this can be:

Clients call me when they need a new e-commerce website built for less than $2,500; my sites typically double or triple their sales.

4. Keep everything simple. When I write an article, I have one point to get across. The same is true when I post an update. 

But many people include two, three or even four points in one post. Some people don't even know what their point was, they just posted something.

Do you think this is effective?

Nope.

My articles are shorter than many others. Is this because I have less to say? No, I've written more LinkedIn articles than 99.99% of the human population. But once I make my point, I stop.

Bruce Kasanoff is a ghostwriter for a wide range of interesting and accomplished professionals. He is co-founder of Park City Think Tank.