Optimizing Your LinkedIn Headline(while saving time)

In our efforts of connecting with people we usually do not take advantage of pre-planning.  What does that mean??? well, as an example, I used to have my headline in my LinkedIn profie that just showed my ... well... title.  What I realized was that the headline is a key component for what shows up in searches.  So if I have a potential customer, employer, partner ... you name it.. what ever I am using LinkedIn for garnering relationships... My headline is what will show up in their search categories... Well along with my experience.  So here is a post that will help you show up in searches that are  relevant to the people that want to connect to you (whether they know it or not) ... Don't forget, this headline is your 30 Second Elevator pitch that someone that you want to connect with is reading.

At the bottom I will include a Template that you can paste into Notepad to develop your Headline Description.

First things first:
1.  Determine what "keywords" you want to focus on.  These should be short descriptive phrases or words that the person, company, partner etc... will be typing in when they enter a search term in LinkedIn.  For me I am looking to connect with folks that are similar in industry or potentially needing my or my companies skill sets... So I wrote down the following keywords:

Data Center, Strategy, Consolidations, Migrations, Integrations, Project Management Office, PMO, Process Management, Time Management, Marketing, Project management, Program Management ...

Well, as you can see, I have way more characters than are allowed in the 120 that LinkedIn allows.  So I need to narrow down to the specific ones that I want to focus on.


I created this template that you can copy and paste into Notepad to play with. ** note, do not put carraige returns in the text. It will stop the title at the carraige return.

LinkedIn Profile Desc:

         1         2         3         4         5         6         7         8         9        10        11        12
123456789012345678901234567980123465789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
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I also figured I might want several versions depending on what Search terms I want to focus on or times of year when certain terms are hotter (or not) than others.

Normal:
V.P.Data Center Services-Passion for Data Center Consolidation & Migrations/PMO Process/Time Mgmt/Marketing&Program Mgmt

Service oriented Sharepoint:
V.P.Data Center Services-SharePoint Enthusiast/Microsoft Expert/Office Pro/Passion for Data Center Consolidations


Focus on Data Center Migrations:
V.P.Data Center Services-I.T. Strategy/Data Center Migrations/Consolidations/Integrations/Virtualization/ Move Methods


After you wordsmith them you can view your profile and see if it makes sense:

The key to remember is when people put in search terms.. the content of this area helps to put your profile first...

The next thing to do is test your results.. It might take awhile for them to be indexed so you can give it some time. I personally don't know how LinkedIn's indexing works... So you can play it by ear.

And see if you show up in the first page of results... 

Do the same test for each of the KeyWords you focused on....  Note, I blurred the results as those folks have not stated they want their information shown outside of LinkedIn. (at least not to me)...

Hope this helps you connect with the people you want to connect with on LinkedIn.

For more information regarding KnowledgeCentrix Data Center Offerings Click here.

Transitions

Our lives and our pursuit of happiness can take us on a wonderful life journey, which for me is now ready to help a different company grow and take their next step. I have taken the next step in my career and as of 9/24/12 , I have joined KnowledgeCentrix as their new Vice President, Data Center Services.  

For those of you that don't know KnowledgeCentrix, It is a full-service information systems consulting firm specializing in providing Managed and Professional Services to businesses needing help to support their I.T. organization.  Although they offer Cloud based services, they are not in the clouds, but their vision, and technical savvy certainly are.  As a quick example, these are some services that KnowledgeCentrix offers that you might have an immediate benefit from:

1. Cloud based (public or private) App hosting.  We have 3 physical data center locations offering you robust co-location options.
2. Onsite / Offsite Backup / DR recovery
3. SharePoint Hosted solutions with consulting for creating automated work flows.
4. Many others... Get in touch with me to learn more 

My time with PlanNet has been an incredible experience offering me wonderful projects to implement and great clients to work with, such as Toyota, Ingram Micro, Broadcom , Reliance Steel,  Herbalife, and the list goes on.  

My knowledge gain as well as input to each companies successful projects has lead me to this point of taking this next step.  I will be continuing to work with PlanNet as a partner on open projects.  

For those that are interested, please follow me on twitter @GardnerDarrell, or connect with me on linkedIn, If you haven't already done so.  I will still be giving back to the online community via my hosted linkedIn groups, twitter and still plan to continue speaking on similar subjects regarding Time Management, Data Center management, project / program management, and cloud initiatives.　　

Here is to your continued success,
Darrell Gardner