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For most people, their Linkedin experience begins with an invitation from someone they know. They go through the signup process as quickly as possible, usually not completely filling out their profile.  Unfortunately, during this process, they tend to overlook one of the very first things in the signup process, which is creating their professional headline.  This is one of the most important elements of a profile, yet it is also one that most people quickly skip past it addressing only the bare minimal requirement.

Think about this.  Do you realize that everyone time your name appears on Linkedin, your professional headline also appears?  Essentially, this functions as your 3 second brand statement or your 3 second bumper sticker.  Let’s illustrate the power of this with a little example… which of these headlines are more powerful?

John Doe – 20 year expert facilitating $100,000,000 in High Tech Mergers

or

Bob Doe – Owner, Doe & Associates

Clearly, the first professional headline is more functional and quickly enables you to understand what John Doe does and where his key strength lay.

Now let’s look at a practical implication of the two headlines above.  Let’s say you are doing a search on High Tech Mergers.  Assume both John Doe and Bob Doe have the right keywords in their profile and they alone show up in the search.   When you look at the search results, all you are able to see is a name and the professional description.  Think about it, who are you going to be drawn to in a list of names, John or Bob Doe?  It is very likely you will at least check out John because he tells you he is an expert in High Tech Mergers while Bob, doesn’t tell you anything of relevance.

Invest in yourself and quickly show the world your expertise and project your brand! Updating your professional headline is something that offers an incredible ROI in terms of benefit gained vs time spent.