What does your LinkedIn profile say about you?

You can spend hours interacting in the LinkedIn discussion groups and connecting with your friends and co-workers but if you don’t have an awesome profile, all your efforts are wasted. It’s kind of like going on an interview (or first date) where you make sure that you are dressed to impress. With LinkedIn, you don’t want to start networking and searching for opportunities without dressing up your profile to impress the people that you meet.

Your LinkedIn profile is your home base. Don’t confuse your LinkedIn profile with your resume because it really is so much more!  You want your profile to be scannable by someone in a hurry and you want them to quickly get the most important facts without a lot of work.

Here are 27 ways to improve your LinkedIn profile and make it rock:

1. Upload a professional photo of yourself with a nice smile.

2. Spend some time creating an interesting headline. It should be concise, compelling and value-driven.  Make it compelling.

3. Add brief content for each job position in your work experience.  Remember to show your ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND RESULTS.  Don’t just list the tasks that you did. Ask yourself “So what?” to each task you list.  Does it pass the “So what?” test or do you need to add more results?

4. Create a personal branding URL – either your name, company or one or two word tag line summary

5. Write compelling content on what you do and how you can help others. Write for the people who you want to find your profile.

6. Provide all relevant groups or clubs of which you are a member in the real world and add the ones on LinkedIn that are important to you.

7. Make visible the groups you want others to see, and change visibility if you don’t want the public to see your group membership

8. Display awards and achievements to build credibility with industry members

9. Include your contact information such as your email address and phone number if you want people to contact you.  Also, include ways that you want to be contacted such as for job inquiries or career opportunities.

10. Join groups in your industry, city, state, former university or in your other interests. If one is not available, create a group of your specialty.

11. Send an invitation and add some value to the message by trying to make it more personal.

12. Import your contacts and invite them to connect with you.

13. Look for “Open Networkers”- you can join a group called LIONs or LinkedIn Open networkers. The more connections, the more likely you are to find what you seek when searching (as well as be found when others are searching).

14. Build the foundation of networking – Become someone that others know, like and trust.

15. A great way to build trust with your connections is to make introductions. Introduce people in your network that you think would make a great fit.

16. When you see a new person join LinkedIn or even a new person join one of your groups, send them a note to get to know them.

17. Once you join a group, take some time to browse through profiles and reach out to those who you find interesting.

18. The best way to get accepted in a real world LinkedIn group is by becoming friends with the leader. Group moderators are the leaders of every group. Connect with these individuals by sending them a message explaining the passion you share for their niche.

19. Make a recommendation for someone. When you recommend others, your name and recommendation show up on their profile. The more profiles you recommend, the more times your name shows up when others browse those profiles. Like giving a referral, a recommendation is one of the biggest compliments someone can receive. Do not wait for someone to ask you for a recommendation. You should take the initiative and write a compelling recommendation for a fellow connection.

20. Ask group founders if there is any way you can help them. This can be an easy way of gaining acceptance from the rest of the members.

21. Go to the “Add Connections” tab on your LinkedIn home page and see who has recently joined from your e-mail address book. Send them all invites to link up.

22. Seek out friends or colleagues who are not currently on LinkedIn who could benefit from it. Send them a personal invite to join, and briefly explain to them the benefits of building their network online.

23. Update your LinkedIn profile with rich key words and phrases to bring your profile to the top of the list when others search for those specific words.

24. Ask compelling questions on LinkedIn-ones where you are bound to get a few responses.

25. Add value to the questions others ask by providing insightful answers

26. Add your blog, videos and social media information to your profile. You can even add the latest books that you are reading to make your profile more unique and personal to the viewer.

27. Add your own skills and endorse others skills. If you want to be endorsed, ask for endorsements from people you trust.

How else can you improve your LinkedIn profile?