Hi, it’s Allison shields Johs from Legal Ease Consulting and today what I’d like to talk about is your Headline on LinkedIn.

I find a lot of lawyers make mistakes when they put together their LinkedIn Profile, particularly with respect to the headline. The headline is the line that appears directly below your name on LinkedIn, and oftentimes when people first encounter you on LinkedIn, they’re only seeing your name, your photo, and that headline. So you want to make sure your headline is descriptive enough to get your audience to take action.

For example, if you send somebody an invitation to connect with you on LinkedIn, all they’re going to see initially is your invitation, with your name, your photo and your headline. Your headline should be descriptive enough that either the person that you’re trying to connect with will click over to view your entire profile, or just from your headline, they’ll see that you’re somebody that they want to connect with. And they’ll click that Accept button.

The same thing happens if you show up in someone’s results for “People You May Know” on LinkedIn. A lot of people use that feature to build out their linkedIn connections. But if your headline isn’t descriptive enough, they may pass you right by and not bother to either click through to see your full Profile or send you that invitaion to connect.

So how can you improve your headline on LinkedIn?

Don’t make the mistake of just using your title. Make sure that you’re thinking about who it is that you want to make connections with on LinkedIn. Don’t forget that it’s not just clients. LinkedIn is a networking platform.

Who is it that you want to connect with? Who are the business people that could refer you business? Or maybe you want to connect with people who are going to reach out to you as an expert to get a quote. What is it that those people need to know about you.? Add that to your headline.

Make sure that you’re very descriptive. You have 120 characters on LinkedIn to create your Headline. There’s a lot of room there. One thing I would suggest is adding your firm name. A lot of times that gives you immediate cachet.

Next, make sure that your Headline includes your practice area. If someone is looking for a divorce lawyer and the search results reveal two different lawyers and one’s Headline says divorce lawyer or matrimonial lawyer and the other’s just says lawyer, chances are the person with the more descriptive headline is the one who’s going to get the click and the connection, and maybe even the potential business or that media opportunity. So make sure that you add that practice area or other descriptors that would explain to people what it is that you do.

Make sure you headline also creates some curiosity and interest; try not to make it too flat. Use the keywords that your potential clients might use to search for somebody like you.

Take five minutes today, review your headline on LinkedIn and make some improvements.