3 Mistakes You Are Making With Your LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is one social media site where first impressions are everything. You are going to be judged on how well you have put together your profile. For potential employers or employees, future investors and customers, what they see on your profile can make the difference between a long-term commitment and a brief, disinterested glance. It's important to make sure you are not making some of the most common mistakes with your LinkedIn profile if you want to be taken seriously.

Here are three of the most common missteps that people are making when they set up their professional profiles. If you are not seeing positive results with your profile, look to see if you are guilty of any of these:
A bad (or nonexistent) profile picture
One vital thing to keep in mind: this is not your personal Facebook or Instagram page!
Your LinkedIn profile is all about your professional image. It is where people will go to look at your potential as an employee/ business/ investment opportunity. You do not want the only image they have of you to be something silly.

Pictures of you with your pet or kids will not cut it. Also, selfies are not considered a professional image. Stick with a simple, clear (unfiltered) headshot. The only mistake worse than having a bad profile image is having none at all.
People checking out your profile want to see the real person behind the information. Make sure that your photo is a true reflection of who you are as a professional.

Having zero recommendations
LinkedIn is the place where you get to showcase all of your skills and talents to fellow professionals. It is important that you have all of that information available in your Experience section.
But what makes all of that information stand out even more is having recommendations from your past and present work colleagues. You want to have as many people vouching for you as you can get.
You can list all of the skills and abilities that an employer or client is looking for, but if no one is willing to recommend you, it can be a major red flag.

Reach out to some of your connections and ask them to write a recommendation for you to add to your profile.
Not linking back to your work
If you have samples of your work online, it is a good idea to include links to those samples in your profile. It is a way for you to show people what you do instead of just telling them.
For instance, if you are a web designer, you can include links to some of your latest completed projects. If you have a blog that relates to your industry, post links to some of your content.
Letting people see what it is that you can do makes it easy for them to make a decision about you. It shows them that you can do all of the things that your profile says you can do.
If you want to grow as a professional, you need to have a solid LinkedIn profile. Social media continues to be one of the best tools that people use to get more information about someone. Treat your online profile like you would any job application.
Are you guilty of any of these LinkedIn profile mistakes?