What’s the perfect LinkedIn headline?

Upcoming master class!

March Marketing Madness is off and running with 100+ participants; if you’re itching to sign up and you don’t mind playing catch-up with the first three days, you can still join the group ($99).

Next up: this month’s master class is Get out of your own way: Overcoming the mental roadblocks that hold back your marketing. Registration is $75 and the live session is on March 19 (registration includes the recording). If you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or resistant to marketing your freelance business (even when you know you should, or when your business is really struggling), this two-hour master class will help you dig into the why and how of creating a new marketing routine.

What’s the perfect LinkedIn headline?

Well, that’s a trick question, because there is no perfect LinkedIn headline! But those 220 characters sure can cause us a lot of angst and stress!

I’ve been thinking and talking a lot about LinkedIn lately (shoutout to the Northeast Ohio Translators Association and Kent State University for inviting me to speak to their members and students in person a couple of weeks ago!), and here are a few tips:

• Most importantly, inhale, exhale, and just write something that represents you and tells potential clients what you do. You can change your LinkedIn headline as often as you want, and it’s really not something to lose sleep over.
• The only thing I’m begging you not to do: please, no generic headlines that are pretty much useless to potential clients. “Freelance translator.” “EU conference interpreter.” “Crossing language barriers.” At least give us your language pairs! Other than that, you can write whatever you want!
• When you comment on someone else’s LinkedIn post (a strategy I would highly recommend if you’re looking for clients, something I talked about in this article), only the first 70-75 characters of your headline will be displayed. Don’t let this hold you back, but make sure the important stuff is at the front.

Direct, Descriptive, or Hybrid

When it comes down to it, you have three options for a LinkedIn headline. Let’s look at how the same freelancer, an English to Spanish translator specializing in international development, might word them:

1. Direct: “English to Spanish translator specializing in international development.” Short, sweet, we get the point, and it’s search-friendly.
2. Descriptive: “I help entities in the international development sector communicate more effectively, increase stakeholder engagement, and attract more funding through high-quality English to Spanish translations.” That’s pretty long (168 characters), but it’s more descriptive, although the language pairs would be cut off on a comment.
3. Hybrid: “English to Spanish translator for the international development sector | I help NGOs communicate more effectively between English and Spanish.” Personally I like this one the best!

Obviously this exercise gets harder when you do multiple things. I do three things (interpret, translate, write/teach), so I’ve struggled to create a headline that I really love and that looks good when I comment on someone else’s post. But I think that this framework (direct, descriptive, hybrid) can be a helpful starting point!

Have a great week!