Ten Top Tips for a better Polywork Profile
Your Polywork Profile is your digital calling card. Here are Ten top tips from Doctor David Petherick to make sure it works as hard as you do...
Ten Top Tips for a better Polywork Profile
How to be visible, legible and credible on Polywork.
Updated 20-Dec-22
Tip #1: Don't bury the lead
Get right to the point with your headline.
Use your headline to tell a story.
Your headline may be all that people notice on your profile. Here's how to make it count and get it working hard for you...
You have a headline beside your handle and name on Polywork. The reason it's called a headline is because it comes at the top, and it's what people see and read first.
Make it count. Write a good headline. Tell us what's in the story to follow.
Use your headline effectively
You have up to 70 characters to use in your headline. So there's room to add a few descriptive words that will interest people, and keywords to highlight your main areas of focus.
- Remember you can use your intro section and activity posts to talk about all sorts of things, so you don't have to cram all of your activities into your headline. Focus on the most important things, and sell yourself with natural language.
People can find you from your different badges, but your headline is what will act as the main hook to catch followers.
Use your headline to describe what you're good at, what you deliver, and why it's worth browsing your profile and connecting with you. Here's a simple formula: "[Job title at Company]: helping X do Y."
Imagine it as a short introduction so that people want to know more.
if you can, state as much of these things as possible.
✴️ What you do
✴️ Who you do it for
✴️ How that helps them
✴️ The results you achieve
Use some SOAP
S is for specific. Does your headline tell people who you are or what you do? Is it specific?
O os for Optimised. Did you write the headline in a way to help people find you? Is it Optimized with targeted keywords that people will recognise. In time, this may be part of Polywork search.
A is for Abilities. Is the headline unique to your skills and abilities — an authentic reflection of who you are and what you have to offer?
P is for Professional. Will the headline give the reader confidence? Is it professional?
Don't fill it with hype
Avoid hyperbole, such as describing yourself as an Acknowledged Expert or that you are Results-Driven. Nobody believes that manure. If you talk in clichés, you'll just come across as being arrogant, insecure, and self-involved.
Your headline is also important because it's cognitively the most important information. People are going to remember more about your headline that any other element. They will make judgements about you based solely on that headline, no matter what your other achievements, work history or updates say.
That's how the human brain works. Like Polywork badges, it categorises and sorts. And it needs and anchor point. Your headline is that anchor, than hook.
How is your Polywork headline looking right now?
- A bit basic
- Job Title at Company
- Rocking it out, have followers galore!
Make your geography relevant
You can include a geographical indicators in your main profile section so that people can locate you in the areas or timezones you operate across. People often like to connect with places they know. So if you're in some idyllic small town, give it context with the state, region, country or nearby area to help people identify the place, and get the bigger picture.
- Tip: The text in your headline may also in future be effective for searches within Polywork, and in Google, Bing and other search engines.
Remember your headline is all people see when browsing lists
Use your headline to sell yourself to your readers! If you want to let people know your job title, add it at the end, and make the most of the real estate at the beginning.
Lead with the main story, and test it to make sure your headline makes sense (or at least intrigues). You have up to 70 characters to work with.
Remember that different mobile phone apps and screen sizes and text size settings all conspire to show your headline differently. So get your most important information out there right up front.
And please use simple language. "Homo sapiens engages with canine" is not as good as "Man bites dog" when it comes to getting attention!
The classic questions people want to know in the lead of a news story are who, what, where, why, when, and very often - how much? So make your headline do the same: introduce an interesting story.
Use your Polywork headline to introduce a story - and make the reader want to read the full story. And remember to check the spelling!
There are over 344,000 'Mangers' on LinkedIn!
Warning!
Remember to check the spelling of your Headline. John Espirian uncovered these statistics for terrible spelling errors on LinkedIn in 2019. Don't make the same mistakes on Polywork in 2021!
Tip #2: <br/>Introductions are important
The 'intro' section may be the only part of your profile that gets read. Make it count...
First person, first priority:
Write an introductory section.
Introduce the essentials to tell your story
The pivotal part of your Polywork Profile. It needs to be there. It may be the only part of your profile visitors read.
Don't omit it: You are more than just the summary of your job experience, so tell us your story here, above everything else on your profile. Give us your elevator pitch.
Use the first 100 characters of your introduction section creatively, because that's what people will see BEFORE they trouble to click to 'Read more'.
Remember that the 'read more' link doesn't click itself. You are not always going to earn a click, so use the start to make people feel compelled to read on.
A snappy opening can make the difference as to whether profile visitors even bother to click, or read any further. If you don't grab their attention, they may simply not bother. That's your missed opportunity.
The opening 100 characters need to tell the reader the concise story of you. It's like an elevator pitch.
How good are your first 100 characters?
- I don't get to the point
- Could be written by an AI robot
- Hemingway would be proud
Talk about how you might be beneficial in a collaboration
I want to hear how a Polywork Profile Surgery will power visibility and business development, make me look better, connect better, and bring me more business or get me a new job with 40% more money.
Do you show benefits on your Polywork Intro and Timeline Profile?
- Yes, I do. And they rock
- Oh dear...
Remember, I am a fussy consumer used to instant gratification online. I want specifics. And I love testimonials and reviews.
Your activity posts add to badge credibility
In your activities posts, tell me a story about an instance where you really did your stuff. Or even better than that, have a customer tell the story of how you helped them.
Remember to add key tags to your activities where's there's a verb and a noun. You can create your own activities or choose from the suggestions for activities already on the platform.
If possible, add an example, testimonial or a recommendation from someone who is also on Polywork.
Think of the introduction like a news bulletin: People want to know who, what, why, when, where?
- What is your core area of expertise?
- What's behind your big passions outside of work?
- Why do you specialise in that particular niche area of the market?
- What useful free information can you offer?
- How can you help solve my problems?
- Who have you solved problems for before?
- How can you save me money?
- Show me numbers! How have you moved the needle in your work?
- Who can vouch for this - who's recommended you, worked with you, or published you?
- Have a call to action to encourage people viewing your profile to get in touch...
Write in the first person singular - "I". Don't use the third person "David Petherick makes you visible, legible..." - it's anachronistic and stilted.
You are having a virtual conversation with someone, one to one. Talk normally, and don't stuff this section with clichés or jargon.
Tip #3: <br/>Look good
Your Profile photo should not be an afterthought. Show your best face to the world.
Look your best
The human brain processes images 42,000 times faster than text. Or it may be, according to 3M research, 60,000 times faster.
Whatever the correct figure, it's very, very fast.
So your profile photo literally makes an instant impression, and it's processed by the lizard brain. The part of the brain that process images is full of cognitive bias, primitive instincts and emotions.
So it's worth investing in a good profile photo - and you can choose the best photo to use on Polywork by crowdsourcing it...
People connect with other people. So please don't be tempted to use a logo instead of your face, and be careful with avatars unless you use them consistently. People buy into people, so don't be a wallflower.
Tips for a good profile photo
- Use natural lighting
- Dress for your work
- Smile
If your photograph is seen just 20 times a day online, you have 7,300 opportunities a year to make no impression, a bad impression, or a good impression. All this before you have even opened your mouth, or anyone has read a word of what you have to say.
- That's 7,300 potential contacts.
- Or 7,300 potential customers.
- Or 7,300 potential collaborators.
- Or 7,300 people ignoring you completely.
How would you rate your profile photo?
- Rather poor
- It's OK
- Fantastic
Great free photo tool to remove background clutter
There's a great free online tool which lets you upload your headshot and then download variations with the background removed. You can even change the background colour palette to match your outfit, your eyes or your corporate or online colour scheme.
The tool is called Profile Pic Maker at https://pfpmaker.com/ and works just as well on mobile phones or desktops. The desktop experience is better for customising backgrounds and you can also download matching header images to go with your new look headshot.
How to choose which photo you should use on Polywork...
Aside from the many aesthetic considerations like the quality and size of the image, the lighting, way you dress, the background focus and colour, and the way it's cropped, there's still usually a crucial decision to be made - which photo portrays me best?
Which image conveys my personality and character most effectively to the outside world? Asking friends, family and work colleagues to select the 'best' image of you may throw up all kinds of contradictory signals - and those that know you best are often not the most objective critics.
So, here's how to crowdsource choosing your best photo...
Step 1: Choose two or three headshots you feel best portray you, and have them on your computer ready to upload.
Step 2: Sign up for a free account at photofeeler.com where you can choose either to buy credits with a fast-track paid option, or, by voting on other people's photos, you gain credits to use the free service.
Step 3: Upload your photos and submit them for human beings to vote on, and to appraise your photos.
Then, just listen to the wisdom of the crowd.
Subtle differences, but your choice may not be optimal. Trust the crowd.
I found that my preferred photo (also preferred by my wife) was not the one best rated on Photofeeler.
So the photo I chose for my profile was the one that the crowd liked best - not my choice.
Tip #4: Show me your badges
Badges are what make you, you. Make sure your own badges are right, or make your own badges,
We're all polyatomic.
I am Dad to a wonderful daughter. Husband to an amazing wife.
I am a Digital Marketing Director. I started hand coding HTML in 1996. I like to cook Indian, Thai, Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish. I write online Profiles at Polywork and LinkedIn.
I founded two companies in 1993 and 1995. I speak Russian and Spanish. I am a critic for Opera and Theatre. I drove to Biarritz to make sure a car's engine was working OK. I dined with Samuel Beckett's publisher in Paris. I have a credit in four books and two films.
So my badges on my Polywork profile try to cover this diversity.
People find you, and understand you, through your badges. Clicking on a badge from your own profile takes you to kindred spirits — others who have this badge. This is where you can find your tribe.
You can reorder your badges
- Drag and drop to Group together similar skills.
- Choose your 'top' skills carefully — the five or six that appear at the top of your profile before people click to see more, because people may not click to see more.
- Your top skills, together with your headline, define your main focus of work and interests for others. So prioritise these in line with what you want to make most prominent about you. You can always adjust these and swap them in and out.
Something not listed? Create your own badges
- Just click to add your new badge.
- Choose a colour and icon for the badge.
- You'll be forever credited as the creator of the badge. You can see this when that badge is clicked on from a member's profile, along with everyone else with that badge.
- This adds to your chops as an early Polywork member.
I'm credited as this badge's creator... you can create a badge too.
Keep it up to date
You're always evolving as a person, so make sure you add new badges as your experience evolves.
Looking at others' profiles, you may spot a skill, interest or area of expertise badge on their profile, and realise 'That's for me too'. So add it to your profile — it just takes two clicks.
- Click on the badge
- Click at top right on 'Add to your profile'
- Your'e done
Remember that your badges are also there to answer the eternal question people have about others — how can this person help me?
What's in it for me to follow you, hire you, talk to you, download your free information, or visit your site?
Your badges should help answer that question, along with your headline and intro.
Tip #5: <br/>Talk to me
Use video or audio on your profile to tell your story and convince & convert
Use sound or video in your profile
It's good to talk. And good to listen.
I am lazy and prone to distraction. My eyes get tired looking at computer screens, and my attention span is shorter than a goldfish.
I'll give your profile only lazy, partial attention - a text message may distract me, or twitter might pop up with something, my phone rings, my microwave will ping... it's easy to get distracted.
So why not tell me a little story - literally?
Add video or audio to tell me what you offer, how I can benefit from it, and what I need to do to get it.
Some people do not “get it” when they read something - they need to hear a voice or see your face to understand how you can help them.
And humans connect at a primal level with the sound of another human voice and an animated face in front of them. That's why they like using the phone, Zoom, or Google Meet.
So if you don't ever speak to them… they won't ever really know about you.
If you have a face for radio, start with SoundCloud
Setting up a Soundcloud account is a two minute task. Adding the app to your phone is simple — then you can quickly record your messages to share on your profile.
You may need to edit any recording, and for PC or Mac owners, an excellent free resource for recording and editing your sound files is Audacity - or with a Mac, you can also use Garageband. On my iPhone, I use AudioCopy, which is simple, flexible and free, and uploads files straight to SoundCloud.
How do I get sound onto my profile?
To embed the media into your profile, add the SoundCloud URL. Simply copy the URL of your media, and then make it a link. Done.
Polywork will read the metadata from the first URL you add in any update, and in Soundcloud's case, it shows a player widget.
SoundCloud player is embedded automatically
Visitors to your profile can then just click on sound tracks selected from your Soundcloud profile or playlist. They can listen to your recordings without clicking away from Polywork. And they can listen while they are looking at the rest of your accomplishments and updates. Nice.
What about video?
You can use video in the same way: Upload it in the same way with a link to the YouTube, Vimeo or other URL.
Video is only growing in importance across all social media, so it's my view you should have something in place, even if it's only brief. 'Hello' this is me, this is what I do, contact me'.
People buy people, and video is the perfect way to introduce yourself.
What media do you use on your profile?
I still think amateur video is bad for your image.
If you're going to use video, get the lighting, background, sound quality captioning and editing done to the highest standard - otherwise you will just let yourself down.
I'm never convinced by someone telling me how to make a six figure income when they are sitting parked up in their Toyota. Don't do this. There's always room for casual spontaneity and a shot-from-the-hip look, but if the topic requires some gravitas, think twice.
Best of all, get a professional videographer to work with you to create a truly accomplished video, in an appropriate setting, lit well, with quality sound and professionally produced captions.
Talking with Andrew Lopez on the power of the Headline
Tip #6: Use recommendations effectively
You are biased. Other people saying you are good is more convincing than you saying it.
The power of recommendations:
What recommendations and references confer is credibility...
What you say on your Polywork Profile is biased.
You will always praise yourself. ButI can't really believe your claims, because I simply don't know you. One thing I do know is that you are going to be biased.
However, when I see your customer telling me how your service or skills specifically benefited them, and I see who they are, what they do, where they are, and what their job title is, THEN I can really believe it.
How do you get recommendations?
Well, they don't come out of the blue.
Try this - ask for them from your customers or colleagues. Say “I want to add a credible reference to my Polywork profile so that people can see the real benefits that I deliver. Would you please send me your recommendation?”
The worse that might happen is someone might say no, or just ignore you. So you can ask someone else.
Of course, a great way to get recommendations is to give them first.
Why are recommendations so important?
The power of recommendations is that it's not you talking about yourself - it's what other people are saying. In a word, it's credibility, because it's someone else's opinion. It is social proof, like 359 Twitter retweets or 680 Instagram likes. Just without the 'bots.
It's worth asking people to be very specific and precise in their recommendation, and to do the same when you give recommendations.
Remind them of the project you worked on and see if you can get them to focus on the results - the benefits.
"Jack is a great guy to work with, and gets great results: I'd recommend him to anyone."
That's pretty vague. It's not as impressive as -
"Jack is super friendly and efficient, and explains the technical stuff effectively. He delivers on what he promises. His PPC strategy allowed us to lift our click-through-rate by 129% in a month, reduce spend by 39%, but still increase website traffic by 8.7%. Sales revenue went up 14.2% within 30 days and CPA went down by 47.3%."
It's easy to start — go and recommend someone who impressed you today. Or ask someone to recommend you for your work.
What goes around, comes around.
Would you rather start working with someone you know very little about, or work with someone that you know has delivered the goods for others consistently in the past? Someone who has such a good relationship with their customers that they have been happy to spend time publicly endorsing them?
I know what my answer is - what's yours?
How often do you ask for recommendations?
- Can't use them for legal reasons
- Rarely
- Often
How often do you give recommendations?
- Can't give them for legal reasons
- Rarely
- Often
“92% of respondents reported that a positive recommendation from a friend, family member, or someone they trust is the biggest influence on whether they buy a product or service.”
Paul M Rand
Tip #7: Be human...
Don't tell me you are a results-focused professional. Tell me stories and use natural language...
Be human in your profile.
Tell me about yourself. And talk to me as an individual.
I may be interested in the fact that you like scuba diving and cricket. Then again I may not.
Your love of horses, funk music or fine wines is something I may not share — but it can certainly be the starting point for a conversation.
When I read your profile, I don't want to just learn about your business, and how ace you are at just that special thing that you do.
I don't want to hear you banging on about being 'focused and results-driven'. Give me a break.
I want to feel I have had the equivalent of a chat over a cup of coffee with you. Or perhaps a drink or two. To have spent time getting to know you a little.
An important part of the job your Polywork Profile has to do is to act as the starting point for a conversation. The more information you give people to talk about, the more chance there is of sparking a conversation.
I'm interested in, for example:
- Wine.
- French, Spanish, Italian and Indian Cooking.
- 20th Century & contemporary literature.
- Travel.
- Catalan history.
- Scottish history.
- Cinema.
- Whisky.
- Photography.
- Politics.
- Formula 1.
Plenty of topics there to spark a conversation, aren't there? Some safe, some perhaps with the potential for robust debate.
People buy people - don't disappoint them
People buy people, whatever their business is. And if you're not a person people want to buy into, you are making things difficult. For everyone. So talk about yourself, and let people know about your enthusiasms and passions.
Be open in talking about stuff that did not go to plan. Tell us what you learned from mistakes. Take photos of that meal you just prepared, or show your friends enjoying eating it. Show us how big that surf was. Celebrate the wins for yourself and your team. Tell a story.
Be you. Be interesting, and interested. Be human. Then people will want to connect.
Do you tell stories on your Polywork Profile?
Tip #8: Tales of the Unexpected
Are you the dullest person in the world?
Add something a little unexpected in your profile.
Are you the dullest person in the world?
No, I didn't think so.
Do you want to do business with the dullest people on the planet?
No. Neither do I.
So - add the odd twist, touch of humour, a small diversion or excursion to somewhere we didn't expect to go in your Polywork Profile.
Is there something unusual you could tell people about on your Polywork Profile?
- Oh yes, there is! Now...
- No. I am vanilla.
- Tell us that you learned Russian when you were 12, and once opened the fuselage door of a TU-154 in Saint Petersburg when the ground crew could not.
- You travelled at the age of 16 with an orchestra of teenagers as the orchestra manager and made a photo documentary with over 500 slides and sound recordings. They played to ecstatic audiences in the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and rounded off the Redentore Festival in Venice.
- Let us know that you once put in the two fastest laps of the day when racing against a professional go-kart driver — all the while nursing a brutal hangover.
- You once drove from Edinburgh to Biarritz and back to "run-in" a Mazda MX-5. And played Chemical Brothers very loudly as you drove open-topped around the Arc d' Triomphe several times at midnight, after having dined with Samuel Beckett's publisher.
- That in 1994 you sold a painting for £1800 by a then largely unknown Russian artist to Sir Peter Ustinov, after an hour's swapping stories...
Lulu and David at the Robert the Bruce film World Premiere after-party, June 2019.
These are all things you might not expect, but they are all true, and they are all true of me, David Petherick.
Add something unexpected to your profile. Add something that's not necessarily anything to do with your business or career, but more to do with fun, a story, a wink and a smile.
It's all about starting conversations and sparking human interest.
So don't be plain vanilla. Let others do that.
Meh!
Tip #9: Talk to Strangers
Ask peers or connections for feedback when, or before, you update your profile.
Talk to strangers.
Ask for advice when you are unsure about updating your profile
Once you've written something new on your profile, try asking someone who does not really know your "persona" to assess it. Perhaps a family member — or ask a trusted connection on Polywork to help by sharing the URL with them.
Is your intro written in the third person?
- Yes, (s)he has written it that way
- No, I write as myself
The objective feedback they give will help you to improve your update. They may realise you've missed out on attaching a useful activity tag. There may be a typo or grammar error. They can also pick up on areas where you have not explained things clearly.
Other people, if asked to give an honest assessment, will quickly spot gaps and pick up on unclear, clichéd or redundant phrases. They will spot when you are clearly faking it, using jargon, or simply talking crap.
If you don't feel sure about who to share with, share things with me...
Follow me, David Petherick on Polywork @petherick or just ping me a message there, or get in touch via Twitter @petherick.
I'll give you a free 10-minute assessment of your profile's strengths and weaknesses, and then send them to you, along with some advice and solutions from my 15 years of experience writing profiles. Just book a free phone call, Skype or Zoom to suit your diary.
Get someone whose judgement you value to check over things for you on your profile, because if it does not make sense to them at one reading, it needs more work.
Doctor David Petherick
Tip #10: Call to Action
Tell people what action you want them to take next. Or they won't take any action.
Ask people to do something specific on your profile.
Ask them to take action.
If you do not have a call to action, (a CTA in Marketing parlance) then people will not take that action, will not contact you, and you can't make friends or do business.
Do you have Calls to Action on your Profile?
Tell people what you want them to do next after they have read your profile - and not just in text at the end of your 'intro' section. You can repeat yourself for emphasis in your experience sections.
- BOOK A CALL with David Petherick now for a FREE 10-minute analysis of your LinkedIn Profile at mzs.es/free
- THANK ME for providing these Ten Top Tips by buying me a drink at my Virtual Bar — mzs.es/bar
- Visit doc.scot for details of my professional services.
You get the idea. Call for the action.
If you do not have a call to action, then people do not take action. Online, you can't make connections or do business if people don't take action.
- David Petherick
Tell people what you want them to do next.
Explain why it is a good idea. Then, they just might take that action.
- Top Tip: Keep it simple by adding a link to your contact mechanism on Polywork. The URL for this will be https://poly.work/contact/petherick where petherick is replaced by your username.
Make sure you make it easy - don't say 'email me' without providing the address right there, or 'call me' without putting the number or the booking link right there.
At the very least, ask people to follow you — and why not tell them what they'll get from following you. 'Follow me for updates on my Open Source contributions, ridiculously cute cat Schrödinger, and Barbecue Tips'.
Don't make people search for the next step, make them scroll without seeing another call to action, or click off Polywork down a rabbit hole you don't own. Don't point them to some place elsewhere when you can put what you want right there. Get on with it. Pronto.
Ten Top Tips for a better #Polywork Profile is amazing! Go to mzs.es/poly right now.
-David @Petherick
Action!
Doctor's Advice
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David has helped me and a number of friends. There's no one better to make you visible, legible and credible on LinkedIn.
I've recommended David consistently, and everyone who has used his services as a result has been bloody delighted with the results. Recommended. Highly.
- Pat Phelan @patphelan
