How to write a moneymaking LinkedIn headline

Ugh, LinkedIn headlines are SO hard. I’m a professional writer with decades of experience. And honestly, I’d rather write a 1200 word blog than a Linky headline. 

The two major LinkedIn headline crimes.

Have you committed one? 

1. overthinking it and tinkering with it once a week until forever = never being happy with it and endless perfectionism that eats you alive from the inside until your brain melts 

2. not thinking about it AT ALL and using some crappy title like ‘Founder/Owner at Company’ = massively missed opportunity 

Your LinkedIn headline is ultra important 

It follows you around. Whenever you comment on LinkedIn, it’s visible. Well the first 75 characters. (I counted.) 

If your headline is compelling? People spot it and check your profile. 

So it simply must be good. Nay, great. Eyeball catching. 

Because it’s the very first step in the moneymaking process — getting attention. 

Another important factor in your LinkedIn headline 

LinkedIn is not just a place for people to brag about buying their 11th Lamborghni. 

It’s a search engine. 

People on LinkedIn are searching all the time. And you want them to find you. 

The good thing about appearing in searches? People have already decided they need you. They have an event coming up and they need an event manager. They are speaking at a conference and need a speechwriter. Whatever the situation, they have already made the buying decision. And are actively searching for experts, credit card ready to throw at someone who can solve their problem. 

So consider how your audience might find you. Don’t get too cutesy with your job title. Plain and clear keywords work best. 

I had a client who called herself a ‘career design coach’  But people don’t use that phrase. Instead, they search ‘career coach’. Simply by making that change, her visibility skyrocketed. 

So forget what you want to call yourself.  Determine what your people call you. This is your keyword. 

Ideally, include your keyword at the start of your headline, so it’s immediately apparent. 

More important elements to {perhaps} include in your headline 

Besides your keyword, which is essential, you can also include some (not all) of these bits: 

• Your audience – who you help 
• Your outcome – the results you help your clients achieve 
• Your signature program – the methodology you use (if you want to be known for it) 
• Your timeframe – how long it takes for people to achieve results with you (if it’s a competitive point of difference) 
• Your without – how you get results without a key pain point (eg ‘without dieting’ ‘without expensive consulting fees’ ‘without wasting hours at the salon/library/pet groomers’)
• Your journey – your goal and how you are progressing towards it (for example, you are aiming for 100 new clients and you’re currently at 25/100) 
• Why people should follow you – eg ‘sharing daily tips on labradoodle grooming’

Obviously, you can’t feature all of these bits. You’ve only got 220 characters. But a combo of two or three work well. 

Beware the damned ellipsis 

I’ve already explained that the first 75-characters of your LinkedIn headline appear in comments. Therefore, check the 75 character mark and where the damned ellipsis will appear. 

Ideally, you’d craft your headline so you don’t have a word breaking in half. It’s not a total misfire, but it’s nicer. 

And be ultra careful that the ellipsis doesn’t turn your word into a swear like ‘asset into ass’. (Teehee, bums are funny.) 

Try one of these LinkedIn headline templates 

The 75 headline

This headline gets around the pesky 75 character limit. It’s also good and brief. Simply write a headline that is shorter than 75 characters. They’re also quite rare, so by having a 75 headline, you stand out. 

The downside? You won’t be able to jam in all the messages. Which can limit the impact of your headline. And is tricky when you want your audience to know ALL THE THINGS about you. 

Some bonza 75 headline examples: 

Stacey Hughes: LinkedIn Ads coach 💎I love ads and Kajabi! 💎

Julie Doyle: build an organised and profitable business 

Jake Ward: turning blogs into 6-figure sales channels 

Danny Townley: Top 1% LinkedIn profiles attract clients 

Ruby Lee: documenting my journey to a flow-based $10million coaching business 

Steph Lammond: ridiculously excited about content creation

Dave Harland: The Word Man 

Victoria Lyle: A left brain and a right brain collided | Marketer @ Sales IQ Global. 

And of course — me. I recently changed my LinkedIn headline to a 75 format. I am a notorious headline tinkerer though. So I will probably fiddle with it again 137 times before Christmas. 

Of course there’s loads of 75 LinkedIn headlines that just have (job title) at (company). But they don’t count. Because those headlines don’t do the heavy lifting of catching those eyeballs. 

The helping headline 

This is a popular format taught by UK LinkedIn coach Helen Pritchard. I like it. However it’s become SO incredibly common that it’s lost impact. There’s been a bit of a backlash. And criticism.

The helping headline speaks to the audience and makes a promise. I love that the price clarity is right there too. On the downside, they can be quite wordy. And lack clarity. Not much oomph. 

Helen’s helping headline model is: 

Helping (who) to achieve (outcome) with (program) (price) | (keywords) 

Some helping headline examples: 

Louise Purvis: helping solo business owners save time and get organised through productivity mentoring and done-for-you services | Plan Organise and Outsource £350 | Trello | Emails | Automation 

Elsewine Rietveld Helping camera-shy business owners attract more clients by training them to confidently create videos that appeal to their ideal audience | Author “Get Comfortable on Camera” | €99 1h Zoom

Inyene Udom: Helping ambitious female coaches turn website visitors into clients by creating their wow website that converts | 6-weeks Done-with-you SEO group calls l 6-website owners only l £250 l Starting: 01/10/22 l Message me l

The AOP headline 

This format specifies:

• your audience (who you help) 
• the outcome (what they gain) 
• the process (how you do it) 

For example: 

• Audience: busy online coaches 
• Outcome: learn TikTok
• Process: masterclass 

So the AOP LinkedIn headline would be: 

Busy online coaches learn how to gain a ridiculously high following on Tik Tok with my Teach Me Tik Tok masterclass

Another example:

• Audience: Yoga teachers 
• Outcome: grow a thriving studio, get clients 
• Process: Yoga Marketing Academy group coaching 

The AOP LinkedIn headline: 

Yoga teachers learn how to grow thriving studios and effortlessly attract a steady stream of clients with Yoga Marketing Academy.  

The KAPOW headline

This is an extended version of AOP headline with two important new elements: 

1. the keyword 
2. the without (avoiding a pain point) 

Let’s say you’re a buyers’ advocate specialising in investment property. Using the KAPOW formula:

• [K] Your keyword: buyers advocate 
• [A] Audience: Melbourne property buyers 
• [P] Your process: buying an investment property
• [O]Their outcome: build wealth 
• [W] Without: paying too much 

KAPOW Headline: 

Buyers advocate guiding Melbourne property buyers to build wealth and passive income by purchasing an investment property without paying too much for an overpriced house or overextending their budgets. 

Another example: 

• Keyword: education consultant 
• Audience: early childhood teachers
• Process: lesson plans 
• Outcome: kids have fun lessons
• Without: wasting time 

KAPOW headline: 

Education consultant helping early childhood teachers use done-for-you lesson plans to create magical learning moments for students without spending hours of unpaid time planning and prepping activities. 

I like the KAPOW headline format because: 

• I created it. 
• It has your keyword upfront
• It shows how you understand your audience’s goals and pain points = instant trust  
• KAPOW is a great acronym 

But on the downside, the KAPOW LinkedIn headline is wordy. 

The promise headline 

Okay. So this is a bit of a different headline. There’s no template. You just make a promise to your audience. 

It could be: 

• how you help them 
• why they should follow you (or trust you) 
• what you are passionate about 

The great thing about the promise headline is the lack of formula. It’s unique to you.

Some great promise headlines: 

Ashwin Satyanrayana: My Granny Understands Marketing Now | Blogging for Business Since 2002. 💡I teach and coach on #digital marketing | Get freebies | Link On Profile 👇

Michelle J Raymond: You Want – Business Growth on LinkedIn. I Want – Ambitious, Innovative, Purpose-Driven B2B business clients who know the time is NOW. Your Expertise + My LinkedIn Growth & Engagement Plan = Winning LinkedIn Strategy 

Louis Grenier: I help small businesses to stand the f*ck out 🤘EveryoneHatesMarketers.com

Siobhan Solberg: I help companies who give a shit about their customers (and their privacy) make sense of all their data, improve their user experience, and make more money while they’re at it. 

Zineb Layachi: Give them freaking good reasons to choose you. 

Liz Wilits: “Liz is the #marketer to follow on LinkedIn” – Her Mom | Copywriting + Marketing Strategy for SaaS | SaaS Investor | Instructor at UVM | lizwillits.com 

Rowan Martin: Freelance copywriter. I’ll take your cheap, lowdown, no-good copy and wipe its doity face. 

Should you include emoji in your LinkedIn headline? 

Yes, if it fits the tone of your brand. They add a pop of colour in the feed. 

And they can add valuable impact to your message with a single character. 

Anything to avoid in your LinkedIn headline? 

Not really. It’s your headline after all. But I personally am not a fan of bragging about your follower count. If you have 100k followers, people can see it right there on your bio. 

Some people like to highlight how much money they make. I can see how that makes you a great teacher. But it feels a bit ick to me. Maybe I need a money mindset coach to help with limiting beliefs about money. 

Another thing to avoid? What everyone else is saying. If all your competitors have similar headlines, you can stand out by being different. 

Keyword only 

In a world of cluttered wordy headlines, you can stand out by taking it back to basics. 

✅It’s clear

✅It’s simple

✅It’s easy 

Just make sure it’s a keyword. So people searching can find you. 

If you are a mindset coach. 

On the downside, this headline misses the opportunity to explain more about who you are. So perhaps test and keep an eye on how your audience responds to it.  

How do you know your headline is good/working? 

If your headline is doing its job properly, it will increase your page views. The headline’s job is to draw people to your profile, so your page view numbers should be increasing steadily. 

From there, your profile will do the work in getting people to take the next step and connect or follow. 

So to summarise again, how to write a powerful LinkedIn headline

1. You have a 220 character limit 
2. Include keywords so you get found in LinkedIn search 
3. Pay attention to how your headline is truncated in the newsfeed 
4. Try a headline formula: 
   1. 75 headline – under 75 characters
   2. Helping headline 
   3. AOP formula 
   4. KAPOW formula 
5. Make a promise to your audience 
6. Consider keeping it simple and just using a keyword or job title 
7. Consider emoji for a pop of colour and personality 
8. Avoid bragging or anything overused in your industry 
9. Experiment till you find a headline that works for you and your audience