LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

written by Houston Golden
Founder & CEO, BAMF Media
November 10th, 2020
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Your headline matters.

Don’t believe us?

What’s the first thing your eyes drift to after someone’s name?

Exactly.

This LinkedIn headline generator guide will help you come up with the most bada** headline ever.

In turn, it will help jumpstart turning your LinkedIn profile into a passive lead generation funnel for your sales pipeline.

Let’s get started.

Why Is Your LinkedIn Headline Important?

Your LinkedIn headline is critical because it’s the second personalized body of text that a potential lead sees after your name.

Also, it appears EVERYWHERE along with your name and profile pic.

It’s in:

  • all of your LinkedIn searches
LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!
  • Posts
  • Messages
  • Recommendations
  • Invitations

And, it also helps you rank because you can get keywords on there!

It’s the hardest working element of your profile, responsible for explaining who you are in just 120 characters or less.

Crafting a catchy LinkedIn headline can be difficult because there’s a lot riding on it.

For potential leads that are breezing through your profile, it gives them a quick glimpse of who you are, what you do, and if your profile is worth viewing. For people already on your profile, it’s a trigger for them to move to your summary.

To be frank, I always advise that people optimize their entire profile.

But, if you could work on marketing copy for just one area of your profile, it’s better if you concentrate on creating a catchy headline.

What Makes a Good Headline?

As a general rule, your headline should tell people about what you do and where you do it.

In fact, LinkedIn’s default headline generator will do just that; it will display your job title and tell people who you work for.

E.g. Growth Hacker at BAMF Media

However, that doesn’t cut it.

How can you hack growth if you don’t stand up from the crowd?

A good headline shouldn’t just be about what you do, it has to include your personality and reasons why a prospect would trust you.

linkedin headline generator

There are different ways to create an attention-grabbing tagline. Check them out here:

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!
LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!
LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!
LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

Structuring Your Headline

There is a bunch of ways to structure your headline.

You’ve got your default headline – that you should scrap today, the one-liner – a short sentence that tries to capture everything you do in one go, and the bullet point approach.

The bullet-point approach aims to divide everything up into individual two or three-word points. It can be divided up with emojis, vertical pipes |, a semicolon, a real bullet point, etc.

Say, you’re in charge of growth at a startup in San Francisco, but you also write for the company blog, and you’re into running.

The bullet point method would look something like this:

Head Honcho of Growth @ XYZ Company | Occasional Wordsmith | Barefoot Runner

While a one-liner would be:

Head of Growth and writer at XYZ, I run barefoot in my spare time.

The bullet-point approach makes it easier for viewers to digest what your message is, avoids unnecessary filler words, and looks more interesting.

A one-liner can do the trick, but it has to be a quick sentence that either:

  • gets to the meat of things, or
  • is great copy to make the viewer curious to see more.

Bullet Point Method

The best way to generate a headline is manually.

Why?

Because using a tool or any of that sort throws your headline into a sorting hat with the same adjectives as everyone else that’s used it.

You want to stand out.

This bullet method works because it leaves your viewers/prospects ample room to exercise their imagination.

In a sense, all you’ve done is give them keywords, and it’s up to them to build a story about you in their heads.

Remember, we all love storytelling because it activates a part of your imagination that builds intrigue and pushes you to want to learn more about an event or, in this case, a person.

A little public information written with a little mystery is the stuff that gets the crowd going.

And, that’s what you’re aiming for.

Write a list of things that you want on your headline

Here are a couple of examples:

  • Your current job title in a way that captures your enthusiasm e.g., __
  • Worthwhile achievements e.g. position at Fortune 500 company, grew startup to million-dollar company in x amount of years, raised x million dollars in seed capital for company, etc.
  • Published works e.g. number of eBooks released, papers in scientific journals
  • Personal but public details e.g. number of kids, civil status, the number of pets you have, etc.
  • Something that you’re talented in e.g., AdWords king, Excel wizard, PPC specialist, professional cake eater, etc.
  • Extracurricular activities that add flair and personality e.g., Ironman finisher, nature photographer, coffee aficionado

You can even jot down your favorite joke if you want.

Having a list makes it easier for you to organize and choose the details that you want in your headline.

Pick three to five that you’re most passionate about

If you have bragging rights, then feel free to use them. You want to get your audience hooked.

Tips:

  • Put your job down first
  • The ones in the middle are either things that add more content to your job or gives you more credibility
  • Your personal touch or details comes in last

Pick a separator

Our pro tip is to use emojis, but you don’t have to use the same one to separate all your details, you can even use a different one that encompasses the following trait.

(I love the rocket-emoji because at BAMF it’s all about liftoff and growth!)

Rewrite each item in less than five words

Remember even if it’s less than three words, it still has to be grammatically correct. A lot of people are thrown off with bad grammar.

Presto!

You now have a fully optimized LinkedIn headline that’s been generated manually.

It did take a little bit of time, but you know it’s unique, it’s personalized, and it’s worth it.

The One-Liner

If you want to use a one-liner instead, you can still follow the first batch of steps in the bullet point method to take note of what you really want to tell your viewers.

This way you have an overview of the traits that tell people about your professional career and you can choose which ones you want to talk about in your one-liner.

However, it doesn’t have to be that structured.

You can put in a joke, drive interest with marketing copy, or even just put in a CTA.

There are plenty of examples of famous personalities that do that.

The Job Title Tagline

If you’ve already made it and you’ve got a powerful position, you could get away with just a short job title tagline.

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

The Major Achievement Tagline

The major achievement tagline focuses on one achievement that sets you apart from the rest.

This could be anything from winning medals or awards in an industry-recognized body or being able to accomplish a feat that no one else can.

It works wonders for people who are trying to build social proof.

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

The Tangible Benefits Tagline

If you want to get straight to the point, you can hit people up with tangible benefits. Although, it may seem too common, it helps drive traction with your profile.

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

The Question Helper Tagline

This particular tagline is a CTA in itself, but it can get tricky.

You need to be able to structure your question in a way that doesn’t sound too generic. The question has to be unique in itself catering to a very specific niche.

They work if you can phrase the “solutions” that you give in the form of a question.

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

The Contact Me Tagline

It’s not necessarily the best tagline, but it works because it is no-nonsense and straight to the point.

However, I won’t personally recommend it unless you add a little more social proof to it.

There are better ways to go around your tagline creation and you want to stand out from the crowd.

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

One-liners are great if you’re looking at driving mystery.

Remember these tips.

  • keep it short
  • keep it relevant
  • and, make sure it produces some air of mystery

Remember you can always use a combination of all these techniques for your LinkedIn headline.

What Next?

If you haven’t fully optimized your LinkedIn account yet, I suggest you get it at it immediately.

You don’t want a catchy headline that has no “meat” to it.

Make sure your summary has enough substance to support everything on your headline.

For example, if you’ve published something, you can put a link to it on your summary.

Examples of Great Headlines

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

Notice how Goldie Chan explains what she does and manages to include the companies she’s associated with?

It’s enough to paint a professional picture of what she does by simply “browsing” through. That’s what you’re aiming for.

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

Tim Ferriss has it all: his first point gives him credibility, the second provides humor in three words, and the third builds on the second while providing a link.

This is a great example that humor still works!

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

Jennifer Lopez needs no introduction, but what we love the most about her headline is that she just uses singular adjectives to describe what she does. Less is more.

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

This is arguably one of the best headlines we’ve seen in a while because Laura Belgray tells us about herself without directly doing so. She could have easily called herself a successful marketing copywriter, but instead, she simply told us about what she does on a daily basis quite literally.

This is the one-liner that other one-liners want to be.

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

It’s clean and it’s precise. It might not have any emojis or fancy separators, but it works because it’s short and direct. Notice that the points for credibility and social proof are arranged in order of importance?

This “inverse pyramid” is common among great headlines.

LinkedIn Headline Generator, LinkedIn Headline Generator: Our Guide To Writing Ones That Convert!

Grant Cardone has a good example of the bullet point method. It’s direct and it’s easy to digest. It starts off with his job title combined with a crazy achievement, then followed by some examples of social proof, and it even showcases his leadership abilities.

The last part is a great touch because it shows people that he’s a keen leader without having to spell it out.

Takeaways

Your headline is critical.

If you don’t spend enough time with it, most of the time people aren’t going to spend enough time on your profile for the rest of your optimizations to matter.

It might seem difficult at first, but it isn’t impossible. In fact, if you follow this guide, anyone can do it.

Everyone likes taking the easy route.

Is there anything wrong with it?

Nope.

But, if you’re looking for something personalized, the manual method is always the best.

Take a look at your headline today!

About the Author

The name's Houston Golden. I'm the Founder & CEO of BAMF — a company I've grown from $0 (yes, really) to well over $5M+ in revenue over a span of 5 years.

How did I do it? Well, it's quite simple, really. I've helped hundreds of business owners and executives get major traction (because when they win, we win), I tell all on this blog.

Growth hacking is a state of mind. Follow along as I explore and expose the unknown growth strategies and tactics that will change the way you think about marketing.
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