LinkedIn today revamped its Premium Accounts with new features aimed at help paying members stand out from those using the free service. They all focus on the profile, including a custom background option that the company says will be available to all members “in a few months.”
First up, LinkedIn Premium now offers a larger photo and expanded profile header, early access to a new custom profile background and an “exclusive” gallery of background images. Free members can request to one of the first to take the feature for a spin by clicking here.
Next, LinkedIn Premium can now help you optimize your profile with top keyword suggestions. These are the words that will help you get discovered via the service’s search function.
Speaking of search, Premium Accounts are now emphasized there as well. When someone searches and your profile comes up in the results, the listing will be twice as big as other results and offer more tidbits from your profile.
LinkedIn is also offering a new Open Profile option: enabling this will make your profile “open” so that every LinkedIn member can see your full profile and reach out to you for free. This is unlikely to be a feature everyone wants to turn on.
What will likely be for everyone is the new ability to see a full 90-day list of the Who’s Viewed Your Profile feature and the top 100 results for How You Rank against your first-degree connections and company. Free members only get to see the five of the most recent people that have viewed their profile and the top 10 results for how they rank compared to their connections and company.
Last but not least, LinkeIn is also introducing a new starter package called Premium Spotlight. The new subscription consists of all the above features and costs $9.99 per month (see the full list of subscriptions here).
See also – LinkedIn lists 2013’s most in demand employers: Google, Apple keep first and second but Microsoft, Facebook slip and LinkedIn redesigns its apps for iOS 7, adds endorsements and beginner’s guide to mobile site
Top Image Credit: mariosundar / Flickr
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