A friend of mine asked me today whether she needed to have corporate headshots done for her business.  I explained "Of course!"  Having a current headshot image of yourself on your LinkedIn profile is such an important element of your digital identity as it's your one shot at a first impression.

Whenever I am about to meet someone for a meeting, especially for the first time, the first thing I would do would be to search for them on LinkedIn and see what they look like.  It annoys me when I see the dreaded silhouette of a person's headshot image instead of an actual photo and wonder what is wrong with this person's face/self-confidence?  Recently I've seen a shock mix of 1980's Darryl Braithwaite sepia images lurking around people's profile images, cropped photos of people at a wedding (complete with the bride's veil behind this other lady's head) and some images which look like screenshots taken over Skype interviews.

You should aim to get your business headshots done every year, especially if you've changed your hair in a big way or you now wear glasses when your profile pic doesn't have you wearing them.  Does your profile image match your business branding now? Have new staff members joined your team? Do you have a proposal to clients and you want to have professional photos of your team to show the client who they will be liaising with?

Don't scrimp on this very important element of your business branding.  Hire a professional who will get your lighting right and help you with posing to best present the professional image or mood you're after.