How to Have the Best LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn profile isn’t just a digital resume, it’s the center of your professional brand. Building a standout profile is the first step toward connecting with industry leaders, attracting new opportunities, and establishing yourself as a credible expert in your field. This guide walks you through transforming each section of your profile from a simple placeholder into a powerful asset that works for you around the clock.

Your First Impression: The Profile Trifecta

When someone lands on your profile, they make a snap judgment in seconds. Three elements control that first impression: your profile picture, banner, and headline. Getting these right is non-negotiable.

Step 1: The Profile Picture

Your profile photo is your digital handshake. A poor photo can make you seem unprofessional, while a great one builds immediate trust.

• Keep it professional, not corporate. You don't necessarily need a suit and tie, but your photo should reflect your industry. A founder might have a more creative shot than a financial analyst. The goal is to look competent and approachable.
• Focus on your face. Your headshot should be cropped from your shoulders up. Don't use a picture where you're a tiny figure in a beautiful landscape. People connect with faces.
• Quality is essential. A blurry, poorly lit photo signals a lack of attention to detail. Use a modern smartphone camera in a well-lit area or invest in professional headshots. The background should be simple and non-distracting.
• Smile! A warm, genuine smile makes you appear more inviting and trustworthy.

Step 2: The Banner Image

The large banner image behind your profile picture is prime real estate that most people waste. Leaving the default blue banner is a missed opportunity. Instead, use it to visually communicate your brand or value proposition.

Good Banner Ideas:

• A photo of you in action (speaking at an event, leading a workshop).
• A well-designed graphic with your brand's tagline or a quote that represents your professional philosophy.
• An image that showcases the results you deliver for clients. A web designer could show a collage of beautiful websites, a writer could feature logos of places they’ve been published.
• Contact information or a call-to-action, such as your website URL or a prompt to connect.

Use a free tool like Canva for pre-sized LinkedIn banner templates to make designing one easy.

Step 3: The Headline

Your headline is arguably the most important piece of text on your profile. It follows you everywhere - in search results, connection requests, and comments. The default headline only lists your job title and company, which tells people what you do, but not why they should care.

A great headline goes beyond your title to communicate your value. It should be keyword-rich so you show up in relevant searches.

A simple formula for a powerful headline:

[Job Title] | Helping [Target Audience] Achieve [Outcome] with [Your Expertise]

Examples:

• Instead of: "Content Writer at SaaS Company"
• Try: "Content Marketing Writer | Helping SaaS Brands Turn Technical Features into Compelling Stories That Convert"

• Instead of: "Real Estate Agent"
• Try: "Real Estate Advisor | Guiding First-Time Homebuyers Through the Complex World of Real Estate in Austin, TX"

This approach instantly tells recruiters, potential clients, and collaborators who you are, who you serve, and the unique value you bring.

Your Professional Story: The "About" Section

If your headline is the hook, the "About" section is the narrative. This is your chance to expand on the value you mentioned in your headline and show some personality. Forget writing a dry, third-person bio. The best "About" sections are warm, engaging, and written from the heart.

Structure your "About" section for readability:

1. The Hook (First 2-3 lines): Start with a strong statement that summarizes your mission or the main problem you solve. This is what people see before they have to click "see more," so make it count.
2. The Body (2-3 paragraphs): Here's where you can elaborate. Briefly touch on your experience, your philosophy, and the kinds of results you've achieved. You can mention key skills and career highlights. This section is meant to answer the question, "Why should I work with or hire you?"
3. The Call-to-action (Final lines): Don't leave your reader hanging. Tell them what you want them to do next. Do you want them to connect? Visit your website? Send you an email about a potential collaboration? Be direct.

Expert Tip: Use bullet points or special characters (like ▶ or ✓) to list your areas of expertise. This breaks up the text and makes it easy for fast readers to scan your key strengths.

Show, Don't Just Tell: The Experience Section

Most people treat the Experience section like a boring list of job duties. To make it stand out, you need to reframe it from "what I was responsible for" to "what I achieved." This is all about showcasing results.

For each position, use a few bullet points to highlight your key accomplishments. Start each bullet point with a strong action verb and quantify your results whenever possible.

Before:

• Grew company's social media accounts.
• Wrote blog posts for company website.
• Responsible for email marketing campaigns.

After:

• Increased organic social media engagement by 150% over 6 months by implementing a short-form video strategy.
• Authored 25+ blog posts on SEO and content marketing, resulting in a 40% increase in organic traffic to the blog.
• Managed weekly email newsletter, growing the subscriber list from 5,000 to 15,000 and achieving a 35% average open rate.

Also, don't forget to attach rich media. Did you contribute to a report, write an article, or create a presentation in a role? Link to it directly under the job description. This provides visual proof of your contributions and makes your profile more dynamic.

Validating Your Expertise: Skills, Endorsements, and Recommendations

Think of this section as the social proof that backs up all the claims you've made so far.

Skills &, Endorsements

The skills section allows you to list up to 50 skills, but quality beats quantity. Choose skills that align with the jobs or opportunities you want. Pin your three most important skills to the top of the list.

Endorsements show how many people vouch for your proficiency in a given skill. A great way to get endorsements is to give them. Go through your network and endorse colleagues for skills you genuinely believe they possess. Often, they will return the favor.

Recommendations

Recommendations are far more powerful than endorsements. A written recommendation is a personal testimonial from a former manager, client, or coworker about their experience working with you. Aim to have at least a few recommendations on your profile.

The best way to get them? Ask. But make it easy for the other person.

Here’s a simple template for asking:

Hi [Name],

Hope you’re doing well! I'm updating my LinkedIn profile and was wondering if you’d be willing to write a brief recommendation about our time working together on [Specific Project]. I particularly valued your perspective on how we [Specific Achievement, e.g., "launched the new checkout experience," or "closed the Q4 sales target"].

No worries if you're too busy, but if you have a few minutes, it would mean a lot. Let me know if you’d prefer I send over a few talking points to make it quicker on your end.

Thanks,

[Your Name]

By reminding them of a specific project, you help jog their memory and give them a clear starting point for what to write.

Your Greatest Hits: The Featured Section

Right below your "About" section is the Featured section - your personal portfolio. It's a highly visual section where you can pin your best work directly to the top of your profile.

Things to add to your Featured Section:

• Links to articles you’ve written or been mentioned in.
• High-performing LinkedIn posts or articles.
• Your personal website, blog, or project portfolio.
• Case studies or testimonials from clients.
• A short video introducing yourself or your services.

This allows you to control the narrative and guide visitors to the exact content you want them to see first.

Keep the Engine Running: Be Active

A great profile isn't a static document, it’s a living part of an active professional network. LinkedIn prioritizes users who are active on the platform. To make sure your hard work on your profile actually gets seen, you need to engage.

• Post consistently. Share insights from your industry, talk about a project you're working on, or celebrate a team win. A simple post once or twice a week is enough to signal to the algorithm that you are an active contributor.
• Engage with others. Your feed isn't just for scrolling. Leave thoughtful comments on posts from people in your network. A good comment adds to the conversation and is often more visible than a post itself. "Great post!" is nice, but "Great post! This reminds me of a strategy we used where we..." gives you valuable visibility.

Final Thoughts

Building the best LinkedIn profile isn't a one-time task, it's about shifting your mindset from a passive resume-holder to an active contributor in your professional community. By thoughtfully crafting each section and staying engaged, you transform your profile into a dynamic tool for career growth and opportunity.

Of course, becoming an active, consistent contributor to your network is easier said than done. At Postbase, we understand that finding the time to plan and publish content regularly is a major challenge for busy professionals. That's why we created a simple, clean, and reliable social media management tool to make it simple. With Postbase, you can plan your LinkedIn posts weeks in advance on a visual calendar and trust they’ll go live exactly when you schedule them, keeping your profile active and visible without the daily grind.