How to Make a LinkedIn Profile Professional

Your LinkedIn profile isn’t just an online resume, it’s your professional storefront, open 24/7. Whether you're job hunting, building a client base, or establishing yourself as an industry expert, a polished profile is non-negotiable. This guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough to transform your profile from a simple history of your work into a powerful career-building tool.

Nail the First Impression: Your Profile Picture & Banner

Before anyone reads a single word you’ve written, they see your photos. These two visual elements set the tone for your entire profile and can make the difference between a visitor clicking away or sticking around to learn more.

Your Professional Headshot: More Than Just a Photo

Your profile picture is your digital handshake. It’s the single most important visual on your profile. A low-quality or inappropriate photo immediately undermines your professionalism. Think of it less as a social media avatar and more as the headshot you'd see in a company directory or on a conference speaker page.

Follow these simple rules for a picture-perfect photo:

• High Resolution is a Must: Use a clear, high-quality photo. A pixelated, blurry image suggests a lack of attention to detail. Most modern smartphones can take excellent shots, you don't necessarily need a professional photographer.
• Focus on Your Face: Your face should take up at least 60% of the frame. Avoid wide shots where you're a tiny figure in a large landscape. A recruiter or potential client wants to see who they’d be working with.
• Dress the Part: Wear what you would for work or a job interview in your industry. If you work in a corporate environment, a blazer or button-down is appropriate. If you're a creative, your attire might be more relaxed, but it should still look sharp and intentional.
• Keep the Background Simple: A busy or distracting background pulls focus away from you. A solid-colored wall, a blurred-out office environment, or a simple outdoor setting works best. Avoid party scenes or vacation snapshots.
• Look Approachable: You don't need a stern, passport-style photo. A warm, genuine smile makes you seem more approachable and confident. Look directly at the camera to create a connection with the viewer.

The Background Banner: Your Professional Billboard

Many people leave the default blue banner on their profile, which is a massive missed opportunity. Your banner image is prime real estate to express your professional brand, showcase your work, or provide context about what you do.

Here are some effective ideas for your banner:

• You in Action: A photo of you speaking at an event, leading a workshop, or collaborating with a team adds instant credibility.
• Your Workspace: A high-quality shot of your desk, studio, or work environment can give a feel for your professional context.
• Company Branding: Using a banner with your company's logo, colors, and tagline is a great way to show company pride and align your personal brand with your employer's.
• Value Proposition: Create a simple graphic with a tagline that explains the value you provide. For example, a financial advisor’s banner might read, “Helping families build generational wealth.”
• Abstract or Thematic Image: A high-quality stock image that represents your industry (e.g., code on a screen for a developer, a well-designed cityscape for an architect) can work well.

Actionable Tip: Use a free tool like Canva. They have perfectly-sized LinkedIn banner templates and professionally designed layouts you can customize in minutes.

Craft a Headline That Hooks (It's Not Just a Job Title)

Your headline is arguably the most important text on your profile. It follows you everywhere on LinkedIn - in search results, connection requests, and when you comment on posts. By default, LinkedIn uses your current job title, but you can, and should, customize it to be much more impactful.

A great headline goes beyond your title, it explains who you help and how you help them. It's packed with keywords that a recruiter or potential client would use to find someone like you.

A simple yet powerful formula is:

[Your Role] | Helping [Your Target Audience] Achieve [Their Goal] with [Your Expertise]

Let's see it in action:

• Instead of: "Marketing Manager"
  Try: "Content Marketing Manager | Helping B2B SaaS Startups Drive Organic Growth Through Data-Driven SEO Strategies"
• Instead of: "Software Engineer at TechCorp"
  Try: "Senior Software Engineer | Building Scalable FinTech Solutions | Go, C++, Kubernetes"
• Instead of: "Sales Representative"
  Try: "Account Executive | Partnering with Mid-Market Companies to Streamline their Sales Workflow"

These revised headlines are better because they are specific, client-focused, and filled with searchable keywords.

Write an "About" Section That Tells Your Story

This is where you bring your professional journey to life. Don't waste this space by just listing skills as bullet points. Instead, write a compelling, first-person narrative that connects the dots of your experience and shows your passion for what you do.

Structure your "About" section in four parts:

1. The Hook (1-2 sentences): Start with a strong statement that summarizes your mission or area of expertise. Draw the reader in immediately.
2. The Body (2-3 paragraphs): This is your story. Explain your "why." What drives you in your field? Talk about your core areas of expertise, the types of problems you love to solve, and the value you bring to a team or client.
3. The Proof (a few bullet points): Back up your claims with tangible achievements. Use short bullet points to highlight 2-4 key accomplishments, like "Led a project that increased user retention by 25%" or "Managed a $500K ad budget, achieving a 4x ROAS."
4. The Call to Action (1 sentence): End by telling the reader what you want them to do next. This could be inviting them to connect, directing them to your portfolio, or sharing your professional email for inquiries.

Detail Your Experience Like a Storyteller, Not a Robot

Under your "Experience" section, avoid simply copying and pasting job responsibilities from an old resume. That tells people what you were supposed to do, not what you actually achieved. For each position, focus on results and impact.

Use 3-5 bullet points for each role and frame them around your accomplishments. Use strong action verbs and quantify your results whenever possible.

Compare this:

• Boring Responsibility: "Managed the company blog and social media channels."

With this:

• Impactful Accomplishment: "Revitalized the content marketing strategy, growing blog readership by 300% in 12 months and increasing social media engagement by 70% by introducing a video-first content pillar."

This approach gives concrete evidence of your skills and the value you generate.

Actionable Tip: Use the "Add media" feature to link to articles you've written, projects you're proud of, presentations you've given, or company websites you helped build. This provides visual proof of your contributions and makes your profile far more engaging.

Show, Don't Just Tell: Skills & Endorsements

The "Skills" section works as a keyword hub for your profile, helping you appear in relevant searches. While you can add up to 50 skills, quality trumps quantity.

Start by making a list of your most relevant hard and soft skills. Look at job descriptions for roles you're interested in and see what skills they require. Add those to your profile if they match your experience.

Pin your three most important skills to the top. These are the ones prominently displayed on your profile and are most likely to be endorsed. Endorsements from your connections act as social proof, validating your expertise in those areas.

Don’t be passive about it. A good way to gain endorsements is to give them genuinely. When you endorse a colleague for a skill you know they possess, it often prompts them to return the favor.

Build Real Credibility with Recommendations

Recommendations are the gold standard of social proof on LinkedIn. While endorsements are a simple one-click validation, a recommendation is a written testimonial from someone who has worked with you. One thoughtful recommendation is worth a hundred endorsements.

They provide detailed, personal insight into your work ethic, skills, and character from the perspective of a former manager, a key client, or a senior colleague. Think strategically about who you ask.

Here’s how to ask for a recommendation effectively:

1. Go directly to their profile and select "Request a recommendation." Don't send a generic message.
2. Personalize your request. Don't use the default LinkedIn template. Refresh their memory about your time working together and gently guide them toward what you'd like them to highlight.

Here’s a template you can adapt:

“Hi [Name], I hope you’re doing well. I’m spending some time updating my LinkedIn profile and was hoping you might write a brief recommendation about our time working together on the [Project Name] campaign. I especially valued your feedback on my presentation skills during the client kickoff, and I would be so grateful if you could touch on that. Of course, no pressure at all, but thank you for considering!"

This makes it easy for them to say yes and to write something specific and valuable.

Keep Your Profile Working for You: Stay Active and Engage

A professional profile isn't something you create once and forget about. An active profile signals to the LinkedIn algorithm - and to recruiters - that you are engaged in your professional community. Activity keeps you visible.

You don't need to post every day, but aim for consistency. Here are a few simple ways to stay active:

• Share relevant content. Post an interesting article about your industry with a few sentences about your perspective.
• Engage with others' posts. Leave thoughtful comments on posts from your connections or industry leaders. Go beyond "Great post!" and add to the conversation.
• Post about your work. Share a takeaway from a recent project, a lesson you learned at a conference, or celebrate a team win.

Final Thoughts

Building a standout professional LinkedIn profile isn’t about checking boxes, it's about telling a compelling story of your career journey and the value you can provide. By focusing on a high-quality headshot, a keyword-rich headline, an authentic summary, and achievement-based experience, you transform your profile into a dynamic tool that opens doors to new opportunities.

Once your profile is up to par, maintaining an active presence is what brings it to life. I know managing a consistent content calendar for LinkedIn - on top of other platforms - can become a huge time sink. We actually built Postbase to solve this exact problem. It’s a clean, modern way to plan your content visually, schedule posts for all your accounts from one place, and stay on top of your professional brand without the chaos.