How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Stand Out

Your LinkedIn profile is more than just an online resume, it's your professional storefront, your digital handshake, and often, the very first impression you'll make on a recruiter, client, or future collaborator. Turning it from a passive document into a powerful personal branding tool is one of the smartest career moves you can make. This guide will walk you through, section-by-section, how to refine your profile so it doesn't just blend in - it stands out and works for you.

Nail the First Impression: Your Photo and Banner

Before anyone reads a single word you've written, they see your pictures. These visual elements set the tone for your entire profile. Getting them right builds immediate credibility.

Your Profile Photo: The Face of Your Brand

Your profile picture is the single most important visual asset on your LinkedIn page. It's what makes you a real person, not just a list of job titles. The goal is to look professional, approachable, and authentic.

• Get a Professional Headshot: If you can, invest in a professional headshot. If that's not possible, a friend with a modern smartphone can achieve great results. Use "portrait mode" to create a soft, blurred background that makes your face pop.
• Lighting is Everything: Face a window to get soft, natural light on your face. Avoid harsh overhead lighting that creates shadows or standing with your back to a window, which will turn you into a silhouette.
• Keep the Background Simple: A neutral, uncluttered background keeps the focus on you. Think a solid-colored wall, an out-of-focus outdoor scene, or a minimally-styled office space.
• Dress the Part: Wear what you would wear to an important meeting in your industry. It shows you understand professional norms and take your career seriously.
• Smile! A genuine smile makes you look confident and approachable. It's an invitation to connect. A stiff, passport-style photo does the opposite.

Your Background Banner: Set the Professional Scene

Leaving the default blue gradient background banner is a massive missed opportunity. This 1584 x 396 pixels space is your personal billboard. Use it to add context and personality to your profile.

Banner Ideas:

• You in Action: A photo of you speaking at an event, leading a workshop, or collaborating with your team provides powerful social proof.
• Company Branding: If you're a proud team member or founder, using a banner with your company's logo, tagline, or imagery can strengthen your professional association.
• Show What You Do: A graphic designer might use a visually appealing composition of their work. A developer could use a stylized code background. A writer might feature a quote about storytelling.
• Your Value Proposition: Create a simple banner (using a free tool like Canva) that states your professional tagline or mission statement, such as "Helping SaaS Startups Scale with Content."

Craft a Headline That Hooks

By default, LinkedIn populates your headline with your current job title and company. This is functional, but it doesn't do any work for you. You have 220 characters to tell people not just what you are, but what you do and for whom.

Go Beyond Your Job Title

Think of your headline as a mini advertisement for your personal brand. It should be rich with keywords that are relevant to your industry, so you show up in searches by recruiters and potential clients. A great headline communicates your value instantly.

A Winning Headline Formula:

Try this simple structure: [Job Title] | [Your Core Skill or Specialization] | Helping [Your Target Audience] with [The Result You Achieve]

Let's see it in action:

• Before: Marketing Manager at Acme Corp
• After: Senior Marketing Manager at Acme Corp | B2B Content &, Demand Generation Specialist | Helping Tech Companies Build Their Sales Pipeline

The "after" version is worlds more informative. It immediately tells a visitor what you specialize in, who you serve, and the outcome you deliver. It's packed with keywords and sets a confident, expert tone.

Write an "About" Section That Tells Your Story

If your headline is your hook, the "About" section is your chance to tell your story. Many people make the mistake of treating it like a formal summary and writing in the third person. Don’t do that. This is your space to connect with your reader personally and professionally.

Showcase Your Passion and Purpose

Structure your "About" section to guide the reader through your professional journey and vision. Write in the first person ("I," "my") to create a direct connection.

A Simple Structure for Your "About" Section:

1. The Hook (First 2-3 lines): Start with a strong opening statement that summarizes your professional mission or what drives you. This is what people see before they have to click "see more," so make it count. Example: "For the last 10 years, I've been obsessed with one thing: helping non-profits use social media to drive real-world impact and fundraising."
2. The Middle (2-3 paragraphs): Here, you can talk about your core areas of expertise, the kind of problems you love to solve, and maybe a key achievement you're proud of. This isn’t a list of job duties, it’s the narrative that connects your experiences. Explain your "why."
3. The Specializations (Bulleted List): Make it easy for people to skim. Add a section like "My areas of expertise include:" followed by bullet points listing your top skills (e.g., SEO Strategy, Public Speaking, Project Management, SaaS Sales).
4. The Call to Action (Final line): End by telling the reader what you want them to do next. Do you want them to connect? Visit your portfolio? Reach out for speaking opportunities? Example: "I'm always open to connecting with fellow marketing professionals. Feel free to send a connection request!"

Avoid industry jargon where possible. Write clearly and concisely, as you would speak to a colleague in a conversation.

Show, Don't Just Tell: The Featured Section

The "Featured" section is your personal highlight reel. Sitting right below your "About," it’s a highly visual way to showcase your best work. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a great piece of featured content is worth a thousand bullet points.

Curate Your Greatest Hits

Don’t let this space go to waste. Use it to provide tangible proof of your skills and accomplishments.

What should you feature?

• Articles you’ve published: Pin a link to a blog post you wrote or an article where you were featured.
• Your Portfolio: If you're in a creative field, this is non-negotiable. Link directly to your portfolio website.
• A video of you speaking: A talk you gave at a conference or even a short, well-produced video sharing your expertise.
• A major project case study: Share a successful project with a compelling visual and a link to a more detailed summary.
• Your top-performing LinkedIn post: If you had a post go viral or spark a great conversation, feature it to showcase your industry voice.

Detail Your Experience with Impact

This is where most people simply copy and paste the responsibilities from their resume. To a recruiter or client, a list of duties is boring and uninformative. They don't want to know what you were supposed to do, they want to know what you actually accomplished.

Turn Responsibilities into Accomplishments

For each role in your Experience section, use 2-4 bullet points to highlight your key achievements. Frame them with quantifiable results whenever possible to demonstrate your impact.

A Framework for Achievement-Based Bullets:

Try the "Action + Result" model.

• Instead of: "Managed the company's social media accounts."
• Try: "Grew the company's LinkedIn following by 300% in 12 months by developing and launching an employee advocacy program and a video content series."

Here’s another example:

• Instead of: "Responsible for writing blog content."
• Try: "Authored 50+ blog articles on UX design, contributing to a 45% increase in organic search traffic to the blog and generating over 200 marketing qualified leads."

Numbers make your contributions tangible and impressive. Even if you don't have hard data for everything, you can use descriptive language to show initiative and outcomes.

Skills &, Endorsements: Build Social Proof

The Skills section helps reinforce your expertise and improves your profile's visibility in search results. Being strategic here can make a big difference.

Pinpoint Your Core Strengths

LinkedIn lets you add up to 50 skills. While you should list all relevant skills, you also get to "pin" your top three. These three should be your absolute most important, high-value skills - the ones you want to be known for.

Endorsements act as social proof for these skills. The easiest way to get them is to give them. Go through your network and endorse colleagues for abilities you can genuinely vouch for. Often, they’ll be happy to return the favor without you even having to ask.

Recommendations: The Ultimate Trust Signal

A personal recommendation is the most powerful form of social proof on your profile. These are written testimonials from people who have worked with you, validating your skills and character. A profile with several thoughtful recommendations radiates credibility.

Give to Get

Just like with endorsements, the best way to receive recommendations is to give them first. Write a genuine, specific recommendation for a former manager, client, or teammate whose work you admire. It's a wonderful way to maintain professional relationships and often prompts them to write one for you in return.

When you do ask for one, make it easy for the other person. Never use the generic LinkedIn request. Instead, send a personalized note:

"Hi [Name], I 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 work together on the [Project Name] project. I especially valued your support on [Specific Area], and my goal was to [State your contribution here]. No pressure at all, but I would really appreciate it if you have a few moments."

Stay Active and Engaged

A fantastic profile is just step one. To truly make it stand out, you need to use it. An active profile shows you are engaged in your industry and passionate about your work. LinkedIn's algorithm loves activity, pushing active profiles to the top of search results and news feeds.

Share Content and Join the Conversation

• Post Your Own Content: You don't need to post every day, but aim for consistency. Share an interesting article you read with your own 2-3 sentence take. Write a short post about a lesson you learned at work. Share an update on a project. This positions you as an expert and a contributor to your professional community.
• Engage with Others: Your feed is a massive networking opportunity. Don't just scroll and "like." Leave thoughtful comments on posts from your connections and industry leaders. Ask questions. Add your own perspective. A good comment is often seen by hundreds or even thousands of people, driving relevant connections back to your beautifully optimized profile.

Final Thoughts

Updating your LinkedIn profile transforms it from a static resume into a living, breathing tool for career growth. By crafting a compelling headline, telling your story, showcasing your accomplishments, and staying active, you create a powerful first impression that attracts opportunities and builds meaningful professional connections.

Once your profile is polished, the key is consistently sharing valuable content that reinforces your expertise. To help you manage your personal brand on LinkedIn and across all your social platforms, we built Postbase. We make it easy to plan and schedule all your content from a visual calendar, whether it's a LinkedIn article, a Reel, or a TikTok, so you can maintain a strong, professional online presence without the daily scramble.