How to create a LinkedIn profile that buyers read to the end, from the sign-up screen to the last section.

What a LinkedIn profile is, and who reads it

This guide shows how to create a LinkedIn profile step by step, from the sign-up page to a profile that a buyer, a recruiter or a new contact can read in a minute and understand who you are, what you do and why they should reply.

LinkedIn Help describes a profile as a professional landing page for you to manage your own personal brand. It represents one person. Organizations get a LinkedIn Page instead, which this guide covers further down.

Most guides write the profile for job seekers. This one is written for people in B2B sales, business development and founders who sell, where the reader is usually a prospect checking you before they accept a connection request or answer a message. The steps are the same; the words change.

What you need before you sign up

• Your real name: LinkedIn Help says you must use your true name. Company names and pseudonyms are not allowed.
• A personal email address: not an address tied to a role or task, such as sales@ or marketing@, which LinkedIn Help says not to use. Google or Apple login also works.
• A recent photo of your face: at least 400 x 400 pixels.
• A cover image: a wide image, ideally 1584 x 396 pixels.
• Your work history: job titles, companies, dates and one or two results per role.
• A sentence about who you help: the core of your headline and About section. Write it before you open LinkedIn.

How to create a LinkedIn profile, step by step

These are the steps in the order that makes the profile useful fastest. The sign-up itself takes minutes; the writing takes longer and matters more.

1. Sign up with your real name

   Go to the LinkedIn sign-up page, enter your first and last name, a personal email address and a password, click Join now and complete the prompts. You can also join with Google or Apple.

2. Add a profile photo

   Upload a recent photo of your face in PNG or JPG, at least 400 x 400 pixels and no larger than 8MB.

3. Add a cover image

   Upload a JPG or PNG cover image under 8MB, ideally 1584 x 396 pixels, that says something about the work you do.

4. Write your headline

   In the introduction section, write who you help and with what, instead of only your job title.

5. Write the About section

   Explain the problem you work on, who you work with, how you help and how to reach you, in short paragraphs.

6. Fill in experience, education and skills

   Add each position with what you did and for whom, then your education and the skills buyers would search for.

7. Add Featured and recommendations

   Pin the posts, documents or links that prove your work, and ask two or three people you worked with for recommendations.

8. Set your custom URL and privacy

   Claim a custom public profile URL, add a verification badge, check your public profile settings, and choose your profile viewing option.

Step 1: create your LinkedIn account

According to LinkedIn Help, joining LinkedIn and creating your profile works like this:

Signing up with Google or Apple skips the password: LinkedIn Help says it does not require one. Either way, the account is yours, so use an email address you will still have if you change jobs.

Two rules apply from the first screen. You must use your true name, and creating multiple profiles is not allowed under the LinkedIn Professional Community Policies and User Agreement. A second profile for a side business or a company breaks both rules and can end with a restricted LinkedIn account.

The introduction section: what sits at the top

LinkedIn Help calls the top of your profile the introduction section, the first thing members see when they visit. On desktop, you edit it with the Edit icon on your profile. It holds these fields:

• Name, profile photo and background photo: who you are, at a glance.
• Headline: the line under your name, also shown in search results.
• Current position and education: pulled from the sections below.
• Location and industry: used when people search and filter.
• Contact info: where people can reach you outside LinkedIn.
• Open to: finding a new job, hiring, and providing services.

LinkedIn Help notes that your network is not notified when you change the introduction section, so you can rewrite it as often as you need while you get it right.

LinkedIn profile photo and banner size

These are the image specifications LinkedIn Help lists for a personal profile. The banner is the cover image LinkedIn also calls the background photo.

The profile photo

LinkedIn Help says your profile photo must reflect your likeness. An illustration or other artistic version of yourself is allowed, but a logo or a product is not a profile photo. Choose a photo that needs little cropping; you can adjust it after upload.

For sales, the photo does one job: the person you message should recognize you when you meet on a call. Use a recent photo, your face clearly visible, plain background, and the way you look at work.

The LinkedIn profile banner

The cover image sits behind your profile photo. Keep key details away from where the photo overlaps it, and treat it as a line of context: the problem you solve, your company, or the market you work in. If it looks blurry, LinkedIn Help suggests an image with a larger file size.

A cover image slideshow is a Premium feature, according to LinkedIn Help. When you broadcast on LinkedIn Live, the live stream temporarily replaces the cover image.

How to write your LinkedIn headline

LinkedIn Help defines the headline as the text below your name in the introduction section. It is displayed in search results and can be separate from the title of your current position. It is usually created when you add a current position, which is why so many headlines are just a job title.

A title tells a buyer your rank. A useful headline tells them whether you are relevant to their problem. A simple pattern: who you help, with what, and one piece of proof or context.

These headlines were written for this page as examples. If your headline and current position are the same, LinkedIn Help says the current position will not be displayed in the top section of your profile.

How to write the About section

LinkedIn Help describes the About section as where you express your mission, motivation and skills to people who view your profile. You add or edit it from your profile with the Edit icon next to About.

For B2B sales, write it for the buyer who has just received your message and clicked through. They want to know three things fast: do you understand their problem, have you helped someone like them, and what happens if they reply.

• Open with who you help: the buyer's role and the outcome, in one sentence.
• Name the problem in their words: the one they would type into a search box.
• Explain how you help: what you actually do, not adjectives about yourself.
• Add one piece of proof: a customer type, a result you can back up, or relevant background.
• End with a next step: message me, book a time, or read a guide.

Keep paragraphs short. The first lines show before the reader clicks to see more, so the opening sentence carries most of the weight. A template for this structure is at the end of the page.

Every LinkedIn profile section, and what to write for B2B sales

LinkedIn Help groups the sections you can add with Add profile section into core, recommended and additional. This table covers each one and what it should say when your readers are buyers.

Experience that reads like proof

Buyers skim the Experience section for one thing: have you worked with companies like theirs. Under each position, write two or three lines: the customers you served, the problem you worked on, and a result you can stand behind. Skip internal targets and quota numbers that mean nothing to a buyer.

Featured, skills and recommendations

Featured is the shelf at the top of your profile. Pin the one or two things you would send a prospect anyway. Skills help people find you in search, so use the terms your market uses. Recommendations from customers carry more weight with buyers than those from colleagues.

Claim a custom public profile URL

LinkedIn assigns every profile a URL, and you can create a custom one. On desktop, click Me, then View Profile, then the Edit icon next to Public profile & URL on the right, and edit the last part of the URL. The full steps and rules are in how to change your LinkedIn URL.

• Length: 3 to 100 characters, according to LinkedIn Help.
• Not allowed: spaces, symbols, special characters, or the word LinkedIn.
• Availability: first come, first served, and you can have only one custom URL at a time.

Use your name, or a close variation if it is taken. The URL goes in your email signature, proposals and slides, so it should be easy to type.

LinkedIn business profile vs personal profile

A LinkedIn business profile, in LinkedIn's own terms, is a LinkedIn Page, often called a Company Page. LinkedIn Help puts it plainly: Pages represent organizations, and profiles represent individuals. You need a profile to create a Page, and you cannot convert a profile into a Page.

For selling and social media marketing, the two do different jobs. The Page is where the company's brand, products, jobs and shared posts live. Conversations, connection requests and InMail happen from people's profiles. A B2B team needs both, and the reps' profiles should point to the Page.

When a business needs a Page, and when a personal profile is enough

LinkedIn pages and profiles are not an either-or choice for a business.

A freelancer or consultant who sells their own work can start with a personal profile and the Services section. Once there is a company brand, more than one person, or jobs to post, the business needs its own LinkedIn Page, and each person keeps their own personal profile.

What to post from each

Use the company Page for content that belongs to the business: product news, customer stories, events, hiring and marketing posts. Share the best of it from personal profiles, with a line on why it matters to your buyers.

Use your personal profile for your own point of view: what you learn from buyers, answers to common questions, and comments on posts from people in your market. Engagement from real people is what starts conversations. For how the two fit a plan, see our LinkedIn marketing strategy guide.

How to create a LinkedIn business profile (Company Page)

LinkedIn Help lists these desktop steps. Creating a Page works on desktop or the LinkedIn app on iOS; LinkedIn Help says it is not supported on Android devices.

• Open For Business: click the For Business icon in the upper-right corner of your homepage, then Create a Company Page.
• Choose the Page type: Company, Showcase page, or Educational institution.
• Enter the details: Page identity, company or institution details, and profile details.
• Confirm your right: tick the box confirming you can act on behalf of the organization, then click Create page.

Once the Page exists, you become its super admin and can add other admins. For the Page's images, LinkedIn Help recommends a 400 x 400 pixel logo and a 1512 x 256 pixel cover image, as PNG or JPEG files of up to 3MB.

What to fill in on a new Company Page

On the iOS app, LinkedIn Help lists the details a new company Page asks for: company name, LinkedIn public URL, website, industry, company size, company type and an optional tagline. Treat them as the Page's version of a personal profile's introduction section.

• Logo and cover image: the logo at 400 x 400 pixels, the cover at 1512 x 256, both PNG or JPEG up to 3MB. LinkedIn Help notes the logo shows on light and dark backgrounds.
• Tagline and description: who the business serves and what it does, in the words your buyers use, the same positioning your sales team uses on their profiles.
• Website and industry: so members who find the Page can learn more and see it in the right market.
• Admins: at least two people, so the Page does not depend on one employee's personal profile.

How employees and the company Page work together

A company Page with no people behind it looks empty, and personal profiles with no company behind them look small. Ask employees to add the business to their Experience section and to share company posts with their own comment, so social media marketing on LinkedIn reaches their audience as well as the Page's followers.

LinkedIn Help also describes a Premium Company Page subscription, which can, for example, invite people you are not connected with to follow the Page.

The free Page is enough to start: brand, content, jobs and a place for your team's profiles to point. Review the Page with the same eye you use for your own profile: would a buyer understand the business in a minute?

A simple content plan for a B2B company Page

This plan was written for this page as a starting point. The Page is the business's own media channel on LinkedIn, so its posts should serve the same audience your sales team talks to.

Measure the Page by what it does for business conversations, not only followers: whether buyers mention a post, and whether the team shares the content. Page analytics from LinkedIn show visitors; your CRM shows the rest.

How to turn off profile views on LinkedIn (private mode)

When you view someone's profile, LinkedIn can show them that you did, and many users want to browse profiles in private mode instead. To turn this off, change your profile viewing options. On desktop, LinkedIn Help gives these steps:

• Open settings: click the Me icon at the top of your homepage and select Settings & Privacy.
• Go to Visibility: click Visibility on the left.
• Open the option: under Visibility of your profile & network, click Profile viewing options.
• Choose Private mode: your changes save automatically.

On mobile, tap your profile photo, then Settings, then the Visibility tab, then Profile viewing options.

The three profile viewing options

What private mode costs you

On a Basic (free) account, LinkedIn Help says you must choose Your name and headline to see the viewer history on your own Who's viewed your profile page. With Premium, you can browse in private mode and still see who viewed you in the last 90 days, but never the names of private mode viewers.

Two more details from LinkedIn Help: selecting a person in the search suggestions opens their mini profile, which counts as a profile view. To stop the emails about who viewed your profile, click Unsubscribe in the email footer.

When to use private mode in sales, and when not to

Private mode fits research you do not want to announce: checking competitors, looking at accounts before a plan is ready, or viewing someone you do not intend to contact. The person sees only that a LinkedIn Member viewed their profile, without your name.

For prospecting, a visible view can work in your favor. Someone who sees your name and headline in their viewer list, and then gets a relevant message from you, already has context. That only works if your profile explains why you are worth a reply.

Can someone see that you viewed their profile?

It depends on your setting, not theirs. With Your name and headline, they see your name and headline in their viewer list. With private profile characteristics, they see a semi-private description such as a job title and company. In private mode, they see only LinkedIn Member, whether they pay for Premium or not.

If you want to view profiles without anyone knowing, switch to private mode before you start browsing, not after, and check the setting again when you are done.

Private mode on a free account vs Premium

Private mode also hides your views from other Premium users. So there is no setting, free or paid, that shows the name of someone who viewed your profile in private mode. Their privacy settings always win, according to LinkedIn Help.

How to turn profile views back on

Go back to Settings & Privacy, Visibility, Profile viewing options and select Your name and headline. From then on, people you view will see your name, and on a free account your own viewer history returns.

Your public profile

Separately, you decide what people who are not signed in, and search engines, can see. Open Public profile & URL from your profile to switch public visibility off or hide single sections. LinkedIn Help warns that search engines can take weeks or months to reflect changes.

Other LinkedIn privacy settings worth checking

• Profile viewing options: what people see when you view their profile, from your name to private mode.
• Public profile visibility: what people who are not signed in, and search engines, can see.
• Blocking: LinkedIn Help says a member you block can no longer view your profile. Someone who viewed it before the block still counts in your viewer number, without their details.
• Who's viewed your profile emails: unsubscribe from the email footer if you do not want them.

All of these privacy settings live under Settings & Privacy, in the Visibility tab, or on your profile's Public profile & URL page. Review them once after you create the profile, then again when you change jobs.

A LinkedIn profile for sales: what changes

A LinkedIn profile for sales has a different reader from a job seeker's profile. The recruiter asks whether you can do the job; the buyer asks whether you understand their problem and are worth a reply. Every section should answer the buyer.

• Headline: the buyer and the problem, not your quota or title.
• About: how you help, one proof point, and how to take the next step.
• Experience: customers and outcomes rather than internal awards.
• Featured: content you would send a prospect.
• Activity: a few useful posts or comments, so the profile does not look abandoned.

The profile is where LinkedIn prospecting lands: every connection request and message sends people to it. It also shapes how your LinkedIn networking grows, since people accept requests from profiles that look relevant to them.

LinkedIn profile examples

These examples were written for this page. The people and companies are fictional and are shown only to illustrate the structure.

LinkedIn profile tips that matter for B2B

• Write for one reader. Pick the buyer role you sell to most and write every section for them.
• Use their vocabulary. Put the terms your ideal customer profile uses in the headline, About and skills.
• Show, then tell. One linked case study beats a paragraph of adjectives.
• Keep it current. Update the headline and Featured when your offer changes.
• Stay consistent with your company Page. The same positioning on the profile and the Page builds trust.
• Know your connection degrees. Who can see and message you depends on them, see what 3rd means on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn profile checklist

After the profile: using it to sell

A finished profile is the base, not the result. Connect with the people you already work with, then with the buyers you want to reach. Tools such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator help find accounts and people; the profile is what they see when you reach out.

For the bigger picture of turning the profile into pipeline, see the LinkedIn lead generation hub and our entry on LinkedIn itself.

Common LinkedIn profile mistakes

• A company name or nickname in the name field, which LinkedIn does not allow.
• A second profile for a business instead of a LinkedIn Page.
• A logo, group photo or old photo as the profile picture.
• A headline that is only a job title and a company name.
• An About section written for recruiters when the readers are buyers.
• Experience that lists duties and internal targets instead of customers and results.
• No custom URL, so the link in your signature is a string of numbers.
• Browsing in private mode by accident and wondering why the viewer list is empty.
• Quoting profile statistics from articles that do not say where the numbers came from.

An About section template for B2B sellers

The template below turns the About structure from this guide into text you can fill in. It was written for this page. Replace each placeholder with your buyer's words, and cut any line you cannot back up.

I help {{buyerRole}} at {{companyType}} {{outcome}}.

Most of the teams I talk to are dealing with {{problem}}. The usual fixes, {{usualFix}}, tend to {{whyItFails}}.

At {{company}}, I work with {{buyerRole}} on {{whatYouDo}}. A typical project starts with {{firstStep}} and ends with {{result}}.

Before sales, I spent {{years}} years as {{priorRole}}, so I know {{insight}}.

If {{problem}} is on your list this year, message me here or book a time: {{link}}

Frequently asked questions