What does a good LinkedIn profile sample look like?
Here is a complete sample for an invented founder, Priya at Northwind Ltd, a sample company selling invoice reminder software to accounting firms. It is written for a buyer who opens the profile after an email or a comment. Swap the brackets for your facts.
By our count the headline is 92 characters and the two About paragraphs 569, about 22% of the 2,600-character maximum that LinkedIn's Talent Blog (April 2024) gives for the About section (569 ÷ 2,600). Here is what LinkedIn itself publishes about these profile sections:
| Section | What LinkedIn says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Photo | Members with a profile photo get up to twice as many profile views (LinkedIn's figure, no date or method given) | Create a good LinkedIn profile, updated 8 months before our check |
| Headline | It is created from the positions you add, and you can rewrite it to promote an area of expertise | Same page |
| About | Ideally one or two paragraphs; bullet points are fine | Same page |
| Skills | Nearly 3x more likely to receive connection requests with five or more skills listed (LinkedIn's claim, no method given) | LinkedIn Sales Blog, 23 July 2025 |
| Recommendations | No limit on how many you can request; once accepted, they are visible to your network by default | Create a good LinkedIn profile |
For the photo itself, see our LinkedIn profile picture tips.
Which real LinkedIn profiles are good examples?
Each profile below backs what it sells with numbers or named clients; the two live headlines also name the buyer's problem. Two live profiles, checked on 4 November 2026, and one that LinkedIn's own Talent Blog picked in April 2024:
| Profile | What it does | What to copy |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Orlob, co-founder and CEO of Caliber | The headline has three parts: role and company, the problem the product solves, and a proof number from a past job. The About section says Chris Orlob joined Gong at $200K in ARR and helped scale it to $225M ARR (self-reported). | Role, problem, proof, in that order |
| Josh Braun, founder of Braun Training | The headline is the reader's problem (quoted below). About opens with what the reader gets, then quotes named clients. Old Experience entries carry numbers, such as doubling the weekly meetings an SDR team set in 60 days. | Named client quotes in About; a number in every Experience entry |
| Gary Pope, cofounder of Kids Industries (Talent Blog pick) | Explains the pivot that led to family marketing, names clients such as GSK, Disney and Mattel, and sums up the offer as three things: insight, strategy and creative | Name clients you have permission to name |
The two live headlines, word for word: "CEO at Caliber | Close the Skill Gaps That Leak Revenue | $200K to $200M+ ARR at Gong" and "Struggling to book meetings? Getting ghosted? Want to sell without pushing, convincing, or begging? Read this profile." The first suits a founder with a track record buyers recognise; the second suits a seller whose buyer knows the pain but not the seller.
A caution on the Talent Blog list, written by Jen Dewar: its 14 picks span many roles, from recruiters to a financial analyst, and only a few are about selling to clients. Gary Pope's is the most useful of them for that, in our view. Its About section still opened with the same school teacher line when we checked, but the rest may have changed since April 2024.
How do you write a strong LinkedIn bio?
Write it in the first person, open with your buyer's problem, prove one thing, and end with one next step. It draws on LinkedIn's Talent Blog tips: write in the first person, make the first sentence count (no hello and no thanks for visiting), say what problems you solve and for whom, avoid overused words such as strategic, motivated and creative, and end by asking for what you want. LinkedIn's help page adds that one or two paragraphs is ideal.
In our view line 5 does the most work: saying who you don't serve makes the right buyer surer the profile is about them. For drafts to react to, try our free LinkedIn summary generator.
LinkedIn profile templates for founders, sellers and consultants
Pick the row closest to your job. The filled-in examples use sample companies, and the character counts are ours.
| Role | Headline template | Filled-in example | About opens with | Featured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founder selling software | [Outcome] for [buyer type] | Founder, [Company] | Faster month-end close for 10 to 200 person agencies | Founder, Acme (68 characters) | The cost of the problem to the buyer, then why you built the product | Two-minute demo, one customer story, pricing or booking page |
| Founding seller or account executive | Helping [buyer role] at [company type] [get outcome] | [Role], [Company] | Helping finance leads at UK logistics firms cut late payments | Account Executive, Northwind Ltd (96 characters) | The buyers you work with and the situation they're in | One useful guide or teardown post, not a product brochure |
| Consultant or freelancer | [Service] for [niche] | [Type of result] | [City or Remote] | Bookkeeping clean-ups for Shopify brands | Month-end in 5 days | Remote (71 characters) | The trigger that makes clients call you | A case study, plus a Service Page (next section) |
For 40 more headlines by role, see our LinkedIn headline examples for founders and sales. If you run an agency, our guide to winning clients from an agency owner's profile covers the Featured section, the Follow button and the custom button in more depth.
Should you list services on your profile or your Company Page?
Use your profile if you alone handle requests; use the Company Page if other admins need to see them. You choose once: LinkedIn's Service Pages FAQ says that after setup you can't currently change whether your services are managed by your profile or your Page. The deciding facts, from LinkedIn's comparison page (updated a year before our check):
| Services on your profile | Services on a Company Page | |
|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn's recommended use | Your name tied to the services, and you are the only person handling requests | The Page's brand tied to the services, and other admins can view and manage requests |
| Who receives requests | Only the member who created it | Any super or content admin of the Page |
| Cost | Free; optional upgrades with Premium Business | Free; optional upgrades with Premium Company Page |
| Service types | Up to 10 | Up to 10 |
| Requirements | None | Companies with 500 employees or fewer; not Showcase or University Pages; Page messages switch on |
| Client reviews | You can invite clients to review | Not currently available |
| Managing it | Desktop and mobile | Desktop only |
For a founder or consultant selling under their own name, the reviews tip it towards the profile, in our view. On desktop, LinkedIn's setup steps are: click the Me icon, click View Profile, click Add profile section below your photo, then Add services. Add up to 10 services, an optional About description, your location and whether you work remotely, and optionally a starting hourly rate or Contact for pricing, then click Save. In the app, tap the Me icon at the top of your homepage, then your name; tap Add section below your profile picture, then Add services, and tap Publish to finish.
Without Premium Business, Sales Navigator or Recruiter Lite, the Services section shows only a preview of your description. With one of them, LinkedIn adds a Services Showcase with your ratings and latest four or five star review, media on the Service Page, and a Request services button at the top of your profile, in feed posts, messages and search results. LinkedIn says any member can message you about your services for free, and Service Pages are available everywhere except China.
Can ChatGPT write my LinkedIn profile?
Yes, as a first draft you then cut and correct. LinkedIn has its own version: its Profile Writing Assistance help page, updated five days before our check, says the feature is available only to a select group of Premium subscribers. Where you have it, you click (or, in the app, tap) Show me options below the headline, Show me an option in the About edit box, or Proofread in the Highlights part of an Experience entry, which needs at least 20 words first. You can edit a suggestion before saving it or revert to your original.
The risk with ChatGPT, Claude or any other assistant is invented results and the stock words the Talent Blog tells you to cut. Give it facts and rules, like this:
Read the draft aloud and delete any sentence a customer couldn't confirm. The 120-character target is our choice, for phone screens.
What to fix on your profile this week
Fifteen minutes this week covers the checks that matter most. Our order:
Run the five-second test
Send your profile link to one customer and ask what you do and for whom. If they can't say, rewrite the headline.
Fix the first two lines of About
Open with the buyer's problem and what you do about it. Move greetings and job history down.
Get to five skills
Add the terms buyers search for, given the Sales Blog's five-skill claim above.
Ask two customers for a recommendation
There's no limit on requests, which you send to connections. Ask the two clients most like the buyers you want next to mention the problem you solved.
Give Featured a next step
Pin a demo, a case study or your booking page, or set up a Service Page if you sell services.
A finished profile still needs recent posts to look active; our 30-minute-a-week personal branding system covers the routine. If posting is the part that slips, Siela's LinkedIn Presence agent posts in your voice on the cadence you set, in formats such as customer stories and how-to lists, and can show you every post before it goes out.
Frequently asked questions
What should a LinkedIn profile include to attract clients?
A clear photo, a headline naming who you help and the result, an About section that starts with the buyer's problem, Experience entries with one number each, at least five relevant skills, a couple of client recommendations and a Featured item that gives visitors a next step. Service sellers can add a free Service Page; LinkedIn says it makes services easier to find and any member can message you about them for free.
Should a LinkedIn About section be in first or third person?
First person. LinkedIn's Talent Blog says to write the way you would speak to a new contact at a conference, using I rather than your own name, and to read the text out loud to check it sounds like you. Third person reads like a press release and puts distance between you and the buyer you want to talk to.
How long should a LinkedIn profile summary be?
LinkedIn's Talent Blog (April 2024) puts the maximum at 2,600 characters, but LinkedIn's help centre suggests one or two paragraphs, with bullet points if you prefer. For a buyer reading on a phone, a few hundred characters that state the problem, the proof and the next step beat a full page of career history, in our view.
Do I need LinkedIn Premium for a good profile?
No. Every section that matters, from headline to recommendations, is free, and so is a Service Page. Premium Business adds extras for service sellers, such as a Request services button, media on the Service Page and a showcase with ratings, and only some Premium subscribers get LinkedIn's AI writing help for the headline, About and Experience sections.
Is it fine to name clients on my LinkedIn profile?
Only with their permission. Named clients are strong proof, which is why Gary Pope's Kids Industries profile named them when LinkedIn's Talent Blog quoted it in 2024, but a client who hasn't agreed may not want to be linked to you in public. Ask by email, keep the reply, and if the answer is no, describe the client by industry and size instead.
Sources
- LinkedIn Help: Create a good LinkedIn profile (updated 8 months before check; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Talent Blog: 14 LinkedIn Profile Summary Examples (and 14 Best Practices), Jen Dewar (30 April 2024; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Sales Blog: 12 steps to a better LinkedIn profile in 2025, Jane Deehan (23 July 2025; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Enhance your profile with LinkedIn's Profile Writing Assistance (updated 5 days before check; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Offer services on LinkedIn with your personal profile (updated 1 year before check; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Differences between offering services on your Company Page and your personal profile (updated 1 year before check; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: LinkedIn Service Pages FAQs (updated 7 months before check; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Chris Orlob's public LinkedIn profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Josh Braun's public LinkedIn profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Gary Pope's public LinkedIn profile (checked 4 Nov 2026)