Having a boring or overly self promotional LinkedIn profile is lame. Nobody likes it, including you.
So why do so many founders and consultants leave there’s on default settings, blank sections, and copy they wrote once 7 years ago without giving it another thought?
Idk either, but I know it’s costing them engagement and new customers…probably.
If this is speaking to you, you’ve likely treated your LinkedIn profile like a digital resume. Job title in the headline. A chronological life story in the about section. Maybe a default gray-blue banner that screams “I didn’t think about this for more than two seconds.”
And I don’t mind being the one to tell you, it shows.
Your LinkedIn profile is not a resume. It is a landing page.
It is the first impression that determines whether someone trusts you enough to connect, engage or eventually do business with you. And if you are a founder or consultant trying to grow through LinkedIn in 2026, the way you show up on this platform matters more than ever.
I am going to walk you through how to optimize every section of your LinkedIn profile so people actually like you, trust you and potentially want to give you money.
Key takeaways
- Your banner and headline should communicate a clear benefit or transformation for your target audience, not just your job title
- The about section works best as a mini landing page with a positioning statement, social proof and a clear next step
- Your featured section should drive one specific action you want visitors to take after engaging with your profile
- Adding people to your network consistently is what actually brings your profile to life over time
Your banner is the most underappreciated piece of real estate on LinkedIn
To this day, I continue to see this section underoptimized. The default light gray-blue banner is everywhere. And it is all kinds of wrong.
Your banner is the very first thing someone sees when they land on your profile. It catches the eye before anything else. Before your headline. Before your photo. Before your about section.
It sets the tone for everything that follows.
What your banner should communicate
At its most simple, your banner should answer one question. What is the promise you give to your target customer or target audience?
- Are you helping them achieve something specific? Lead with that.
- Are you preventing something bad from happening? Lead with that.
- Do you have a company tagline that nails your value? Use it.
You can go to Canva and use their free templates for LinkedIn backgrounds. Type “LinkedIn background template” into the search bar and you will find hundreds of options.
The key is that it needs to be simple and visually appealing in a way that is clean. Then it needs to communicate how somebody is going to benefit from you or understand what experiences you’ve been through and stories you have to tell in an instant.
No clutter. No walls of text. Just a clear signal that they are in the right place.
Your headline needs to stop being a job title
I think people have really good intentions with their headline. But most of them leave it at their job title and call it a day.
I get it. If you are somehow an important or impressive person, if you are Zucks or the CEO of some publicly traded company, shout out to you. Do what you want.
But for the rest of us, for founders and consultants who are still building, people do not actually care about your title. They are like you. They care about themselves and what they are trying to accomplish.
Just like we did with the banner, your headline should describe something so specifically unique to you that it will resonate with your target customers.
Or it should lean heavily into the type of transformation you can make in their lives.
A real example of how this works
For Meet Sona, our headline is “AI voice chats for weeks of meaningful LinkedIn content.” We are letting people know they can remove the blank page problem. They can talk for a few minutes and create an asset that will help improve their business.
That headline does not tell you I am a content strategist. It does not tell you I spent years growing two SEO agencies. It does not mention that I am a daily user and commenter and poster on LinkedIn. It does not mention the college I went to.
All of that comes after. Once you have their attention and they know they are in the right place, the credentials and the intrigue around your position or founder status can come into play.
You do not have long to hold people’s attention. So that headline really needs to lean into either something very unique and specific about you and the way you show up in the world, or how you are going to show up for them on this platform and what they can expect to get from you.
Turn your about section into a mini landing page
The about section is near and dear to my heart. And it is one of the most mistreated sections on the entire profile.
Most people write it like a life overview. “I went to three years of undergrad and then spent another two in the Peace Corps. Then I got my first job as a manager.” That is not incorrect or inaccurate. It might even be interesting.
But it does not follow the two rules that are consistent across every section of your profile.
- People want to either be so compelled by you in a way that feels like a window into your soul, or
- They selfishly want to understand how they are going to get further in their own dreams and goals and needs by interacting with you. They have enough stuff going on in their lives.
Think of your about section as a mini landing page. Here is how I would structure it.
The five-part about section framework
- Punchy positioning statement. One or two lines that immediately communicate who you help and why. No fluff. Just clarity.
- Context. How you help, who you help and why it matters. A sentence or two that gives people the backstory they need.
- Process. Walk them through the transformation you deliver. Maybe that is a few steps. Maybe it is a quick overview of how you work.
- Social proof. People you have worked with, customers, testimonials. Anything that builds credibility fast.
- Clear next step. Help them take the next right action. A free signup. A workshop. A calculator you built. A resource or download.
You are taking people through their natural steps of intrigue in a way that is also really useful for them to understand what you do and how you do it.
That is where you start to get interest, people adding you or even leads and opportunities that you can take to a discovery call or a direct message.
Use your featured section to drive one specific action
Your featured section should house your most compelling stuff. It is where you put the thing you want somebody to do after engaging with the top part of your profile.
On mine, I have a “Reclaim Your Verbal Identity” card with a cool gradient of Meet Sona’s brand colors. That is really what I want people to do. Sign up for the product for free. Give it a try. Create their verbal identity. Have a voice conversation with Sona. And begin to make that transformation for themselves by leaning into their own story and identity.
It is a call to action. Simple as that.
Right next to it, I used to have my origin story, which was one of my highest performing posts. That is the second thing you can do with this section. Pin content that performed well and resonated with your audience.
And then I also have our company announcement because it is recent and newsworthy.
Three things that belong in your featured section
- A call to action or lead magnet. The primary thing you want someone to do after viewing your profile. A free trial. A download. A booking link.
- Your highest performing content. Pin the posts that resonated most with your audience. Let your best work do the talking.
- Something newsworthy or recent. A company launch. A milestone. A partnership. Anything that signals momentum.
This section should not be empty. And you should not give it zero thought. Those three elements are where you want to lean in.
Make your experience section work harder for you
Add your experience. And be specific about more than just your position.
Questions to answer in every experience entry
- What kinds of things did you help achieve?
- What did you learn?
- Who did you help and what tools did you use?
- What outcomes did you drive with specific numbers?
- Who did you work with and why did you enjoy it?
- What did you take away from the experience?
If you are in fields like sales and marketing, those kinds of case studies and proof are really important.
All of these things, whether you are a job seeker or a founder and consultant, give people the texture and the context of your experiences and knowledge. That is the stuff that gets noticed.
If you are a founder, lean into value over vanity
For the companies I have grown and started, I lean in on the value proposition for people who are looking.
I talk very little about myself and more about how my passion and vision and values and beliefs are infused into the work I am doing. And I focus on the end I am trying to help people achieve and who I want to do business with.
Your experience section is not a list of past roles. It is another chance to show people what it would be like to work with you and why your perspective matters.
Growing your network is what brings your profile to life
Even though this is not technically your profile, adding people to your network is how you get feedback on everything you just built. It is how you grow your presence on the platform when you start posting, if you start posting.
You can do it daily or weekly. But consistently adding people is how you start interacting with others, getting inspired by their ideas, engaging with folks who are doing similar things to what you are doing. Or even different things entirely that give you new inspiration.
All of that extra context over time is how you begin to tweak and update your profile into something you are really proud of.
And this is where a lot of founders miss the opportunity. They build a great profile and then wait for the world to come to them. But LinkedIn is a social platform. The more you give, the more you engage, the more you connect, the more your profile actually starts working for you.
Your verbal identity is the driving force for all of this
If you zoom out, every section of your LinkedIn profile follows the same two principles.
First, be so compellingly unique that people feel like they are getting a window into who you really are. Your story. Your beliefs. Your perspective on the world. That is your moat. Especially in a world where AI can generate generic content at scale, the thing that will always set you apart is your lived experience and your unique take on things.
Second, make it crystal clear how someone is going to benefit from knowing you. What transformation can you help them make? What problem can you solve? What opportunity can you unlock?
When you apply those two principles to your banner, your headline, your about section, your featured content, your experience and your network, you end up with a LinkedIn profile that actually does its job. It attracts the right people. It builds trust. And it opens doors.
I talk to exceptional and passionate and hardworking people every single day who care deeply about helping their partners and clients and customers. And so many of them are leaving money and opportunities on the table because their LinkedIn profile does not reflect who they actually are or what they can do for others.
You do not need to be perfect. You do not need to hire a designer or spend weeks agonizing over every word. You just need to show up with intention and put the person reading your profile at the center of every decision you make.
Start with one section today. Update your headline. Rewrite your about section. Post a little more. Swap out that default banner. Then come back tomorrow and do the next one.
Your profile will thank you. And so will your business.
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