How to Write a LinkedIn About Section (With Examples)

How to Write a LinkedIn Summary About Section

LinkedIn is an exceptional social platform in that it allows you to socialize with colleagues and friends while making beneficial professional connections.

An optimized LinkedIn profile comes in handy in furthering your career or business goals.

From having relevant opportunities delivered straight to your inbox to appearing on searches, LinkedIn provides a perfect avenue for job seekers and businesses to connect with recruiters and customers.

Whether you’re looking for remote or local employment/business opportunities, you can get this on the platform with just a little effort.

Besides, with the rich features available (recommendations, endorsements), building your brand becomes even easier; without forgetting the article sharing feature that allows you to publish high-quality content to showcase your skills and develop credibility.

Nonetheless, much of the success on LinkedIn depends on the strength of your about section.

Because having a well-written bio is essential for branding and SEO purposes.

In this article, we show you how to write a great LinkedIn about section to appear in searches and captivate the interest of recruiters or clients.

Areas covered include;

• What Is LinkedIn About Section?
• Why Is LinkedIn About Section Important?
• How to Write LinkedIn About Section
• What Information Should Your LinkedIn About Section Include?
• Tips for Writing the Best LinkedIn About Section
• Examples of Great LinkedIn About Sections

What Is LinkedIn Summary (About) Section?

The LinkedIn about section is a text box at the top of your profile, just below the photo and headline, where you write your pitch to recruiters or clients.

With about 2,000-characters space available, the section allows you to summarize the most important details about your career or business to impress recruiters or clients.

Why Is LinkedIn About Section Important?

A great LinkedIn profile helps you stand out from the crowd and attract the interest of the right people.

The about section is the highlight of the profile, as this is where you get to convince potential recruiters or clients why you’re the best candidate for their offer.

Some benefits of the LinkedIn about section include;

Creating a Great First Impression

Your about section is one of the primary things people see when they land on your profile, besides your photo, name, headline, etc.

Since the section sits above the fold, it means you can provide the most exciting details about yourself in the first three lines and create a great first impression.

Outlining Your Most Compelling Content

With 2,000-characters space, you have a chance to write an interesting bio that can intrigue potential recruiters or clients and compel them to connect with you. Here you need not shy away from hard-selling.

You should talk about your most phenomenal achievements and highlight the best qualities that make you unique.

Showing Your Personality

Do you have an exciting story of your career or business journey? You can let your personality shine by narrating the story and relating it to the skills you’re marketing. However, you should keep the story professional.

Getting You on Search Results

Your summary also plays a crucial role in your ranking on search results.

If you incorporate popular search terms that employers or clients use to search for your services or skills throughout the text, you stand a chance to rank high on the search results when they query the terms.

These could be your job title, skills, industry keywords, etc.

How to Write Linked About Section

Now that we have understood what the about section stands for and its importance let us move on to the actual work – writing the section.

What should go into the section? Are there details you shouldn’t include? Is there a format that you should follow?

We will answer all these questions shortly.

Before you start writing the section, you should research relevant keywords that recruiters or clients are likely to use to search for your skills or services.

For instance, when you google your job title/service, look at the related search terms that pop up.

You could also follow online job listings for your post on Google or LinkedIn and note the words used to describe the positions.

Also, on LinkedIn, you can search for similar positions/services to yours and go through the top profiles to see how they describe themselves. From there, you can harvest possible keywords that make them rank high.

Armed with the relevant search terms, the next step is to create the bio.

You can complete this section by following these steps.

• Create an outline – It’s essential to outline what you want to cover in the bio. This allows you to make the most of the word count available by prioritizing the most critical details. It also enables you to organize your thoughts for clarity. One thing to remember is to ensure the first lines are engaging enough to trigger the person viewing the profile to want to read more.
• Write a strong opener – Your first sentence can draw readers in or lose them. You should aim to create a compelling first line to hook the reader and keep them reading. Think about beginning by telling an exciting story that defines your career. For instance, consider this illustration – I was in Miami, FL, when the bank called me… With such a hook, it’s hard to ignore following up on the story for details.

Then the person explains how they were informed about their hacked bank account and how they resolved to pursue a career in cybersecurity. In this case, the story is both captivating and relevant.

• Explain why you do what you do – The illustration above explains this part well. Besides, the story approach makes the bio more captivating.

If there’s a story behind your inspiration and mission, include it.

• Talk about your expertise – HubSpot recommends describing your background and qualifications in two to three sentences. At the same time, mention your specialties and skills to showcase your experience in the field.
• Provide proof – If you have data to prove your expertise, briefly mention at least one key statistic.
• Include a call-to-action – Finally, you should close the section by including a call to action. What do you want the viewer to do? If you expect them to get in touch, provide contact details.

Remember, you should aim to exhaust all the characters available to provide as much information as possible.

However, your text must be clear and flow nicely to avoid losing the reader.

You can enhance clarity by using simple language and breaking the bio into short paragraphs of two to three short sentences, fostering readability.

What Information Should Your LinkedIn About Section Include?

We have covered much of the information you require to provide in the above section. But here is a quick summary.

• Catchy opening sentence
• Talk about your knowledge and capabilities
• Share your passion and interests
• Highlight your success
• Mention your specialties and skills
• Add a call to action

Tips for Writing the Best LinkedIn About Section

Earlier, the about section was called summary. And this is because the section should be a summary of yourself and your offer.

Being 2,000 characters long means it provides adequate space to talk about your interests, skills, and expertise and convince a recruiter or client you have what they are looking for.

Here are tips you should keep in mind while writing the bio to help you achieve the above.

• Write in the first person
• Be precise
• Edit and proofread multiple times
• Use keywords throughout the text
• Show your personality
• Avoid jargon

Examples of Great LinkedIn About Sections

1. Manca Korelc

Manca Korelc is a LinkedIn Strategist helping people leverage their LinkedIn profiles to build their brand and generate leads.

We think hers is a perfect example of a brilliant about section that’s engaging and compelling from start to finish.

She starts the section by inviting profile viewers to pre-order her book LinkedIn by the Book.

With the first part strategically sitting above the fold, she gives the book details, including the number of pages, modules, and tools to create a vivid picture of the resource.

Once you expand the section, you find information on what she does, which she bolds to make it stand out.

She briefly explains the benefits of being on LinkedIn and connects that with how she can help you in the following section.

Here, she highlights how she can help you using bullet points, which enhances understandability.

Then she requests you to allow her to be your trainer and provides her email address where you can reach her.

After this, she headlines another section, explaining why she is the best trainer.

She goes on to share about her success and invites you to take up her training to duplicate the success.

Finally, she mentions her passion for lakes, talks about what she does with her project, and welcomes you to buy her book on the subject.

2. Karen Abbate

The next about section that captures our interest is Karen Abbate’s. She is an SVP, Creative Director at Wunderman Thompson.

The first part of her about section is intriguing. I love selling brands. I hate selling myself… Then she bullets six things about herself in a wacky way that keeps you reading.

The first point falls above the fold before you expand, and after reading it, you can’t help wondering what mystery lies in the rest of the section.

She says, “I’ve created campaigns for more iconic brands than you can shake an iPhone at.” Aha! Then she mentions some of the big brands she has worked for.

We think she explains the first point so well that you can’t help going on.

On the second point, she admits her love for digital and the web and throws the number of her Twitter followers to give more weight to her argument.

Twenty-three thousand followers are not a small feat, right?

The third point explains how she got into advertising in a way that asserts her prowess – winning a national writing contest whose award was a job at the agency.

Then she goes a little deeper and shares a personal story that explains how she got into pharmaceutical ads.

This one point is more powerful than the rest as it establishes an instant emotional connection with the reader.

Finally, she sums up the section with two additional points summarizing her pitch.

3. Gary Pope

Gary Pope is the Co-Founder of Kids Industries.

His about section starts with a story that appeal’s to the target audience – I used to be a school teacher…

The first part, before expanding the section, highlights his journey from being a school teacher to setting up Kids Industries.

Particularly, Gary mentions an interesting fact about his career – winning Disney as a client – which piques the viewer’s interest to see more.

Upon expanding the section, he explains right away who they are, who they work with, and how.

The entire section is creatively written, describing the essential details about what Kids Industries does concisely but thoroughly.

Finally, Gary sums up the section by outlining their specialties.

But right before then, he mentions some of their clients (big brands), which goes a long way in proving their credibility.

Conclusion

As the leading professional social network, LinkedIn provides a perfect avenue for businesses and professionals to network and market themselves.

Having an optimized LinkedIn profile allows you to easily get discovered by recruiters or clients and stand a better chance to win opportunities.

But it’s your about section that helps them decide whether they want to connect with you or not.

A well-crafted and compelling about section that demonstrates your value is always a win.

Essentially, the section allows you to summarize your career or business successes and create a great first impression to compel a viewer to connect with you.

Not forgetting, optimizing the section with relevant keywords contributes to a high ranking on search results.

With the tips and examples we have shared, you can go ahead and craft a compelling about section to increase your discoverability and brand appeal.