What do you put in the About section of LinkedIn as a freelancer?

Another important part of the LinkedIn profile is the About section. In this article you'll find:

• What the About section on your LinkedIn profile is
• Dos and don'ts for your About section, by a headhunter.
• How to add credibility and social proof to your About-section
• Call-To-Action tips by 10+ copywriters
• 6 Call-To-Action templates
• What information you should add in the About-section
• One sentence template
• Examples by real freelancers
• And more...

What is the About section on your LinkedIn profile?

It is placed immediately under your headline.

The first lines matter the most. You have space to shine for about 250 characters before you your profile-reader has to click "...see more" to read the rest of your About section.

You have a max of 2500 characters available as text.

Here you can view an example of the location of the About section and see more link using the profile of facilitator, presenter and actress Sarah Martens.

Dos and don'ts for your About section, by a headhunter.

I asked about the dos and don'ts for writing a good About-section by headhunter Tiina Jarvet Pereira who has seen many About sections during her career. Here are her four tips:

1. Call to action!
2. Talk about your clients and success stories.
3. Not writing one is a big mistake.
4. Writing in the 3rd person 🤮 It’s to connect with people and invite them for a conversation!

I agree with all these points! I feature Tiina's profile later in this article.

How to add credibility and social proof to your About-section?

Related to Tiina's tips about talking about your clients and success stories, here are some ways you can sprinkle more credibility and social proof to your About-section:

• Add testimonials and recommendations.
• Refer to clients you have worked with.
• Share about recent projects and achievements.

Call-to-action tips by 10+ copywriters

A personal and transparent approach is favoured by many copywriters

1. SEO Copywriter & Strategist Marjolein Schollaert gives 6 very actionable pieces of advice about drafting your CTA from scratch:

1. Invite action by using an imperative: 'download', 'contact', 'get', 'call'.
2. Inspire with descriptive and active verbs: 'discover' rather than 'read', 'get' rather than 'look for'. It sparks the imagination.
3. Reflect your personal approach in your word choice: my instead of your (important: 'my' refers to the reader, not you!). Some words that imply a personal approach are 'personal', 'custom', 'tailored', 'especially'.
4. Implement different types of links: in-text, button, standalone text link to match the different ways people behave online and their various preferences.
5. If your page is aimed at a single conversion, then stick to a single CTA to keep people focused.
6. Try to avoid negative sounding words to make sure people don't associate you with a bad feeling = Try using positive words use to make sure people associate you with a great feeling.

2. Copywriter Veerle Van Hoecke recommends being more concrete, original, and clear about the next steps and gives 4 tips.

1. Be as concrete as possible: I would prefer 'Drop me a note here on LinkedIn' to 'Contact me'.
2. Make sure it's clear what will happen after they 'act'. Will you call them? Will you invite them to a virtual meeting?
3. If you can link it to your brand personality, give it a little twist and use a dash of humour.
4. Oh, and maybe something else than 'Let's grab a coffee.' ;-)

3. Freelance B2B Copywriter Kristof Van Gansen is all about providing value in a non-boring way. Instead of "Contact us" use "Find out how we cut your costs", "Book your free intake", "Let's chat on how to make your company work" etc.

4. Kirsten Lamb, a freelance Conversion Copywriter, and Content Marketing Strategist also thinks Visit my website is too common. Better to add spark and personality to the CTA.

5. Translator and Copywriter Jo Lefebure gives the tip to add customer quotes and references just before or after the CTA.

6. Copywriter Joke Van Damme suggests adding your why and passion because passionate people put their heart into it.

7. Multi-In-One Freelancer Linda Boute thinks the CTA should be a concluding rather than a persuasive step in the process of convincing visitors/readers to take action. The (con)text that reveals the company’s unique identity, image, and objectives, and the qualities of its products and/or services should be decisive enough, so that the CTA can suffice with a simple 'contact/join us' or 'buy/try now'.

8. Copywriter and Senior Digital Concept provider Marthijn Klopper urge to make it feel like you are helping people one-on-one, e.g. Call me to see what I can do for you.

9. Freelance Copy- and Content Writer Marthe Van Campenhout offers the suggestion to imagine your reader is a person you just met during a networking event and craft your CTA accordingly. A CTA could be: 'So this is my story. I would love to hear yours. Let's talk.'.

10. Marketingmadam Ilse Van Dyck offers a contrasting idea by stating your CTA could be "Do not click this button'.

11. Freelance Writer and Content Marketing Strategist Jessica Walrack recommends having only one CTA, make the CTA short, sweet, and clean, and give the readers lots of reasons to act. The CTA should also lead to a face-to-face connection, as it tends to lead to more closed deals than emails or direct messages.

12. Bethany Joy is a Brand Voice Crafter wrote a blog post about click-worthy copy; one of the tips is to make the CTA immediate, to add the words Now or Today.

13. SEO Copywriter An Selschotter reminds us to make the CTA stand out visually in the age of scrolling.

You can find all the tips in this LinkedIn post.

Call-To-Action templates

It can be difficult to create a converting call to action. Based on the tips by the copywriters here are some CTA templates you can use:

1. Connect with me/Contact me to... [insert value]
2. Book a free 30-minute "let's get to know each other" call
3. Get a free [item; audit/check/makeover/ebook] and learn how to [insert value]
4. Discover how I achieved X results to Y type of clients, check my portfolio/references here today, and get a free Z.
5. Follow me/subscribe to..., I share about [topic] every day/week/month
6. Do you want the same [results] as these [types of clients]? Book a call with me now.

What information should you add in the About-section?

Your LinkedIn About section should include this information:

• Who are your ideal clients? Where are they located? 
• What do you do? What are the results you achieve? What are your past achievements?
• What is special and different about you in comparison with your competitors?
• What do your customers say about you? Here you can quote your clients.
• Your Call-To-Action. Why should people reach out to you?
• How can people contact you? When? Many add their phone numbers. I don't like phone calls myself, so my preference is that people connect with me via email or LinkedIn. With more work happening across timezones you might want to mention when your office hours are to make it easier for international clients to reach out.
• What are your personal interests? This can make it easier and more compelling for people, especially those with similar interests to reach out. And it makes you more memorable.
• Hashtags; adding hashtags can increase searchability, and make it easier for your profile reader to find your expertise

One-line text template

Here is a text template you can use to summarise the answers in the previous section and use as a first-line.

About section example:

Tiina's about text includes all ingredients: it's personal, it conveys the value she brings to which type of clients, it includes customer testimonials, and a very clear call to action.

Some extra tips:

• Break up text to make it easy to read also on mobile.
• Add emojis to make the text more dynamic and human. Like the transformational coach, Hans Vandenberghe did with his call-to-actions. This is also a good example of what to do when you are active with several activities at the same time.

• Use copywriting techniques and hooks. There are a lot of resources out there, just Google "copywriting". One of my favourites is Copyblogger.
• Add storytelling. An oldie but goldie is this 22 rules of storytelling by Pixar infographic.

Do you have things that have worked really well on your About section? Share your story with me in a message or in the comments, I might add you to this article!

Want more tips on how to use LinkedIn as a freelancer?

Connect with me on LinkedIn, follow the hashtag #LinkedInforFreelancers and check out my workshops or book a 1-to1 session with me.

Check also my other freelance specific articles with tips for your LinkedIn profile:

• Effective LinkedIn headlines for freelancers. With examples.
• Do's and Don'ts for your LinkedIn profile picture (as a freelancer)
• 10+ LinkedIn background photo ideas for freelancers