How to create a LinkedIn profile people will accept

Create the account like a person, not a brand sockpuppet

Go to LinkedIn, register with an email you control, and use your real name. Profiles that exist only to send invites get reported. If you are setting this up for work, it is still your name. Add a current role you actually hold. If you are a founder, say founder at the company, not 'Visionary.' LinkedIn will ask for location and a few interests. Pick the location buyers would expect. You can change it later. Confirm the email so you are not locked out on the first checkpoint.

Turn on two-step verification in Settings. Recovering a sales profile without it is a miserable afternoon. Review sign-in notifications. If you later connect any outreach software, you want to know when a new session appears.

Photo, banner, and the first screen

Use a recent headshot where your face is visible. No logo as the avatar. No group photo. No sunglasses. The banner can be simple: product, city, or a plain field. People decide in a second whether you look like a real counterpart. A hollow visual is a filter for 'this invite is automated,' even when it is not.

The headline is not a job title dump. It is the line under your name in search and in the invite. State who you help and what you work on. 'Head of sales at Acme' is acceptable. 'Helping Series A ops teams cut month-end close' is more useful if that is true. Keyword stuffing ('CEO | Speaker | Investor | Ninja') reads as 2014. LinkedIn shows a limited number of characters here. Write the important clause first.

About, experience, and proof

Write the About section in first person, in sentences you would say on a call. First three lines matter because they show before 'see more.' Say what you sell or what you do, who it is for, and how to reach you if you want inbound. Skip the novel. Skip the quote from a famous founder.

Experience should match reality. For each role, a few bullets with outcomes beat a paragraph of duties. Link the company Page if it exists so the logo shows. Add the Featured section only if you have a URL worth clicking (a product, a talk, a post that explains the offer). Empty Featured is better than a random Zoom recording. Skills and recommendations are optional. A couple of specific recommendations from people you worked with help more than fifty self-assigned skills.

URL, buttons, and privacy

Set a custom public URL (linkedin.com/in/yourname) in the profile settings so you can put it on a calendar invite and a slide. Open the contact info box and add a work email you read. On the profile, LinkedIn may show a button (visit website, book an appointment) depending on current features and your role. Use a website if you have one. Do not paste a calendar link as the only identity.

In Settings, look at profile viewing options, who can see your email, and whether you want to broadcast every profile edit to your network. For a new profile, turning off 'share profile updates' keeps you from notifying people while you still have 'Student at' leftover from an old draft. Read LinkedIn's own help for Open Profile, creator mode, and 'Open to work' versus 'Providing services.' Those toggles change how you appear. They are not a lead-gen strategy by themselves.

Before you send any invites

Connect with people you actually know first. A new graph that is only strangers is a pattern. Comment in your own words on a few posts in your market. Then, if you do outbound, start slow. A complete profile will not save a spam note, but an incomplete one will sink a good note. This is setup, not a campaign.