Your LinkedIn headline already appears directly under your name, so your banner should not simply repeat it. The banner's job is to add context at a glance: what you do, who you help, or what you are looking for. Because the text is shown small on phones, you only have room for roughly five to eight words. Here are six formulas that fit that space.
1. Name + specialism
The simplest and safest option. It works for almost everyone and is what our banner maker produces by default when you enter a designation.
- Priya Sharma — Frontend Engineer · React & TypeScript
- Daniel Okafor — Chartered Accountant · SME Tax
2. “I help [who] [achieve what]”
Ideal for freelancers, consultants and anyone in sales or services. Be specific about the audience. “I help businesses grow” could describe anyone; “I help dental clinics get more bookings from Google” describes you.
- Helping early-stage SaaS teams fix onboarding
- Helping restaurants cut food waste by 20%
3. A measurable result
Numbers stand out. Use one real, verifiable figure, never an inflated one, since recruiters and clients may ask about it.
- Recruited 150+ engineers across 6 countries
- Managing £4M in annual ad spend
4. Open to work (without the green frame)
If you are job hunting but prefer not to use the “Open to Work” photo frame, the banner is a subtler place to say it.
- Data Analyst · Open to remote roles in 2026
- Seeking graduate roles in environmental engineering
5. Contact details
Freelancers sometimes put an email address or website on the banner so prospects do not need to dig for it. If you leave the designation field empty in our tool, your email appears under your name instead. Only do this with an address you are comfortable making public, and consider a dedicated work address rather than a personal one.
6. A short tagline or mission
For leaders, creators and founders, a mission statement can work well, as long as it is concrete.
- Making clinical trials faster and fairer
- Teaching 10,000 students to code by 2027
Writing tips that apply to every formula
- Keep it short. Aim for under 40 characters on the second line. Long text has to be shrunk and becomes unreadable on mobile.
- Use separators. A middle dot (·) or vertical bar (|) is easier to scan than commas.
- Skip buzzwords. “Passionate, results-driven ninja” tells a reader nothing. Concrete nouns such as tools, industries and places tell them a lot.
- Match your headline, don't copy it. If your headline lists your job title, use the banner for a result or an audience instead.
- Proofread. A typo on the largest image on your profile is very visible. Read the text aloud before downloading.
Once you have your line of text, pair it with a background using our ideas by profession, then follow the step-by-step tutorial.
Make your banner now: the free Social Banner Maker exports a ready-to-upload 1584 × 396 PNG in under a minute, with no sign-up.