15 Tips To Make Your Freelancer Profile Stand Out

On Upwork, your freelancer profile is one of the most important tools you have to win work. It’s how clients decide whether you have the expertise and experience they’re looking for. Before submitting any proposals, spend time creating an Upwork profile that showcases your strengths and markets your skills. Your freelancer profile is your resume, cover letter, and portfolio all wrapped into one. Optimize your profile and use every section to your advantage—this is your first impression and your chance to stand out. 

Following these tips will help you create a professional Upwork profile that attracts clients who need your skills, so you can start building your freelance business.

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1. Choose your profile picture

When using Upwork as a freelancer, your profile picture is the first visual impression potential clients get of you. Pictures help freelancer interactions feel more human.

Your profile photo should be a clear and professional headshot (from the shoulders up) that looks like you. 

Tips for taking and choosing your profile picture:

• Make sure your photo is at least 250 x 250 pixels
• Look at the camera
• Have your face be the focal point
• Use a plain background
• Be the only person in the picture 

Avoid pictures with:

• Sunglasses
• Text
• Logos 
• Digital alteration
• Avatars
• Pixelation

 2. Create a profile title

Your profile title greatly impacts whether or not a client decides to click on your profile or proposal to know more. The title should be engaging and accurately explain what you do from a quick glance. Crafting a strong title is an important first step in being successful on Upwork. 

Think about what sets you apart from other freelancers with your skills and see if you can add that to your profile title. Your headline should be short and direct. You have 70 characters to tell clients who you are and what you do. 

Get inspired with these 100+ examples of freelancer profile headlines for different categories and skills. 

Pro tip: If you upgrade to a Freelancer Plus account, you can also choose a customized URL between 4 and 20 characters long. A customized URL makes it easier for clients to find you and helps with personal branding. You can also post your custom URL to your social media accounts.

3. Set your hourly rate

When creating your profile and submitting job proposals, you get to set your hourly rate. This rate will display publicly on your profile for potential clients to see. You can use this as your average rate to help clients know if you fit their budget. 

Hourly rates depend on market demand and your level of expertise. If you have a skill that is in high demand and you're an expert, you'll be able to charge more than someone with less experience who is just starting out their career.

When submitting job proposals and interviewing with clients, you can negotiate your rate. Depending on the project’s scope, you may choose to charge more or less than your profile rate.

Pro tip: On certain long-term contracts, you can also schedule a rate increase in your proposal. At set intervals, your hourly rate automatically increases without having to start a new contract. 

4. Draft an overview

When creating your profile on Upwork, you want to create an overview that quickly grabs the client’s attention. Think of the overview as your Upwork bio—an elevator pitch explaining who you are and what you do best. A compelling overview is an essential part of a good Upwork profile. 

Keep your bio informative but brief; clients often evaluate many different freelancers at once. Break up blocks of text with shorter paragraphs and bullet points. 

When clients search for talent, only the first 250 characters of your overview will show up without clicking to read more, so you want to grab their attention in the beginning. Always make sure to proofread your text before publishing. 

Pro tip: If you need help writing your overview, you can use Uma, Upwork’s Mindful AI. Click on the Uma icon to open up the chat and share what you’ve written so far. Think of Uma as your AI work companion, ready to help you brainstorm, edit, and more whenever needed. Upgrading to Freelancer Plus gives you unlimited access to Uma, along with other perks to grow your freelance career. 

5. Add employment history

Before you can be eligible for talent badges like Rising Talent, you'll need to have a 100% complete freelancer profile. Part of the essential items is adding at least one specific detail to your employment history. 

Don't worry if you're just starting your freelance career. Work history includes student jobs, internships, or volunteer experiences. You can also add any clients and freelance work that you had before joining Upwork.

Keep in mind that your employment history is separate from your Upwork history. Upwork contracts automatically appear under "work history" on your profile as you accept and complete new contracts. 

Potential clients will see your employment history chronologically, with the most recent jobs first. Try to choose the past jobs that are most closely aligned with the skills on your profile. You can explain in the job description how the position helped you develop your skill set. Let clients know how many years of experience you have in your industry.

6. Build your portfolio

Before interviewing or hiring talent, clients like to see work samples. Upwork portfolios make it easy to show off your best work, whether it takes the form of a GitHub repository or a slick website design. You can upload high-resolution images, videos, and audio of past projects.

Talent who've published a portfolio are hired 9x more often than those who haven't. 

The projects you add to your portfolio don't have to be from Upwork clients. You can highlight projects from past jobs or clients outside of Upwork as long as you have their permission.  

If you don't have any paid projects from clients yet, you can create mockups. Check out profiles from other talent on Upwork with your skills and see what types of portfolio samples they have. You can then mock up your own using fictional clients.

In her success story, Suzanne explains how she built her portfolio using mockups and passion projects to showcase her graphic design skills to clients: 

"I did a few personal projects that I put together in a portfolio, just making projects for fake companies, mocking up different designs so that clients would be able to see the range of work that I could do. For one of my first book design covers, I just took a Harry Potter book and redesigned it in a modern minimalist style because I wanted to attract clients that needed that specific style.”

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7. Select your skills

On your profile, you can select up to 20 skills to showcase your capabilities to clients. The skills you choose should be closely aligned with the types of projects you want to take on. These skills help Upwork match you with jobs you're well suited for. Think of it as Upwork SEO. 

You can choose from skills like web design, software development, SQL, copywriting, digital marketing, HTML, JavaScript, PHP, logo design, and more. Select the top skills that you want to appear in search results for on Upwork.

You'll also need to choose what categories to display on your profile. These are the main services you want to offer clients.

Clients can search for talent and invite them to submit proposals for their jobs. Having skills and categories that accurately describe the work that you do can help these clients find you.

Pro tip: Check out the most in-demand skills on the platform right now to help you decide what to focus on.

8. Promote with ads

You can use Upwork ads to win more work as a freelancer. Ads can help you be seen by clients, leading to more job invites and interviews. You pay for ads using Connects, which are like virtual tokens on Upwork. Decide how many Connects you need each month and how you want to spend them—the Connects Calculator can help you create a realistic budget.

You can choose from three different types of ads depending on your goals: 

• Boosted Profile. Get more job invites and stand out to clients. 
• Availability Badge. Let clients know you're ready to take on work right now. 
• Boosted Proposal. Send your proposal to the top of the client’s results list. 

Pro tip: Freelancer Plus subscribers have access to proposal insights which can help you strategize your bids so you can focus on high-intent clients and win contracts using fewer Connects. 

9. Stand out with an introduction video

Your freelancer profile has an optional section for an introduction video. Start with a sample script and use it as a template to write your own. You can create a short video (just a minute or two) so clients can quickly get to know you. Video introductions help clients see your personality and confidence, and make a connection. 

When filming your video, you should have a script in mind. You don't have to memorize it word for word, but plan out what you want to say. Make sure your video is high quality and has clear audio. Dress professionally and choose a clean background.

You'll need to upload your video to YouTube and disable ads, and then you can add the link to your profile. 

Check out these profile intro video examples from some of your fellow freelancers:

• Czarina de los Reyes-Guevara — Customer Service Manager
• Chris Warren — Motion Graphics Artist

10. Decide on your availability 

Setting an accurate availability helps clients know what types of projects you can take on. Upwork will match you with jobs based on the availability you select. Consider your other responsibilities outside of Upwork and decide how many hours per week you can commit to freelancing.

You can also choose whether you're open to contract-to-hire opportunities. When working contract-to-hire, you start on a short-term contract with a client that has the potential to turn into a full-time job. 

Pro tip: Turn your Availability Badge on or off depending on your workload. Turn the badge on when you're ready to take on new projects and off when your schedule gets full.

11. Fill in your background 

Don't forget to fill in the rest of your background information on your profile.

Language. Choose the language(s) you can read, write, and speak and your level of proficiency. Make sure you’re honest about your capabilities with English and other languages, so you're matched with the right projects.

Verification. Verify your ID to make clients feel safer. You can also let clients know if you're a military veteran. 

License. You can add a government-issued or professional license to your profile to establish credibility and expertise. 

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Education. If you went to a secondary education institution, you can add your school and what you studied to your profile. 

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Diversity certification. The Diversity-Certified Badge lets Enterprise clients and Upwork recruiters know that your freelance business is diverse.

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12. Request testimonials

Testimonials from past clients that you worked with before joining Upwork can help you land your first few freelance jobs. When you're new to Upwork, you won't have any reviews on your profile until you complete contracts with clients. As you complete jobs, seeing positive feedback from other Upwork clients helps to establish trust in your work quality and skills. 

You can request testimonials from people that you worked with before joining Upwork. You can send up to 20 testimonial requests; all you need is their email and LinkedIn profile. Each client can provide only one testimonial. 

Corinna, an Expert Vetted data analyst, advises new freelancers on Upwork to request testimonials from past clients and employers in her success story: 

“Bring as many testimonials as you possibly can. For example, if you already have a few going on your LinkedIn profile, I would reach out to them and say, ‘Look can I just use the very same one here on Upwork?’ You're gonna get an email; just copy and paste it from what you previously wrote on LinkedIn.”

13. List your certifications

You can add any certifications you have to demonstrate your expertise to clients. If you have a Credly account, you can use the “import from Credly” feature. These certifications will say "verified from Credly" next to them. 

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You can also manually add certifications to your profile. Choose from the list of verifiable certifications from the drop-down menu. Fill in your information, and Upwork will add the certification to your profile once it is verified.

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14. Develop your work history

You won't have a work history until you start accepting and completing contracts on Upwork. Once you accept a contract, it will typically be added to your profile within 24 hours. Taking on projects also helps you earn a Job Success Score (JSS).

Your JSS is a measure of client satisfaction on Upwork. You'll need to maintain a JSS of 90% or more to earn the Top Rated Status. Freelancers earn a JSS after having two or more contract outcomes within 24 months with two or more clients on Upwork. 

Many new freelancers take on smaller and lower-paying projects at first to build their job history and earn a JSS. 

15. Add other experiences

The "other experiences" section of your profile is where you can add informal education and other activities that don't fit the other profile categories but are relevant to your skills. These work experiences could be research projects, competitions, or other interests that have helped you develop your skills. 

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Land your first freelancing job

Whether you're just beginning your freelance career or are looking for new revenue streams, you can find work that you're passionate about on Upwork. Freelancing is a flexible career that lets you decide when, where, and how you work. Upwork has the tools and resources to help you unlock your full freelancing potential and connect with clients from all over the world, ranging from single-person startups to over 30% of the Fortune 100. Create a strong profile that shows off your skills, see what jobs fit your skill set, and start submitting proposals to the ones that interest you.