Having an eye-catching banner on your LinkedIn profile is a great way to make a strong first impression and showcase your brand. However, custom designing a banner can get expensive. Here are some tips on how to get a professional LinkedIn banner for free.
What is a LinkedIn banner?
A LinkedIn banner (also known as a cover photo or header image) is the large background image that appears at the top of your LinkedIn profile. It’s one of the first things people will see when visiting your page, so it’s important that it looks polished and represents you or your business well.
The dimensions for a LinkedIn banner are 1584 x 396 pixels. This long, narrow banner sits just below your profile photo and spans the full width of your profile. You can upload an image, add text, or customize it with your brand colors.
Why have a LinkedIn banner?
Here are some of the benefits of having a LinkedIn banner:
- Makes your profile stand out: Banners allow you to showcase your personality and brand.
- Promotes your business: Banners are a place to highlight your company, products, services, or mission.
- Displays achievements: You can feature awards, certifications, publications and more.
- Increases credibility: A customized banner looks more professional and trustworthy.
In short, a LinkedIn banner helps your profile look complete and makes you seem more established as an expert or brand.
Where to find free LinkedIn banner templates
The easiest way to get a free LinkedIn banner is to use a pre-made template and just customize it with your own photos, colors or text. Here are some great places to find LinkedIn banner templates:
- Canva: Canva has a huge selection of free, customizable LinkedIn banner templates. They have templates for personal branding, businesses, creative professionals and more.
- Adobe Spark: Spark offers modern, professional banner templates that are fully customizable. The linked page has 16 free LinkedIn banner options.
- Bannersnack: This site has over 500 free banner templates for LinkedIn and other social media platforms. You can filter by industry too.
- Creatopy: Creatopy has a library of 120 free banner templates. Just edit the text and images to personalize.
- Desygner: Desygner has an option to search for specific LinkedIn banner templates which are free to edit and download.
- Design Wizard: Design Wizard lets you customize dimensions to create a LinkedIn header with their template editor and image library.
How to customize a LinkedIn banner template
Once you’ve selected a LinkedIn banner template, customizing it is easy. Here are a few tips:
- Pick an eye-catching background photo that represents you or your business. Get free stock photos from sites like Pexels or Pixabay.
- Insert your profile photo so visitors can easily recognize you.
- Add text like your name, tagline, company name or headline. Use a bold, legible font.
- Add any logos or visual elements that reinforce your personal or company brand.
- Use the right LinkedIn banner dimensions: 1584 x 396 pixels.
- Pick colors that align with your brand or industry. Use a color palette generator if needed.
Most templates make the customization process very simple. You don’t need any design experience.
Create a unique LinkedIn banner with photos
For a completely unique banner, you can create your own design just using photos. Try these ideas:
- Background photo collage: Use an online photo collage maker to merge several photos into one background image. This lets you showcase multiple aspects of your brand.
- Header with profile photo: Pick a simple background color and make your profile photo large and prominent in the banner space. Add text to create focus.
- Visual theme: Select 5-6 photos that have a cohesive theme or color scheme and arrange them to fill the banner space. This creates a visual story.
- Event or conference photos: Use photos taken at industry events or conferences and add text about your participation. This establishes you as a thought leader.
If you arrange photos strategically, you don’t necessarily need any other design elements. The images alone can make a powerful statement.
Tips for an effective LinkedIn banner
Once you’ve selected or created your banner image, keep these tips in mind:
- Showcase your niche or area of expertise. Communicate your key skills or industry.
- Make sure text is large and legible. Use high contrast colors.
- Establish your unique value proposition or personal brand in your headline.
- Use vibrant colors suited for digital display. Avoid busy patterns.
- Feature any awards, certifications or press features if relevant.
- Include your company’s logo and tagline if appropriate.
- Keep branding consistent with your profile photo and content.
- Optimize the file size – under 5MB for best resolution.
- Preview on mobile to see how it renders on smaller screens.
Mistakes to avoid in your banner
While creating your LinkedIn banner, steer clear of these common mistakes:
- A cluttered or busy banner – simplicity is best.
- Too much text. Protect whitespace and only include essential text.
- Pixelated or blurry images. Use high quality photos.
- Colors or fonts that strain the eyes. Go for sufficient contrast.
- Outdated headshots. Refresh with a more recent professional photo.
- Mismatched branding from your profile photo or content sections.
- Grammatical errors or typos.
- Anything unprofessional that detracts from your personal brand.
Conclusion
With an array of templates and easy customization tools, getting a polished, professional LinkedIn banner for free is simple. Prioritize showcasing your specialty and strengths through visuals, colors and text. A well-designed banner complements your profile and puts your best foot forward to anyone who visits your page.