Now that you have your main profile ready let's talk specialised profiles. This is a new-ish feature that Upwork introduced that allows you to have up to 2 sub-categories on your profile. For example, my main profile is for my VA services in general, but then I have two specialised profiles – one for Social Media Management and one for Coaching.
I highly encourage you to try to create at least one specialised profile, but ideally two. This is because Upwork will be showing your profile higher in search if you're using this feature. Let's say a client is looking for help with social media. My profile will show up higher in search than another social media manager's profile that might not be using this feature.
This is because not only this new profile helps you with SEO – Search Engine Optimisation, since you have room to add more keywords with a new title and overview, but also Upwork is likely to reward the freelancers using all the new features. Kind of like Instagram with the addition of Stories, IGTV, and now Reels. The platforms wouldn't be spending all the time and resources to create a new feature, only for us to ignore it.
Another good thing about having a specialised profile is the opportunity to really show off your expertise, as they can clearly see what your 1-2 main services are. So I really encourage you to take a look at your services list, see the ones you prefer to offer to clients and create specialised profiles for them.
And now you may be thinking: but I wrote my profile already, now I have to do that all again? Yes and no. Yes, you should write most of it from scratch since you want to focus on promoting that specific service, but the overall look and formatting can and should stay the same. Upwork actually allows you to make a copy of your main profile when you create the specialised ones, so you just need to make some changes and adjustments instead of writing it all from scratch. And trust me, it really helps.
You'll then get to choose what portfolio pieces and what testimonials to show on this new specialised profile. I'll use my example again: when clients are viewing my social media profile, they won't be seeing feedback and portfolio pieces from a graphic design job, for example. This allows them to really filter into what they really wanna see.
