Your storefront

Where clients find you: an Upwork profile, Fiverr Gigs or your own LinkedIn and portfolio. Each works differently, so set up the one you chose properly.

Upwork profile

What: Your title, overview, skills, portfolio, work history and rate on Upwork. Clients see it with every proposal you send.
Why: The title and the first lines of the overview decide whether a client opens the rest. They should state the outcome you deliver and for whom.
Example: Title: "Shopify speed and theme fixes for small stores". Opening line: "I make slow Shopify stores load faster and fix theme bugs, usually within a week."

Watch out

Profile completeness

What: Upwork's percentage score for how complete your profile is. A photo, an overview, one employment history item and one skill make up half; portfolio items, more history and skills fill the rest.
Why: A 100 percent complete profile is required for Rising Talent and Top Rated, and incomplete profiles look abandoned to clients.

One profile, not specialised profiles

Also called Specialized Profiles

What: Upwork retired Specialized Profiles on 28 May 2026. You now keep one profile, and Upwork highlights the work and skills most relevant to each client's search or job post.
Why: Your portfolio items and skill tags now do the job separate profiles used to do, so tag each portfolio piece with the right skills.

Watch out

Following older guides that tell you to build several specialised profiles.

Connects

What: Upwork's tokens for sending proposals, boosting them and showing the Availability Badge. They cost $0.15 each, and each job shows how many it needs, which varies by job.
Why: Every proposal costs money, so you apply only to jobs you have a real chance at. Some freelancers get 10 free Connects a month, and badges award more.

Watch out

Spending Connects on every job in the feed; they are not refunded when a client picks someone else.

Freelancer Plus

What: Upwork's paid membership with 100 Connects a month, proposal insights, job alerts and 0 percent fee on Direct Contracts. The price is shown under Membership plan in your account.
Why: It can pay for itself once you send many proposals, but most beginners should prove they can win work on the free plan first.

Project Catalog

What: Fixed-scope, fixed-price services you list on Upwork that clients can buy directly, similar to a Gig, alongside applying to job posts.
Why: It turns a productised service into something clients can find and buy without you spending Connects.

Go deeper