# The UGCStars profile checklist

Checklist · Profile

Seventeen checks in four stages: your photo and basics, your niches and samples, your rate and the details brands search for, and keeping your profile current.

By [Murat Bo](https://ugcstars.com/about) · 17 items · Updated 17 October 2026 · Free

## The short version

Use this checklist when you join UGCStars and again every couple of months, with your profile open in another tab. It follows what a brand does: it sees your photo and basics in search, opens your profile for your niches and samples, then checks your rate and details against its brief.

The checks creators skip most on UGCStars are the starting rate and the sample videos. Both affect whether a brand contacts you: the rate decides whether you fit their budget, and three verified samples move your profile up in the default search order.

Tick items as you go. Ticks are saved on this device when functional cookies are allowed, so you can come back to the list later.

## Your photo and basics

1. **Upload one clear, well-lit photo of your face.** It’s the first thing a brand sees, on search cards and at the top of your profile. Face a window, skip sunglasses and heavy filters, and keep other people out of the shot. JPG, PNG or WebP up to 8 MB.
2. **Keep your face near the middle of the photo.** Search cards and your profile show the photo as a 4:5 portrait. Leave space around your head, then check your profile on a phone to make sure the crop doesn’t cut your face.
3. **Add your city as well as your country.** Brands filter by location when they want someone who knows a market or can get a product quickly. A city also counts toward how complete your profile is, which affects where it appears in the default search order.
4. **List only the languages you can film in.** The field is “Languages you create in”. A brand that books you for a Spanish video expects natural Spanish on camera. If you speak a language but wouldn’t deliver a script in it, leave it out.
5. **Write a bio that says what you make and for whom.** Brands read it first, so lead with your niche and formats, for example “Skincare and haircare UGC: testimonials, routines and close-up demos. Dry skin, two cats, based in Austin.” You have up to 500 characters.
6. **Keep contact details out of your bio.** Emails, links and @handles are removed from the public version of your bio. Members see your business email and accounts in their own places on your profile, so the space is better used to describe your work.

## Your niches and samples

1. **Choose only the interests you can show work in.** Brands search by niche, and each one you pick puts you in front of brands in that category. Pick niches you have samples or posts for. Ticking every niche puts you in searches you can’t deliver for, and brands notice.
2. **Pick the content types you’d deliver on a deadline.** Product reviews, unboxings, testimonials, tutorials, demos, vlogs, photography and voiceovers are all separate skills. Choose the ones you’ve made before and could make again next week.
3. **Add at least three sample videos.** Three or more verified samples earn the 3+ Verified Samples badge, and the badge moves your profile up in the default search order. The badge is added overnight after the team approves your third sample.
4. **Add your strongest sample first.** Samples show on your profile in the order you add them, up to six. Make the first one the video in the niche you most want work in. The [sample videos guide](https://ugcstars.com/creator-hub/sample-videos) covers how to choose.
5. **Give each sample the right category.** Categories put your samples in the right brand searches. Tag a moisturizer video Skincare, not only Lifestyle, so a skincare brand finds it.

## Your rate and the details brands search for

1. **Set a starting rate you’re happy to work for.** It’s your price for one video with a standard edit, shown on your profile. Brands filter and sort by it, so a profile without one drops out of budget searches. The [pricing guide](https://ugcstars.com/creator-hub/pricing) shows how to work it out, and the [rate index](https://ugcstars.com/rates) shows what others in your niche charge.
2. **Fill in skin type, pets and kids accurately.** Brands search for things like “dog owner” or “dry skin”. Your skin type, your pets and whether you’re a parent show on your public profile. A detail that’s wrong wastes your time and the brand’s when the brief arrives.
3. **Add Expecting and the due month if a baby is on the way.** Baby and parenting brands search for expecting parents. Add it under Kids with the expected month and year. After the due date we ask you to update it, so it doesn’t stay on your profile by mistake.
4. **Add at least one public social account or a portfolio link.** The team checks that each link opens, is public and belongs to you before your profile is listed. There’s no minimum follower count, and follower numbers are optional.

## Keep it current

1. **Update your profile after every few jobs.** Your profile shows when it was last updated, and brands can filter for profiles updated in the last 30 days. Swap in a better sample, adjust your rate, or add a new niche when your work changes.
2. **Fix any link we flag as broken.** We check your accounts, portfolio and samples automatically. A deleted or private video leaves a broken sample on your profile. Replace it or remove it from your account.

## Common mistakes

- Leaving the starting rate empty. A brand can’t tell whether you fit its budget, and you drop out of rate filters. Put in a real number, even a modest one.
- Adding samples in the wrong order. The first sample is the one brands watch. Add your best video in your main niche first.
- Picking every niche. It reads as unfocused and puts you in searches you can’t serve. Keep to the niches your samples show.
- Listing languages you only speak casually. A brand that books you in that language expects to use the video. Leave it out until you’d film a script in it.
- Writing your email or links in the bio. They’re removed from the public bio, and the sentence around them reads oddly. Describe your work instead.

## Questions creators ask

**Do I need a lot of followers to be listed?**

No. There’s no minimum follower count. Brands booking UGC are paying for the video, and follower numbers are optional on your profile.

**Who can see my email and social handles?**

Brands with an active membership can see your business email, your accounts and your samples. Everyone else sees your profile with those details hidden.

**Why isn’t my new sample showing yet?**

The team reviews each sample before it appears. Once it’s approved it shows on your profile, and the 3+ Verified Samples badge is added overnight when it’s your third.

**How often should I come back to this list?**

When you join, after you change your rate or niches, and every couple of months. We also send a reminder every six months to check your profile is up to date.

## Choose your strongest samples

Which three videos to show first, how long they should be, and how to film practice ads when you have no brand work yet. [Read the sample videos guide](https://ugcstars.com/creator-hub/sample-videos)

## More in Profile

- [Choosing sample videos that get you booked](https://ugcstars.com/creator-hub/sample-videos): Which three videos to show first, how long they should be, why range beats polish, and how to film practice ads when you have no brand deals yet.
- [What brands actually buy as UGC](https://ugcstars.com/creator-hub/what-brands-buy): The difference between UGC and influencer posts, six formats you’ll see in briefs, and what makes a video usable in ads.
- [Hooks that stop the scroll](https://ugcstars.com/creator-hub/hooks): 30 opening lines and visual hooks sorted by type and niche, with notes on when each one works and how to film three variations in one session.

Share this checklist: https://ugcstars.com/creator-hub/profile-checklist