I’ve been looking at a lot of “About Pages” over the last couple of days as part of being on the Small Business Trends Influencer Event. (If you are a small business expert, or want to acknowledge a small business expert, application, journalist or company that has influenced your small business – check it out and nominate!)
But let’s get back to the idea of the “About Page”
The About Page is really not about YOU
This sounds ridiculous — doesn’t it? But it’s true. While the information on the “About Page” is about you — it’s written FOR THE READER. Did you get that?
Let’s start by getting clear on what the PURPOSE of the About Page is and how to write an About Page that takes you, your site, and your content viral.
Write down WHO is going to be visiting your About Page
This is an often forgotten step. Who is coming to your about page? ?To get to this answer, you may want to think on your marketing strategy. Who do you WANT to come to your about page?
- Potential clients?
- Fans?
- Journalists?
- Bloggers?
- Readers?
- Guest Bloggers?
- Advertisers?
Why are they visiting your about page?
This is another valuable question to answer. As I’m writing this, I’m entering nominations for the Small Business Influencer Awards. This makes me a journalist or fan scrounging around your “About Page” so that I can use that information to NOMINATE YOU. You’d want to make it easy for me to do that.
Maybe speaking is a part of your marketing strategy. If that’s the case, you need to have a speaker bio that’s easily referenced there.
If you are a frequent contributor to webinars and other online events, you’ll want to have an “internet” bio that has the most pertinent links in it such as; your site, your social media profiles, your blog, etc.
How many “Abouts” are in a page?
A great about page will have a series of mini-bios that tell your story. It will also have a great all-purpose headshot that folks can pull from as well as links to other media-ready and shareable content.
All of these elements can work together to create a single About Page where your readers will not only get a full description of who you are, but can pull entire paragraphs or mini bios from the page to use to describe you and promote you.
If you are a blogger and contribute content across several sites: You’ll want to have a short 50-100 word bio that has relevant links to your blog, site and social media profiles.
If you are a speaker: You’ll want to have a speaker-focused bio with easy to find downloads of speaker pages, topic descriptions and headshots of various sizes.
If you’re a consultant: Be sure to have a clear description of who you help, what triggers them to hire you and the outcomes they receive as part of your bio. If you’ve worked with well-known companies or brands, be sure to include that.
If you’re an author: Pull together a short bio with a description of the most popular books you’ve written and where others will have seen your work.
If you’re a marketer: Speak directly to your audience and make sure that you’re focused on two key objectives; you want your audience to say “Yup – that’s me!” and “I want that”! Be sure to position yourself strongly to a specific market or audience niche and focus on the main reason they would want to choose you.
If you’re a company: Break with tradition and tell your company’s story. What was the mission or vision behind the company? Who do you serve and why do people choose you? Unless you’re specifically writing to stockholders or for some stodgy financial publication or audience — ditch the formality and just tell your story.
There is more to be said on About Pages — what’s your recommendation for writing a great about page?
