10 Tips for An Amazing “About Me” Page

Last Updated on: September 19th, 2018

Today’s guest, Anna Fox, is going to share with you 10 of the best tips she has for improving your blog’s About page… a page that many people neglect to spiff up… but should, as your About Me page is often the driving force behind the decisions your visitor makes, including the decision regarding whether or not that visitor will hire you!

Take it away, Anna!

Look at the Funnel

In most cases, your website visitors are most likely to convert after two steps:

• Top of the funnel: The first impression you make with your landing page. Very few people would convert right from here but most customers (those who are likely to turn into long-term customers) will need more information.
• Middle of the funnel: The second impression is the one you make with your About page. While the first is important, so is the second.

In most cases, people click to your “About Me” page when they are already intrigued enough to give your services or products a chance.

It’s right in the middle of the conversion funnel and plays a central role in how many visitors convert into leads, prospects and customers.

An About Me page tells visitors what your brand is all about, why they will want to deal with you and how to get in touch to finalize the deal.

When you are trying to think of the perfect way to present yourself, it helps to have some tips in mind to draw from.

5 Tips That Will Make Your About Me Page Stand Out

You want your “About Me” page to impress and capture attention, intrigue, and provoke action.

Here are my 5 creative tips to achieve that:

1. Visualize!

Images work well when it comes to grabbing attention and forming the first impression, simply because a human eye is naturally drawn to visuals. (Remember last week’s post about the 6 Ways to Use Visuals to Boost Traffic to Your Blog?)

You can try your own creative “show and tell” visual style of a storytelling About Me page.

Use photos, comics, infographics, videos, or any other media to get your message across.

(If you want to use a video, Sophie Lizard from Be a Freelance Blogger tells you exactly how to make a great one!)

Example: Infographics

Moz is my favorite example of a cool “About me” page turned into an infographic. They created a story using an interactive infographic that explained what they did, when they did it, and how it had been proven to work for customers in the past.

It is elaborate but effective, and keeps your attention better than if they had just written the words in paragraphs.

Example: Cartoons

FirstSiteGuide is a great example of utilizing cartoons, and not just for their About Page but all over the site including interviews, guides, etc. This consistency prompts the readers to browse further and makes them feel safer when they get to the About Us section as well.

I’ve seen other people use cartoons, too, such as Carol Amato, Adrienne Smith, and Enstine Muki… to name a few. 😉

Example: Slideshare

Visualizing your bio using a Slideshare deck can be a great idea too!

Here’s a great one:

2. Curate Social Media Testimonials

Authentic, human and client testimonials from people one can easily verify (through social media) go a long way!

Consider adding testimonials from customers who say exactly what they asked you to do for them, and how it worked.

Jason of Kaiser the Sage embeds some tweets praising him right into his “About Me” page:

Curating social media testimonials is a great habit to have. I monitor and archive my and my site mentions using Cyfe. You can set any time-frame and go back to your mentions which were tweeted months and years ago. This means you can find your social media testimonials to use in different contexts whenever you need them:

3. Showcase Your Achievements!

Your “About Me” page is not your CV; it should more human, personalized, fun, and creative than that.

But it doesn’t mean you should be shying away from displaying your achievements here; they make your (personal) brand look more authoritative and trustworthy.

Consider mentioning (and visualizing) here:

• Notable sites you were “featured on”
• Interviews with you
• Your contributions outside of your blog you are most proud of
• Awards
• Events you are speaking at
• Books you have authored or contributed to

Amy Harrison’s page, for example, has a cool “Featured in” section:

Wording Well’s Lorraine Reguly has been featured on many top blogs, too!

…AND MANY MORE!

4. Create a Clear Structure

I’ve seen so many “About me” pages that would make great creative essays while failing to convince anyone to actually take an action.

A clear structure drives readers in, lets them get most notable facts and details by just skimming through and leads them right to the preferred action. You can experiment with different ways to structure your About Me page but here are some most essential elements:

• Your name prominently visible (for people to remember you)
• Your headshot (for readers to quickly recognize you: This is powerful! Imagine all those people who came to your site from social media or your comments on another blog. All of those people are most likely to remember your headshot rather than your name)
• A quick intro (Be it your short bio, your slogan, etc.)
• Your main call to action
• Your contact details
• Your social media profiles
• Detailed information about you and your achievements

SeoSkeptic offers this awesome graphic in a printable PDF format for you to download.

5. Get Creative with Your Call to Action

Your call-to-action is an essential part of your about page: That’s what drives your readers to step 3 in the funnel. Calls-to-action get people sign up, contact you, buy your product or join your email list.

In most cases, the most suitable call-to-action to feature on the About page is the best way to contact you but consider adding some action triggers too, for example:

Explain why people would want to join:

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Write a welcoming intro:

Cartoonize the emotions after the action is taken:

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Play with the text you show in the button:

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5 More “About Me” Page Tips

These tips will help you improve your About Us page so it gives the best possible face for your brand.

“About Me” Branding Tip #1 – Define Your Audience

Who are you making this page for? Knowing who your customers are is important in a myriad of ways, from the products/services you offer, to the pricing scale, to the advertising. But it is also crucial that you know who they are in order to provide a decent description about what you do.

Let’s say you have an audience that is primarily young college graduates starting out in entry-level professional positions. Or you are targeting an older crowd of retired seniors who have limited technological know-how. Would you approach these two audiences the same way? Of course not!

Your (personal) brand should have a tone that is universal, spanning through every bit of content you release. That means on social media, on your website, and in your advertising materials. Your About Me page is a good place to define and refine this tone.

While writing it, think of how you want your brand to sound: Technical? Professional? Personal? Humorous? Easy going? Then keep your content a reflection of that tone.

“About Me” Branding Tip #2 – Think of Your Audience’s Problems, Then How You Solve Them

Why are your customers coming to you in the first place? Your About Us page is a great opportunity to narrow down the main problem your audience is having, and then tell them how you will solve it for them. Straightforward and informative, it shows them that you understand and empathize, while offering a solution.

This is a very popular tactic in marketing that isn’t utilized nearly often enough in modern online branding. They have a need, you can fulfill it, so let them know that!

Elna Cain’s “About me” page is a great example of this tactic:

“About Me” Branding Tip #3 – Be Succinct But Thorough

While you want to get your point across, you want to do it as quickly as possible. There is a real problem with some brand pages that spent paragraph after paragraph trying to hook their audience.

No one is going to want to read an essay about how great you are, and why they should choose you. Just give them the bullet points, already!

Less is more.

Avoid buzzwords! Is there anything worse than people who use buzzwords for no reason? Your About Me page should avoid this at all costs. You want to be personable and friendly, connecting on a human level with your customers.

Keep your language simple and aimed towards the layman as much as possible. If you are in an industry that is very technically focused you can use relevant language, but still keep the buzz down to a minimum.

Carol is an awesome example of the kind of a structure I am talking about: She manages to feature her bio, testimonials, books, etc. while avoiding the page looking cluttered.

“About Me” Branding Tip #4 – Give Plenty of Points of Contact

This is the simplest and most obvious tip on this list, so I won’t spend too much time on it. But you should offer multiple ways for people to get a hold of you on your About Me page.

An email address, social media profiles where you are most active at and maybe even a personal message system like Skype.

Lack of contact info means possibly missed opportunities. No one wants to go hunting for contact info.

“About Me” Branding Tip #5 – Update Regularly

Finally, you should make sure you update your About Us page on a semi-regular basis. What you offer may change, or you may find your tone shifting a bit. Present the most modern version of your brand.

Additional reading on how to create a great “About me” page:

• Crafting an About Page that Proves the AUTHORITY in You
• How To Write an “About Me” Page That Gets You Hired
• 5 Client-Magnetizing Ways to Write a Kick-Ass About Page

Any tips to add? Let us know in the comments!

Anna Fox is a blogger and writer helping fellow bloggers to get hired. She loves writing about personal branding, building your own business and productivity. Please follow Anna on Twitter as @hireblogger.