How To Construct A Kick-Ass About Page?

When was the last time you looked at your About (me) page in your blog? How effective is your About page or do you even have one setup to begin with?

If your answers to the above questions are never, no, nope, not or anything similar; don’t you worry, because you are at the right place! Here, I am going to not only talk about the importance of a properly constructed About page but also help you create one that kicks ass.

The fact is, your about page is one of the most visited page especially when the blog is fairly new. Ya’ know everyone wants to know about the new kid in the block. Your visitors want to know who is behind the blog before probing further to see what you offer. Strangely though, this page is often the most neglected page by many bloggers. If you don’t have an effective About page yet, you are missing out on a major advantage.

This page carries a lot of value and purpose in building your brand – identity, personality, credibility and authority – online. This page is of utmost importance in building the level of trust between you and your readers. When properly constructed, your about page provides a good first impression to your audience. It makes them relate to you on a deeper level from the start.

Creating a kick-ass About page that fulfills its purpose:

Michele from Newbizblogger mentioned in her post; Your About Page Is NOT About You, it is about those looking to find more about you and how you can help solve their problems. Now, if you think about it, this is very true.

While constructing an About page, it is very easy to get carried away with your own personal stories – who you are, where you are from, how many degrees you got…blah..blah! I mean, it is okay to provide a background, experience, stories, facts etc. to prove your point but, don’t go on and on about it. Be clear, concise to make it punchy and effective. Optimize it so that it can quickly fulfill its purpose.

This page is always a page in progress much like the rest of your blog. It is important to keep it up to date to assist in giving solid reasons as to why your audience should even bother listening or reading to what you offer. One thing you need to keep in mind is that you should never let your readers hunt for information and not to make it dull and boring. Inject personality in your about page. This is a great start in giving your readers good reasons as to why they should follow you, listen to you, buy from you or want your services.

Let’s see; I could give an example of a kickass about page of some problogger. However, I want to use my very own page as an example here. Now, I am certainly not a problogger but you get my point; don’t you? You don’t need to be a problogger to create an effective About page (O:

Here are the main things you need to keep in mind while creating an effective about page that is going to radically differentiate you from your competition:

1. Who you are and your intention with your site (your goals):

The first thing you need to include is that you are behind the site and what you and your site is all about. Instead of a personal story at first, include what your intentions are. Clearly portraying your intentions with your site lets your readers know how you can help them. What benefit do they get out of knowing and following you? In other words, you have to let them know how you can solve their problems. In order for this to happen, you need to talk about what you do and what you are good at.

Who you are and your intentions!

2. Make it interesting, short and enticing:

Your about page doesn’t have to be long to prove your point. I bet you; if it is too long, your audience are not going to read beyond the first couple of paragraphs. Yes, it is necessary to give them the full detail to support your expertise, social proof, testimonials and so on. But have links to your other pages or posts in your blog that best relates to you proving your point.

Use bullets, numbers, headings and subheadings to list your points. Internet users are usually lazy so they are going to scan your contents before reading word for word. So assist them in scanning.

3. Include photos:

An about page is not complete without a photo of who is behind the blog. A decent picture takes you a long way in terms of building personality, credibility and relationships online. You have to let your readers know that there is a real person ;YOU behind the blog. And the best way to do that is to include a picture of yourself. Besides, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Right?

A photo is worth more than a thousand words!

4. Be honest:

Honesty is the best policy. Being honest about yourself, your achievements and what you offer is immensely important. Creating some deceiving materials just to make your about page interesting in order to build credibility is going to come haunt you later on. So, be careful and be honest!

5. Make your story secondary:

Your own unique story about your experience, expertise and how you have come so far is important to peg your readers into exploring the rest of your site and even comeback again and again. People love stories – especially the story about rags to riches. Your accomplishments and what you have overcome is a powerful tool to grab instant attention. However, you have to make those stories secondary. If you want to include a long story, one good way of doing it is by including an excerpt of the story and giving a link to the full story at the end.

6. Your contact information:

Online communication is not like a real life communication where both the parties are face to face with the presence of body languages. Well, Skype and other cutting-edge communication medium have brought a huge change in terms of how we communicate online. However keep in mind, majority of people still use the written means of communication online. So, in case anyone reading your About page wants to contact you, make it easy on them by including a simple contact form or at least a link to the contact page.

Contact info, links and call to action!

7. Clear and powerful call to action:

Since this is going to be one of the most visited page in your blog, you want to convert your visitors into doing exactly what you want them to do – sign up to your email list, subscribe to your RSS, buy your products, use your services, follow you in social media sites and so on.

8. Use video and audio:

A video or audio introduction to what you do and what you are all about is an awesome plan. Videos and audios might take a little practice but is going to be well worth the effort. However, make sure that it is professional, relevant and to the point. Ya know; people don’t want to watch or listen to too much of your jibber jabber, no matter how good you sound online (O:

Don’t totally replace text with a video. Include them both for search engines and for people that don’t have good internet services.

Hint: You may want to include a printable version of your About page and some more good photos for press release. You never know; a journalist/press might want to feature you in the spotlight. Gotta be prepared. Right?

In conclusion;

A concise and attractive about page can help you kick start in building a strong community that is going to last for years and years to come. So, if you don’t have a about page yet, use the above points as a reference and create one. If you already have one set up, frequently review it to keep it up to date and effective.

Please feel free to comment down below to tell me what you think. If you like to share about your about page, be sure to include the link to it. Plus, if you like this article Tweet it, share it in Facebook or your favorite social media outlets.

Here’s to your successful online endeavor!

-Adam Paudyal.

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