Is your blog suffering from having people come to your site, maybe liking a post you did and not generate a follow from that person? If so, it just might be because of your About Page or lack of one.
As I mentioned earlier I will be doing a series of post related to Blogging tips, basically I will be dissecting an article I wrote HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BLOG! taking an in-depth look at each part. This morning’s post will be the Dreaded About Page!
What is it about this one page that can be a friend or an enemy to us?
Have you put off your About Page thinking it might suck. Fears of not being as successful as you hoped at this point in life? Maybe it’s a privacy related concern. Maybe it’s easier to write content but find it hard to create an about page. Whatever the reason, you are not alone.
I recently ran across an article that defines it rather nicely.
An ideal “About Me” page should say something about you. By this I do not mean your personal likes and dislikes such as certain movies and rock bands. Leave these types of interests for your social networking website profile. Instead, write something related to your beliefs, your education, why you started this blog, and perhaps add a picture of yours’. Write about your passion, your goals, and other things that add a personal touch. The idea is to give the reader a clear picture of you and your blog or website, and why you started the site they are viewing.
Source: http://www.shoutmeloud.com/importance-aboutme-page-blogging.html
I personally stumbled my way through and it took four times before I had a decent, About Page. I had to think of a way to make it fun, informative, yet on target reflecting who I am. So I started with an opener like a comedian would for his or her monolog. My opener at the very top is, “Like dogs need to sniff the asses of other dogs a way of saying hello. So here is my ass! Sniff away.” So far as of today, I have 161 likes on that page alone! I even had a few tell me they got a big laugh from it. That is when I knew I finally got it right!
Several Tips For a Killer About Page!
A good photo of you. What? I don’t want people to know what I look like. Can’t I just use my Avatar? Big fat no! If you want to have a Blog that is successful, you will have to have a photo of you on your About Page and preferably facing forward looking into the camera when it is taken. That way when people come to your page they see you looking at them as though there is eye contact. This also helps to build trust between you and the reader.- Name, if you prefer not to give out your full name at least provide a first name so that your readers can make a connection with you. If anyone has visited Tony’s Blog on the right side he has his mug shot of handsomeness! Not only do we get a name, we get a nickname of T-Bird and me being a fan of the 1967 Ford T-Bird I’ll give a shout out to Tony! 🙂
- Show your personality! As I mentioned in an earlier post, your
blog should reflect you for it is an extension of you and so should your About Page. People have this need to know us as our true selfs before they can feel like they can trust us, You need to be you shining brilliantly on the poster. - We don’t have to provide exactly where we live providing directions to our homes, but a geographical location like the greater part of Chicago can do wonders. This provides the reader with a first name, a general location with those tidbits about what your Blog is about. It’s like meeting someone for the first time and shaking hands!
Don’t be afraid to show the goofy side of you. We need to have a little fun. As an analogy, a Business man with a stuffy suit, one method in previous years was to wear a Bugs Bunny tie. This way when a client came in, they would get a sense that this person had a sense of humor, instead of being uptight full of shit and all business! Who want’s to talk to that person?
I hope that these few tips provide you some new tools to utilize or at least ponder about your About Page.
If you have questions please feel free to drop me a line!
Sources:
http://www.shoutmeloud.com/importance-aboutme-page-blogging.html
https://www.rocketspark.com/blog/why-about-us-page-so-important/
http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-write-an-about-page/
http://heartmadeblog.com/about/
Seeing as how I threw it together in a few minutes, perhaps I may need to take more than a quick moment to make it a little better – seeing as how I haven’t given up yet. Thanks for the info & tips Michael!
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Your welcome, I hope these little tips will help. But, Elizabeth you have, a first name, what the Blog is about. That is a good start more than what some have.
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I agree with you on that – I always want a name & face. Even (especially) on business websites. It does help foster trust.
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Yes, especially a business whether old or a startup.
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Hi Michael, great tips about the “About Me” page. I hope you don’t me adding one more item but I think it’s important. If you do have an “About Me” page (and every blogger should), please ensure it is easy to find on your blog. Having too hunt for an “about Me” page is not a good thing and I’ve heard that people often give up within the first ten seconds if they can not find it (they usually also one on without pressing that follow button). If it’s not on the menu bar then make the link to it stand out.
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That’s a great tip Hugh, I’ll incorporate that tip.
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You’re welcome Michael. I, for one, won’t follow a blog unless it has an “About Me’ page. It’s one of the first things WordPress taught us to do on the Blogging 101 course they run.
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Michael, you’re absolutely right on this. I believe the about page is important because it helps people to trust, follow and connect with you easily.
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You are so talented and generous with your time and knowledge! Thank you!
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You are welcome, it does me no good to hoard the information like a squarial with its nuts.
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I always feel that it is best to share what we have. It’s kinda like– giving gives you more not less.
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Very true!
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I recently updated my about page, would be interested in your feedback 🙂
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Hi there Steve, I took a look at your About Page, a mixture of text, video (funny) and photos.a basic description of what the Blog is about, links to other parts that you want people to see and a general location.
Hi-Fi!
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Thank you. Appreciate the feedback 🙂
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Great advice! I find it so frustrating when I go to check out a new blog and can’t find one. Even more so if the default mode has been left there (although I understand if they’re very new).
It was the first thing I wrote on my blog – I wonder whether I should make regular updates to it to reflect changes as my blog has grown. But for now I like it, my nose is a strawberry, so it’s definitely daft like me!
As a side note, still need to get to grips with Reddit. Had very few views from the link you shared so obviously not a great choice for that audience. Will have to rethink a best fit if I’m going to utilise the outlet!
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Hi Haylee, not regular updates, but from what I have been reading updating once in a while as the blog changes or something major to add. As for Reddit for food items, I saw yours upvoted to 7 today, that is how it works sometimes. They crawl your site for two to three days if you get lucky then just stick to upvote or downvoting. Then the other side of the coin, even though there may be 2k or 3k subscribers to that particular subreddit you may only see five to seven at any giving time in most of them.
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Thanks Michael, I’ll maybe look at updating my about page when I pass the 6 month mark!
I guess Reddit is like everything else – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Still worth trying out though.
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Everything is worth a try!
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Reblogged this on Dream Big, Dream Often and commented:
This is great advice. I know many of you have an About page, but some of you don’t. I promise you, it is costing you on some level: building trust with your readers, views or follows. Read this and make the necessary changes.
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Great post. I’m going to make some tweaks.
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Thank you, I hope it helps
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