Just a few days, our friends Jen Olmstead + Jeff Shipley of Tonic Site Shop put on a great webinar all about putting together a fantastic (read: kick ass) About Me page for a website. I listened to it as I was working on our own new website (which, BTW, launches next FRIDAY!!!) and while I didn’t take notes, I have a few important thoughts about it:
1.) Be Authentic.
Whenever you’re sharing something personal – make it in your voice. Don’t use words you don’t normally use. Have someone close to you (a spouse, a BFF, your mom) read it and ask them, “does this sound like me?” That’s why I didn’t call this blog “Writing a Personable About Me Page” – because I don’t use words like “Personable.” I want you to be Writing a Kick Ass “About Me” Page!! It might turn off some people that I used a curse word – and that’s totally okay. Those people aren’t my tribe, because guess what? I use words like Kick Ass a lot, and we don’t want to get a client who has no idea who we are before we meet them, or be offended when I drop a mild curse bomb at a session. Ya dig?
2.) It’s All About Attracting + Repelling
I don’t know about you, but when we book a couple for a wedding – we’re already friends, like, before they even walk away from the table at the coffee shop. Why? Because they already know us. They know we have kids, they know we love dogs, they know we love pizza + beer and Netflix marathons and that we’re I’m obsessed with Gilmore Girls. They send me links about news stories I might like, they tag Randy in home improvement posts, they send us pins about Paleo recipes and my phone has basically blown up over the last few months about the Gilmore Girls revival coming in less than 3 months.
How? Because we’re attracting our tribe – the people who are genuinely interested in the same things we’re interested in. It’s a lot easier to connect with people when you have things that you know, you actually connect about.
3.) Include Pictures
This seems like a no-brainer, but, some people forget to include a bio pic of themselves on their About Me page. For our photogra-friends and friendors and anyone else who runs a personalized business where YOU are the face of your company … you guys, your face is important!!
I would even go a step further and include photos that really detail who you are as a person, what’s important to you.
Don’t be generic – be authentic.
And last but certainly not least …
4.) Create some sort of Call to Action.
What is a Call to Action? It’s basically something like “Now that you know me – DO something about it.” This could something as simple as “Contact me!” or “Sign up for my newsletter” or “Take a look at my portfolio.” Whatever it is that you want people to do: put that Call to Action on your About Me page. Make it simple, make it clear.
Like this type of stuff? We’re going to be launching a newsletter series this fall FILLED with education for photographers + other small business owners!
