How’s your About page on your website performing? Is it bringing you leads? Do people tell you they love it? Are you proud of it?
The About page is almost always the second most visited page on a site after the homepage. Because people like learning about people.
It’s also often a missed opportunity.
People can be uncomfortable writing about themselves. And it shows when you end up on an About page that’s a dry list of skills, or a thinly disguised CV.
I’m here with some tough news.
Nobody’s going to work with you if you bore them to sleep before you get started.
But here’s the flip side of that harsh truth.
Nobody is boring.
So, let’s juice up your About page and get your story working for you.
Why do About pages for consultants and professional services matter so much?
Here’s the thing. There are hundreds (thousands) of people out there doing what you do.
But there is only one you.
Your life story and your unique combination of experiences and skills are your USP (Unique Selling Point for those of you who aren’t marketing nerds).
They are the reason why people chose to work with you, over another specialist that delivers the same services. Your story is your secret sauce.
So, if you don’t share your story with your prospective customers, you’re missing an opportunity to help them choose you over your competition. You’re leaving money on the table.
And it’s not a hard thing to tell your story.
All you do is pick out the things you do that make you most valuable to the people you serve. Then tell stories about how you learned your skills. And boom.
You’ve got yourself some magnetic messaging.
So, if you’ve got a sneaking suspicion that your About page ain’t all that, never fear.
With a few hours graft, and the help of this handy guide, it’s easily solved.
The rest of this article gives you the three principles I use to write great About pages, a list of thought-starter questions to get you cranking, and some writing tips.
This is the method I use to coach service business owners and consultants how to write their own About page.
So, grab yourself your favourite pen, a notebook and a tasty beverage and let’s get started.
The three principles of great About pages
Here are the three principles I follow to write About pages for my clients.
1. Show don’t tell
Your number one weapon of persuasion is story.
People remember stories. They don’t remember dry statements.
Instead of telling someone you’re good at something, tell them a story that shows you using that skill to deliver value.
Instead of telling them you studied marketing, tell them a story that makes a point about what you learned.
Instead of telling them you worked at X Corporation, tell them a story about a problem you solved there.
Story not statement.
2. Show the cracks and share the failures
Tall poppy syndrome is real. But I have a theory. It exists not because people want to pull people down, but because they can smell the bullshit.
We’ve been schooled to present an airbrushed façade to the world. But everyone knows we all have feet of clay.
So, when high achievers are mythologised, people know this isn’t the whole story. They know that in every victory there are missteps, face plants and tears before breakfast.
If you’re not honest about your humanity, people will call foul.
But if you own your failures and your weaknesses, they will respect you for it.
Copywriter (and cult leader) Colin Theriot advises you to include a self-deprecating element of luck into the story of how you earned your stripes, so that you don’t sound too self-congratulatory.
A story about what you learned from failure is worth many boasts of greatness.
3. Make people feel (and smell and taste)
Sense anchors memory.
We’ve all had that experience where a scent has unlocked a memory we thought forgotten. A stranger walks by wearing cologne, and suddenly you remember your first lover. You get a waft of vanilla essence, and you’re a child in your grandmother’s kitchen.
By evoking the senses, you’ll make your story more memorable.
Show your readers little pictures.
What was the weather like the day you started your first job? What did you toast your first sale with? What were you wearing that day that you first realised you were good at your craft?
Details make the difference between a generic anecdote and a picture that sticks in the memory.
It’s Q&A time (aka free counselling)
Now we’re going to get introspective.
The point of this exercise is to uncover your USP.
When I coach people on optimising their website copy, writing their About page, is, without fail, the task that prompts the most conversation and angst.
Right now, I’m working with a group of creative service providers optimising their marketing for leads. One of the group posted: “I have forced myself to sit down and do some work on 'About Me'. I cannot believe how resistant I am to doing it and I don't know why. Interesting in itself ...”
This isn’t an easy exercise, because our society doesn’t encourage us to examine our life.
Often the only time we do this is with a counsellor. And most of us go to see a counsellor when our life hits the rocks, so we’re not always in the best frame of mind to uncover our strengths.
I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, I learned that it wasn’t nice to think about myself too much, especially to consider my assets. It was ok to be aware of my weaknesses and be humble, but a balanced self-awareness was (is) more challenging.
When I quit my job to start my business, I went through the process of deciding who I would serve and what problems I would solve for them.
Over the last four months I’ve worked my way through at least six of these exercises, seeking clarity on my own superpower. So, I feel well qualified to distil these exercises down into a list of questions to help you get to the heart of who you are.
Now it’s your turn. Clear an hour and answer these questions. And if it gets tough, that’s ok. These are hard questions. Go for a brisk walk and come back to it.
Why you?
What journey led you to start your business or your current career? Go as far back as is relevant (which is usually all the way, as our childhood directly influences who we are today) and note the themes that emerge. (This is also a helpful exercise if you’re updating your CV).
What prompted you to start your career / business? Was there a catalyst? An epiphany? An opportunity?
What about failure? Did you encounter any roadblocks? How did you overcome those barriers? What gave you the strength to power through? What did you learn? Tell these stories.
What do you do for people?
Who do you work with?
Who do you enjoy working with most?
What problem do you solve for these people? Tell some stories about how you’ve solved this problem for your clients.
How did you learn to solve this problem? Tell a story about how you learned this.
How does your solution work? Again, try and illustrate this with a story, rather than exposition.
What are the outcomes of the service you offer? What value do you add? Keep asking yourself “and why does that matter to the people I serve?” until you get to the heart of your offering.
What do you do that makes the biggest difference to the people you serve? Can you tell a story that shows this value in action?
What’s your legacy?
What are you here to do?
In five years, when you’re top of your game, being introduced at a prestigious conference of your peers, what would you like the MC to say about you?
What’s your long-term goal?
How do you want to be remembered? Write your epitaph.
Ask people you’ve worked with what your strengths are
Despite doing six different ‘About me’ exercises in the last few months, I still struggle to identify my strengths. Often, I have to ask other people. And that’s a valid tactic.
This is where customer interviews come in.
I’ll write more about customer interviews another day, but all you need to know now is that customer interviews are A VERY GOOD THING for four reasons:
They help you understand your customers more. Their pain points, their desires, their experiences.
They help you understand what your customers need from you.
They help you understand what might prevent people from working with you.
They help you capture your customer’s voice. You can observe how they speak about the services you offer. You can record the language they use to discuss their needs and frustrations. This is solid gold, when it comes to creating your own marketing copy.
Other helpful people to ask about your strengths are your colleagues and your friends.
Two good questions to ask are:
“What is it that I do that’s most valuable to you?”
“What’s the one thing you’d like people to know about working with me?”
Now write your About page
Now you’ve done alll that hard work, you’re ready to get proper jiggy with it, and write your About page. A few tips.
Write as if you’re telling your life story to your friend over a few wines.
If you’re struggling tell your story to a friend, record it and transcribe the conversation.
Write until you haven’t got anything else to say. Don’t worry about it being too long. You’ll go back and tighten it up afterwards. Right now your job is to get everything out on the page.
Keep it conversational.
Don’t use formal language, business jargon or clichés. If you find yourself writing awful tripe like: “I think outside the box”, take yourself outside and give yourself a stern talking to. Then go back in and tell a story that shows you coming up with imaginative solutions instead.
Keep your paragraphs short. Don’t write paragraphs longer than three sentences, and don’t be afraid of one liners. Beware the impenetrable wall of text.
Show don’t tell, my friend. Share the failures. Remember the detail.
Be real. Be you. You’re enough.