Now is an opportune time to quit all of those traditional ways of writing the About page and start something new.
Something real and convincing.
Something good enough to convert every single visitor to your blog into a reader. Before we continue this journey, I would like to say this – if you have not been seeing your About page as a virtual sales pitch then you have not started blogging.
It bits my imagination that so many bloggers are yet to key into the power driven features of an About page. If there is one single page on your blog which you must pay utmost attention to, it’s the About page.
This is where you as the boss tells the world what they need to hear and not what you need them to hear.
Remember the blogosphere has grown to the extent that it’s nearly (if not already) approaching its saturation, so it’s no longer business as usual, now it’s the fight of the fittest!
One way to play smart and stand tall among the crowd is by cleaning up your blog and making it a food which every hungry man would like to eat, and the best page among all the pages on your blog to help you achieve this is the “About” page.
I think of the About page as a virtual sales page because it’s the king of all the pages on your blog. Get it right and you will see a handful of visitors turning into real time readers – people who visit your blog and have the conviction they have arrived at the right place, get it wrong and you see how quickly people will bounce off your blog. I am sure you don’t want this to happen to your blog?
To help you write an “About” page that converts, I will be sharing with you 6 simple tips to get you started.
Let’s take a look at these blog tips…
Let the Tone of Your Blog be Heard in the About Page
Every blog has its own tone, and each tone has an industry which it belongs to. Before you ever raise your pen to write your About me pages, the first thing that should come to your head is the tone of your blog. Once you understand this, it will help you to write in line with what your blog preaches and at the same time maintaining a balance in your chosen industry without deviating.
It will be odd to write with the tone of an affiliate marketer when your blog preaches on how to build a better blog. Make your page fit with the tone of your blog.
Skip All Those Wacky Stories
Most bloggers misunderstand the concept of the About page. Because it’s called About does not mean it’s a place where you write or tell all those wacky stories or tales of how you graduated from Harvard University or how you got a first class ticket to speak in a conference in Washington.
Please don’t get me wrong, there is room for all these tales, but the idle thing would be to make it brief. The operative word here is make it brief, which means you need to select what to write and write it such that it doesn't take over the whole page. Filling your page with these long tales is a way of telling your readers what you've achieved and not how you can help them achieve their goals using the resources on your blog.
Sell the Benefits of Your Blog
Starting from day 1 when you launched your first blog post, your blog became a public place where anybody can visit and that means the blog is no longer your personal diary, it’s become something big!
Telling people what you have done in time past is not enough; you need to tell them how the services rendered on your blog will benefit them.
Every reader on visiting your blog has one common thing he or she hopes to achieve, and that’s exactly the benefit that comes with the reading and implementation of what the blog preaches.
Listing the benefits are also not enough, you need to welcome them with services or tips that are applicable, that way they will be certain they are reading the right blog.
The About page on Basic Blog Tips is a good example of a virtual sales page. It has everything a visitor will need to get started on a first visit.
Reader Engagement: Words First Before Keyword Ranking
You don’t need keyword ranking what you need is reader engagement words. What this means is that your About page must be written with reader engagement words and not just keywords which you are targeting on your blog. You will use these keywords anyway but not making them primary to words that help readers understand what your blog is all about.
A blog that covers blogging tips, make money tips and SEO can be fine tuned with words like – build a better blog, make money, save money, get tremendous traffic and so on…
The idle thing is to know those words which will attract a reader to keep reading and even make the golden decision of joining your blog league. By using these reader engagement words in your writing, you make your blog “About” page useful and above all engaging such that visitors can come and stay.
Let Them Know You Are Behind The Blog!
Readers are looking for who to trust, and it begins the moment they arrive on your About page. Build trust by adding your recent picture and write boldly that you are the host, and the one in charge of the blog. Make them understand you are there for them personally and passionately.
Create a Call to Action!
The idea is to make sure every single visitor gets converted to a loyal reader.
Don't blow this opportunity, make it count by creating a call to action.
Make the page sticky by adding your most popular posts say 10-20 of them and make the color of the hyper links stand out where they can be seen. When using these posts, make sure you incorporate them smartly into the conversational tone of your About page and keep them engaging!
Apart from using your most popular posts as a call to action, you can equally place an opt in form asking them to subscribe to receive more of the tips on what they have been reading so far.
When Last did You Update Your Blog “About” Page?
I noticed that not many bloggers updates or considers their blog “About” page as a virtual sales page. In a way to refresh your memory, I would like you to take a second look at your page and check if these tips are implemented already in the writing. You can make amends today!
What other tips have you used to update your blog About page that is not listed here? Let me hear you in comments…