What about your About page?!

It’s time to step things up a notch with a blog tip. Everyone wants more people to connect to them through their blogs. We all want people to keep coming back and maybe even mention our site to other people. Yeah, sure, a great article might do it, but you want to really make an impact? You do? Okay. Tell them what they want to know . . . about you. Where? On your About page.

 

I’m not a big secret for those who wandered around the walls of my blog a few times. Everything I write has me in it. I don’t hide. But there are things I don’t tell people. But I let them know the things that matter to them.

 

I’m talking about my About page. Some call it the About Moi page. I won’t name any names because they may be reading this. Some people can get away with that, I’m not one of them.

 

Guess what after my Home page is the most Viewed thing ever on my blog. Here’s your cookie if you said my About page. That’s right. And guess what has the most likes of anything else on my blog. Aw, and here is your glass of milk to go with the cookie. (I’m not sure the bit of sarcasm is my style, but I tried. Hmm.)

 

Why is it liked more than other things? I really have no idea to tell you the truth. I look at it and shudder with it all. I have almost wanted to start over but I’ve put so much work into it that it makes me physically ill to even move an index finger towards the delete key.

 

To get a Follow from me you 99% of the time have to have an About page with something remotely decent in it. Sometimes if there has been several exchanges in comments or I just know the person through their being a Literary Agent or Writing Resource I will Follow without an About page. But I really like to have a little something to become connected to.

 

The About page also lets me know the person and site is legitimate. There may be some of you reading this that noticed that when I decided to Follow your blog that I made a comment on your About page. That wasn’t an accident.

 

“Ronovan, I don’t want to do an about page because I don’t know what to put on there.”

 

Take a look at my About page. Yes I shared more of me than you might, but I did it without telling anything really.

 

There are different ideas on how to do an About page. Some say do it short and just tell them what they need to know about the site. Some say do an essay of the world so to speak.

 

Here is the importance of the About page.

• My top most viewed page is my Home page.

• Second is my About page.

• Third is my 10 Fun (?) Facts About Me page.

 

What does that tell you people want to know?

Okay so maybe they want to know what kind of nut writes the things I write. But I think  you can see they are interested in connecting to the person writing. I feel sorry for those that read through both the About and the Fun Facts. My apologies.

 

Here are the tips for an About page from my own personal experience.

1. Tell them about your experience that makes your having this Blog worth their being here. If you have a writing blog such as mine you don’t tell them you were a professional Dish Washer as your first paid job. (Which was mine.) That can come later. First make them know they are in good hands.
2. Tell them what they are going to get from your site. Your part about you should be brief and this should be longer than that. Your Readers are the important ones so make them feel welcome, wanted, and give them a reason to want to return.
3. Give them a little of what turned you into what you are. For me I noted books through the formative years that turned me into a reader and eventual writer. For an artist it could be museum trips, a teacher, a movie just whatever brought you to being a creative person.
4. Show them what kind of person are you as a result of this in regards to creativity.
5. Share with them some professional aspect of you that influences your creativity, such as my having been a History teacher lends to my loving reading and creating worlds and histories of those worlds and people.
6. Throw them  the boring things that you might want to. You never know what will connect with someone.
7. Tell them about any causes you might be connected to if you like. I have Fibromyalgia so I have a connection to people that have similar problems.
8. Tell them why you are blogging. I know you probably put some of that in the number one and you should have, but expound upon it here at the end.
9. Give them links to your social network connections.

Notice the About page tells about YOU but is really for THEM. You already know about you. Share you with them. If you think you are so boring that people don’t want to know about you then what in the world are you doing? You’re creative and blogging. They showed up to your site! They think you are at least interesting once!

 

I’ve had a little fun during this article, a few jokes, but in all seriousness, the About page is truly one of the important things of your site. It’s where personality can come through that your work won’t reflect. Visit the About pages of people you admire and see what they have. Make it as big or little as you like, but by all means put something in there.

 

If you found this article helpful you may want to check out my other blogging tips by clicking here. If not . . . thanks for stopping by.

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