If you’re a blogger, a self employed entrepreneur, or even a small or large business, have you considered adding an About Page to the online space that you own?
Obviously me!
I have one, next to the list titled 100 Things About Me, which was part of a challenge when I originally wrote it, that I’ve edited here and there over a bunch of years. If you do, cool; if not, why not?
I’ll come back to this question; first, I want to talk about why I believe everyone should have one. I like to think that someone who visits your website, personal or business, sometimes wants to know a bit about who the person writing is. I know some larger businesses don’t think it’s necessary, but if you ever visit a hospital’s website (I do it quite often), you’ll find an About page that talks about how the facility feels it integrates with the community, along with a listing of its corporate staff and members of the board.
I’m an independent consultant, and I have a business website. On that site I don’t use the word About, I use Bio, since it’s only me. When I’ve created other website, I always felt it was proper to add information about the owner, since I created websites for small business owners. Still, I believe larger businesses should have them as well.
My business site’s bio page is a bit about bragging; yeah, I’ll admit that. 🙂 Back in 2003 it was a very small industry; these days, there’s a lot of competition. Even though my keywords still rank in the top 5 (yay me!), without the bio page, along with some pretty good SEO, no one would know anything about me personally.
Not that it’s helped me all that much, to be honest. My site gets pretty good traffic, but I don’t get a lot of phone calls. I don’t want to dig into what I think the reason for that is. Instead, I’ll say that Dad and I had a good discussion about whether or not I should put my picture on the site. I went with Dad’s advice, which is why I have my picture on my About page here, and have no fear about using images of myself in my content (like above).
Truth be told an About page isn’t supposed to tell your entire history; that’s why I have blogs to do it for me, and multiple pages on my business site. It’s an introduction to who I am and what I’m about, and that’s pretty much it. My business bio is a bit more extensive, but it’s there for business purposes; I haven’t used this site for business purposes much in the last 8 or 9 years, but I still have a Services page that tells people what I do… which I probably don’t push enough.
I also have an image of myself on the About page with a parrot on my wrist. It’s because of the bird that I know some people actually check it out; some are freaked out and some are impressed. lol It also helps me stand out, and it’s gives me an opportunity to tell my story… it’s brief and harmless, and no Mitch’s were hurt. 😀
And of course, it also explains why I keep blogging, and reading and commenting on other blogs. I have a lot more to learn and a lot more to share. And now, I’ve shared a bunch about myself, and there’s still more in my About tab above, if you haven’t gotten enough of me yet. Think about creating something like for your own blog or business; people love making connections with others who they’re comfortable with.
Actually, I have no idea if people check out my personal blog’s About page, but I have been told by clients that they have read my portfolio blog’s about page. Sweet!
Yours is nice, especially with the striking image!
Cheers,
Mitch
Thanks! Definitely much different than my Services page, which is what I’m aiming for. I wonder if I can work that in more often in later articles. lol
I do have an “About Me” page and have received some comments. Since mine is a personal blog, it gives details of my person.
Overall that’s pretty much what it should be. Since I’m still ready for employment, it makes sense to mention some of those things, but in general it’s just about me. Not that many things I write around are about me anyway. 🙂
I have an “about me” page. Some people still check the about me section, just like me. I always check all the pages of a website. But still depends on the people who visit websites.
I can agree with that. If the content captures my attention, I’ll check it out. If it’s middling, I’ll skip it entirely, which might not be fair in the long run, but I’ll never remember it. 🙂