18 comments

Blogging Tip: How to Write The Perfect About Page

IFB » Content and Writing » Blogging Tip: How to Write The Perfect About Page

When you start blogging, the first page you should think about adding to your site is the about page. Although it is one of the most important pages on your site (along with the contact page), it is often considered the most challenging when it comes to writing.

About pages are essential for your readers as they allow them to get a better insight into your blog's mission, your personal style and history. It is a great way to allow your followers to get a better understanding of the person behind your blog, and is an opportunity to answer any questions your readers may have.

The about page is a tricky one to get right – it can feel awkward talking about yourself and often the words don’t come easily. Many bloggers confess to a friend writing their about page for them, but due to the personal nature of an about page, it’s important to give it a go yourself. After all, nobody knows you and your blog better than you.

Research.

Start off with researching what you have already written about your blog elsewhere. Review your Twitter and Pinterest profiles and your Facebook page description. Chances are, you have already written about yourself and your blog on them. Use these for a starting point to help frame your about page’s content.

Try to understand what questions your audience may want answered. If you use social media platforms such as Formspring, have a scroll through past questions you’ve answered. Look for questions asked in past emails, blog comments and on Twitter from your readers. Since your readers are already asking these questions, it would be appropriate to answer them on your about page.

Don’t be afraid to be inspired by your favourite blogger’s content. Research a range of other about pages, even ones from brands and companies you follow. How have they written theirs? What do you like about their page? What don’t you like? Jot these points down in a notepad to help inspire you to create your very own, personal about page.

What should you write about?

Make it shine full of personality, add interesting and quirky facts that make you “you”. Talk about your most proud moments, add any experiences you are proud of and stay upbeat. Below is a list of points you might want to start with.

Suggested points:

Your name and location.
When you started your blog.
What encouraged you to first start blogging?
What inspires you.
Your personal style.
What you blog about.

Open up a word document to draft your content for the about page. Paste in your summaries from your social networking profiles along with the notes you’ve taken from your research.

Start off with introducing yourself with your name and location. Write down some words to describe your personality. If you want to share your qualifications within the fashion industry, you could write about your education, career and experiences. Write down in bullet points all the facts you want to get across to your readers and then start to slowly build these into sentences.

Final Touches.

Now you have worked out the meat of your about page, it is time to add to the appearance. Add a nice, clear image of yourself at the top of the page. Pick a photo that shows off your personal style, your personality and reflects you well. This is the image your readers will connect your writing and blog’s voice to. You could highlight interesting points and quotes to make it more visually exciting. If you have any, try to add a couple of quotes from influential publications in which you’ve been mentioned.

Add your contact information at the end of your about page. Adding an email address will encourage your readers to email you if they have any further questions you haven’t answered about yourself or your blog. You could even add a link to your twitter profile as well for those who prefer a quicker response.

When you think you are finished with your page, get a friend or family member to proof-read it for you before you take it live. This is just to ensure you have spelled everything correctly and that the phrasing will make sense to your readers.

A few more basic tips:

Make sure it is positive, engaging content which isn’t too long. Blog readers tend to have short attention spans and prefer to read small bulks of text at a time. Try breaking the content up with visuals such as images and bullet points.
Never disclose personal details like your address or phone number for your own personal safety.
Read it over and over again before posting to make sure what you are disclosing in your about page is information you are comfortable sharing with your readers.

Written by Sarah of Sarah Loves

What do you think makes a great “About” page on a blog? Share your best advice in the comments!

18 Responses

Drew @ Catfish & Caviar February 4, 2013

Awesome advice! Your ‘About Me’ page is where you sell yourself! Sometimes it is really hard to talk about how great you are but this is the time when you give your readers insight into your personality.

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I Heart Black February 4, 2013

Really nice post that cover perfectly what an About Page should be about. I’m glad to see that my About page contains pretty much all you said but I still have to add a picture. I don;t know how I forgot that! Heheh!

www.iheartblack.com

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Lisa February 4, 2013

Great tips.

I put off writing mine forever because I didn’t know what to say about myself, but once I got into the task it was kind of fun.

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Marianne Krohn February 4, 2013

I’ve recently updated the “About Me” page and I’m happier about it than before. But I’ll go over it now, once again 😉

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Lola Zabeth February 4, 2013

These are great tips! I have somewhat followed that path but a recent post on crafting an About page has me thinking about changing course. The post describes how to make the About page stickier so that it’s less about you, and more about what the blog can do for the reader, how can it help them. Anyhoo, just thought I’d throw that out for thought. The post can be found here: http://wpmu.org/are-you-neglecting-the-most-important-page-on-your-blog/

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Angela February 4, 2013

Thank you for this tips!!
I just started my blog and you support us a lot!
here is the link if you want to check it out!

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YM February 4, 2013

Greats tips! I think it’s also very important that your About Me page is honest. When I visit a blog, that’s what I read first, and I’m disappointed when the blog is nothing like what the About Me page states the blog is about (i.e. you say your blog features your personal style, yet there are no photos of you or your style to be seen.) I want to put myself out there as much as the next blogger, but I’m not going to lie about my blog content just for the sake of getting readers.

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Filipa February 5, 2013

Creating an about me page is really difficult, and yet that is one of the most important pages on the blog. I wrote one in short abbreviations but I’m not very satisfied with it. I’d like to change it, but I still haven’t found the inspiration to do it.
This was exactly what I needed. Thanks for the great tips, I will definitely try them out!

xx
Filipa

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Gillian rose February 5, 2013

great tips. can’t wait to get home and add all these great ideas to my ‘about me’ mines looking empty and sorry for itself at the moment. thanks! 🙂 x

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Kajsa J. Andersen February 5, 2013

Some tips I will think about.
http://kjandersen.wordpress.com/

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Tiffy Diamond February 5, 2013

I’ve been avoiding this to say the least. I just do so many all of the time it’s like I get bored of myself. I forget that my fashion blogging audience probably doesn’t know me like other networks do. I will definitely take this into consideration and get to creating a little something so people know why I do what I do. 🙂
xo
Tiffy
http://www.CuteLA.com

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Jeannie February 6, 2013

i found this really useful. I’ve been attempting to write my about page for so long now but have been just putting it off because i could never find the right things to say.

http://www.leftinpink.blogspot.ca

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tiffany February 9, 2013

I haven’t gotten to mine yet because I didn’t know what to write but I will try again tonight since you gave us such a great guideline, thanks!

ritusTBT.blogspot.com

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sufi July 15, 2013

Thanks You SO much Write my about page to follow your directions . thanks once again

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Lucie Kruger January 27, 2014

About us page not only describe you but it also describe the website/blog. You need to be more careful in adding something on your about us page.

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Lisa Johnson August 4, 2014

True, about page is one of the most important page on a website. Thanks for sharing nice tips.

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garment September 19, 2017

I don’t know whether it’s just me or if everyone else encountering problems with your website.
It appears like some of the written text on your content are running off the screen. Can someone else please comment and let me know if this is happening to them as well?
This could be a problem with my internet browser because I’ve had this
happen previously. Cheers

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- Laura Kell September 22, 2017
  
  Hi,
  
  We’ll look into this on our end, but as far as we know nobody has complained. Which internet browser are you using?
  
  Thanks,
  
  Laura (IFB Editorial Assistant and Community Manager)
  
  Reply