The Art of About Me
I've been writing a few 'About Me' pages lately, and just received the best feedback.
Hi Lauren!
Hope you're well!!
I wanted to get back to you with a quote from a prospect who read my about page. She wrote: "Basically I could copy and paste your bio into my bio and insert different locations"
So cool - you're the best.
.
Why is this
the best feedback
? Because this is exactly - EXACTLY! - what I designed my client's About Me page to do.
.
I purposefully wrote this About page to:
.
Make the reader feel like she knows my client, intimately, enough to want to be her BFF (or feel like they already are BFFs).
Make the reader feel like my client knows exactly what she's going through, because she's been there.
Make the reader like my client so very much that she MUST reach out and say hello to this kindred spirit.
.
Some copywriters will tell you that this is all about conversions.
.
They're right.
.
But I prefer to think of it as laying the foundation for joyful relationships.
.
Either way, I'll let you in on how I did it, and why it worked.
.
How I wrote this About page...
I worked very closely with my client over two Skype sessions (and a few rounds of revision) to capture her unique voice and her way of telling her story. I also requested that she send me
every testimonial
she could lay her hands on - and I read them all. I read her previous bio too, but we didn't use most of it. I combed through what she had to find
the most charming and emotionally resonant pieces
, and I moved those pieces to the very top of the page.
.
Then I took her testimonials and
sorted them into themes
with color-coordinated highlighters. Yellow for Benefit A, Green for Benefit B, Pink for Benefit C, and so on. This let me see what her customers were really getting out of their work together, and what they hoped to get. I also made categories for the
main types of problems
her customers came in with and the
types of fears
they experienced.
.
I sprinkled these words, phrases, fears, and benefits throughout her copy.
.
Because the About page isn't just about my client's story, it's about the stories of the women (and men) she wants to reach.
By using their words, phrases, fears, and hopes within her story
(because she shared those fears and hopes - we don't lie or stretch the truth in my copy), it made my client seem more familiar, more likable, and more relatable to her audience.
.
Cialdini's 5th principle of Influence
is "Liking." Essentially, we buy from people we like. And, we like people who feel familiar. We recognize familiar people, in part, by how they speak and write. When they speak and write like we do --> InstaLike.
.
And, it doesn't hurt that my client is eminently likable without my help. Like all successful coaches, she can charm the socks off a cat.
.
But there's another secret ingredient to successful About Me pages, especially those of truly kick-ass people.
.
You can't seem too "perfect."
.
Perfection, of the holier-than-thou "I was born with all the answers and am cooler than you will ever be" variety, turns people off.
Perfection is the opposite of familiar
(I'm not familiar with any perfect people, are you?). So you have to show your vulnerabilities. You have to tell the story of how you fell and got back up. And if you don't have a Hero's Journey, with a lowly yet honorable birth, trials and tribulations, and ultimate victory? Join the club. We're not fictional characters. But
we've all had our challenges.
.
Be open to sharing yours.
.
I am really bad at this.
.
If you look at my
page, I think the biggest flaw I admit to is being terrible at loading the dishwasher (I am, truly, terrible - it's a spatial relations thing I can't get the hang of).
.
But you haven't seen what I cut OUT!
Friends - I am not perfect. I'm as flawed as anyone. But you wouldn't have know that from the
Amazon-fucking-princess
that was in draft 1 of my About page. It's not that I have delusions of grandeur, I just didn't know it was appropriate to share my flaws - aren't those things you should keep to yourself? I needed someone to kick me off of my high horse and remind me that
I'd only meet my people back down on the ground
. (
Brand consultant Nick McArthur was that person - check'im out
)
.
Before revising draft 1 of my About page,
I spent a very odd week thinking of all of my flaws.
I dismissed the ones I was truly ashamed of, the ones that felt too common or uninteresting, and picked what I could bare to share - one that was relatable. I can't load the dishwasher in any rational way. That's what I went with.
.
Clearly, it's not my only flaw. I'm also overweight, self-critical, phobic about cleaning the bathroom (ew!), too willing to overlook problems rather than deal with them (
hey there
spiders in the compost bin), and leave my shoes all over the house. But for that last bit, I guess I summed it up on my About page by saying I'm a Virgo. That counts, right?
.
Point being -
share what makes you human, but don't go too deep or dark.
You don't want to scare people off (it's kinda like a first date that way).
.
How the About page works to convert...
On this client's website, her 'About Me' page acts as one of the final 'pushes' in the conversion process. By the time the prospect reaches this page, the prospect is already curious and interested, but needs to know that the human being on the other end is someone who'll understand her, and who will be able to help her.
This is where familiarity and likability do the heavy-lifting
.
.
This approach worked because...
This client has what I call a "personality-driven business." This means that her customers come to her primarily because of who she is. She's a life/career coach, but this is also the case for any type of coach, wedding officiant, realtor, psychic, and landscape designer.
For personality-driven-businesses, who you are has to come through in every piece of writing
, but the About page is, perhaps, the most important. If your prospects feel like they can trust you, that you'll understand them on a deep and meaningful level, you'll get their business.