Write an About Page Readers Want to Read

When you land on a site, where’s the first place you go when you leave that page? The About. We’re nosy and we want to know who owns the site and if we want to do business with them. And if we don’t like the About page content, we’re likely to click away and not come back. It’s the nature of business.

We buy from people we know, like, and trust. So your About needs to capture these emotions from your readers so you can turn them into more.

Because without touching those emotions, bye bye subscriber/sale.

Click, Click, Boom!

But when you tag these emotions that turn on your readers attention, you bring them in, you give them a reason to stay, to learn more about you and what you have to offer them.

Your About is the gateway. Once you jive with them there, they’ll dig back into your old blog posts. Snoop around. See what you’ve got exciting for them. If they like those goodies, they’ll likely sign up for your email treats.

They have just entered your funnel and BOOM! You’re in the door :)

Touch Them

People don’t come to your About page to learn about you. Not solely. They come to see if there’s something there in the chemistry between you. Your About is your chance to magnetize your relationship. To touch their hearts so they want more. [Tweet it]

And here's how you do that.

Open your About with their pain descriptors. What are they struggling with? What keeps them up at night? What haunts their dreams?

Demonstrate that you understand what they are going through and you feel that pain with them. But don’t make it a long, drawn out process. No need to make it a full-blown sales page. Just a few words to say, “Hey, I feel you.” Then, you move on to say, “This is how I help people like you stop the pain.”

Again, keep it brief and interesting. Because if you hold their attention here long enough, they’ll go digging for the deets on what you do and how you do it. You want to simply pique their interest and show your personality.

Speaking of Personality

If you’ve written your About in the third person, send me the link. DO NOT WRITE YOUR ABOUT IN THE THIRD PERSON. Sorry for the caps...wanted to make sure you didn’t miss that part.

Third person shows exactly zero of who you are and your About is to let them get to know the true you so they can decide if they like you enough to give you their @ or their $.

To get your personality on screen: Write it. Scrap it. Write it again. And again. Until you get those emotions penned in your own voice. Don’t worry about sounding unprofessional. Don’t worry about them not liking you (not everyone will – I promise – and that’s okay).

If you have to, pretend you’re sitting with an old friend and record what you’d say. Then, transcribe it to the page (if you’re on a Mac, use the dictation function). Leave every "um", "uh", "okay" in it. You’ll edit it those goodies out anyway. But, the natural flow of your language is what you want to capture right now. (Technically, this applies to everything, not just the holy About page, by the way.)

But What About YOU

You want to tell them more about YOU and now’s the time for that. But don’t head back to the hospital you were born in, unless it’s truly pertinent and necessary in an attempt to earn their trust. You can always write an abridged version on your About and give them a link to read your full biography. Brevity. That’s what we’re shooting for.

And if you have trouble doing it yourself, consider hiring it out so you have an About that makes them want to stay and do business with you.

No matter who does it: Turn on their emotions and talk to them like you talk to an old friend. You’ve now earned a new reader/subscriber/buyer. You’re welcome. :D Just sayin’. ;)

Does your About drive people to read more about you or does it drive them away? Tell me in the comments.

Thanks for hanging today! If you haven't grabbed your copy of the Copy Thermometer, do it and start repairing your own words on your site so they sell you better.