[H]ave you spent days lovingly crafting your About page, convincing yourself that the right words will make your visitors pick up the phone and call you immediately? Have you spent hours staring at a blank screen, willing inspiration to come? I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you.

People rarely read web pages word by word. Instead they scan the page, picking out individual pages and sentences. See what I did there?

84% only scan a new page. Only 16% read the whole page*

* Jakob Neilson. How Users Read on the Web

You’re probably doing it now, so congratulations if you’ve even made it this far. The point I’m trying to make is that you need to be much briefer than you think and as personal and engaging as you dare: your ‘About Me’ page is crucial.

Many people hate even talking about themselves, let alone writing something meaningful, witty and memorable, without sounding like they are showing off. But take heart, it’s not impossible. A few simple rules will help you produce sincere and orginal copy.

Before we get down to business, here are a few “don’ts”.

DON’T BE THESE PEOPLE

 

1. THE THIRD PERSON GHOST WRITER

You know who I’m talking about. The Third Person Ghostwriter takes themself very seriously, talking about themselves in the third person, even though everyone knows they wrote it anyway!

2. THE BORING CV LISTER

Here’s the About page story you’ve read a thousand times.

“I was given my first camera when I was *insert impressively young age* and realised I had a real talent for photography. Due to a series of *insert unremarkable life events*, I ended up becoming an *insert boring profession*. When *insert child or pet* was born, I found myself with my camera constantly in my hand and I just knew I had to pursue the creative path my heart was yearning for.” Etc etc…yawn.

3. THE MYSTERIOUS ARTIST

One of my favourites, the mysterious artist wants you know that they are treading a higher path. Their art is their life and they don’t want to get involved with anything as mundane as simple information. You won’t even be able to work out where they live. The picture on the about page will be of their dog.

4. THE UNDER CONFIDENT BOASTER

This person often begins their About page as the Third Person Ghostwriter and then starts to pile on the extras. They will tell you about their photography qualifications, especially if they can put letters after their name. They may add blog badges to show you which blogs they have featured on. Add some press cuttings, a load of client testimonials and a detailed list of the fancy equipment in their camera bag and you’ve got something that screams “I don’t think my work is good enough to stand alone so I will tell you lots of other people think I’m great, to make up for it”. Sounds harsh but it’s information overload. Remember the 84% of people who don’t read the whole post? You lost them ages ago. By this point, only your mother is still reading. (Hi Mum!)

So what are the 5 Steps to a Killer About Page that I promised you? First of all, here’s the big idea.

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU AT ALL.
IT’S ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR THEM.

 

Gasp! That’s right – it’s not about you at all. It’s about your ideal client. And here are the 5 questions they want you to answer on your About page.

1. What makes you so special?

It’s a tough question and there is no right or wrong answer. It might be as simple as being in the right location for them or as intangible as feeling a connection with your art or images. Wherever you are on that scale, you need to be able to articulate it with confidence. Sit down and write “I am special because…” and mean it.

2. Will you be like-minded?

Here’s where you get to seem like you’re talking about yourself, but really you’re describing them. Luckily, for most of us, our ideal client is just like us, but hopefully with more disposable income to spend. Are you a family photographer and you have a family? Make sure they know it. Are you a wedding photographer who loves to look back at your own wedding photos, reminiscing about the emotional highlights of your big day. Make sure you share that too.

3. What need will you fulfil for them?

Images to hang on the wall? Check! A lovely album to treasure? Check! You can make them feel good about themselves? You hand edit all of your clients to look like movie stars? If that’s your thing, make sure you let them know what you can do for them by presenting it as the thing you love to do.

“My greatest pleasure is seeing my clients enjoying beautiful images of themselves and I lovingly *curate your album / select frames to match your walls* etc.

4. Why choose you over someone else?

Truly, this is the $64,000 question. You’re probably thinking that if you knew the answer to that, you’d be wintering in the Bahamas (and that you’d be using wintering as a verb). Hopefully the answer is that you are speaking to the right person – your ideal client, you have the right product and, more than anything, you care passionately about what you do. So this question is more of a checklist question…

Do they know where you are based? Is your portfolio looking sharp? (More about this on another occasion). Have you told them just how much you care about your art and your clients? Remember the boring CV lister? This is your last chance to remove all traces of that person right now.

5. Are you using your secret weapon?

I’m not talking about your Spidey skills here, but your photography. Hands up if you have an out-of-date distinctly un-awesome picture of yourself on your website? Or even worse, no picture at all, because you ‘hate being on the other side of the camera’ or you’re ‘more of a techy person’. SHAME ON YOU!

Swap headshots with another photographer. If you’re not a photographer, trade web skills for photography. Or better yet, choose someone whose work you love and invest in their time and creative eye to make you look great.

A word of warning for photographers. You don’t want to look too foxy. No one wants to be upstaged at their own wedding. Friendly and relaxed is the key.

So before you go off to sharpen your copywriting pencil, I leave you with two great examples of killer about pages.

DONAL DOHERTY

One of my favourite sites to design, with a beautifully written about page and wonderful photography which really lets visitors know how important love is to this photographer.

www.donaldoherty.com

DEVLIN PHOTOS

Sophisticated but playful, Lisa Devlin’s About image reveals something surprising when you roll over it. And I bet you won’t be able to resist clicking on the second video. Don’t say she didn’t warn you. PS. It’s ok to have a bit of fun on your About page. Fun is memorable.

www.devlinphotos.co.uk

If copywriting is not for you, then hire a professional who can take your innermost thoughts and feelings and turn them into sparkling copy. Our official Design Space copywriter is Kathryn Bellamy of Copy Kat Creative. You can find out more about here right here in our directory.