In the context of a website or blog, your About page should contain a great bio. It’s the place visitors and prospects will head to when they want answers to a few questions they might have, like:
- Who is this person?
- What do they do?
- Do they have anything to offer me?
- What’s remarkable about them?
A good bio will answer those questions in descending order. People usually won’t stick with your life story, starting from birth, unless they have a reason to believe it’s going to end up somewhere interesting!
Your first paragraph is an exception to the rule. You can expect a lot of people who visit your bio page to read your first paragraph, then stop. When writing your intro, use this question as a guiding principle:
What would I most want people to know about me, expressed in one paragraph?
Think of your intro like this: one paragraph to make you sound as cool and interesting and possible, while telling people who you are and what you do.
- What are your most remarkable accomplishments?
- What do you want prospects to know you for?
- The rest of your bio should be dedicated to the two core questions a reader is likely to have.
- Does this person have anything to offer me?
- What makes them remarkable/unique?
- You can mine some details to include by answering the following questions:
- How long have I been doing this stuff?
- Do I have any formal qualifications?
- What are my most interesting and impressive accomplishments?
- Have important people ever talked about me?
- What are my most interesting and impressive talents?
- Have I worked for any high profile clients?
- Have I written for any magazines/newspapers/blogs?
- Why am I doing what I do?
- What makes me different from other people who might appear similar?
- What is important to me?
The central skill involved in writing a good bio is knowing what to include and what to leave out. If any of the answers to the above questions don’t excite you, don’t include those answers. Talk about the things you’re proud of—things you’d want other people to know. You can be proud of the way you’ve triumphed over difficulties and of the way you’ve learned from mistakes.
Until Next Time,
Kiran
