Why do we need an About Page for our blog or website? Because it is the perfect way to introduce ourselves and an opportunity to define the mission of our blog & website. It’s the ultimate hello moment between the owner of a website (or blog) and the world. Without exaggerating it is the most important page of your website or blog.

It doesn’t matter how extended or laconic your About Page is, as long as it covers all the main information about you and your story. – Areti Vassou

Design Your About Page

Think of your About Page as a real-life conversation between people. The goal is to introduce yourself (in the best possible way) to the people in front of you. And like all first meetings, we follow a specific approach. The most effective structure for successful About Pages is based on the use of common sense and by answering the 6 essential questions of communication.

What do people usually want to learn about us?

It is common to include Who, What, When Where, Why, and How queries when we are seeking information about a topic or a person. The About Page is our official answer to all these questions. Meaning that we provide the information that covers the following questions:

• Who are you?
• What are you doing/providing/offering/writing/selling etc?
• When have you start/found/create etc this X activity?
• Where are you located?
• Why are you doing/running/creating/selling/writing/providing etc this X activity?
• How you are doing this X activity?

It doesn’t matter how long or short your About Page is, as long as it covers all the main questions. Some people need just a sentence to reveal their identity and some others need a long-form page. It’s totally up to you how you want to introduce yourself. You can use text, video, podcast, infographics, PDF, testimonials, poems, songs … whatever works for your authentic voice.

In some industries, there are certain types of About Pages that are mandatory. Speaking of which, if you are a Doctor it’s obviously necessary to avoid the use of a poem to introduce yourself. But if you are a poet then, by all means, add a poem of your choosing. Use common sense and do some searching in other successful About Pages in your selected industry.

The Fundamentals of About Page

• Share your true story: Tell people who you are and what you are doing in life. You can write about your life journey, how you create your blog/company/website/business/brand or even your dreams that inspire you. In my experience, when you feel uncomfortable to talk about yourself it’s helpful to present a solution for a pain point that your readers (and target audience) would appreciate. It’s a clever approach to engage with your audience into a meaningful digital conversation.
• Show your face: Need I say more? It feels nice to put a face on a digital persona. Of course, there are cases where you can avoid adding a personal photo but it’s not recommended if your investing on a true connection of personal branding.
• Choose your design carefully: Minimal design is great for most brands but not always. You know what they say… One solution doesn’t fit all. Depending on your industry & market standards, try to stay as close to your brand’s aesthetic as possible. For example, my company uses a combination of vintage elements with a modern design and a number of revolutionary branding add-ons. For starters, our brand name IDEADECO is not a common option for an SEO Content Marketing Agency. As you can see with your own eyes, we prefer to keep our website less corporate and more blog-mentality friendly.
• Use visuals to keep the attention alive: Add visual assets into the About Page, such as infographics, photos, videos and make them part of your story.
• Avoid wooden language: Nobody will ever be impressed if you are using vague, ambiguous, abstract or pompous words in order to grab the attention. Not even if you are into the Academic sector. Remember that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
• Tell a compelling story: It’s true that nothing is more seductive than a great story. Use your storytelling skills for your own brand.
• Use Headings on your favor: Start with the obvious About [your name] and keep unfolding your milestones with clever headings Why we love [your service]. See how we included our main services into our About page: Who is Areti Vassou. This page gets 1000-1500 hits per day.
• Connect all the relative pages: Now that you have finish with the introductions it would be wise to include some of your major services into your About Page. Pick the top three and nicely add them into the text. In this case we use the best practices of internal linking structure.
• Use only one call to action: If you really want to add a call to action, leave it for your final paragraph and make it short, clean and relevant. In my opinion, pick newsletter signups as your final “Nice to meet you” moment. It feels more like “Let’s keep in touch – even if you are not willing to become my client or blog follower”. It adds some extra value to the visitor’s time and attention. Avoid any type of calls to follow you on social media because they can see all of them in some of your website/blog’s corners, right?
• Express verbally how much you appreciate their attention: Use words like “thank you” and “appreciate” as if you were looking at them directly on their eyes. Be human & polite, always!
• Save all the important information at the beginning of your About page: You have one paragraph and 8 seconds to tell all the important information about you and your story. Make your first paragraph unforgettable. It’s the make-you-or-break-you-point.
• Testimonials are your best friends: People trust other people not other companies. Select the top 4-6 clients’ testimonials from previous projects and share their words at the end of your About Page.
• Revise often: If you have an About Page created 10 years ago, it obviously needs a serious makeover. Also, twice a year update your About page with all the new steps and significant changes. In case you don’t have something to add then make some design changes.
• Be honest and polite: Aggressiveness won’t get you too far.
• Ask feedback: Every now and then ask feedback from people that you value their opinion. Send them a short survey investigating the quality of UX & UI when they are navigating into your About Page. Improve what doesn’t work effectively. Constantly.

About Areti Vassou

Areti Vassou is the Founder & Digital Strategy Director of IDEADECO.CO

With her exceptional team, they make ideas happen @ SEO, Digital Copywriting, Branding, Blogging, Social Media & Digital Marketing Strategy, Web Design, Email & Content Marketing.   www.ideadeco.co

Find more info about Areti Vassou at www.aretivassou.com

About IDEADECO Blog

The story of Ideadeco Blog is quite unorthodox because it took its first steps 6 years before the Agency. My personal aim in this blog was clear from the very beginning. I was already working on top-notch websites in Europe & the USA and I wanted to create my own personal digital nest for my own voice.

The idea of the branded Ideadeco Blog started as a personal project but within the first year, the demand for new content associated with the ongoing projects was so high that my clients’ blogs occupied most of my working hours.

It took us a long period of experimentation to settle down in the current form of our digital branding. All brands & blogs are evolving and change over the years.

To make a long story short, back in 1994 our blog IDEADECO took its first steps and in 2000 the Agency was born. Read more about our journey in this article: The Story of IDEADECO Blog.