What Your About Page Should Really Be About
By Jim Wright

It’s not me … it’s you!

For freelancers, the About Me page is often one of the hardest to write.

If you’ve ever written one, you know: it’s uncomfortable to write about yourself.

As writers and copywriters, we can write all day about products, features, benefits … piece of cake, right?

When we come to our About Me page … now, it’s not so easy.

But here’s a secret that will help you: Your About Me page isn’t really about you … it’s about your prospect!

But wait … shouldn’t it be about me?

After all, isn’t the page called About … ME?

Well … yes.

And no.

Let me explain …

Think of it this way:

If you’re at a party and you’re listening to someone talk about themselves all night, how much time do you think you’ll spend around that person?

My guess is not much. :)

Yet, when looking at a lot of About Me pages, that’s what I most often see: “I’ve done this … I’ve done that … I do this … I … I … I …” and so on.

And again, it’s an easy trap to fall in to for many reasons, not the least of which is the name of the page itself … About … Me.

But here’s what you need to know: the secret purpose of your About Me page, and indeed, all of your freelancer website pages, is to sell you and the idea of working with you.

And the best way to do that is to show your prospects that you are the logical choice for solving their problems.

I know it’s harsh when it’s put this way, but your prospects don’t care about you, or your website, or your About Me page for that matter … they care about themselves and their problems.

That’s likely why they showed up on your website in the first place.

Your homepage is where you first get the opportunity to make the case why you’re the right choice to solve their problems.

Your About Me page, is where you can (and should) continue to drive that point home.

So … now that we’ve established that the About Me page should actually be as much about your prospects as it is about you, the big question is: “How do I do that?”

Admittedly, this is tricky, and subtle, because while your About Me page will need to tell something about you, it also needs to be about your prospects.

Your goal is to share your story and your experience in a way that showcases you as the ideal choice for your prospects.

Here are two ways you can do this …

What Makes You Different?

The first tactic is to highlight the things that make you different.

In copywriting, this is often referred to as your unique mechanism or Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

Just what is it about you, your process, or your results, that is unique to you.

Pick four ways you are different from your competitors and have those be subheadlines on your page.

Then expand on each of those in a paragraph below each subheadline.

And remember, when looking at things that make you stand out, it could be anything …

• Your experience (both writing and relevant work, hobby, or volunteer experience)
• Your track record
• The results you get
• Your process, or how you get those results
• How easy you are to work with

Spend some time thinking about what makes you different, and how you could communicate that to your prospects in a way that showcases your skills. And showcases why those differences make you the ideal choice to work with.

What’s Your Story and How Is That Relevant to Your Prospect?

Another way to craft your About Me page is to use story.

Story can be very powerful.

We are naturally drawn to story … it’s hard-wired in our brains.

The key here is to keep your story as relevant as possible to your prospects.

The goal is for your prospect to read your story and immediately think to themselves: “This is the person we need to be working with.”

What you’re trying to do is to craft a story that showcases how you can serve and help your clients (or how you’ve served and helped your clients in the past).

Think of this as a proof element.

Again, there are options here. You could tell the story of how:

• You were once in your client’s shoes, you conquered a problem, and now want to save them the time and keep them from making the mistakes you’ve made along the way.
• You’ve been helping people successfully for years … and show this as much as possible.
• The experience and passion that brought you to where you are now in your career.

As much as possible, your story should focus on how your prospects could benefit from your experience.

The key here is to keep your story elements relevant to what you do and the outcomes you provide.

Pro Tip

Here’s a tip to make your About Me page a little more compelling: When describing yourself or your services, make sure the descriptions are in terms of what you do rather than what you are. And if it’s your product or service, again, describe it in terms of what it does rather than what it is.

For example:

What I am: I’m a writer who writes long-form sales pages for clients.

What I do: I write sales pages that increase my clients’ conversions by 37% on average.

Do you see how the “what I do” description is more compelling?

It’s also naturally more outcome and benefit focused.

What an About Me Page Shouldn’t Be

A Resume

There are places for the information you put in a resume.

A resume for one.

LinkedIn for another.

Your prospect doesn’t need to know about every job you’ve ever had (unless it’s very relevant to them and them choosing to work with you).

For example, I’m an electronics engineering technologist by training, but I probably wouldn’t include that if I’m a copywriter in the health and wellness field. If I was selling myself as a copywriter in the tech space, then I would include that as one of my “differentiators” rather than including it as a resume item.

A Biography

Again, there’s a place for this, but your About Me shouldn’t include straight biographical information or your entire personal history, again, unless it’s very relevant to your story.

For example, if you’re a door-to-door salesperson, and both your parents were, and they took you on the road with them, then that could be relevant to your story arc.

If it’s important to you to include this information, then consider creating a separate Bio page.

Also, you don’t need to include every course of training you’ve had … unless your prospect is familiar with those programs, it probably won’t carry that much weight.

What About Personality?

Is it okay to add some personal details?

Yes, but here too, it’s better to follow the relevancy rule, and this is something that should be at the bottom of your About Me page if you choose to add it. (If you choose to do a separate Bio page, then that’s where that should go.)

If someone is still reading at that point, then they’re more than likely interested, and you never know, they may notice that you have a common interest, and that may make you stand out.

Years ago, a former supervisor of mine was a runner, and whenever he reviewed resumes, if someone mentioned they were a runner, they automatically made it to the “Round 2” pile. You never know.

Your personality more than anything else is something that will be unique to you and people like to work with people they like.

A Winning About Me Page

Let’s summarize what we’ve learned for our final thoughts on creating a winning About Me page …

• The secret purpose of your About Me page (and indeed all of your writer’s website pages) is to sell you and the idea of working with you.
• Your About Me page needs to be as much about your prospect as it is about you.
• The goal isn’t just to tell them about you, but to showcase your story and experience in a way that showcases you as the ideal choice for your prospects.
• Make sure what you include in your About Me page is relevant to your prospects.

Keeping these things in mind as you create your About Me page will help you craft a page that works to make it clear that you the ideal choice for your clients. Which is what your website is all about.

If you haven’t set up your freelance website yet, or you’re not proud of the one you have, you should take part in Rebecca’s Build Your Freelance Website in Four Days program. I help her in the program, and I love making everything in the website-building process easy to understand. Especially for non-techies! Take part in the website building program and together we can get you set up with a professional website that attracts your ideal clients and sells them on hiring you.

Do you have any questions about creating your About Me page for your freelance website? Let us know in the comments so we can guide you.