The Blogging Professor

Here is the most important thing you need to know when it comes to writing your About page for your blog: Your About page is not just about you. 

I know, this seems strange! It is an About page, and you’re the creator of the blog, so it should be about you, right? Yes, it is about you, but it’s also about your reader and the benefit of your blog to your reader.

This is why your blog’s About is not your bio. A bio is exclusively about you. Your About may contain elements of your bio, but it’s the same thing as a bio. 

Another key difference between a bio and an About page for a blog is that a bio is often written in third person  —  Susan is a blogging expert with several years experience… This is fine for an book jacket blurb, a website’s Meet the Team page or a webinar slide, but for a blog’s About page, you need to write in the I/we first-person voice  —   I am a blogging expert with several years experience…  It also doesn’t make sense to find an About page written in third person when all of the posts are in first person. 

If you are a team who runs a blog and/or have two or more people on your team, you can certainly have a hybrid About page where you have a first-person story about the blog (I/we started this blog to help you…)  that addresses the reader’s needs, and then include an organizational bio and/or professional bios or staff bios below or on another page. Love and Lemons does it nicely.  

Take the Combo Approach, but Don’t Skip the First-Person Narrative

You may also want to include a third-party bio alongside the first-person bio if you have a lot of media mentions, a bestselling book, awards and accolades, as that can be awkward to deliver in the first person, but your main About narrative should be delivered in first person. Deb Perelman of the very successful blog Smitten Kitchen blog does this hybrid approach very effectively on her About page. Directly addressing the reader in the third person just doesn’t work It lacks immediacy and seems too impersonal. Plus, it makes me think of the “Jimmy” episode of Seinfeld.)

You may also want to include a third-party bio alongside the first-person bio if you have a lot of media mentions, a bestselling book, awards and accolades, as that can be awkward to deliver in the first person, but your main About narrative should be delivered in first person. Deb Perelman of the very successful blog Smitten Kitchen blog does this hybrid approach very effectively on her About page. Directly addressing the reader in the third person just doesn’t work It lacks immediacy and seems too impersonal. Plus, it makes me think of the “Jimmy” episode of Seinfeld.)

In his About Nomadic Matt nails that third-party credibility while staying in first person and he hones in on his number one benefit and mission  — saving you money on travel.

Let’s go back to basics for a moment and remember that a blog is by its nature and character, a social media platform. You wouldn’t go onto Instagram and write about yourself in the third person, would you? A blog post, whether a micro one like Instagram or a longer form blog on WordPress, Squarespace or Wix, is a conversation you’re having with your readers. Social media is about two-way engagement, or at least the potential for it is built in. 

The 6 Key Questions You Need to Answer in Your Blog’s About 

It can be hard to know how to start drafting an About page from scratch, so I have my students and clients answer the six questions below. Answer these six questions (here’s a worksheet version for you) as if you’re addressing your reader. Use your answers to help craft your complete About draft. You can literally answer them one by one, or use them as a checklist after you write your About page to make sure you have covered each key area. Don’t skimp on the details. More is more for first drafts. 

1. Who is your blog intended for?

Who is your ideal reader? What is he/she/they likely experiencing or dealing with? What questions might your readers have that you can answer? Try this sentence in your first paragraph: If you’re wondering ___________, ________ and ___________, you’ve come to the right place! 

2. Why did you start this blog?

Not everyone starts a blog, so why did you? How did your passion for this topic develop? Why is your blog called its name? explains their name here. This is your journey story! Don’t skimp on details or be embarrassed to share your enthusiasm. Here’s a good blog journey story from The Blonde Abroad.

3. Why should someone read your blog?

What benefit will they get out of your posts? What problems can you help solve or what inspiration can you provide? What do you intend to cover? What will the scope be? Is there any info your reader needs up front? The Minimalist Baker smartly and visually includes their icon system for recipes.

4. Why should someone listen to you?

Why is your blog a credible source of information? Credibility can, but doesn’t have to, come from education or formal training. For many bloggers, their credibility comes out of their “doing” and their track record. So don’t worry if you don’t think you have a lot of education or training in your topic area. Being a college student gives you credibility if your audience is other college students. Being a mom gives you credibility with other moms. You get the idea… being a hobbyist/broke/a cook for years gives you credibility with people in the same situation. Being able to showcase your work gives you credibility. Showing your enthusiasm and passion gives you credibility.

You may also have won an award or a competition. You may have been interviewed and featured in an article, podcast or on your local news station. Be sure to include any of these kinds of details, even if it’s not related to the blog directly (see below). This is what is what BJ Fogg, a behavior scientist at Stanford University who has done extensive research on how and why we view websites as credible (or not), calls “reputed credibility.” Reputed credibility is based on third-party endorsements, testimonials or referrals, which can be powerful transmitters of credibility.

You may have professional experience outside of the blog and that is unrelated to your blog, but still having any professional experience gives you credibility, so be sure to include some detail about that.

5. What is your personal bio as it relates to your blog?

An About isn’t a bio, but it should include some relevant information about your bio. What are some relatable facts about yourself that you can include in your bio? These details will help your ideal reader connect with you even more. Where are you from? What was unusual about ____ part of your life? What are your other hobbies and interests?

6. What do you hope for this blog to become?

Talk about what you want this space to become for you and your readers, and why is this important/why it matters. How can readers be a part of the journey and a community? If you want your blog to be a one-stop resource or a place of support and encouragement say that. On her About page for Just Simply Mom, Marissa gets her vision across very effectively and with heart.

Okay, You Should Now Have a Good Draft To Work With

Once you answer all of the questions above, you’re off to a good start, but you’re not home free yet. You need to put it all together and add some additional information as outline below in the eight guidelines below.

8 Guidelines for Putting Your About Draft All Together!

Do not just list the questions and/or answers and post that. That is not an About narrative; that’s a list. You need to take out the numbers, put it together into paragraph form and follow the guidelines below. 

1. Present your narrative in multiple paragraphs

Do not post one long paragraph of text; that will be hard to read. A rule of thumb: three to four paragraphs at a minimum, but more is more as long as it’s scannable or in sections. Do not post just one or two short paragraphs either. Once my students start reading About Me pages on blogs they are surprised and put off by how little some bloggers write on their About pages. It’s as if some can’t be bothered. While some are even considered successful blogs, a short, dashed off About page detracts from the engagement, and it’s just not a good look to readers.

Conversely, my students often appreciate the extra details or deeper features like FAQs, More About Me details, images, short video, My To 10 ____ list… that can also appear on an About page with your main narrative. As long as you’re “chunking” and making your About page(s) scannable or adding additional pages linked from the main About, more really is more.

2. Left align your text

Don’t center your About text  —  or any paragraphs of text  — It just makes your writing hard to read, and it looks funky when one or two words invariably become stranded on the last line.

Some themes on hosted blog platforms default the About page to center alignment (which is why I think we see this less-than-ideal formatting for such important text as much as we do.) Center subheads, quotes, and short pieces of text meant to be especially highlighted. If it’s a paragraph, left align it.

3. Start with a greeting

A blog is social media, so be social! Start the conversation by saying hi. Before or with your first paragraph, add a welcome that seems organic and natural to you and your personality. Here are some examples to inspire you:

Tip: You ALWAYS need a comma after your name in a sentence.

4. Write in an upbeat, engaged and/or fun tone

Write in an upbeat tone. Use active language and contractions. Do watch out for too many exclamation points. It’s easy to go overboard in print. I think it’s perfectly fine to have one in your greeting, but then try to limit yourself  —  maybe one per paragraph or every other. I know! It’s hard! You really do feel excited! I like !!! too, but they do stand out on the page, so use one at a time and sparingly.

Your excitement will come through the words themselves if you allow it. Don’t be afraid to put your heart into it. I often tell my students that if you feel a little uncomfortable (or nerdy/dorky) when writing your About, that’s usually a good sign. It means you’re showing you care and that can make you feel vulnerable.

5. Address your reader directly throughout

As you draft, remember that your blog’s About is about your reader as much as it is about you the blogger, and you want that person to feel recognized and understood. You are establishing a relationship. You will directly address in your opening and closing/CTA, but do so in other areas too. If you’re like me, you’re not alone if… or maybe you can relate to my story…

6. Add at least two subheads

“Chunking” your page so it’s visually appealing and easy to scan means you need subheads. (See my post on 5 Benefits of Subheads in Your Blog Posts.) Even a short About of three or four paragraphs can benefit from subheads. They can be simple or a little playful: How I Became Obsessed with ______, More About Me, Enough About Me, Let the Fun Begin, Please Join Me…  

7. Add a call to action (CTA) to your closing/last paragraph

CTA stands for call-to-action, and in general terms, it’s the instruction on a webpage (like a button that says Subscribe or Sign-Up) or on any piece of content, like and ad, newsletter or social media post, that encourages the audience to do something specific next. Think of like you are giving directions: You’ve read this or have seen this and now click on this button, send in your photo, use this hashtag, call this number or use this coupon code, etc.

Even if you’re not monetized yet, it’s still important to ask your readers to take an action, even a simple direction like Follow my blog and let our cooking adventure begin! This draws people in further and it’s a form of engagement. On posts, ask for comments, likes and shares. These are simple actions your readers can take too that is fairly low stakes for them but valuable for you.

Including a CTA(s) in your About is important because you’re building your subscribers and followers. For example: Please subscribe to my blog and let are journey begin… If you like this blog, I hope you’ll recommend it to others and share it on social media…. If you’re new here, I hope you’ll subscribe and then head over to Start Here to get the basics down.

Once you’re further along, you can offer opt-in content and premium content like College Info Geek does early on in his About.

Hubspot has 48 Call-to-Action Examples in this post, plus free templates.

8. Proofread

Careless errors, especially highlighted by your own spell check look bad. Mistakes happen (don’t I know it), but you can avoid them by proofreading. Try to get an extra set of eyes on your draft. Proofing and catching your own mistakes can be hard, especially when reading from the screen. Always print out your drafts. Reading aloud is also very helpful for catching mistakes or cluttered sentences. You can also use the “read aloud” feature and let the computer read it. This is super easy in Word and you can add an extension for Google Docs.

Ta Da  —  You Did It. You Have an About Page! 

Congratulations! If you have followed all of these steps and guidelines outlined in this post, you now have written an About page, and it’s probably good. You will want to update your About as you go along. You will have successes to add or updates to make, but for now, hopefully, you have a successful About for you blog. Let me know if you used the worksheet and found it helpful. If you have a question or need one-on-one help, I’m here for you! You can email me or leave me a question in the comments below and I will answer it.

You can download a Google Doc worksheet version of this post to use to draft your About page or as assignment guidelines for your own students.

Onwards!