Writing about yourself can be hard. Capturing everything you want to say into a cohesive message that lives on an About Page can feel impossible. But your About Page is not actually you...it's about your audience and showing how you’re the perfect fit for them.

That’s the purpose of an About Page—to connect on a human level by sharing the parts of you that your ideal customer wants to see.

Your About Page builds trust with potential customers and is an easy place for your existing fans to point to as they spread the word about your business. Essentially, your About Page is a narrative-based secondary sales page. It frames how and why you show up for your clients and why they should care.

About Page Anatomy

• Headlines that catch attention & guide the reader
• A throughline that unpacks your story and business journey
• A call to action that pushes your audience forward

Writing Good Headlines

Make them skimmable.

Headlines anchor all the various sections on your page and make it easy for people to scroll through quickly. Because they might read everything eventually, but giving people the option to just read the highlights does double duty for you.

The goal is to capture the biggest ideas so that if someone ONLY reads the headlines, they still get the gist.

Reflect on questions like:

• What emotionally-charged words or great visuals pop out from your journey?
• What are your values or mission?
• What’s your focus—what should you lead with?

Use audience-focused language.

As you guide your reader down the page through your copy, your headlines jump out to immediately show them they’re in the right place. We want that have-you-been-reading-my-diary level of resonance.

Your headlines should reflect the actual words your ideal customer uses. Think about the real aspirations, transformations, or problems they have. (Tread lightly with problem-poking—we don’t want to manipulate anyone into working with you or buying your product. But we do want to empathize.)

You can capture your audience’s vocabulary from live conversations with past or ideal clients or via intake/testimonial forms. And if you either don’t have an audience yet, or want to make a shift, you can even learn the words your ideal clients use by scrolling through relevant forums or comment sections on social posts.

Leverage SEO keywords.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a whole project in and of itself, but you can be mindful of keywords from the get-go as you draft your About Page so that you get the most potential reach out of your About Page as possible.

Plus, SEO is very tied to using that audience-focused language. Basically, think of the way your ideal customer would phrase whatever you have to offer specifically when they’re searching for solutions. The words they’d type in the search bar become your keywords that you can sprinkle across the page, wherever they fit naturally. (NO nonsensical keyword stuffing in footers or in blurbs that you wouldn’t actual say as a real human. The search bots have gotten smart enough to not be fooled by those tricks.)

Are your clients looking for “in-home personal organization” or “professional organizer”? Sometimes the smallest tweak makes all the difference in how well you’re discovered organically (aka without paid ads or direct referrals).

Here are some tools to potentially get you started:

• Keywords Everywhere
• Google Search Console
• Google Ads Keyword Planner (for competitor keywords, not necessarily to run ads)
• Answer The Public
• Google search autocomplete (using incognito mode so your past personal preferences don’t impact the results)

Throughline Storytelling

Storytelling is so powerful because it connects people and ideas. It allows your website visitors to put the brand they see at first glance into a deeper context. And if you’re a direct service provider, it sheds some much-needed light onto exactly who they’ll be working with.

There’s no set framework for how your About Page should flow, but you might consider some basic storytelling elements to guide your writing.

1. Set the scene: This might be your origin story that sparked the business, or maybe this is the “old you” version before you unveil “new you” (especially if your ideal audience is a past version of yourself and you’re there to guide them through that transformation).
2. The journey: Share some highlights of the evolution that has happened along the way—the good, the bad, the ugly.
3. The transformation: Describe how things are different (and better!) now—especially if you can do the same for your clients.
4. The benefit: Close the loop between how all your experience and vision is sure to make a difference in your ideal customer’s life.

While each of these elements could be a 10-page essay on their own, aim to be as concise as possible. You can always share more parts of your story via social media, email, keynote speaking, blog posts, podcast episodes, etc.

How much is too much to share?

Besides getting too wordy, you also want to avoid anything that’s irrelevant to your current business vision and audience. Skip over any parts of your past that are too graphic or too fresh (aka you haven’t finished processing them yet). And ditch the jargon—people are there to get to know you, not read the same online business lingo they could find on any other site.

Reflect on questions like:

• What are your mission and values? How can these show up on your About Page?
• How do I want my customer to feel after hearing my story? What do I want them to do?
• How do you use your lessons learned to help your customers?
• What are some commonalities between you and your customers?
• What’s your goal with your About page?
• What’s your customer’s problem? (aka Why are they on your page?)
• What’s your goal with your business?
  

Close With A Call To Action

The whole point of sharing parts of your story and creating connections through the About Page is to lead your reader to take a next step. You prompt that next step with a really specific call to action (CTA).

Your CTA should be clear, fairly short, and appealing. They should want to click or do the thing you suggest after reading about you and why it matters to them.

And that next step isn’t always “BUY FROM ME NOW!” For many of us, especially service providers, you need to build more trust and get more insight before you’re ready to work together. That might be via a live call, an intake questionnaire, another piece of content. For you to decide what makes most sense in your ideal customer’s journey.

Definitely close your About Page with a CTA button, but you can also sprinkle in those calls to action throughout the page in case someone is excited to take the next step sooner.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Download this freebie
• Book a call
• Fill out this form
• Read this blog post
• Watch this video
• Join this online community

And if you’re not sure what you’d like visitors to do next, reflect on the following questions and reverse-engineer from there:

• What’s a compelling call to action that made you click on someone else’s site?
• What would happen if they chose the route you hope to lead them on?
• What’s the freebie you want to lead them to look like?
• How would clicking that link benefit them, right away or down the road?
• What would you talk about on your sales call or in your first email?

Consistency is key.

Your About Page is one piece in a huge visibility and brand-building puzzle. Make sure your your About Page voice and vocabulary and overarching message match the rest of your website, your social bios, how you actually speak on live calls, and anywhere else you show up.

A consistent, cohesive brand is essential to connect on a human level with your ideal customers and potential partners. Any misalignment is an instant red flag. Trust can be a slow build, but it’s quick to crumble.

Reflect on how well your voice, audience, and values show up:

• How does your About Page fit with the rest of your site?
• Where else would you need a condensed version of your brand story?
• Do you sound the same on your proposals or sales calls?
• How do you come across in podcast pitches/interviews?
• Do your event registration or press release boilerplates match what someone would find on your About Page?
• How does your regular content support your About Page (and vice versa)?
  

Taking Confident, Meaningful Action

Download “A Visionary’s Guide To Elevator Pitches” to talk to real people about what you do and why it matters.

And if you’re ready for outside perspective and a co-created brand messaging strategy guide that will allow you to get visible with confidence, consistency, and clarity, the Messages That Matter VIP Day is for you.

About The Author: Ashlee Sang does values-aligned brand messaging strategy and marketing consulting with conscious and caring business owners so they can grow their impact and their revenue. Through Ashlee Sang Consulting and as host of the Purpose & Progress Podcast, she equips entrepreneurs to take confident, meaningful action in alignment with their values so they can run a business that feels and does good. Find out more at www.ashleesang.com.