Why You Should Optimize Your “About Page”

Do you ever check your stats to see which of your posts are the most read? Have you noticed that your “About page” is one of your most-visited pages on your blog or website? I know I often want to learn a bit more about the author when I visit a new blog. It makes sense that this page should be current, well thought-out, and engaging. Think of this page as an opportunity to welcome a visitor into your online home.

What You Should Do

I recommend  reading 10 Ways to Create a Better “About Page” for Your Blog by Michael Hyatt.  He gives some great advice for improving the “About page” on blogs (or websites). Here’s a snippet:

1. Write in the first person.
2. Write in a conversational style.
3. Start with the reader’s priorities.
4. Tell them about yourself.
5. Tell them about your blog.
6. Set their expectations.
7. Invite them to subscribe.
8. Point them to your top posts.
9. Provide a full biography.
10. Tell them how to contact you

This seems like a lot to me, personally, so read Michael Hyatt’s post and pick out what you would like to use on your site.

My “Tweaks” to His Advice

Are you back from reading his post? Here’s where I would differ a bit from his advice…

If you’re Cru staff you could include a small paragraph and link to your http://give.cru.org site, however, the best idea is to make a “Give page” or a “Join us page” for this. That’s what I’ve done. (Check out this post on your “Give page.”)

I’d also go ahead and make a “Contact Us” page, but don’t put an email address on your blog.  It’s easy for hackers to search for the @ sign and find your email that they then could use for spam and even criminal activity, jeopardizing your personal information.   If you want people to know how to contact you, try writing “SusieStaffer at cru dot org”.  People who really want to contact you would be willing to “translate” that into a real address.

The colophon and the disclaimer could be optional for you.  The FTC compliance (for U.S. staff) is optional, too; if you don’t want it in your “About page,” you could put it in your footer or sidebar.

I haven’t updated my “About page” in quite some time, so I’ve put this on my to do list. What are you going to do to improve your “About page”?

NOTE: Michael Hyatt is the former  CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers.  His blog is one of the top-ranked for leadership, publishing, productivity, and social media content.  If you aren’t following Michael Hyatt’s blog, I hope you’ll check his blog out today.