Author: Maggie Patterson

I’ve been writing  my whole life. First grade ambition? To be an author. By seventh grade I was considering being a psychiatrist until I found out how long you needed to go to school. Right back to being a writer.

I’ve spent my life playing with words in creative writing workshops, copywriting classes, PR/journalism writing intensives and applying it daily for the last 15 years for my employers and clients.  I take the ability to write easily and clearly for granted.

The natural inclination for many of us is to try to write our own copy for our web site, but many times we are doing ourselves a disservice. No matter how good of a writer you are there’s always room for improvement.

If you are going to DIY your copy, this is the number one thing (in my opinion) you must avoid.

Conversational Copy Can Quickly Become a Hot Mess

The trend in the online marketing world is towards conversational copy.  Which has some strong points, as when you are building a personal brand, you should not sound like an uptight robot.  On the flip side, conversational copy often goes too far.

Often there’s this idea that you should default to the uber casual “hey girl, hey” type of writing. Or start injecting foul language as it works for other personality-driven brands.  Casual, informal, edgy, copy there’s a place for all of it. But maybe not in your copy.

Welcome to where conversational copy becomes a hot mess.  Where there’s a major disconnect between the words and the customer’s actual needs.  The tone is wrong. The words are too casual or simply wrong.

Sure, your copy is fun to read, but if your target audience walks away confused or feeling like you aren’t professional, no one wins.

It’s Not All About You

You need to carefully consider your audience because it’s not all about you.

Yes, you can build a personal brand, but if your voice is mismatched with your ideal customers, you are going to end up screwed.

If you are in business to make money, you need to serve the needs of your audience. Sure, go your own way and march to your own drum, but you need to be damn sure that there’s people who are willing to follow you.  If you are not making sales, it could be that you, your brand and your audience are seriously disconnected.

A health coach working with 40-something women struggling with serious issues probably shouldn’t have copy that’s busting out a lot of “hey girl, hey” language.

If your ideal clients are hard core professionals and you would never drop an f-bomb in a meeting, you probably shouldn’t try to spice up your copy with them either.

This is not a gag order on your personality but more for you to consider what elements to bring to your brand. Forging a strong connection between the best of you and what your customers really can identify with or need, is where the sweet spot is.

The goal should be for your words to sound like you. Not like your competition. Not like the hip copywriter you hired. Not like your friend with a totally different business. And definitely not like some big Internet famous personal brand.

When it comes to writing, bios are probably one of the most awkward things to write.

We’ve all been there. Writing in the third person. Bragging about how awesome we are. Feeling like a total you know what.

Over the course of a day, I visit a lot of other entrepreneur’s sites and there’s an epidemic in our midst.

People don’t have bios or if they do have them, they are missing the point of having one in the first place.

The bio is critical to your site. It’s what separates the pros from the amateurs.

If you’ve ever been on a corporate web site, they have the bios of the executive team on there. Media, customers, investors, partners, and everyone else needs to be able to see at a glance what leaders bring to the table.

The same thing goes for your site too. Especially if you want to be be seen as an expert. This is a critical part of the Press Kit Principle.

Click to Tweet: Don’t let that awkward writing in the 3rd person stop you. Tips for writing a pro bio with @magspatterson – http://bit.ly/1kfu9Tn

Bios, while they may seem “traditional” are a necessity.

Tips for Writing a Great Professional Bio

Over the course of my career, I’ve written a lot of bios for executives and leaders. Back in my PR firm days I was constantly fine tuning my bio for every proposal we prepared.

I learned a valuable lesson from all the tinkering with my bio and everyone else’s. If you put a stake in the ground and say you are an expert, it is a way more believable to you and everyone else. Otherwise, it looks like you are making it up as you go.

Early in my career, I worked with multiple security software companies giving me a specific area of expertise in security technology. Knowing that was a growth area for the firm I worked at, my bio quickly reflected that knowledge and experience. By stating in my bio that I was the in-house expert on security technology, I had instant credibility and I quickly came to believe it as well. While I was relatively young in my career, I took my expert status seriously; keeping up on the trends and reading the latest books because I knew how important it was to be able to back up that claim.

The lesson? Convincing yourself to believe your own hype is half the battle. Your bio should be the best version of you no matter how you really may feel inside. Too often, we are hesitant to say things because we aren’t fully convinced of it. If it is true and believable, it needs to go in your bio.

Click to Tweet: Convincing yourself to believe the hype is half the battle. Tips for a better professional bio  with @magspatterson –  http://bit.ly/1kfu9Tn

Bragging is Necessary

On the flip side, there’s often resistance to bios as we don’t want to brag. Your bio is the one place where bragging is required and you are fully authorized to do so.

Here’s a few things you must brag about:you’ve

• Measurable professional accomplishments – Think along the lines of grew by XX, made XX, served XX.
• Years of experience – Call out how long you’ve been in your field, working in this area, etc.
• Specific areas of knowledge or expertise.
• Professional designations or education.
• Relevant awards.
• Speaking gigs and media appearance.

That’s a lot of bragging, but you need to do it all in about four to five action-packed sentences. The key is to brag in a professional manner and not in a way that makes you look like an ass.

The secret is context. You don’t need to list every last thing you’ve ever done, just the highlights that are most relevant to your status as an expert here and now.

A final word on bios. You may want to create multiple versions for use for different purposes. For example, if you are pitching guest posts, you’ll need a different bio if you are speaking versus on your web site.

Click to Tweet: Why you need to brag in your professional bio and other truths with @magspatterson – http://bit.ly/1kfu9Tn

If you want to learn more about bios and get some examples of great bios, opt-in to the Press Kit Principle and get your free guide below.

And if you want to dive deep…join me for the FREE WEBINAR I’m hosting next week – Entrepreneur to Expert. Click here to register now.

This week we are going deeper into the Press Kit Principle looking at one of the key elements of your web site that you need to be ready for media and other influencers to visit, your about page.

About pages consistently rank as one of the most visited pages on any web site. It is natural because anyone visiting your site wants to know who you are and what you are all about.

For media and influencers, your about page is the first stop to assessing your suitability as an expert and they need to be able to ascertain that information quickly.

Look at it from their perspective. It’s 4 p.m., you are a journalist on deadline and need a health coach to offer comment for the story in the next 90 minutes.

You get on a health coach’s site, and your first stop is the about page. Now, it’s decision time. I need to know you are credible, so I’m looking for your certifications. I want to know who you work with and how long you’ve been a health coach.

I can’t find that info, so I quickly move on to the next coach on the list, who happens to be your business nemesis. Again, you are trumped by someone less qualified but with way more game. She’s quoted in your dream publication and it makes you nuts.

What are you going to do about it? Start with fixing your about page.

Getting Clear on the Purpose of Your About Page

First things first. If you have a web site, you need an about page. If you don’t have one, you need to get one written and up on your site, stat. By not having one, whatever your reason, you likely are losing valuable site traffic. No one likes to do business with someone who’s credibility isn’t obvious.

It’s not enough to simply have an about page, you need one that meets the needs of both your target customers and media/influencers. If you aren’t sure, you need to take the time to truly understand your ideal customers and what they see/think/feel and do before you can communicate clearly with them.

About pages, despite how critical they are when it comes to securing media or speaking gigs, and connecting with customers, are fraught with a number of common mistakes.

Here are five big about page mistakes to avoid.

1. It’s All About You

The name “about” page, may be misleading, but it’s not all about you. Your about page needs to be a place to connect with your customers and explain what you do and how you are qualified to do it. You want to create confidence that you can meet their needs and understand their challenges.

2. It’s Not About You…At All!

While about pages should address your customers, you need to include how you are the right person for the “job” in terms of experience and credibility. The page should not sound like anyone else but you – be authentic. If you work in a more formal market, breaking out casual, conversational copy may not be appropriate. And if you work with free-spirited entrepreneurs, you want to lose the stiff corporate speak.

Tweet This – It’s not all about you…well, at least with your about page. @magspatterson talks about page mistakes – http://bit.ly/1bYV9nc

Your about page is where your personality should come through so anyone who visits your site can quickly figure out if you are a good fit for them. Your experience should be showcased including your measurable achievements. The trick is to strike a balance between being humble and sharing your accomplishments.

Finally, be sure to include your picture so they can “see” you as well.

3. It’s Seriously Long and B-O-R-I-N-G

Your about page should educate and entertain. The idea is to have whoever is reading the page think “yes, I want to work with him” or “wow, I can’t wait to interview her”. Think of your about page as telling a story, so you need to keep it bite-sized and make it skimmable so readers can quickly get the key points. Freely use subheads and bullets to break up your copy.

4. You Don’t Showcase Your Relevant Experience

Don’t save your media or speaking experience for your press page. It has a place on your about page as well. Including this information signals to customers and media that you have authority and not just making it up as you go. If appropriate, link to your speaker or press page from your about page.

5. You Don’t Have a Formal Bio

If you are jockeying to get noticed, you need a formal bio ready to go. Your bio should be one or two paragraphs long and highlight who you are, what you do and why you are qualified to do it. Your should be added to to the bottom of your about page so it can be readily accessed by media/influencers and anyone else who is interested.

Need Help Sprucing up Your About Page?

I’ve opened up a number of Rapid Fire About Page Makeovers for late November and early December. Last week I was told I was “straight up crazy town” to keep doing this these sessions at such a low price, so they will be going up in price come January! Click here for more info.

Tweet This – Are you making one of these common about page mistakes? Fix them with these ideas from @magspatterson – http://bit.ly/1bYV9nc

Tweet This – Get your about page in order before you pitch the media and avoid these deal breakers via @magspatterson – http://bit.ly/1bYV9nc