Got a website? Great! Got products or services to sell? Stellar! Got an innovative, engaging, and unforgettable professional biography? Busted!
As a small business owner, your bio or “About Me” page is the first place customers get to hear about the person behind the product. When you hire a content writer, you can encourage them to be creative and come up with a more interesting format than the standard one paragraph professional biography. It’s even a good idea to have a few different bios that you can use, depending on the context.
The Standard Bio
Before you start playing around with new formats, be sure that you and your writer both understand the general guidelines for a traditional professional biography. Give your writer enough information to go on to craft something comprehensive but concise, and accurate, but still appealing to potential customers. If you’re not sure where to start, just make sure you cover the basic 5 Ws and an H:
- Who are you?
- What do you do or sell?
- When did your journey in this industry begin?
- Where were you trained or educated? Where is your company located?
- Why are you interested in this work?
- How are you accomplishing your work?
The Q&A Format
One way to mix things up is by structuring your bio as an interview. When paired with a high-quality photograph, this can help you come off as genuine and conversational. You can accomplish this with a content writer by having them actually conduct an interview, or, if you supply the basic info for the traditional bio, a skilled writer should be able to translate it into interview format with just a few more candid questions to bring your personality to life.
The Video Bio
While this may sound complicated, it’s actually fairly simple to put together a short video to use as an “About Me” page. You can work with a writer to create a script, then decide if you’d like to use a voiceover or have yourself speaking directly into the camera. Remember, you don’t need to only include live action; a video is a great place to include still photographs that show your products and services and your role in their creation or delivery!
A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words…
A visually driven bio can be incredibly eye-catching and help set you apart from your competitors. You can accomplish this by selecting some great shots, then working with a writer to caption them and set up a short slideshow to tell your story. For inspiration, check out the photo heavy page for NHL player Zenon Konopka’s winery. For something even more unique, pair with a writer and an illustrator to create a comic book style “About Me” page, like the folks at Coconut Bliss ice cream, who worked with an artist to create a colorful storybook for their website.
Caitlin C is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
