A set of guidelines for helping you to craft a better online presence.
Who is the audience for this?
When writing an about page, a cover letter, a bio, or a profile for a site, it is wise to first consider who you expect your audience to be. You will want to focus on different aspects of yourself depending on what you’re trying to showcase for that particular format.
Find the right tone.
An about page for your site should be a little bit intriguing, and probably a little bit funny to keep people reading; However, a bio for an informational packet, or a for use as part of documentation related to a business venture should be written in a more serious style and with the aim of selling yourself. Depending on what type of writing you’re doing, you’ll need to shift your style accordingly to keep the tone of the writing correct for the purpose of the material.
Focus on who you really are.
People respond well to stories, tell them yours. You are more than a collection of your professional achievements, degrees, and accreditations. While those things are important to anyone who’s reading about you, they also want to get a sense of who you really are. Are you driven? Do you enjoy working closely with people? Was there some experience which shaped your approach to what you do? Adding detail to your profile or about page that might not seem relevant, actually, helps the reader connect with you and will allow them to look back at your qualifications with the perspective of why those skills make sense for you.
Be honest and sincere
It can be very difficult to write about yourself, whether that’s because you’re afraid of sounding boastful or bragging. You need to write about your accomplishments though and to give yourself a chance to shine. When facing this problem try to be as straightforward as possible in your presentation of yourself. You don’t need to spend hundreds of words telling someone that you’re a great communicator, that you have exceptional people skills, or that you’re a hard worker. Qualities like that are much easier to show that they are to convey in words.
Be approachable
You can have the best profile on the web, or the most well worded about page in the world, but if the reader comes away with the wrong impression; that you are too aloof, vain, or prickly, those words might never generate a single lead or callback. The most important thing that you need to convey when presenting yourself online is that you are someone that people will want to be around or work with offline too.
