Your ABOUT page is the most frequently visited on your site. We talk about this page a lot here on the blog. We’re always finding new tactics and ideas for making it really compelling.
One of the best ways to figure out how to create something awesome yourself is to make a case study of people who you think are doing it right. That’s why I’m launching this new series. In order to capture best-practices and inspiring prompts for effective ABOUT pages, we’re going to review those of the best in the business. This new series is called: Copy Decoded
What you’ll get out of this series:
First we’re going to analyze an amazing About page.
Then, we’ll take from it inspiration on how to implement some of those tactics on your own page.
The goal is to create content so amazing and so incisive — intelligent and clear — that your audience will fall in love. But, before they fall in love, you have to. Pouring that kind of energy into the words you put out there is the most attractive thing you can do when it comes to writing. So let’s get to it.
One of the women I admire most in business is our first feature in this series.
I not only see Marie Forleo as being one of the most savvy, stylish and prolific women I know in this new age of business. I also think of her as one of the best-branded women out there today. When you visit her site, watch her videos, listen to her interviews, read her content, participate in her programs, you feel something, and you can easily sum up the experience in a few words — words Marie herself probably wrote down and deeply considered when she was constructing and tweaking her business over the years. The experience is not only useful, the interface is not only polished, the look is not only stylish and sleek, it’s soulful, inspirational and demands that you see what is possible for you. You get the feeling that Marie truly believes that we all have something useful — essential — to contribute. (You get this even before you watch her videos, which she closes this this exact sentiment.)
What I want to focus on today, with respect to Marie’s ABOUT page, is the feeling you get from her content.
One mark of great content is that it creates a relationship. You literally and metaphorically want to get in bed with the writer. Tweet it.
And we know that all relationships start with the feeling you get.
The feeling I get when I read Marie Forleo’s ABOUT page is, “She’s fun! But she’s also no joke when it comes to what she believes is possible for each and every one of us. She’s also got some serious street cred!” I get that she’s taking a stand on my behalf. I get that she’s got credibility. And I also get that all-important zing we all want every person visiting our site to feel, “I want IN!”
Marie is tantalizing us with promises of possibilities, with her big “I believe…” statement:
My goal is to add more value to your world than you ever dreamed possible by giving you tools that you can immediately use to improve your business and life.
She’s also bragging in all the right ways.
I help people dream big and back it up with daily actions to create measurable results. In fact, Sir Richard Branson invited me to South Africa to mentor other young entrepreneurs in the art of creative hustle at his Centre for Entrepreneurship.
She’s guiding us through the story of her rise and realizations.
“A born-n-raised Jersey girl with nothing more than passion, a laptop and a dream, I’ve created a multimillion dollar socially conscious empire from scratch.”
And she’s giving us proof that she’s the real deal via actual numbers and images of the people with whom she’s connected.)
“Through a bestselling book in 13 languages, 275,000 subscribers in 193 countries around the world, 4 top selling fitness DVDs…”
So what can we take away from this?
At its bare bones, the way I see it, Marie answers four questions on her ABOUT page.
What is your business’s big dream or strongest held value?
Where’dya come from?
What have you done?
What do you help people do and why?
Here are a series of prompts, based on this case study. Remember, as Marie says, it’s important to inject your own personality into your business. (She does this best when she says: “…if Tony Robbins, Richard Branson, Oprah and Jay-Z had a love child, it would be me.”) It goes for content, too. Find your own voice. Write as you speak. Plain and simple.
Create a statement around your biggest value or most passionately-held belief.
Where did you come from? Physically, yes. But also think about your “before” story. Where were you, professionally, even personally, before you got here?
What are your biggest accomplishments in your business, professional and personal life? What have you overcome? Which awards have you won? Who have you met? Where have you been featured? What are you most proud of?
Inspired by what you believe, what you’ve been through and what you’ve achieved, what do you do now in your business to help others? And most importantly, WHY do you do it?
Which one of these prompts resonates most with you? Let us know by answering it and posting in the comments below.
If you’re serious about upping your copy acumen, you must get on the list to learn more about a course that will change the way you write for your site.
