By Mike Bonadio
About me pages are often overlooked as anything other than a way to talk about your favorite sports teams, family vacations, or your dog’s quirky behavior.
Despite the overwhelming apathetic treatment these pages receive, chances are your about me page is, in fact, one of the most highly trafficked pages on your site.
For this reason alone, you shouldn’t underestimate the power of well-crafted about me pages that not only describe who you are, but drive targeted leads into your sales funnel.
So what makes great about me pages that also function as a lead generators?
Have an About Me Lead Magnet
We won’t go into a ton of detail on lead magnets because that’s a different topic entirely (and has been covered on Spin Sucks).
You want to offer your audience something in exchange for giving you their email address. This can be a downloadable PDF, checklist, eBook, or other free offering your visitors would be crazy not to have.
Think of something that helps solve your audience’s problem or, at the very least, leads them down the path of solving it.
In the end, what determines how many leads you will generate really comes down to how awesome your lead magnet is. Is it something people will crawl over broken glass to have? If not, it should be.
Work Backwards from Your Lead Magnet
When you start with the end goal and work backwards, it’s easier to find the style your writing should be to drive people into your sales funnel.
Too often, people start working forwards and eventually find what they end up writing doesn’t line up with the goal of the website. This creates a fragmented focus and hurts your lead acquisition potential.
Let’s say you run a fitness blog and you offer a course on getting fit for people who are out of shape. Your end goal may be to get people onto your list so you can eventually pitch your online fitness course.
Let’s assume your lead magnet is now in place and it’s completely irresistible. Now, let’s start working backwards!
What Feeling Would People Need to Want to Join Your List?
This may seem like an abstract thing to consider, and it’s definitely not going to make or break your efforts if you say, choose “empowerment” versus “inspiration,” but it’s something to keep in mind that will help dictate the style of writing and lead them down the path to solving their problem.
Once you identify the feeling that would help lead people to join your list, you can then begin to work this into your content as you begin to write.
Start with an Opening Statement that Makes Them Say “YES!”
Open with question or benefit-driven statement that allows the reader to self-reflect for a minute. This also helps position you as the expert on that topic and instills trust between you and the reader as you’ve identified yourself as the person that can solve their problem.
As is common practice in sales, you want your prospects to constantly be answering your questions with a resounding “YES!”. This means you should be asking questions that yield “yes” answers. This also helps warm them up, so when you pitch your lead magnet, they will have already said yes to you several times.
It’s Really About Them
If you think of a about me pages really as “about them” pages, your readers will instantly feel a connection to what you’re saying. At the end of the day, your readers are on your website or blog because they seek information to solve a problem they have.
When you address the problem you know your readers have, how you overcame it, and how you can help them (lead magnet), you are creating content that speaks to their needs rather than content that simply talks about your personal interests and hobbies.
Writing Your Content
By now, you should have already established the mood, feeling, and tone around which you want to write your content. Now it’s simply a matter of writing the content that supports these elements and building a real connection with the reader.
Your about me page doesn’t have to be a mile long. Even shorter about me pages can be effective if you hit all the right elements and lead them down the path of being able to help them.
Pitching Your Lead Magnet
This should go without saying, but don’t forget to actually pitch your lead magnet in your content. Simply having an email opt-in form on your page isn’t enough. People need to be told what to do next.
That means you should have a call-to-action that explain the benefit of subscribing to your list and what they get in return. Make it big and bold and don’t be shy about it.
Tweak, Test, and Optimize
Your about me page is always going to be in flux. Try rotating different headlines, calls-to-action, and any other elements on your page that are testable.
Try them out for 30 days and see which ones produce the best results. Testing is the only way to really find out what connects your readers to you and what gets you the best return for your efforts.
Wrapping Up
These steps should provide you with an architecture you can use to craft your about me into a page that tells your story while also doubling as a functional part of your lead funnel.
Keeping in mind your audience’s needs and aligning them with your lead acquisition goals will make a nice marriage that provides value for both sides.
This infographic by Wisestartupblog also provides some nice information on crafting perfect about me pages.
