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[Mistakes #3] Five Common About page Mistakes … and How to Fix Them - DailyBlogTips

[Mistakes #3] Five Common About page Mistakes … and How to Fix Them - DailyBlogTips

[Mistakes #3] Five Common About page Mistakes … and How to Fix Them

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 09:38 AM PST

In this instalment of our Mistakes series, we're taking a look at About pages.

Your About page is one of the most important pages on your blog.

New visitors will often head there to find out more about you and your blog – and if you’re getting attention from influential bloggers or even the press, they may use your About page to gather more information.

Bloggers often struggle with About pages. In fact, some bloggers never get round to writing About page: at all – or if they do write a page they make one or more of these mistakes.

Mistake #1: Never Updating Your About Page

If your blog’s been running for a while, you might have written your About page years ago.

Information is bound to get outdated over time, and this is especially true if you've changed the direction of your blog. It's also quite likely that some of your life circumstances have changed – for instance, maybe you've got married, had a child, moved to a new city – and so any personal details on your page might need revisiting.

Fix it: Take a look at your About page right now. Is there anything that needs changing? Make a note in your calendar to revisit your About page again in three months, six months and a year, so you don’t forget to update it in the future.

Mistake #2: Making it All About You

Although it’s important to tell your readers a bit about you, you don’t want your About page be too self-centred.

New readers to your blog will want to know what’s in it for them. Your About page needs to clearly explain what your blog is about, what readers can expect, and why they should be reading. Make sure you focus on the benefits that they’ll gain.

Fix it: Add a section to your About page with the subheading "About the Blog" or "About [name of blog]". In this section, clearly state what your blog is about. (If you want an example, read the first part of the DailyBlogTips About page.)

Mistake #3: Including Little or No Information About Yourself

Some bloggers go to the opposite extreme: they don’t include anything about themselves on their About page, perhaps not even their name.

It's fine to remain anonymous as a blogger – but you should use a pen name to give readers a sense of connection to you. It's also a good idea to put a few facts about yourself on your About page: e.g. "I live in New York with my husband and two children."

Fix it: Take a look at your About page. Is your full name included? Is there a photo of yourself? If not, seriously consider including these.

Mistake #4: No Links to Blog Posts

Since new visitors are very likely to stop by your About page, it’s a really good idea to include some links to some of your blog posts. You can see that we do this here.

These links are a great way to draw first-time readers further into your blog. They also allow you to show off your best material.

Fix it: Choose 3 to 10 of your favourite posts, or posts that readers have responded well to, and link to them from your About page.

Mistake #5: Going On Too Long

As with blog posts, don’t waste words on your About page. If it drags on for too long, readers may miss the really important information that you want them to get to.

There is no set length for an About page, but roughly the length of an average blog post on your blog should be about right.

Fix it: If your About page seems too long, see whether there’s any information is redundant or that might be better placed on a different page. If you have a lot of great posts to introduce new readers to, for instance, you might create a separate "Start Here" page.

 

Is your About page making any of these mistakes or have you seen any similar mistakes in action? Let us know in the comments.

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