Writing a bio for a website is one of the best things you can do to build your personal brand as a content creator. A well-developed bio can help you grow your organic reach and attract more clients.
Developing a strong bio might seem like a no-brainer. After all, why stress over a mere 100 words? On the contrary, if you want to stand out, then you need to put a lot of thought into your bio.
Before we get into what you need to do while writing a bio for a website, let’s talk about exactly what a bio is.
What is a bio?
Quite simply put, a bio is an “About” section about you as a professional. It’s a short piece of content which introduces you to potential clients and employers. However, it goes beyond simply describing your profession and your role. Ultimately, the purpose of a bio is to explain how you can use your skills to help your reader create tangible results.
The conventional bio includes the following information:
- Job title and/or workplace
- Academic background
- What your job entails
- Personal/professional goals
- Your mission statement
- Special skills
- Professional achievements
Why do you need a bio?
At this point, you might be asking, “Okay, but why do I need a bio? Why can’t I just put this information in my resumé and call it a day?”
While a bio might seem very similar to a resumé, it highlights different aspects of your professional life and therefore serves a slightly different purpose. A good bio can help you in the following ways:
-
It advertises your expertise all the time
Unlike a resumé, which you only use when you’re looking for a new job or trying to land a new contract, your bio is a permanent advertisement for your skills and services.
Once you’ve taken time to develop a bio, it’s always there when you need it. Since your bio is a permanent piece of content, it’s easy for potential clients to stumble upon it at any time.
In other words, having a bio increases the number of people who find you organically. And, at the end of the day, people who find you organically will trust you more than they would if you advertised your services to them.
In addition to increasing your organic reach, a good bio will also help you advertise your services quickly when you need to.
Let’s imagine you bump into a potential client and they want to know more about you and how you can help them. Instead of dashing to the office to update that resumé which you haven’t touched in a year, you can simply direct this person to your bio.
In summary, a bio helps you advertise yourself continuously and quickly.
-
It helps you make a memorable impression
Since a bio highlights your expertise and your passion, it is a good way to build your personal brand. A good bio should present you as a well-rounded individual who is passionate about what they do.
By developing a bio which highlights your unique selling point, you will make a favourable first impression.
-
It helps you stand out from competitors
Not many people take the time to create a bio for themselves. By showcasing your expertise and highlighting your mission statement, your bio helps you to stand out from your competition.
A bio is more personalized than the standard resumé. Furthermore, it is a unique type of content marketing. For this reason, with a bio, you can connect with prospective clients in a way your competitors can’t.
So, how do I go about writing a bio for a website?
As we’ve already said, writing a bio for a website might seem simple, but you actually need to put some thought into it. Here are the elements which need to go into a comprehensive bio:
1) Introduce yourself
Your personal bio should start with a personal introduction. If you open your introduction with your first and last name, then your name will stick in the reader’s mind.
In most cases, the target audience for a bio is a potential employer or a potential client. These people usually have many candidates in mind, so having them remember you is a good thing.
2) Introduce your brand
Beyond simply introducing yourself, you should go one step further and introduce the brand which you want to associate yourself with. Name your brand and explain its specialty.
For example, “My name is Suzy Santiago and I’m a creative designer at Suzy Designs. I work with startups to help create designs which accurately reflect the personality of their brands.”
Don’t worry if your brand has a plain name. Explaining what the brand does is a good way to help it stand out. In the example above, there’s nothing remarkable about Suzy Designs.
However, there is definitely something unique about a company which can create designs which accurately reflect the personality of your brand. A reader will definitely remember that.
3) Explain your role
It’s not enough to simply state your job title. In order to truly connect with your readers, you must explain what it is you do. This goes beyond the example above, where Suzy has explained what she does in one sentence.
A strong bio breaks this down even further to offer clarification and examples. For example, Suzy could go on to say, “I design business cards, websites, brochures and other marketing material which make good conversation starters and help clients remember you.”
Explaining your role is probably the most important part of writing a bio for a website. If you do this right, then clients will be able to picture how you can help them. And if they can picture you helping them, then it’s easier for you to convince them that you can – in fact – help them.
4) Highlight your professional achievements
Talking about your professional achievements is important because it gives your audience social proof. Once potential employers and clients see that you have won awards and accolades, they will believe you’re qualified.
Listing your professional achievements goes one step further in convincing readers that you are a worthwhile investment.
5) Outline your mission statement
In order to nail this part of your bio, you need to explain why you’re passionate about your job. Why are you excited to get out of bed and go to work every morning? What’s the most enjoyable part of your job?
Telling your audience what you love and what excites you might seem unnecessary, but it actually makes you seem more authentic. This makes it easier for you to connect with your audience.
6) List your personal interests/hobbies
Yes, it’s true that you’re a professional, but you also have a life outside of work. Let your audience know. If your readers know who you are outside of work, then it’s easier for them to feel a personal connection to you. This is especially the case if you and your reader have some interests in common.
In addition, talking about your interests and hobbies makes you seem well-rounded and like an easy person to work with.
7) Offer contact information
Providing your contact information is a call to action which invites your readers to contact you if they’d like to work with you. Make sure you offer both your email address and your phone number, so that people have an easy time reaching you.
Writing a bio for a website: Best practices
Writing a bio for a website is a great way to showcase your personal brand. However, in order to create a bio which is truly unforgettable, you need to go one step further.
If you want to take your bio to the next level, then you should do the following:
-
Know your audience
When you’re writing a bio for a website, the audience you’re writing for will determine your tone of voice as well as what you include.
If you’re writing a bio for your own personal website, then it’s safe to assume that you’re writing for prospective employers and clients. In this case, it’s okay to write your bio in the form of a pitch and solicit work.
On the other hand, if you’re writing a bio for your employer’s website, then you probably shouldn’t be soliciting work. Team bios on a company website are usually created to highlight the team’s strengths, and not to campaign for work
In both cases, it’s a good idea to be conversational and engaging.
-
Get personal
There’s a never-ending debate over just how personal your bio should be. We get it. You want to be seen as a professional. However, if you stick to an impersonal, textbook-style description of yourself, then you will have a much harder time connecting with your audience. You might even turn off some readers who may see you as being too stiff-lipped for their liking.
Getting personal helps you humanize yourself and builds a connection with your audience. Then again, there’s a fine balance between humanizing yourself and being too informal.
In order to maintain this balance, we recommend sticking to factual information for majority of your bio. Once you’ve shared all the important information, you can end with a personal story, mention a personal quirk or end with a joke.
At the end of the day, personalizing your bio will make you more memorable to your audience. So, don’t shy away from sharing personal information, but do it at the end.
-
Add visuals
Adding visual elements to your bio will make a more enjoyable read. Add a professional photo so that people can put a face to your name. Alternatively, you could use an infographic to explain what kind of role you play at your brand.
-
Add a call to action
Ending with a call to action is a great way to prompt readers to connect with you further. Do you want them to email you or connect on social media? Tell them so that they know where to find you.
People who connect with you after reading your bio give you an opportunity to build a long-term relationship with them. This will help you build a rich professional network over time.
-
Include some work samples
While you don’t want to clutter your bio with too much information, it’s always a good idea to link it to work samples. Work samples are a good way to prove to your audience that you can actually deliver on your promises.
If your bio is on an employer’s website, then you can provide a link to your work samples and host them elsewhere. However, if you’re using your personal website, then all you need to do is set up another page for your work samples.
Provided that you’ve told your audience where to find your work samples, they will be able to see what you can do with their own eyes. This will help you earn the trust of clients or employers over time.
As you can see, while writing a bio for a website, there’s a lot to consider. However, with the above tips, you’ll be writing a memorable bio in no time.
Is your bio up and ready for action? Once you’re ready to go back to creating that outstanding content which you can use as work samples, check out our comprehensive project management tool.