⭐THE HOT MESS TEAM BLOG⭐
This month: Copywriter Jessica Rae has pro-writing tips
Hey, y'all! Jessica here, the copywriting gal at Hot Mess Consulting.
Every day I help clients with their About Pages so today I'm going to give you the lowdown on how to put one together yourself🤓.
(Because you totally can do it by the way, even if it feels a bit scary!)
I know writing can be intimidating - especially writing about yourself, which is why so many biz owners struggle with their About Pages. They're confused about what information should be there, and if they don't know where to start things can be tricky!
Today I'm here to help you out, my friends!
The very first question we need to answer is this:
Why are people going to read your About Page?
Your customers are coming to your About Page for a reason. They want to more about you, what you do, how you do it, and why you do it.
So if that's the information you know they are going to be looking for - let's give it to them!
Your About Page shouldn't be where people come to learn about WHAT your business does. That should be clear to them from your Home Page. It's also not the place for your shipping policies.
Okay so let's get into it:
BEGIN WITH A GREETING
Imagine a customer was walking into your business face-to-face. How would you greet them?
Think: (Greeting)! I'm (first name), owner of XXX Boutique. Welcome and come on in!
WRITE IN FIRST PERSON
Why? It's more personal and honestly, it's much easier to write than trying to talk about yourself in the third person. Also less weird.
Here's what that will look like:
Third-person: "Samantha loves to shop widely for the boutique. She knows her customers crave dazzling outfits for important occasions.”
Writing in the third person is done from the third-person point of view. Another way to think of it would be an outsider looking in and describing the situation. You’ll be using pronouns like he, she, it, or they.
First-person: “I love to shop widely for my boutique. I know my customers crave dazzling outfits for important occasions.”
In first-person writing, you are writing from a first-person point of view and using pronouns such as I and me. This is easier to write because we naturally speak this way, and it’s more conversational and engaging for the reader.
BE AUTHENTIC
Include small interesting details about yourself. Write naturally - the way you would speak and don't be afraid to be a little vulnerable. No-one is perfect and you’ll win credibility points with your audience by revealing a few flaws. Especially if they can identify with you.
MAKE IT READABLE
Remember! We want people to read this and let's be honest, if you land on an About Page and a wall of text confronts you there's no way (unless you were unnaturally interested I guess!) that you're going to try and read that.
So keep your reader in mind. Imagine that their attention span is very short (because it is) and break up your About Page copy with paragraphs, please. Try to make the information as scannable as possible.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
One mistake I see all the time is biz owners getting way too specific with dates in their About Page backstories. Overcomplicated stories with too many details, dates, and people will probably make the reader want to quit reading or just skip over information.
The truth is (and I'm not trying to be unkind) but your audience probably isn't interested in reading 2500 words of your backstory.
So keep sh!t simple.
KEEP IT SHORT-ISH
This brings me conveniently to my next point. How long should the copy be for your About Page? I say the ideal length is between 150 - 300 words with 400 being the max. Refer back to my last point - it's a lot to ask someone to read thousands of words about you.
Bonus tip: Include an awesome photo of yourself on the page. You want to show that there is a real person behind this business!
GET IT DONE
Just start writing. That's my top writing tip, seriously.
Remember you are not going to publish your first draft so it doesn't matter how bad it is. You can edit whatever you have until it shines but you can't edit a blank page.
Need help optimizing your website to increase your revenue?
That's what we do!
My favorite writing formula for About Page copy
(Break it down, girl and it ain't so scary!)
🟣 Part one: Greeting and introduction/welcome
🟣 Part two: Describe current life and business
🟣 Part three (optional): Share the story of how your business came to be
🟣 Part four: Talk about what makes your business special - from how you want to make customers feel, your mission, anything that sets you apart. What do you stand for, that sort of thing.
🟣 Part five (optional): What steps you took to get where you are today (and what made you keep going)
🟣 Part six: Say thank you (thank you for reading this, thank you supporting my biz etc)
🟣 Part seven: sign-off
And remember you don't need to start at the beginning! If you feel more comfortable starting with part six, that's fine - as I've said before the most important thing is to just start writing!
And before I sign-off, here are my fav writing apps 😍
These are my go-to's when it comes to crafting About Pages but I use them for almost all my other copywriting work too.
- General spelling and grammar: https://app.grammarly.com/
- Readability checker: http://www.hemingwayapp.com/
- Can't find the right word? https://www.words-to-use.com/
Well, that's it from me today folks! I hope these tips are going to help you smash out your About Page copy.
Let us know how it goes!!
If you need some help getting started or even making over your store, hit us up!
You can also check out our done for you packages - or our DIY website workshop if that’s more your style!