5 Tips to Create an Impactful About Page

After your Home and Portfolio, your About page is the next most visited page on your website. People are genuinely curious to find out who’s behind the camera, who is the author of all the beautiful work they’ve been enjoying. Can they relate to you? Are you similar to them? Would you get along if they’d hire you? Would it be a fun experience for them? These are all questions that your About page could and should answer. 

Do a good job while creating your About page, and you’re guaranteed a good rate of inquiries coming through your website. Ignore this page, and you’ll surely miss out on some exciting opportunities.

So, how do you transform a random website visitor into a potential lead or client? How do you let them know that you are the person they’ve been desperately looking for? Here are a few tips:

Know your target audience & direct your message to them

Your target audience is the group of people that you enjoy working with and want to attract more of. It’s important to define your target audience at the early stages of your career, and gradually refine that “profile” as your business matures. 

Why? Because all your images and communication need to be tailored to that specific type of client. Each photo, video and word that you choose to include on your About page, your Homepage, or even your social media, needs to appeal and create a desire for that target audience. 

If you’re not sure where to start in terms of the messaging, here’s a helpful trick. Look at the testimonials or messages that you’ve received in the past from happy clients. Highlight and list some of the words your customers used to describe your work and their experience with you. Then, choose 3 to 5 words from that list that you like and want your business associated with. Use these words and synonyms when describing your brand, your approach and the value you have to offer to your clients.

Have a short & clear message

In a world buzzing with unclear and long texts, writing short messages is a crucial skill. If you try to apply it to your About page, you can easily transform a curious visitor into a potential lead.Imagine that people who’ve just opened your site and your About page have been browsing the Internet for the last couple of hours. They’ve been looking at other photographers’ websites, reading their home and info pages, examining their testimonials and offerings. By the time they reach your site, their brain is overstimulated. No matter how amazing and fun your story is, they may be too tired to engage with it. 

Hence, keep it short and sweet. Or, break it down into shorter paragraphs. Use catchy and intriguing headlines in between, to keep the user hooked. This will help people hear what you have to say without putting too much effort into it.

Don’t focus your About page only on yourself

You surely have looked for recipes online at some point in your life. And you’ve probably stumbled upon some articles that, besides offering the recipe itself, have a long story of how this recipe appeared, what is the best season to cook it, and which member of the author’s family loves it the most. Now, be honest: have you ever actually read this heartfelt, however redundant information? Or you’ve scrolled down past it to see the ingredient list and the cooking steps?

Your About page is like this recipe article: people open it to get some straight to the point information. What’s your secret ingredient? What are the benefits of working with you? How are you different from your competition? What will they be getting if they choose you?

We’ve asked our Instagram followers to share what in their opinion makes a strong About page. Surprisingly, there were 2 distinct groups of people: those who believe that your About page is about you, and those who believe that it should mostly be about your client. For examples, Bruna Rico, a portrait photographer believes that the “About page should be focusing on the client. What you can do to make your client’s life easier.”. While Leonie Capello, a wedding photographer and website designer, mentioned that it’s important to “write about everything that makes you, you. So many clients book us, just because they read our about page and find so many intersections to their own life and feelings. That’s how we do our whole business, being authentic and not having the sale in mind, but the overlaps to our dream clients.”

If you’re wondering which group is right and which one is wrong, the answer is both. Both groups are right. Ideally you want that golden middle, where you speak about yourself, share your quirky and awesome personality, yet also find a way to present the value that you can bring through your skills and charisma. Your About page needs to create touchpoints with the client, certain similarities that will help them relate to you and build some kind of trust. 

The rule is not to focus on yourself too much, but rather let your visitors feel like they are the hero of the story who has just found a trustworthy companion (that’s you!) for their adventure.

One photo (or video) is worth a thousand words

What if we tell you that adding photos of yourself to your About page can offer you a higher chance to convert visitors into customers?

Your About page has one major purpose: to help create a bond between you and your visitors. Thus, leaving this page “faceless” is a big no-no . Studies show that About pages which include portraits of the company’s employees have a bigger chance to convert simple visitors into clients. It’s understandable why: when people see the face behind the brand they automatically grow a bigger trust towards that company. 

So, even if you’re a shy person who’s preferred position is behind the camera and not in front of it, try to include at least one picture of yourself on your About page. Just one portrait of you smiling, or playing with your dog, or even taking pictures of others will be enough. If you can, include a BTS video. Allow your visitors to get a snippet on what it feels like to work with you. When they know exactly what to expect, it’s so much easier to decide to contact you.

Have a clear CTA at the end

So, your prospect checked out your About page, developed some interest towards your personality, and is already in love with your work. Now what?

Well, you can leave it to faith or redirect this person to the next page they need to see. That can be your Contact form or your Info page with details about your pricing. As long as you have a clear vision on “the path” a user needs to take on your website to convert from a visitor into a client – you’re all set.

Let’s see some real About Page examples

While the above are all good practices and recommendations, there’s always a time and place to break the rules. We all work in the creative industry. Finding your own, unique and fun way to present yourself and your brand online – matters the most.. If you have a great idea in mind, and you’re sure that it will resonate with your target clientele – go for it, do it!

To prove our point, here are a few rad and original examples of About pages created by our talented clients:

Katch Silva

www.katchsilva.com | Custom Flothemes Website

Phil Chester

www.philchester.com | Website built with Lyra theme

Jen Krause

www.jenkrause.de | Website built with Cannes theme

The Chronicles

www.thechroniclesphotography.com | Website built with Elise theme

Jordan Taylor

www.jordantaylorphotography.org | Website built with June theme

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TL;DR: Find out who your target audience is and direct your message to them. Make sure that whatever you are saying is delivered in a clear and engaging way, so the person reading it does not feel overwhelmed or lazy to read the whole thing. Focus your About page on yourself, but also on how you can bring value to your potential clients. Add a strong Call To Action at the bottom of your About page in order to guide your visitors towards the next step. Enrich it with some visual media, such as photos/videos, to help them experience what it would feel like to work with you. And last but not least, don’t forget that these are not strict rules, but rather kind suggestions that can help you enhance your About page.

Get creative, have fun and charm away your clients! You’ve got this!

Flothemes Team,
Inspiring You.