How to Improve Your About Page

I find that “about” pages seem to be a very under utilized part of many portfolio website. If they even exist, they tend to be a short paragraph that reads more like a paragraph summary of the persons resume. Im sure this has a lot to do with the fact that many perceive About pages to be, for the most part, useless.

I would have to suggest otherwise.


How to Make Your About Page More Exciting from Danny Outlaw on Vimeo.

Show Notes

As the relaunch of Outlaw Design Blog draws closer, I have been working on creating a much more interesting About page. I talked to some fellow design, bloggers, and readers to see what kind of things they liked when it came to sites that had good About pages.

Here are some suggestions:

Add More Pictures
Include a variety of candid pictures of yourself. Typical head shots are nice, but they can be a tad cold feeling. Along with including a typical head shot, try adding 2 or 3 candid pictures of yourself. If you have any sports you play or activities you are into, post pictures of yourself participating them. These sort of pictures help your client realize that you are a real person and it makes them feel a little more comfortable working with you.

Write a Story
As I said before, so many people write text on their about page that reads like a resume. This sort of information certainly has its place on your About page, but it shouldn’t be the bulk of the content. I suggest writing a short story, 500 – 700 words about how you got into design or whatever you respected field is. Notice I said “story” and not just type up some info on how you got into your field. If your About content is engaging, people will actually read it. I recently tried this out and got some really great feedback on it.

Be Social
If you don’t mind sharing some of your social networking profiles, then add your profile links and invite your clients to connect with you. If both you and your client are active in these networks it can help keep your name fresh in a would be clients mind. For example, if you are the only designer they are following on Twitter or Facebook and you regularly post about design; a would be client will probably think of you the next time they need design work done.