Work biographies. You know that tab that should be on your company website as “About Us.” Well, if you don’t have one, I would suggest considering the addition of that tab because it goes a long way. Clients want to know who you are.
They want to know your credentials. They want to know if they can connect with you on some sort of level. It is ultimately about being personable, informative and legitimized. These three factors will help a client determine if you are just the person they are looking for. Here are a few tips to consider when writing your quick biography.
Establishing your credentials
This step is going to set the platform in showcasing your expertise. Your bio should establish or build the foundation for a client to trust to work with you. The Huffington Post suggests making a list of your formal and informal credentials. Loolwa Khazzoom gives insight on what formal and informal credentials may be. She states, “Formal credentials include degrees, certificates and job titles. Informal credentials refer to life experience that has positioned you as an expert in your field. You may not have a culinary degree, for example, but you may have grown up in a family of gourmet chefs. If you are a restaurant owner, that life experience is key to include in your bio.”
Include recognitions
It is also vital to include any prizes, recognitions, notable people you have worked for and the awards you have received. You are competing to help a certain customer perhaps against many others in that field. Small Business Chron suggests, “If you’re a sales professional, you might add to the list a high-sales award you won or the total amount of sales you made for your company in a month, quarter or the year.” In addition, Khazzoom states, “A shortcut to establishing trust is emphasizing the accomplishments that will make readers go “ooh-ahh.” Review your lists of credentials and expertise, identifying which are the most impressive to your target audience. Perhaps you have been featured in two national magazines with name recognition, as well as 10 local cable and Blog Talk shows that nobody ever heard of. Include the two national magazines in your bio, and leave out the rest. It will look far more impressive. If your bio targets a niche market, of course, be sure to include the most valued accomplishments for that sector, even if they are not well-known to others.”
Establishing a length
From what I have seen on different websites, a short bio should be a couple of sentences long, about a paragraph. Others range from 1-3 paragraphs. This of course, is completely up to you, but when it comes down to it, you want to have enough content to establish trust and wow your client, but short enough to where they are not reading a novel on your life story.
Quick tip: In most cases, formal writing will be necessary. For this reason, write your biography in third person. Happy writing!
