Your website and social media bios could use a facelift. These blurbs are among the first results most people see when searching your name online. They’re unlikely to include negative information unless you have a self-destructive streak, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work as hard as possible to make your online bio as attractive as possible.
Your career and reputation could depend on it.
Improving your online bios and “about” pages won’t take hours upon hours of your time. Once you know what you need to say and how to say it, the process should go quickly. To get started, follow these six proven tips.
- Get to the Point in the First Two Sentences
Short and sweet: that’s the online bio mantra. Get to the point in the first two sentences: name, current title, location, specialty. Anything else can wait until the second paragraph and beyond, including the happy but less-important details about your family, early life, and education.
- Admit You’re Not the Only One
This is a valuable tactic for people with common names. There’s strength in numbers, as they say, and what better way to stand out from the pack than to acknowledge everyone else with whom you share a first and last name?
You’ll see this done well on the about page for Kris Duggan. “There are many of us!” his page proclaims. He’s certainly right about that, yet we suspect few visitors to his site will soon forget his particular name.
- Share Some Little-Known Facts About You
Yes, get to the point early, but don’t forget to share a few interesting or unusual facts about yourself. Perhaps you’re a fan or high-achieving participant in some obscure sport or hobby, or maybe you had 10 siblings growing up. People like these quirks.
- Include a Recent Headshot
Don’t be anonymous and don’t share a 20-year-old headshot that, sad to say, no longer accurately depicts your appearance. You want readers to be able to recognize you on the street.
- Don’t Mention Irrelevant or Distant Roles or Personal Pursuits
Your two most recent professional roles are the most important. You can go back a bit further if it’s relevant to your current career arc, but don’t waste too much time on junior roles that don’t reflect well on your current capabilities.
- Claim Your Exact-Match Domains
Include your online bio on as many URLs bearing yur “exact-match” name (first and last) as possible. You’ll need to claim these domains first, of course.
Share a New Side of You
Updating your website or social media bios won’t totally change your life. After the change, you’ll still be the same person, with the same hopes and dreams.
The people searching for you online won’t know that, though. Their memories are short and incomplete. They don’t know what you were like before, only how you choose to position yourself today. To them, your website and social media bios are the most important sources of information about you. At least, the most readily available sources.
For this reason alone, you shouldn’t delay your bio updates another day. The time to share a new side of you has come. And you deserve to reap the benefits of that decision.
