by Carolyn Edlund
The About page is one of the most visited on every website. Here’s how to make yours more compelling.
Use your photo
Believe it or not, people feel they know you when they have seen your photograph. It doesn’t matter that you haven’t actually met before. Your photo makes you seem real to them, and hence more memorable. Here’s where you can use a great headshot, or a photo of yourself working in the studio to emphasize that you are indeed a working artist.
If you really want to make your About page special, consider including a short video. This is a terrific way to introduce yourself in a form that is palatable to most visitors. If you go for a quality video made by a professional videographer, you can really move the needle to a “Wow” experience. Keep your video to about 2 or 3 minutes at the most, because people tend to have short attention spans these days (clearly from too much surfing on the internet!) Artist Sarah Bush uses video effectively on her About page – view it here.
Tell your artist story
Why should a website visitor be interested in you as an artist or maker? Because the story of your inspiration, your concept, and your technique are fascinating. Write your artist story carefully. Build emotional resonance with the reader, while tying in elements of your background and your inspiration. Tell about what you do in a way that connects with your audience, what they care about, and what they value. Share what makes you different and unique. Convey the unique concept behind your work, as well as your expertise.
This helps to establish you as an authority and build your credibility. Artist Tim Saternow is a good example of an artist who tells an effective story on his About page. View it here.
Make it readable
Website visitors tend to skim when they read. Thus, small paragraphs or even bullet points are easier to digest. You can bet that long paragraphs won’t be read by many people who come to your site. Keep it simple and concise, carefully writing every sentence to have as much meaning as possible. Shorter paragraphs and negative space on the page provide visual relief, so visitors won’t feel overwhelmed by the amount of content.
Share testimonials
Want to make more impact on your About page? Ask some of your best customers to write brief testimonials about why they love your art or handmade work. Word of mouth and customer reviews carry a lot of weight. When you use not only their quote but a photo of the customer and their full name with the testimonials, they have more influence.
Include links to your other website pages
On your About page, you can encourage visitors to look at the rest of your site by including “deep links” that lead to other pages. You might want to link directly to your gallery pages, encouraging them to view your work, and perhaps consider a purchase. Or, add a link to your email subscriber opt-in form to collect their contact information so you can reach out to them again.
What about your Artist Statement and CV?
Some artists will include either or both of these on their About page, while others choose to create separate pages. This makes sense especially if a CV is lengthy. Your Artist Statement should be concise and fit well with your story and bio. This usually makes it a perfect fit for an About page. If your About page has lots of information and you want to separate the CV and Artist Statement, place them as dropdown items under About on your website navigation menu.
Thanks Carolyn for more great advice! I’m going through a months long process of reworking my website – this is just the sort of food for thought I need. I always know your emails will be loaded with useful and inspirational information.
Thanks for your kind words and your confidence, Kristen. Websites are always a work in progress!