Seth Godin’s advice for authors’ About pages

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When someone comes to your site for the first time, they’re likely to hit “about” or “bio,” says author and marketing genius Seth Godin.  Why? “Because they want a human, a story and reassurance,” according to his straight-from-the-hip article, Five rules for your About page. (Mine is called “Meet Rebecca Lacko”; it’s right here.)

Here are Godin’s helpful guidelines (okay, they’re actually imperatives):

1. Don’t use meaningless jargon:

... is a recognized provider of result-based online and mobile advertising solutions. Dedicated to complete value chain optimization and maximization of ROI for its clients, … is committed to the ongoing mastery of the latest online platforms – and to providing continuously enhanced aggregation and optimization options.

2. Don’t use a stock photo of someone who isn’t you (if there is a stock photo of you, congratulations). The more photos of you and your team, the better.Handshakes

3. Make it easy to contact you. Don’t give a contact address or number that doesn’t work.

4. Be human. Write like you talk and put your name on it. Tell a story, a true one, one that resonates.

5. Use third party comments and testimonials to establish credibility. Use a lot of them. Make sure they’re both interesting and true.

Seth Godin has written a dozen worldwide bestsellers that have been translated into more than thirty languages. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. Talk to him at Seth@SethGodin.com.

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