Your blog or website About page is one of the most important pages on your site. It is what tells your visitors who you are and what your site is about. This is where you brand yourself and your business. You also build your credibility and establish yourself as an authority with the information you present.

Here are some tips for writing an effective About page.

Start with a picture.

Because people like to do business with people they know like and trust, showing what you look like and that you are a real person can go a long way toward helping establish that trust and likability.

Tell people about you and your business.

It’s called an “About” page for a reason. This is where you tell people about you, your business, your products and services, your mission, the history of your business, and why they should consider doing business with you. Don’t make this just a dry statement of facts, though. It should be written in your voice with your personality shining through.

Incorporate social proof.

Your readers will want to know what other people think of you. Include testimonials from your customers and fans that show off the benefits of doing business with you. Other forms of social proof may include a client list with impressive names or large numbers, such as the number of books you have sold, number of clients you have helped, etc.

Brag a little.

Have you won awards? Have you been profiled are featured in major media such as the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times? Mentioning those things on your About page can give you instant credibility.

Where are you?

I am surprised at how many people give no indication of where they are physically located anywhere on their website. Although you don’t have to give details that would violate your privacy, it’s smart to at least give people a general idea of where you are located. If for no other reason, I like to know where someone is so that if I telephone them I call during appropriate business hours in their time zone.

Include contact information.

Include a link to your contact form or include the contact form and other info such as address and telephone number on your About page.

Don’t forget the call to action.

What do you want people to do after they’ve read your About page? You might want them to sign up for your newsletter, contact you for an appointment, connect with you on social media such as Twitter or Facebook, sign up for an introductory teleseminar or webinar, or view your product pages. Don’t make them guess. Whatever you want people to do, make the next action clear and simple for them to do.

Optimize your About page.

Your About page, like any other page on your website, should be properly optimized for the search engines. Be sure to weave your most important keywords through the text.

Your About page is, in many ways, a sales page. It deserves at least as much time and attention as you would give to a product sales page. Once you’ve written a draft of your About page, set it aside and come back to it several hours or a day or two later. Proofread carefully to avoid typos and grammatical errors. Sometimes you will need rewriting services experts, if you can’t edit the content yourself.

Want to see some examples of good About pages? Here are a few I like from a variety of sites:

Andrew Reifman is a web designer who, judging by his About page, has a good sense of humor and doesn’t take himself too seriously (although it is possible that he overestimates his pool playing abilities). His About page shows off his expertise and makes it easy to learn more about him while letting his personality shine through.

Dogs Trust is an animal welfare charity in the UK. Readers learn about what they do and how they can support the organization, as well as having many opportunities to connect with them on social media.

Chris Garrett is a blogger and social media expert. Chris describes his experience and expertise on this page, with links to where readers can hire him or buy his products.

Although this is not technically an About page, my Connect with Cathy site shows people where they can find me online: my websites, social media profiles and more. This one page site (aka a “business card site”) describes my online presence concisely.