Writing about yourself is uncomfortable. That’s why drafting a dating profile is pure torture. But bloggers need a blog bio, and the stakes are high. You have just a few lines to convey to your target audience that you’re not only a talented writer but an authority in your chosen niche. We’ll show you how to write a blog bio that gets your visitors excited to meet you.
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Why Blog Bios are Important
When you have a blog, a podcast, or are a social media influencer, you’re a business owner. You either want to appeal to your target audience, want clients to hire you, or want companies to partner with you for content marketing opportunities.
An author bio is your first impression on those people so it has to be succinct, convey your years of experience, and appeal to them either on a personal or professional level.
If you fail to grab someone’s attention from the first sentence, you might lose them as readers, listeners, or clients. It’s a lot to ask from a few sentences, I know. You get one chance to get it right, so let’s write the best bio possible!
How to Write a Blog Bio
Now that we know what to avoid doing, let’s look at what makes a good blog bio.
Tell Them Who You Are and What You Do
The first sentence of your blog bio should tell the reader who you are and what you do. Write your first and last name.
If you choose to write in the third person, your name should be the first two words of the first sentence. If you write in the first person, your name will be the second and third words after, “I’m.”
Whether you choose to write in the first or third person is a personal choice.
Tip: I find it slightly less backward to write my blog bios in the third person since it feels like I’m describing someone else rather than bragging about myself.
The remainder of the first sentence should tell the reader what you do but give it a little twist. You don’t want it to be overly formal or boring.
Let’s look at two first-sentence blog bio examples.
Pam Smith is a food blogger who creates original recipes using seasonal ingredients.
That blog bio identifies the blogger and tells us what she does, but it’s a little dry.
Let’s spice it up a bit:
Pam Smith is an epicure who conjures original recipes using the very best of nature's seasonal bounty.
That’s more appealing.
Here’s a great example from the food blog Deliciously Ella:
The first sentence tells you what she does.
Tell Your Audience What You Can Do for Them
Your own blog really isn’t about you, even if it is about you. If you want to make
Let’s use Pam, the food blogger, as our blog bio example again:
Pam’s recipes are bursting with flavor and nutrition, easy to follow, and quick to prepare for those who want to improve their diets but don’t want to spend hours a day in the kitchen.聽
Even people who don’t particularly like to cook still do to improve their health and save
Pam’s blog will appeal to them because she makes cooking sound sexy but not overly complex or time-consuming.
It answers your reader’s question, “What’s In It for Me?”
Takeaway: Let your bio answer your reader’s question “WIIFM?”
Invite Readers to Take Action
You’re almost there! You’ve introduced yourself to your readers, told them what you do and how you can help them.
They’re on the hook now, so all you have to do is reel them in. You want to capture their address for your email list, so offer them an incentive to give it up.
Perhaps something like this:
Get a free weekly meal plan with a grocery list, recipes, and cost breakdown, so you never have to ask yourself, “What’s for dinner?” again!聽
This sentence in the blog bio offers readers something useful in exchange for their email addresses.
It shows them that the blogger understands a problem that’s likely what sent them searching for a blog like hers in the first place鈥攖he eternal and sometimes seemingly unanswerable question of what to make for dinner.
Getting creative with your call-to-action (CTA) button copy helps too:
The button tells you what to do and what you’ll get.
Further Reading:
Put It All Together
So we now have all three components for an effective blog bio; who you are and what you do, what you can do for your audience, and a call to action for the reader.
Let’s put it all together and see what the final product looks like:
Pam Smith is an epicure who conjures original recipes using the very best of nature’s seasonal bounty. Pam’s recipes are bursting with flavor and nutrition, easy to follow, and quick to prepare for those who want to improve their diets but don’t want to spend hours a day in the kitchen. Get a free weekly meal plan with a grocery list, recipes, and cost breakdown so you never have to ask yourself “What’s for dinner?” again!
Blog Bio Examples
Ernest Hemingway once said about writing, “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
Hemingway is one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, and his style is short and punchy. Channel your inner Hemingway when writing your blog bio.
He summed up good writing in that single quote, and it isn’t meant to make writing sound easy or simple.
Good writing is neither of those things; that was his point. Writing one true sentence is extremely difficult. Summed up by another Hemingway quote:
There is nothing to writing. All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
I don’t want you to shed blood, so here are some bio templates you can use.
Freelancer
“Pam Smith is a freelance copywriter who specializes in personal finance. She can make a dull subject interesting while teaching people how to control and improve their finances. Follow Pam on Twitter @PamSmith for daily financial tips, tricks, and hustles.”
Here’s one from conversion copywriter聽Kira Hug’s website:
She lays out what she can do for you from the get-go.
Lifestyle Blogger
“Hi, I’m Pam Smith, and I write about fashion, food, beauty, and wellness. I love to share the finds, tips, and tricks I’ve discovered to make life more beautiful and fun! Follow me on Instagram for the latest finds that I love and that you will love too.”
Travel Blogger
“Pam Smith is a travel blogger who will show you how to travel on a small budget. Having traveled to more than 75 countries in the past decade, Pam wants to help aspiring travelers achieve their own travel dreams. Pam has written a free ebook that will help you create a realistic budget for your next adventure.”
Here’s an example from Expert Vagabond:
Political Blogger
“Pam Smith spent fifteen years as a political reporter for XYZ Newspaper and has written for Forbes for ten years. Pam helps readers separate fact from spin to make informed decisions on the issues that affect their lives. Sign up for Pam’s Daily Digest, where she highlights and breaks down the key political stories of the day, so you never miss what matters.”
What Not To Do With Your Blog Bio
Sometimes understanding what not to include in a blog bio is just as important, so let’s look at some common mistakes people make when learning how to write a blog bio.
Overshare
Unless it somehow relates to the subject you’re blogging about, don’t include personal details about yourself in your blogger bio.
If you blog about DIY home improvement, your audience doesn’t need to know that you’re into collecting stamps.
That’s not to say you can’t include that information elsewhere on your site. Part of building a relationship with readers is letting them know about you but save it for your bio page, not your blog bio.
You don’t have room for it, as it should be a few punchy sentences.
List Your Accomplishments
Your blog bio isn’t your resume. Readers don’t care where you went to college, what you majored in, all of the jobs you’ve had, and relevant skills.
Readers or potential clients want to know what you can do for them, be it teaching them how to make money as an affiliate marketer or improving the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) ranking for their content.
Drone On
A good blog bio is an elevator pitch.
It’s a short description explaining a concept in 30 seconds that a caveman could understand.
A good blog bio needs to be short and to the point and to grab your target audience so that they stick around. Please don’t give the reader information overload; give them what they need and do it fast.
Confuse the Reader
Some blog bios are too cute for their own good. The writer uses vague or overly flowery language to describe themselves and what they do.
Have you ever gone to a bar or restaurant that had some cutesy word or symbol on the bathroom doors rather than an obvious indicator of whether the bathroom was the men’s or the women’s, and you stood there trying to figure out which door to open?
Don’t do that with your blog bio. The reader should know exactly which door to enter!
You Need More Bios
Ugh! I know. You were sweating spinal fluid writing your blog bio, and now I’m telling you that you have to have more than one?!
The good news is, you can re-jigger your original bio and make it work for other places where you need to tell readers about yourself.
Getting the short bio required for a blog bio is the hard part. Once you have that, you can use it as the cornerstone for the rest.
Social Media Sites
All bloggers should have extensive social media profiles. A Twitter bio, Instagram bio, LinkedIn bio, and Facebook bio. As these are usually pretty short, it’s acceptable to use your blog bio with maybe an additional line or two.
The length should still be no more than a short paragraph. For your LinkedIn profile, you want to add your job title since it’s meant to be the most “professional” of the social media sites.
The Sidebar on Your Blog
On your sidebar, you can make your bio a little more fun and personal by including things like hobbies, interests, and background, the background of your life (or your career if yours is a professional site).
Here’s how travel blogger Nomadic Matt displays his on the sidebar:
A sidebar is also an appropriate place for a headshot if you’d like to include one.
Guest Posts
Typically when you write a guest post as a freelance writer for another blogger, they’ll ask you to provide a bio.
You can use the one from your blog, but you want to drive some of the host blog’s traffic to your site, so be sure to include a link to it or at least the name of it.
About Me Page
You can go nuts with your personal bio on your About page if it’s for your personal website. Now is the time to brag about your accomplishments, highlight your award-winning work, and share more personal aspects of your life and personality.
A great bio can help your readers connect with you personally, something important for bloggers like those in the lifestyle niche.
If your site is a professional one, you still have some leeway on your About Me page. This is the place where you can list things like your schooling, professional experience, and awards you’ve won in your field.
The First Step
There is so much that goes into running a blog that makes money. Learning how to write a blog bio may seem like an insignificant piece of the puzzle, just a throw-away thing that you can spend five minutes on and forget.
But it can do a lot for you. It can entice readers to engage with your content and clients to hire your services. A great bio can put
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