Lesson Info
2. The Importance of a Good Bio
Lessons
Class Introduction
08:38 2The Importance of a Good Bio
05:25 3How to Interview Yourself Like a Top Journalist
05:47 4Adding Personality Into Your Bio
12:27 5Echoing Your Client's Language in Your Bio
08:58 6Creating Your Bio-Thesaurus
03:44 7Creating a First Draft & Intro
21:51 8Writing a Compelling Byline
04:36Lesson Info
The Importance of a Good Bio
Your bio is really your first impression to someone. It's a great first impression. It's the opportunity to make a great first impression, particularly if people are coming to your website. Most times, they'll land on your home page, and then they immediately click to learn more about you. So, when we go into About Pages you'll learn more about the importance of those. But this is a great opportunity to really give them that exciting first impression. And then also, if you're meeting someone for the first time, and they always say, "What do you do?" Anyone here that I've talked to privately I've said that to. 'cause it's a natural conversation opener. Plus, I wanna know what you all do. So, that's a way that you can make a great first impression. You can say, "This is what I do." And make it exciting. Make it like a cliffhanger, where we're all excited to learn more. It also establishes credibility. So, we all need as much credibility as possible in our businesses, of course. So the bi...
o is a great place to do that, because we're stacking impressive credentials in there, in an exciting, enticing way. Something that we wanna read, of course. But it establishes credibility of who you are and what you do. If you didn't know that I was award-winning, or that I wrote movies, or whatever, you might wonder why the heck I'm standing up here. "Who is this woman, and why is she teaching us today?" So, it's the ability to establish credibility very quickly. And it shares what you stand for. So I love this part of a bio, because there's not always a whole lot of opportunity to really communicate that in our business. Unless we have a page that says mission statement or movement or something like that, which is totally fine to do, by the way. In some of our businesses, that lends itself really well too, to have that. And then others of us, it doesn't really make sense to have that specific call out. So a bio is a great way to say, "I stand for this." or "I'm passionate about this." or "I love helping people do this, this, and this." or "My movement is..." So many ways that you can express that, but it's a great way to have something to stand for. Also something that people can rally behind, which is a great way to get more clients, because now they're buying from you because they love your cause and your mission, as opposed to just you're a person that sells stuff and I'm just gonna buy it. There is a deeper why there. And also shares what you do in a concise, compelling way. We'll really go through that when we do our intro statements. But we need to all be able to communicate, in that way, quickly, what we do, especially with people's attention spans all over the place, and especially in an in-person environment. You wanna make sure that everyone knows right away when you meet them and you shake hands and you say, "This is what I do." You really, the goal is not for them to say, "Great! I need you! I'm hiring you right now!" If that happens, great. That rarely happens, though. The real goal is for them to say, "Awesome! I wanna know more. Come with me. Let's get in line. Let's go grab coffee." So, that's what you want, it's like that cliffhanger moment, in order to get a deeper conversation with them. And also communicates your interests. So we'll be talking about this, digging deeper, about putting your personal passions and interests, and sometimes guilty pleasures if that works for you, into your bio, because these serve as emotional connection points for people. And when they say, if you say you're a huge fan of something, and that person's a huge fan of something, then, bingo! It's a great conversation opener, but it also will result in people buying from you, just because they're so obsessed that you are a huge fan of something that they are. You like something they do. So, we'll talk about that. And it also forges emotional connection. So, much like any fiction, novel, story does, where there's these emotional beads and connection, or movies, or television shows, we want our bios to feel the same way. It should have that same amped emotional connection. We're taken on a journey. You're really excited, or some other emotion that might pop up, but that is what we're using them for in this instance. And you'll need several different versions of your bio to suit a variety of needs like I mentioned earlier. So, it's not enough just to have one version, and most of us do only have one version. It's really common for people to be like, "I cranked this bio out and I'm done. I'm not doing any more versions." But you do need lots of different versions. And you're probably seeing it already, because externally, people will ask you for a bio, and you're like, "Oh, wait. The one I have doesn't really work for that." Or you need to write something on Instagram in your profile, and you're like, "Oh, wait. How do I, now what do I do? Great! I worked really hard to make this bio, and now it doesn't work in this little, tiny space I have to write, communicate everything that I'm about in this teeny, tiny, little space." So, that's why you need lots of different versions of your bio. And we'll work through them. The 25-word intro, like I said, the Byline, the 300-word story, the About Page.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Victoria
Short, sweet and simply amazing! Melissa has such great energy, conveys her messages across with the right amount of information mixed with animation and humour, and provides helpful best practice templates for you to put what you've learnt into use right away. Highly recommended.
Margaret Lovell
I find the tips in this class helpful because while I'm a good writer, I hate writing about myself. Melissa's template is perfect for someone like me. I recommend this course.
Bettina Palazzo
What a life saver! I got so much inspiration and fun practical help our of this course, when I was stuck on writing a bio that would make me feel confident.