If there is one thing that stands out as I make my rounds around the blogosphere, it is that many people are not taking full advantage of the tools their blogs offer to them and their readers (including us here at Digg It, mea culpa). The one most under-used tool that I see as a blog reviewer is the profile or “About Us” page.
Why Don’t We Get Personal?
I would venture to guess that the reasons that people don’t pay much attention to profile and About pages are something along the lines of
• They want to remain anonymous to an extent
• They don’t know what to say, or struggle with how to explain their blogs
• They are unsure when the blog is constructed where it will really go, and then forget about these pages once they have a firm direction
• They think readers already know what the blog is about—they’re here aren’t they?
These may all be very valid, at least understandable, reasons not to write a profile of your blog. But now may be a good time to reassess, and here are some of my personal thoughts on why you might consider it.
Building Your Profile Page, Why It Matters
When your blog doesn’t have a profile page, it can be very difficult for readers to tell at a glance what your blog is about. And no, you can’t just assume that it is obvious. Sometimes it takes sifting through many posts before a newcomer can “get” what your blog is about. That’s time that I put in as a reviewer, but as you can imagine, it’s time that the average web surfer is not as likely to put in. We’ve all heard about the nature of the web surfer—they are a flighty bird with a low attention-span, who wants instant gratification when they alight at a site (yes, I include my own self in this category, mea culpa again—that is, unless I’m reviewing a blog!). To increase your chances of gaining that new reader, give them what they want—a quick and concise way to learn about your blog and find out if it fulfills their needs.
It’s not enough to assume that the intent of your long-standing blog is obvious. Most of your readers probably have not been with you from the beginning, even if you have a very large readership. Blogs take time to build, as any blogger knows, and it could be six months, a year, or more before the majority of your blog’s readers actually find you. So no, that first post you put up to introduce yourself and your blog is probably not sufficient, and probably was not or will not be read by the bulk of the people who pass through your blog.
A Blog With Personality
Another reason to take advantage of your profiling tools, and I’m sure there are many others (do feel free to tell me about them in the comments below) is to add that touch of personality. Blogging is, after all, personal—it’s the reason the medium has been so successful, putting faces and personalities on an otherwise neutral information highway. When people can get to know something about you, at least the parts relevant to your blog, they feel a connection and camaraderie with you and your work, and feel more vested in it as a result, making them want to keep coming back to keep up with a friend or colleague.
It’s easy to take profiling for granted, but it’s easy to take advantage of it, too. Consider the ways that your blog and your readers might benefit from the simple addition or use of a profile or About page, or even just a side-bar description.
And now it’s your turn—what do you think? Why else is a profile important to a blog? Or do you respectfully disagree?
Mary Ward
Do You Digg It!
Blog Review Team
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