Pages

In the first part of Blogging for Entrepreneurs, I started laying a strong foundation for a successful blog. If you have been following my tips, chances are you have already found a niche and selected a name for your blog. Presuming that’s done, your next step is to write 4 essential pages (call them money pages) and content elements on your blog space. So, let’s get started.

About Me Page

Your “about me” page is one perfect place to share your story with your visitors and help turn them into loyal readers and even customers. You have an opportunity to build a rapport and it goes a long way in ‘humanizing’ your brand. Be sure to use these tips to write a compelling about me page that converts.

• Understand who you’re writing for: Decide your tone and voice accordingly. It is okay to write in first person or third person. I personally prefer 1st person. It establishes a bond with your reader.
• Introduce yourself under 20 words: That’s sharp but powerful. Greet them and hold their attention with the most impressive, simple and latest details about you in one or two sentences. Consider this as a decision making opening for them to go read further or not.
• Introduce Your Blog to Set Expectations: Think of a punchy statement to grab attention and tell your visitors to what to expect on your blog. If they have landed from a blog link or social media sites, they are already interested in learning more about you.  Tell them what they will get reading your posts. Talk about the purpose of your blog or hit a story what made you start your blog at first place.
• Share How You can Help: Talk about the problems you can solve. Mention one or two case studies if you want, but make it look realistic with the combination of challenges you have faced and your share of bad luck or failures.
• Don’t make it look like your autobiography, as a detailed history is not necessarily going to add to your brand’s image. Know your audience first, identify your unique selling points, and then create a story that would interest them.
• Add a review or testimonial from someone or even readers: Your new readers will connect faster with other readers and their experiences on your blog. Consider putting a few testimonials or reviews.
• Encourage them to Follow You on Social Media: When you have impressed your readers with all the info on your about me page, it is easier to convince them to follow you on different social media platforms. Be sure that you’re inviting them to networks where you are active, too. Use that opportunity to strengthen relationship with your visitors.
• Add a life reel: Who doesn’t connect with pictures and videos? Show some and play one.
• Have a contact form: I was more likely to connect with blogs I loved when they had a contact form instead of just mentioning their email ids. It’s an effort to copy the email id and compose an email, let’s accept it. Try a short and compact contact form and see the difference.

Write a Killer Short Bio

Your short bio is a little blurb that may appear at the end of your blog posts or may occupy a place in sidebar with your photo. Take the bio as the tiny version of your about me page. You can use this bio on your social networks. This is the bio that gets attention from prospects, event organizers and picky readers.  Here are the tips you should follow to make your short bio count.

• Consider using first person when writing your short bio because it feels much more personal and help you connect quickly with your reader on a more intimate level. It also allows you to write in a conversation tone and makes your unique voice felt.
• Use the space to guide your readers to something more useful. You can mention your upcoming event or book or one of your most in demand services or just direct them to your about me page to read more about you.
• Focus on highlighting the real purpose of your blog. Come straight to the point without wasting any words.

Your Offering Page

There is no prize for guessing the importance of putting together a compelling and promising offering page. After all, it is your money page and you need to present your products and services in the most attractive and convincing manner. The following tips will help simplify the task of creating a good offering page:

• Keep it as clear as possible so your visitors know exactly what you’re offering. Your blog primarily educates and informs your audience but it will eventually bring leads and money opportunities only when your readers clearly understand on what level you can help them. Even the most informative blog will fail to make a difference if the visitors have to spend a lot of time figuring out the types of products or service you offer.
• Use simple names for your products and services to help your visitors get an idea quickly.
• Pay attention to writing clear and concise product/service descriptions. The ultimate goal should be to enhance the user experience and make it easier for the visitors to get what they want. Share the benefits of the products and highlight important features.
• Show the outcome of your services in points. Help them visualize the results.
• Write 5-6 FAQs about your offering. It works well addressing the basic objections.
• Use keywords to make your place in search engines.
• Take advantage of visuals to make your page more interactive. Use flow charts or process infographics to explain how things will work. The right use of visuals helps break the barrier that keeps your visitors from converting.
• Share the benefits of your products and services, but do not forget to make it real by suggesting certain situations when your offerings may not be that suitable for them. Make them feel as if you’re on their side and they will start trusting you more.
• Be sure to share some success stories and add credibility to your page and brand by offering people’s reviews. Make it clear to your visitors that your products and services have helped others in the past and they can expect the same.
• Tell them how the whole process works. Share how they can place their orders and what to expect next. A complete picture of how they can order and receive what they want will take guesswork and uncertainty out of the picture.

Contact Page

The most ordinary page! But putting some thoughts together can make your contact page convert more than you think. Other than sharing your email id and a contact form, this is what you can do to shine.

• Write a personalized text to welcome the reader on your contact page. Remember that the user’s intent is high and personalizing your contact page will add to the intent.
• Ask them if they prefer the response on email or call.
• Give them an idea of response time after they have left their message.
• Send a personalized autoresponder to their email so they receive the confirmation after sending message.
• Invite them to connect on your social pages.

Contribution Page

When you have set up a blog, you need to be consistent in posting useful and interesting content. And you don’t have to be the only person to publish on your blog. Encouraging guest contributions by other reputed professionals from your industry will bring a different style, perspective, knowledge and of course variety of content. No doubt, it will add more authority to your blog.

If you’re up for it, create a contribution page that highlights all the requirements a contributor has to fulfill before getting their content published on your blog. Tell them about the quality standard you expect, and do not forget to explain the process they have to go through to send their post to you.

Your turn now

So, now, you may have gathered the fact that your blog just cannot work unless you know what pages to include, and you already know about the essential content pages you cannot do without. It’s time to act, write these pages or review the ones you already have on your blog.

In the next post, we’ll talk more about designing your blog and understanding when you can try to do it yourself and when it makes sense to let a professional designer and strategist to take charge of a blog design.

Share your comments, questions and feedback about this blogging series. I would love to add your inputs and insights in the coming posts

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