30 Days to Being a Better Blogger
Day 1: All about the “About” page
I struggled a bit to figure out exactly where to start this challenge off, when I realized that the first step is to define your blog as well as yourself. Which of course leads us to the “About” page. The about page often gets overlooked as people tend to focus most of their time and efforts on the actual blog posts and keeping up the frequency of them. However, when you get right down to it, the About page is absolutely critical to a blog. It provides visitors insight into who the author is, what they can expect to see on the blog, and what sort of lenses the information is being viewed through.
There are two key questions your about page should answer.
- Who is the author of this blog?
- What is this blog all about?
Who are you?
This seems like such a simple question, but it can get a little complicated. For example, how much info are you prepared to disclose? Transparency is a good thing, but some people prefer to keep their private life… well, private! Others are perfectly comfortable sharing every detail with their audience. This is where you draw that line. Your about page should at least share your name, whether it be real or a pseudonym, a brief bio, and at least one way to contact you. This should be the short version of your bio. If you’d like to post a full CV, that’s great. But don’t do it here. Think about making it one focused paragraph. Feel free to show off though! Include where you’ve presented, anywhere else you publish and so on…
Personally, I would suggest including a photo. It personalizes the blog and gives people a visual image to keep in mind when they’re reading. However, if you are uncomfortable posting a photo, then put up some logo or avatar that will serve as your headshot for the blog.
Just to clarify, while I’m pretty open with regards to my personal life, you don’t need to be. However, even if you do want to keep things private, you should still include information that defines who you are in the About page. For example, even if you don’t want to give away that you’re a first grade teacher in Springfield Illinois, you could still say something like “I teach primary students in the midwest”.
There’s nothing wrong with having fun with the page either. But the end result is that by the time they leave it, they should have an idea who you are as a person.
What’s your blog about?
This tends to be a more complicated question than many people think. What are you trying to accomplish with your blog? Who are you writing it for? What kinds of articles do you try to post about and how is your perspective different than everybody else’s? Those are the sorts of things you should include in the second half of your About page. For example, you could say that you write about current trends in education. That’s all well and good, but that’s what EVERYONE does! How is your perspective different? Do you focus on special education? Is your primary interest in integration strategies? Are you lower school, middle school or secondary school based? Do you have any experience? Are you writing about your own personal thoughts, or just sharing things you think other people might be interested in?
Think about some of these questions and write yourself a declaration of what your blog is all about. Don’t stress if you aren’t 100% satsified with it the first time around, thankfully you can go back and edit it later. This may be very challenging to do, but it can definitely help define yourself as a blogger and give you some focus.
That doesn’t mean you need to pigeonhole yourself though. Keep in mind that many people BELIEVE their focus to be something entirely different than what it actually IS. If you’ve been blogging a while, go back through your last 20 posts and see what topics you’ve covered. Maybe create a wordle and see what words come up most frequently. Figure out what defines your blog at its core, and let visitors know what that is. It gives them a reason to tune in and subscribe.
And the rest…
A couple of last pieces of this challenge. Make sure that your About page has a way to contact you. It may be a link to your “Contact me” page, your email address or your IM information, that’s up to you. But make sure that if they visit your About page, they have a way to communicate with you directly BESIDES the comment form.
Also, make sure your About page stands out. It should get a prominent link on your blog. Preferably in a top navigation bar, but if not, definitely towards the top of the sidebar. No matter what, it should always be above the fold.
Finally, bear in mind that the about page should be in a state of flux. Whenever something significant happens, your about page should be updated. It should never be allowed to get stale, as it’s one of the first places that visitors often go. And while your posts will always be scrolling off the front page, it’s the one constant that defines your blog.
Extra Credit
Steve Lawson, someone I met at Nokia’s OpenLabs, had a very creative idea, which was to create custom About pages for specific sites that people generally arrive from. He makes his primary landing page be his general About page, but then he also has a different custom About page for people who are arriving from Twitter. I love that idea, so you can really tailor it to your audience. So if you’re already very happy with your About page, then consider making a couple of others, and tailoring them to the social sites that you frequent. Then, instead of linking to http://mysite.com from Facebook, link people to http://mysite.com/about-facebook. You get the idea.
After you have finished updating your about page, leave a comment here with a link so people can check it out! Oh yeah, and also let your readers know so they can see the changes as well. And don’t forget to include the tag “30D2BBB”
For more information, visit ProBlogger’s tips for creating an About Page.
And now… I’m off to create my own (which has been missing for some time)!
UPDATE: Finished!
UPDATE 2: Had a question about how to create an about page on Blogger.com. While you can’t create static pages in Blogger, I did find a great post that walks you through a workaround for doing so.
- Day 14: Leave a Message at the Beep
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- Day 16: Your Greatest Hits
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Nancy
11/1/2008
Woohoo! Sat down at my computer, glanced at the calendar and realized that Day 1 of the 30D2BBB challenge had begun. I quickly headed over to this blog to see what the challenge would be. And boy, what a challenge it was for me! I purposefully deleted the ‘About’ section of my blog when I first began because, frankly, I wasn’t sure I wanted anyone to know who I was. But you’ve convinced me Steve so I’ve added it back in.
http://just-in-time-tech.blogspot.com
Natalie
11/1/2008
I REALLY like this so far. I made some minor changes to my about page, but the Wordle check was more interesting for me. My whole goal was to blog about using technology resources to help my students and that seems to be what I’m doing! http://eztechintegration.blogspot.com/2008/11/day-1-of-blogger-challenge-update-about.html
Natalie´s most recent blog post.. Day 1 of Blogger Challenge: update the About page
[...] Read more from the original source: Day 1: All about the “About” page [...]
Kate Tabor
11/1/2008
Day 1 – and I had to create a gmail account so that I could give a contact email. Oops, forgot to tag it.
http://tabor330.wordpress.com/about/
Kate Tabor´s most recent blog post.. Lick and a Promise
Steve
11/1/2008
@Kate That’s a really good idea! I don’t actively use it anymore (used to when I was podcasting), but I do have teach42@gmail.com registered just for blog emails. It forward to my usual email account, but it helps to keep things organized.
Glad you brought that up!
[...] this month for Teach42’s 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger. Day 1’s activity is to Update your About page. I have done so, although I will need to go back sometime later and add in a whole bunch of [...]
Sean Nash
11/1/2008
This will be fun…
No way will I be able to keep up. This will be a pretty serious slide for the next thirty days. I do appreciate this though.
I will be making all the folks near me aware of this series. Thanks for doing this.
And yes- the word cloud was telling. I have used those for a ton of things thus far, but had never turned the gun back at my own blog yet. What was I thinking?
The “about” page: http://nashworld.edublogs.org/about/
Sean Nash´s most recent blog post.. How do you bookmark a pumpkin?
[...] ambitious task. I feel particularly giddy if I roll off more than one post in a week. And the assignment for day one: the “About” page. Seems simple enough. However, even though this page comes [...]
Jim Stewart
11/1/2008
Thanks Steve for helping me clean up my blog. It was a good thing to look at my About page because it hasn’t been updated since I created it almost three years ago! My how time flies! Looking to more tips to keep my blog in tip top shape.
Jim Stewart´s most recent blog post.. Common Craft: Electing a US President in Plain English
Jerry Swiatek
11/1/2008
Steve,
Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I write a new post about once a week on my blog, so this will be the kick in the rear that I need to express myself more often. Thanks for your hard work!!! I’ve updated my about page and it can be viewed at http://citrushightechnology.com/about.
Jerry Swiatek´s most recent blog post.. SimplyBox – revolutionizing student research?
Selena Ward
11/1/2008
1 down, 29 to go! I realized that my About Me was really bad and didn’t say anything. I hope this is a better version!
Selena Ward´s most recent blog post.. Beginning New Challenges
Pat
11/1/2008
Thank for a wonderful challenge! I need motivation like this to move out of my comfort zone! My blog is called Successful Teaching and can be found at http://successfulteaching.blogspot.com.
Pam Shoemaker
11/1/2008
I haven’t visited my About page for a LONG time, so this was a nice reminder. I updated my email address and spruced it up a bit.
http://shoemap.edublogs.org/about/
Pam Shoemaker´s most recent blog post.. Discovery/MACUL Event a Success!
Jo Schiffbauer
11/1/2008
OK… It may take me more than 30 days to make it through the 30D2BBB, but I’ve just done the first day’s assignment. Sort of. I worked on my profile (on Blogger). It’s not a separate About page (yet). And I haven’t figured out how to add some minimal HTML so there are spaces between the paragraphs. But it’s a start! Jo
30D2BBB
Jo Schiffbauer´s most recent blog post.. FiveThirtyEight… electoral projections
Ben Grey
11/1/2008
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…me. http://bengrey.com/blog/?page_id=2
One suggestion I didn’t follow is the direct contact link. That tends to be problematic as once your email address is explicitly linked, the wonderfully nefarious spam bots tend to strike.
Ben Grey´s most recent blog post.. Building Better Backchannels
[...] first entry in this thirty day journey is Day 1: All about the “About” page. So, let me spent the last 13 minutes of today crafting a better about page – for those wondering [...]
Martha Thornburgh
11/1/2008
Spent some time spiffing some things up on my blogs today. Thanks for the challenge. Hopefully I can keep up. http://digital-doors.blogspot.com/
Martha Thornburgh´s most recent blog post.. Web 2.0 Wednesday Challenge Week 9: Flickr
Chris Wherley
11/1/2008
Look forward to posting my new About page for the challenge, but I have been challenged by edublogs being down at the moment 
Check out my progress at http://www.learningandsharing.info when you can get to it. Day 1 almost complete. Hope Day 2 goes better.
Later,
chris
Jo Schiffbauer
11/2/2008
UPDATE! It’s a separate About Me page now… and I have the HTML on the Profile page working. Yay!
Jo Schiffbauer´s most recent blog post.. About Me
Mike Curtin
11/2/2008
This is great. In addition to updating my About page, which I probably hadn’t looked at since I started blogging two years ago, I discovered that when I changed themes, the link to it had disappeared altogether! Now it’s back.
Take a look:
http://mikecurtin.edublogs.org/about/
Thanks, Steve!
Mike Curtin´s most recent blog post.. Inspiration Hits the Web
Linda704
11/2/2008
OK, I did it! Since I’ve had this blog for almost a year, it’s been long overdue. It’s a start, and like everything else, a “work in progress” http://visitmyclass.com/blogs/edpsliteracy/about.aspx Thanks for the push!
Linda704´s most recent blog post.. How to Get More from the Web? Twitter!!!
Michelle Krill
11/2/2008
Here’s mine: http://mkrill.edublogs.org/meet-me/ . I can already see I will have trouble keeping up with all 30 days, but going to give it an honest try.
Chris Wherley
11/2/2008
Find my About Me page at http://www.learningandsharing.info/about-me and my Contact Me page at http://www.learningandsharing.info/contact-me
Bring on Day 2.
Chris Wherley´s most recent blog post.. Using MyPlick.com for podcast
Jay
11/2/2008
I have modified my about page. Looking forward to day 2!
Mark Hall
11/2/2008
I have been putting off blogging because I don’t know how to do it well. This series gives me the inspiration- and tools- to start. Thanks.
Kelly B
11/2/2008
Thanks for this! Going to try to do all 30 days to improve the blog.
http://shortcomp.edublogs.org/about/
Kelly B´s most recent blog post.. links for 2008-11-02
[...] DAY ONE: THE ABOUT ME PAGE The About page is absolutely critical to a blog. It provides visitors insight into who the author is, what they can expect to see on the blog, and what sort of lenses the information is being viewed through. [...]
Elaine Plybon
11/2/2008
Starting a day late, but better late than never! I’m sitting in an airport right now but I will update my about me page and reevavluate what my blog is all about. I really appreciate what you said about how we start off planning to do one thing but often our focus drifts. Looking forward to participating this month!
Do you have any suggestions on how often a person should post to their blog?
Liz Davis
11/2/2008
I just started using http://www.retaggr.com/ as my online profile. You can create an interactive business card with links to all of your other online identities. You can customize it to embed on your blog. It includes a “contact me” link which goes to your email, via retaggr so you don’t have to create a new email. I think it looks pretty cool.
My “about me” information is pretty brief. Thanks for the challenge to beef it up a bit.
-Liz
Liz Davis´s most recent blog post.. A Day In A Sentence
Lynne
11/2/2008
Aloha Steve! I took your advice and revised my About me page. It’s still a work in progress. After looking at some of the people that posted here I’m going back to revise again.
Mahalo
Lynne
http://blogs.ksbe.edu/lyhoriuc
Lynne´s most recent blog post.. I.T. Curriculum 2.0
Patrick Balck
11/2/2008
Got your information from Kate Ahern’s blog and decided to take your challenge, check it out here:
Patrick
http://teachingall.blogspot.com
Patrick Balck´s most recent blog post.. Using a Bigmac
CAthy Nelson
11/3/2008
Okay i’m late but i’m in. What tag should we use for the challenge? Was that said somewhere and I’m just not caught up? what about “30DBBB”?
CAthy Nelson´s most recent blog post.. Happy Blog Birthday Mr. Granito!
[...] Dembo’s 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger has arrived at the perfect time. I haven’t been blogging much lately because I seem to be [...]
Chasunci
11/3/2008
Your challenge comes at a time when students, educators and businesses are trying to harness the power and value of web 2.0 applications such as blogging. I am new to the idea of blogging and will be looking forward to the tips and ideas that you share as well as the participants who will follow along. After watching your webinar on “Internet Safety” I embraced the idea of students using blogs as a way to pad their digital portfolios in a positive manner. I’m looking forward to picking up 30 more tips in the days to come.
Chasunci´s most recent blog post.. Challenge: 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger
Michelle Bourgeois
11/3/2008
Steve,
Thanks for the tips for creating a better blog About page. I’ve updated mine to add a picture and included links to the new web tools I’ve begun using recently.
To make mine a bit unique, I wrote it using the “Story Spine” template that’s used often as an opening Improv activity. Want to know more about the Story Spine? You’ll find a link to a definition and my own story spine teacher on my About page! (http://milobo.edublogs.org/about/)
Michelle Bourgeois´s most recent blog post.. Who’s the teacher here?
Chris Prout
11/5/2008
Finally got started on the 30 Day Challenge! I could not figure out how to add a tag to the page. Thanks for the challenge.
Chris Prout´s most recent blog post.. Shhhhh…. There’s a Ninja in the Classroom
Nedra
11/8/2008
Getting a late start on this challenge but better late than never right? Day one is complete except for the photo. Edublogs is not playing nice when it comes to pictures tonight. I’ll try again later. Thanks for starting this!
Heather Voran
11/10/2008
Well…better late than never, but it is done!
http://theventurousedge.com/?page_id=5
Heather Voran´s most recent blog post.. Techforum Southwest-Cultivating Your Network, David Warlick
Lorna Costantini
11/11/2008
I absolutely love the suggestion for 2 different ‘about’ pages. One for the main interface and the second for twitter about. It makes so much sense when you work in the 140 character limit to have a short and to the point entry for twitter folks.
[...] By referral from Mark Wagner’s Ed Tech Life blog I found “30 days to being a better blogger” at Teach 42. [...]
Lorraine
11/21/2008
Hello all, Posted on day 11 but somehow it didn’t work. I have been watching and reading all the updates that I have time for. Thanks for this on Twitter Steve and @lizdavis – the blog is important but to do it well takes time that many of us don’t have. I have committed to the process but will do it at my own pace. One update so far! Thanks for the inspiration!
Lorraine´s most recent blog post.. Accountability
[...] the challenge at any time! People who just learned about the challenge yesterday could very easily start themselves back on Day 1 and work through it. And if they do, they’ll have the benefit of all of your comments and [...]
Chad Lehman
12/2/2008
Well, I finally got around to this. Better late than never, I guess.
You can find my blog at: http://www.chadlehman.com or http://imcguy.blogspot.com
[...] and Contact. I was reading through Steve’s “30 Days to Being a Better Blogger” at Teach42 and I realized I had neither a contact form nor an About page. [...]
Leigh Zeitz (Dr. Z)
12/29/2008
It’s not November, but I am going to proceed through Steve’s 30 steps. I began by expanding my profile and my blog descriptions. http://drzreflects.com or http://drzreflects.blogspot.com
Leigh Zeitz (Dr. Z)
12/29/2008
It’s not November, but I am going to proceed through Steve’s 30 steps towards becoming a better blogger. I have worked hard to create good content but now I need to upgrade my blog to encourage traffic.
I began by expanding my profile and my blog descriptions. http://drzreflects.com or http://drzreflects.blogspot.com
Leigh Zeitz (Dr. Z)´s most recent blog post.. You DON’T have to be an Expert
Melanie Ruiz
1/2/2009
I finallt did it! Better late than never!
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/ruizmy/about/
[...] too public for me. Anyway, Steve Dembo from Discovery did a series back in November called “30 days to becoming a better blogger.” I meant to do it then, and didn’t, so here I am doing it [...]
Jennifer Jensen
1/3/2009
Okay, I’m taking on the challenge…I am using Blogspot and I’m not sure how to create a “page.” Any ideas?
Thanks!
[...] blogger. Is this truly something I want to do – well kinda, maybe, sorta! I’ll go back to Steve Dembo’s 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger and try out his suggestions. I’m sure this could help – actually anything could help. [...]
Linda704
2/9/2009
Doing 30 days to better blog challenge http://tinyurl.com/6ecrp9 Day 1 It’s all about… http://tinyurl.com/5n9o9n Feedback welcome!
A Reflective Anniversary | nashworld
4/21/2009
[...] and I began to feel a true mission for the blog. When November began, I followed along with Steve Dembo in his 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger adventure. That experienced helped tremendously. Also [...]
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