There is an art to crafting the written word. Finding a way to take abstracted ideas and distill them into an understandable essence that can be shared with another person is both a gift and a skillset which is powerful when nurtured and allowed to mature. Often, important elements of the things which we think we know the best can be the most difficult to convey. Our excess knowledge of a subject can make speaking about it with simplicity a difficult task to manage due to the amount of nuance that we know accompanies the heart of what we are trying to convey. This was certainly the case with me when trying to present myself well in an “About Me” page.
To understand something in general is a very different thing than having a profound knowledge of the subject matter. Depth of understanding can reach into a subject’s most fundamental levels, but it is not necessarily convoluted and overly complex. There is a gentle simplicity birthed from intimate understanding. In essence this is the distinction between being a neophyte in a field and being a master of it.
When reviewing dozens of websites’ “About Me” pages, I learned a great deal about the importance of not trying to convey everything that I want to say about myself in one page. The goal of the “About Me” page is not to present the most robust expression of who I am. Rather, it is far more effective to keep my target audience in mind and to connect with them genuinely around the points of interest which pertain to the purpose of the website.
Creating cross page alignment in a way that connects to the audience is vital to building an effective website. When I think back to what most profoundly impacted me over the past month, I know that the lessons I have learned regarding how to relate to my audience will be quite beneficial to me in the future. Andrew Wise, in his blog post about “About Me” pages noted that sharing your ‘why’ while showcasing both your personality and that you’re an authority in the industry can inspire an audience to take the desired action (Wise, 2016). That is exactly what I have tried to accomplish by first better understanding who my audience is, and then by sharing my own unique flavor and professional expertise in a clear and concise manner.
Wise, A. (2016). About Me Page: The Ultimate How to Guide. Retreived from https://wisestartupblog.com/about-me-page/