Your About page is one of your most visited pages on your site — the place where your reader is searching to understand who you are as a person, and the emotion and inspiration behind your work. This is the place to let your personality shine, and provide insight into how your art should make them feel.

If someone was deciding between multiple artists, perhaps from the same region or working in the same style, why would they choose you? If you can’t set yourself apart on your About Page and help them feel connected to you and your work, they’re going to make their decision purely off price (going with the cheapest option/artist) and that is a game we do not want to play.

Writing a compelling and effective About page for your website can be a daunting task. As visual artists, we generally prefer to communicate visually and sitting down to craft an About page can feel like a painful chore on your website to-do list.

In fact, it’s one of the topics we were most asked about when we asked our Members for their biggest website struggles (and a priority in our second Foundation Course, Websites for Artists, which covers this in detail and provides helpful exercises to develop your bio and artist statement).

While we were creating content for our Websites for Artists course, we forged a few insightful points that we wanted to pass along to all artists. These tips will help you write your About page for the first time or reevaluate the About page you wrote ages ago that could probably use a little updating.

A few tips to make the most of your About Page.

BE CONSISTENT.

One of the first things to determine about writing your About page is the tense you’ll use throughout the page. Switching from first person to third person is a jolting experience for any reader, so pick one tense and stick with it.

First person is more casual while third person is more formal.

Think about your work and your Ideal Client and which approach may best resonate with their expectations.

BE APPROACHABLE.

It’s important to think about the reader and their background when writing your About page. While certain words may come naturally to you as an art expert, make sure that you’re writing to your Ideal Client and not to other experts— unless of course other experts are your Ideal Client.

This can often mean explaining words like “lithograph, giclee, and slipcast” words that are within your industry but that the general public may not know by definition. If you’re working with premium materials and the best reproduction processes out there, celebrate the quality of your work by using the proper names and make sure you then go on to add a mini definition so your reader will feel informed, and smart for making such a great purchase by buying your work.

It’s easy to hide behind big, fancy words, especially when you may feel a little insecure or unsure about what to say, but we urge you to write like you are talking to a friend. Better yet, talk to a friend and record the conversation — from there, edit and refine your statement, focusing on the elements you repeat that stand out in the conversation.

GET PERSONAL.

This is perhaps the most important element to your About Page — the place to let your personality shine and set yourself apart from other artists, especially those that may be creating work similar to yours.

Create memorable connection points with your audience by sharing who you are behind your work, and use your Artist Statement to help to explain the inspiration and meaning behind your work — beyond the aesthetics, what should they feel when they look at your art, and how will their life change by having it in their home.

Want to learn more about how we teach artists to sell online? Watch our free Workshop here. We’d love to keep in touch and help you on your journey!