Do you have trouble talking about yourself and explaining your strengths to other people?
If this is the case, you are certainly not alone. There can be a fine line between presenting yourself in the best possible light and simply boasting.
This is the line you have to walk when you create a professional biography. This bio is usually added to your website to tell people who you are and what you do.
So, let’s take an in-depth look at how to write a short bio.
Contents
What Is A Personal Bio?
A personal biography is a concise statement that briefly summarizes the information you want to present to the reader. This is likely to include your credentials and education, professional accomplishments, and important skills and attributes.
A personal bio is often added to a networking platform to present yourself and help your profile stand out. It can also be used on a professional website to present yourself to visitors to the site.
How To Write A Personal Bio?
Trying to pack all the information you want to share into a small space can be challenging. It is a good idea to sketch out an outline before you start writing. Here are some tips on how to write a great bio.
Introduce Yourself
Begin your bio with a short introduction of yourself, mentioning your name and highlighted features in the first sentence. It is important to make the first sentence as strong as possible. Here are some aspects to consider when creating the first sentence.
- Skills – what are the special skills that make you stand out from the crowd?
- Attributes – which specific factors make you great at what you do?
- Personal values – which values have helped shape your personality and helped drive your career?
- Professional values – which of your company’s values do you admire the most?
Other details to consider including in the introduction include the industry you work in and your job title. It is also a good idea to include your regular duties if you are posting on a networking site. This will allow potential employers who find your bio to see instantly if you are a good match.
Keep It Short And Simple
While writing with a word count in mind is generally a bad idea, it helps you keep your bio brief. Working within a word limit will help you to streamline your content. The length of your bio will depend on the purpose you want it to serve.
If you are writing a bio for a networking site, your limit should be around three hundred words. This can be created as a single paragraph or two-three shorter paragraphs. These short bios are meant to capture and hold the reader’s attention. They should be as simple and engaging as possible.
Professional bios are longer…
However, you are likely to want to pack in more information when writing a short bio for your professional website. In this case, 1,500 words should be the limit. The reader should be able to take in all the information in the bio in five minutes or less. Here are some things to include in your short professional bio.
The purpose
It should be clear why you have written the bio. This could be to address customers and clients or obtain a job. The message you want to convey to readers of the bio should be obvious.
Your accomplishments
This can include details of the professional goals you have met. There could be details of professional awards you have been granted. You could include a brief example of a time you exceeded your job responsibilities.
A brief history
This could highlight certain events in your personal life that have shaped your career. This is a good opportunity to briefly show how your personal and professional lives intertwine.
Your education and credentials
Make sure you only include details that are relevant to the side of yourself your bio is presenting. This could include where you went to school, your educational background, or what you studied at college. If you have received educational awards or certifications, naturally include details.
Use the third person
It can feel weird writing about yourself, especially when using the third person. However, your bio needs to be read as if somebody else has written it. You should naturally include your full name in the bio to help with search engine optimization.
Write tactically
While it may be tempting to create a long list of your achievements, this can be off-putting to readers. A much more effective approach is creating strong sentences that present your achievements naturally. Here are some questions to ask yourself when working out what to write:
- Who do you want to read your bio?
- What do you want them to learn from your bio?
- What life events will highlight these points?
Include your contact information
Make sure your contact information is visible at the end of your bio. This will encourage people who read your bio to get in touch. You should include the following contact information:
- Your email address.
- Links to your professional social media platforms.
- A link to your website.
Edit carefully
All your hard work will be wasted if your bio is full of spelling and grammar mistakes. Your bio reflects your editing and writing skills, and any mistakes will stick out like a sore thumb. It is a good idea to use online editing software and ask a friend or family member to check your bio.
How To Write A Short Bio And Make It Stand Out?
Once you have sketched out your bio, it is time to polish it a little. After all, you want your bio to make the biggest impact possible. Here are some ways to make sure your bio attracts the attention it deserves.
Link to your online portfolio
Your bio is an important marketing tool that can be used in a wide range of different ways. You can use it to create a link to any work you have mentioned in your bio. This can bring people to your portfolio and help you gain more clients.
Call to action
End your bio with a short and punchy sentence that inspires readers to get in touch with you. You can include the link to your portfolio in this sentence to make sure it doesn’t go unnoticed.
Apply SEO
After doing the work to create your bio, ask as many people as possible to read it. Most of the work will be done for you if your bio naturally appears in keyword searches. Therefore, you need to make your bio search engine friendly by utilizing SEO. Here are some of the main ways to apply SEO to your bio:
- Use keywords related to your industry or position.
- Add a professional photo.
- Include links to your social media sites.
- Include internal links to your website.
Enhance your online presence
Once you have created a strong bio, it is time to work on other aspects of your personal branding. You need to make sure that your bio is connected to the other elements of your online presence.
You should start by making sure that all photos and posts on your portfolios, social media sites, and websites are professional.
Research your own name!
Type your name into your internet browser search bar and see what information pops up. Make sure that all the information is correct and appropriate. The last thing you want is for a potential employer to stumble across an embarrassing Tweet or Instagram photo.
Make sure your tone and skills are consistent across all your channels. Your branding and tone should perfectly match across all the platforms you use.
Additional Resume Info And Advice!
Now that you know how to write a great bio, let’s focus on that all-important resume with my How To Address A Cover Letter, and How To Write A Letter of Interest, as well as the Most Important Skills To Put On A Resume, How To List Education On A Resume, and Achievements To List On Your Resume.
Next, let’s help improve your online presence with our Best Linkedin Profile Tips, How To Upload A Resume On LinkedIn, or How To Let Recruiters Know You’re Open On LinkedIn, along with how to use LinkedIn Cold Messages, and the most relevant, How To Message A Recruiter On LinkedIn for the ultimate job-seeking tool.
If you’re still feeling lost, why not try reading the How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile… And 18 Mistakes to Avoid, and the Expert Resumes and Linkedin Profiles for Managers & Executives or the well-known LinkedIn For Dummies, and LinkedIn Profile Optimization For Dummies all available online in 2023.
Final Thoughts
The trick to writing a good bio is not overthinking it. Personal bios have been around for decades, and nobody is expecting you to reinvent the wheel.
Although you want your bio to stand out, there is nothing wrong with sticking to the accepted format. If you are stuck for inspiration, take the time to check out other bios. Highlight features of the bios that make them particularly appealing and try to replicate those features.
If you find a structure that you really like, there is nothing wrong with copying the style and format. Just make sure that the information you include is accurate and reflects your most important skills and attributes.
Good luck in creating your Professional Biography!