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Vendor Tips is our monthly column for wedding vendors, featuring advice on getting more bookings and growing your wedding biz. Last month we looked at making your website functional and beautiful. This month we’ve talking about your website bio or About Me page.

Did you know that your About Me page is usually the second page on your website potential brides will click on? It is vital that your website about page accurately portrays not only what your company does and who you do it for, but who you are and what you’ve set out to achieve with your business. A friendly, personable website bio will show a bride that you’re a real person who can be trusted.

So what should your website bio/About Me page include? There are no hard-and-fast rules, and the contents of each bio will differ from industry to industry and company to company.

Tell a Story

Your About page is meant to be interesting, so grab your reader’s attention with a story. Talk about how you founded the company, how you came to be a cake decorator or a dressmaker, or how the company has grown over the last few years. Showing not just who you are now, but how you got there, will make your page – and your company – much more real and enticing.

Explain What Makes You Different

Every bride can choose between a hundred different florists, cupcake bakeries or invitation designers. What makes your company unique? Is it the fact that you use recycled materials, that you use only the highest quality ingredients, or that you’re proudly Made in New Zealand? Find your unique selling point, and ensure that it is emphasized throughout your About page.

Explain why you are qualified

Any lass with a sewing machine can call herself a dressmaker, but you need to instil confidence in potential brides that by hiring you, they’re ensured of a high quality, professional service. Don’t scrimp on listing your degrees and experience, including how many years you’ve been in the wedding business and magazines and media appearances.

Get the Voice Right

How the words are put together is just as important as the words themselves. This means you’re not just writing a biography of your company in a boring, neutral tone – you’re talking directly to your potential clients. So speak to them about aspects of your business that will interest them. Don’t use words or phrases that will offend them, and try to bring the message back to what your business can do for them. Think of your About Me page as an extension of your brand.

Add a Call to Action

At the end of your About Me page, make sure to link prominently to your online store, contact page or gallery of work. It may seem like a simple thing, but giving readers the link they need to take the next step will help you close the sale.

Include a Photograph

Brides like to see the face behind the business. This is especially true if your services are online-only, or if you won’t be meeting with the bride until the wedding day. Having a photograph of yourself or your staff helps visitors to your website trust you – they see that you are a real business with real people behind-the-scenes.

Choose a photograph that shows you looking at the camera and smiling, or helping a bride with a task associated with your business (hemming her dress, or choosing a wedding cake). Avoid photographs that are over- or under-exposed, show you frowning or show your business in a bad light (e.g. Photographs shot in your studio that shows mess in the background).

After your home page and your “buy my stuff” page, your About Me page is one of the most important pages on your website. So take the time to get it right, and create a bio that not only tells the story of your company, but also explains what makes you different (and therefore more awesome) than other vendors in your niche.

What are your struggling with on your vendor website? What have you done to improve your bio page?