How Important is an About Page?
- Posted at: 5:21 pm
- Filed in: Design
I was reading an interesting article the other day about Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes. I must say I agree with about 8 out of the 10 points made, but have never seen that much use with a personal blog having a long about page. I also don’t think an author photo is a vital part to the about biography. But I must admit, an author photo can be nice in some rare cases.
The thing is that I rarely read anyone’s about page, and even considered removing my about page during my last slapdash redesign. The article goes on to say that unless a person’s extraordinarily famous, it’s not enough to simply say that Joe Blogger writes the content. Readers want to know more about Joe. Am I part of the minority, when it comes to blog readers? Do readers really want to know all the ins and outs of who they’re dealing with? Should I focus on writing some long-winded biography or answer some in-depth questionnaire meme to help better my site?
I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary, but I always like to read them. I’ll admit, they are hard to write though — it’s tough to describe yourself/your life and make it sound interesting.
I read the article a week ago and I had the same reservations, not to mention that I felt as if it was targeting more “professional” blogs.
If a blog has an about page I will probably read it, but it won’t be one of my top priorities. Besides I believe I can find out more about the blogger from his posts than his bio. And I don’t think a photo is necessary.
A lot of people read my about page. I know this because people always email me silly comments about my 100 Things list ( which is only linked from my about page)
I removed my picture from my about page… but it was due to some wierdo who was practically stalking me.
I suppose it depends on the blog.
I really do think I am in the minority when it comes to reading an about page. Like Maria, I tend to find out more about the blogger by their writing.
When I read or see nice things, I want to see some more about him/her. People needs idols, because they want to do things as they do but they don’t know how. Then they read the about.
[...] Planning On.. Integrating BadBoy Media’s Nice Forms Fixing up the Contact page to be a bit prettier. Updating my About page with more recent info… does anyone even read these things? [...]
The about page is the second thing I go for – sometimes the first. I want to know what I potentially might have in common with someone before investing myself too much.