Our top tips on how to write a better bio & sell yourself… because no one else will.
1. Know your bio’s purpose
Your bio is there to show who you are, what you’ve done and to give others a feel for what makes you unique. Use it to showcase your most relevant skills and experiences, for an intended audience.
I’m a __. I help __ make __.
When I’m not __, you can find me__.
2. Be professional but with personality
What do you want the readers to know about you as a professional? Focus on what makes you a superstar. Keep it short & sweet. Use your real name. On Instagram, use bullet points, and a call to action. Read your bio aloud.
3. Name-drop
Boost your credentials by shouting out the biggest names you’ve been associated with. Make these names relevant to where the bio is appearing. eg. Clients: Nike, Disney, San Francisco
4. Show Off
Sell yourself as no one else will. Readers should come off with a sense of confidence after reading your bio. Won any awards? Now is the time to share. Can fold your tongue into three? Maybe not share.
5. Consider hiring an expert
Struggle at writing? Hire someone, tell them your story and let them make you shine. Consider it an investment in your success.
We took our own advice… See our case study below showing a before and after, from a professional copywriter.
6. Tailor your bio for each use
Your bio should adapt to each platform or use case scenario. Create different versions of your bio including a long version, a short version and for different industries or platforms. Instagram’s bio is different to what you may use on a website or publication.
Below you can see two versions of my bio, one for my Instagram and another I used for a Webinar in the tourism industry.
Instagram Bio
Webinar Bio
Before & After Bio Case Study
I had a copywriter, Jordan Aspen, rewrite the bio that I wrote. This is their case study showing how they improved it:
“Most designers can write a decent bio for themselves—but a decent bio doesn’t accurately reflect a high-quality designer.
Jacob Cass has worked with clients like Disney and done rebrands for cities like San Francisco. It’s obvious that his work is high quality; he deserves a bio to match.
This particular bio will be used in a webinar. The goal is to impress people in the tourism industry and intrigue them so they will be eager to listen to the content following Jacob’s introduction. He wrote up a bio himself and shared it on Instagram, challenging any copywriters in his audience to do better. I took the challenge.
I took the information in Jacob’s bio and rearranged it with the end listener in mind:
- I began with how he helps his clients. After all, his listeners don’t so much care about him as their own needs.
- People are most likely to remember the last thing they hear or read. I ended with the details that are most relevant to their industry so as to drive home the point that Jacob isn’t simply impressive, he’s the right person for *their* job.
- I also reformatted the paragraphs and reworded the sentences to create a more readable final product, whether this bio is read aloud, shared on a slide, or both.
Jacob was so happy with my version of his bio that he not only plans to use it in the webinar instead of the one he wrote, he is also sharing the before and after in order to help his audience learn to write better bios.
There may not be anything “wrong” with a bio you write yourself, but hiring a professional can give you the edge you need to actually be remembered.”
Have any other tips on how to write a better bio? Let us know!
Some of the above tips have been paraphrased from 99u’s article ‘how to write a better bio’ by Erin Scottberg.
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