Episode 387: About Pages With Todd Jones

Hey everybody, Rob here again. And today I’m here with my guest, Mr. Todd E Jones. I had to say it that way. We’re kind of talking before the pre show. How are. You take on.

Catala LA. For anybody listening who don’t know who LA night is, he’s a he’s a superstar on Smackdown and WWE LA Night says LA night. So it’s Todd E Jones. There you go. You know, before we got on, I was looking at Facebook and somebody posted a video, an old American bandstand. Remember **** **** Clark. And there was a autograph. Autograph turned on the radio. Like, what? A great song to get pumped up for for a podcast. I like to listen to interject songs.

Yeah, the correct.

Before I’ll do a podcast interview and that was like that. Got me go. I didn’t have to pull up a a wrestling theme song to do it, so I was really happy with that. That’s a great song though.

To one one of my favorite songs to listen to before I do a podcast is more than a feeling by Boston. It’s just kind of I play quite frequently when I.

You you kind of feel like you’re like you, like you had a little good stuff and you got more than a feeling.

Yeah, so true. So true today. I thought we’d talk about we’re kind of talking this week about some changes you’re making to the about page framework and an offer you’ve got and all kinds of stuff. Let’s jump into about pages. I think the about page is one of the most important pages on your website and you probably agree with me. I would think. Why?

Well, you know I I need to write that article right about. Why it’s so good, you know? Having about page one of the first things I tell people and and you and I have been building and looking at website and Alex for 15 plus years, whatever and almost without exception. Minus blog pages, you’re among your what I call main artery pages. You’re, you know, it is almost without exception, the second most of your page among home, about services and all that stuff about pages where people go when they want to know more about the company behind the product or the service. And they want. To know that there’s some they want, they want some validation that you’re an expertise or that you have. You know some, you know. Experience. Know what you’re doing so. It’s it’s almost like. I tell people I want to say that you. Know when somebody gets ready by they go. To the. About page like they. They look at your homepage, maybe they peruse your service page maybe. They’ve looked at what you have to. Offer, but then they’re going to go to that. About page and like who is this? And so there’s all kinds of issues outside about pages. I don’t want to get into that now, but that’s the first thing. So I think about page is a place. Where you have to. Connect with your user when they know something a little bit about you, our friend Ryan Waterbury has a picture of him and bud on his about page. I know that. Bud is his best. Friend and he loves Britney Spaniards and he’s involved in a rescue organization for them. That is something you know instantly. So you know in in addition to the fact that Ryan has been doing this a very long time and he has all the expertise and so forth. You connect with him like they, I love cats so.

Yeah. Yes.

You know, we have this thing like, you know, as much as he loves Britney Spaniards. I love cats and we share all these videos and it’s Instagram. It’s a connector right to the person. Who’s looking at your website? So that is 1. Thing I think. It it really does showcase it should showcase if. You’re doing about page. Well, your expertise and there’s a. Ways of doing that in. Which I use in in the framework idea that I have. So you know, but but I. Go back and if you’re telling it. Storytelling right should be center of. Your ballot page in my opinion. That, but if you tell your story to some degree, that connection you know I. Talked about when I talked. About Ryan and Bud, but.

There is a there’s a.

Physiological thing behind that right? Doctor Paul. Zach who I think he’s at Claremont now. He did a study years ago and realized that when we engage storytelling, our body releases the, the, the chemical oxytocin, not Oxycontin. Although it has a similar effect. Oxytocin, which is what? A lot of people. Call the love hormone. It’s the same chemical released when a mother is bonding with her. Now I’ve got a sweet niece who’s about 2526. Whatever she is, and she’s got. A three-year old. Little boy. The bonding she has with that. Boy is special. And of course, we all love on that boy as well. Boy, moms are really fascinating to watch. They really bond. I mean, they every every mom bombs their baby. But oxytocin. Is that? That chemical and when we engage storytelling, Dr. Zach found out that it releases that same chemical and each each one of us mom or whatever. Whatever we are. I’m not a mom or dad, but you know, so it’s like when you listen like murder, feeling very well may have some connotation that takes you back to another time. You know the songs, the storytelling and songs, the storytelling and movies and documentaries and books. Just learning about something is the storytelling can really make that connection. So I don’t know if that answers your question very distinctly, but it is about, you know. Location your expertise creating a connection just that and that itself creates trust. So I used to say and I’ve said this on Colleen Gratzer’s podcast is like look. Buying something without an about page, especially a larger ticket item, is like going is like trying to buy something off of Craigslist on the dark side of town with somebody you’ve never met. You just don’t do it. And this is to. Me. How many companies I see come across? With know about page or a very token. About page I should say.

I I agree with it and I think where people have a tough time with their about pages they don’t like talking about themselves. So kind of the.

This is true.

Way I I. Do my marketing. It’s interesting. When I when I’m out speaking and on stage I have no problem because my attitude was speaking is. That’s my space. I need to own it. Well, you need to own your outbound page to say what? That’s your website. You need to own it and just do.

Yeah. And the other thing is we’ve heard for so. Long and it’s not bad, it’s. Actually a smart thing. But we’ve heard so long to make your website about your user, make your website about your. Visitor and it’s true. But I tell people on your about page, you have the permission to talk about yourself a little bit right. There actually has to be a connection between. Your, your your target audience. And you right, there has to be some connection. So you have to. Have both present. On that about page. So if that makes any. Sense at all.

No question if you ever looked at my about page, the picture on my about page is actually me speaking at Podcamp 2023 last year. So you gotta use something relevant. The other thing is too is don’t be afraid to say on your about page what you do do right because I think. People have a tough time with that and it’s like I’ve got a bio that I use for when I do interviews. When I do speaking. And it basically it’s a mini bile, but it basically rattles off everything I do do now. Speaking of the above.

Is a good thing to put on about pay, especially for solo producers, and I would even say, well, one thing is if you don’t have what you feel is a good story to tell and you’re working through. That now go ahead and put your put your bio up there. You just substitute that for your story for now. Maybe you’ll change it later. I have seen people successfully do both a story, right? And then at. The bottom they’re vile and I have no issues with that, especially solo printers. I have seen people like any poor field and Selena. To do that. It’s an excellent thing to do. Because you know it’s an, it’s. More of a credibility. Building but you to your point about tell people what you do. I always counsel people. To make that headline a value prop headline. So. It’s basically, you know, you’re telling you you want to be clear about who. You are what you do and. Who you get for? So even on the boundaries.

Yeah, I I agree with you. Should you put? Media stuff on your about page. And here’s an interesting one. So the the approach I go. Is. I prefer my media stuff on the media page. You’ve seen it. You’ve commented about it. Colleen’s commented about it. You know, my media page is like a list of. Who’s what I’ve done, including in person presentations in the last couple of years. Other podcasts have been on articles, have been written up about things like that. What do you think? Should they be separate or the same, or should they overlap?

I’m going to go with. It depends on how many appearances. You have made. If you’re very earlier.

I’ve had.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Somebody like you, who’s had lots, should have a separate pace. Now. That being said, I think you should have, like, a teaser, like maybe even put three of your best appearances like you. Know three column layout. And then see more button to take people to that media page. I think Media page is great. Because you have like the full complement of your media appearances and some testimonials, and it’s also a great place where you can put a media kit. So maybe you’re a speaker at a work camp or some other podcast camp or whatever. And and they’re like, hey, we need a we’re going. To need a headshot. Well. It’s all my. Media page there’s a headshot. There’s the official bio here on. My social media. Profiles you can go and. You know you can download. All that maybe how maybe you have. A fix where they can download. It and just you know. Use it so that. Is an excellent thing to do. To have those official. Little things that you need for appearances, whether it’s a a in person speaking, or even on a podcast or something like that.

I I think I have a media kit. I I actually need that doing to the media page but I have one that I give out because it just makes life so much easier. Especially when you get in here.

And then there.

The other thing I was going to say is that this is now you’re getting into the place where a a company will have what I call about Page suite. You have more stuff than you can realistically include all of it on your about page. So you start having sub pages under the about. Page so you have a media page. Maybe you have a page that details your why a little bit more than what you have on your about page. You know, and usually those are companies that do that they they’re a little bit bigger than a sole. For newer, they may have a team. They you know, there’s some things. That you might want to separate off of your. About page, you know for a solar. Producer doesn’t have a whole lot. Their about page is pretty well in it all-encompassing, but if you’re a company and you got much more, you didn’t treat your about page like a home page. For those about pages you know. So if that makes any sense.

You know, last year I did. I’m trying to think I probably did eight or nine other appearances. I mean, you know, I do this week in WordPress pretty regularly, that’s every five or six weeks. Then I do. I’ve done other speaking, I was written up in a couple of journals. I did a couple of other podcasts. I’ve got one coming up actually tomorrow where I’m recording a podcast. At the time of this record.

Right.

For another agency, podcasting, which is outside of the WordPress site, we’re going to talk about growing your agency, which will be amazing. I’ve done some things like that and then I’ve, you know, I’ve been around in multiple places. So that kind of helps. What is the biggest mistake people make within about pitch?

I think just making it a token about page, I’ll find a a page and there’s like a like a. Two or three word. Paragraph and that’s it. You got more to say than that. That’s one I see a lot superlatives even on your about page. We’re the best. We’re we we have this we have that you know with. This with this. With that kind of the whole week centered and and. Now I told. You you can talk about yourself. You can’t. But if you even. Though we talk about yourself, it’s still directed to. The person who’s. Coming to read your about this, you don’t want to be and the other thing I see a lot of people do is they turn it into a CV. What curriculum? But but I can say CV. Yeah. And it’s just like.

It’s not. No, no.

You know a. Lot of developers do that if you’re listening. And and if you have that, that’s great. Make it a page. Under your about page, you know if you. Want to know more? But those are just bullet those are. Bullet points about stuff you did, it’s. Like almost reads like a resume. In fact, if you listen to people who help people do resumes these days, they’re they actually are more or less leaving that whole CV type format and becoming more benefit driven in resumes. And so it it you know these days it it just if you just don’t take it seriously you know. And you’ve you’ve. Created a a token page you’ve maybe made. It the last thing. I tell people and this is how. I was on a podcast and I think. Nathan, legally a long time ago about the website copy framework and I said you know, I I didn’t think about this till after I published about the website. Of copy framework. But I would start with the about page first and the reason is you basically build what I call a mini brand story with the about page. The way I teach you to do it, you’re building a mini about mini brand page or many brand strategy because everything you need to do the home page and some of. The other stuff. You will have gathered a lot of that just to do. The about page. So it’s a great jump off point. So it you know, kind of you kind of build. A brand story that way.

I I would agree with you what’s traditionally something people do really well on an about page. You’ve seen enough of them.

Do well. On our about page, you know when somebody. Leads with their origin story, whether it’s a company or you know if you do nothing else on your about page and Orange Origin story is going to be Uber effect. In fact, when I I’ll mention her again. Amy porterfield. I read I did breakdown on hers years ago. I’m sure she’s changed a few times since then, but fantastic. And whenever I see pages like that, I’m like a a copywriter wrote this about page because they did all the things that they did. And hers is very narrative. Her story was the story that she wants her audience to have, so it works really well for her. I think you’ll see the same thing with Selena Sue. A lot of good, really good sass companies will have really good about they just because they’ve hired A copywriter to do it. And they’ll do that. So I think the, you know, if you don’t have anything else, a great origin story would be something that you could, you know, if you if you’re trying everything else. Just tell your origin story. Maybe a few years ago I was doing last year, maybe I was doing a Q&A article at Main WP and I came across a freelancer that I wanted to highlight and I went to her about page and she answered almost all my questions on her about page and she had a really compelling, gorgeous story. And I’m and I have since then used her about. Page as an example. In some of my about page stuff because. You know, she she had a really compelling origin story and I’m like, you know, if every solopreneur had this kind of a origin story, it worked super long, but it was enough for you to feel the pain that she was going through. And the change. That she made and how she really loves helping other people like her. You know, with the technology component of their business. And I was like this is very good. So and. I told her very good, very good.

So with about pages you have the website copy framework and you have an offer going on right now. What is this? What is it?

I called the dot page. Workshop and back in the summer we did a training session and I had one person to show. Up about six or seven signed up, but they couldn’t make it and so it it. We did. The went through the slide deck and recorded it. And I thought, well, I could just repurpose this and turn it into about page training workshop. Basically it’s it’s a sell on gum Rd. got it marked on discount right now it will go up on February 1st, but you have until the end of the month to get the discount. And you know, I think a. Few of you said. Ohh let’s it should cost more. Than that, well, maybe it should, but. It’s a 61 page video. You I go through the slide deck, you get the slide. Deck you get. My notes which I actually updated afterwards to make sure every. Clear. So you have the note. You could probably go through the slide deck and the notes and skip the video and get what you need out of it. To be honest with you. But the. 61 minutes of. Me talking about about page going through. There’s about six ingredients I’ve talked about. In that, and then a few other. So you’re talking about 10 minutes of. An ingredient, maybe, depending on the ingredient. Plus, I talked about a few other. Bonus type things at the end so. Is, you know. That, that’s that’s. What it is it’s it’s a it’s a. Package deal. You get it, you get it all. I don’t hold anything back in that regard. I figured it’d make more sense if I gave. The notes and the. It’s the notes isn’t a PDF and the slide deck is also a PDF I. Just took the slide. Deck and saved as a PDF and. So like I said, you could you. Probably skip the video and. Still get what you need out. Of it, but.

And we’ll and we’ll put a link to the offer in the show notes for you. So anybody who wants it, I’m not gonna have Todd give out the URL because it’s easier just to put in the show notes and. Go in and and get todds and get Todd. ‘S goodies, right?

The the the retail price is 70. Bucks I think I. Got a 33% off of it. Right now, but anyway.

And if somebody wants to talk to you about about pages, Todd, how’s the best way?

Oh Gee. Well, I’m pretty active on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. My Twitter is TE Jones and it’s all over the place. Anybody who wants me to stay on one topic probably gets frustrated because you know, one minute it’s pro wrestling. One minute. So Arkansas Razorback sports another minute. It’s WordPress and content strategy, so. You know, it’s a little bit of. A hodgepodge. But you can. Reach me there. You can reach me on LinkedIn or on Facebook.

Yeah. Thanks, Todd. And go get Todd’s offers, folks, you’ll be glad you did have an amazing day, my friend.

Thanks buddy. Have a good.