by Elle Ray | Oct 31, 2014 | Writing
How to Write an Online Bio for Your Website
This is the second in a series of biography-writing articles that started with How to Write Your Own Bio. At Ray Access, we’ve heard from owners, entrepreneurs and principles that writing a bio is one of the most difficult assignments. It doesn’t have to be.
We’re not sure if it’s about modesty or fear that you’ll come off looking like a doofus to your peers, but let us assure you there is no cause for concern. If you follow the tips that professionals use when crafting personal biographies, you’ll look just fine to everyone…from your competition to your mother.
A Selfie in Print
A bio is just a way to let people know a little bit more about you. Get out of the way and pretend that you’re writing about your best friend. A bio is a selfie in print — and just as you wouldn’t post a picture of yourself with bed-hair, you want the most flattering light to shine through your words. At the same time, get real, it will make the process that much easier.
Include these 10 things in your bio and you’ll pretty much have it covered:
- Context
One of the first tenets of journalism is for the writer to answer the question, “Why should I care?” Readers need to know why your bio is pertinent to them and why they should take the time to get to know you. If you’re selling real estate, for example, you need to let readers know that you grew up in a home full of Realtors. If you run an ad agency, let them know you’ve got awards and book deals to justify your expertise.
- Accomplishments
A bio is a little like a resumé in that you want readers to know about your wins. They need to know the name of the awards you’ve won, the degrees you’ve earned and the praise you’ve received from the business community, in the press, from your peers and your customers.
- History
A little bit about your background provides the human touch to your bio. After all, business is not just about business, it’s about people. Readers want to know where you grew up and how your upbringing affected your life choices. A little history humanizes your bio and lets people identify with you.
- Challenges
The obstacles you’ve overcome and the challenges you’ve faced in your career can make for some of the most interesting aspects of a bio. By sharing a little about how you’ve become successful, your bio can provide inspiration, provoke empathy and show readers another side of the polished professional they’ve come to know.
- Volunteering
While you’ll certainly include your current title and what you do for your company, your community service also is relevant because it too shows your human side and gives readers a glimpse into your private life and your passions. When your volunteer activities are within your own industry, that’s even better, because it shows you support your industry in every aspect of your life. Volunteering also shows that you’re not just a taker.
- Professional Affiliations
Whether you are just a member of an industry group or hold a seat on a board, include your professional affiliations in your bio to show that you are wedded to your work and fully committed to your industry.
- Hobbies
Include hobbies and outside interests because they often reflect your personality. If you’re into sports, for example, readers glimpse your energy and vitality. Music and the arts target your creativity. If you’re an animal lover, you’re letting people know that you have a soft side. This also is the place to talk about the time you spend with your family and mention that you have two kids or are newly married. Writing something about your personal life also illustrates that you’re well-rounded.
- Anecdotes
Stories that provide a glimpse into your personal journey are welcome additions to a bio and make the read more interesting. People want to know how you accidentally stumbled on a buyer for a truckload of wood you were hauling and ended running a multimillion dollar woodworking shop. People are entertained reading about when you interviewed people on your summer vacations as a kid and ended up as an award-winning journalist. The anecdotal stories that formed a basis for your success also make for good pass-around stories.
- Plans
People reading your bio also like to know what’s next. What are your plans for the future? Where do you hope to bring your business in the next five or ten years? How do you hope to make a difference in your community, in your industry or for your employees?
- Purpose
Finally, round out the context of your bio, your career and your life, by touching on why you do what you do. This provides readers a reason to hire you or use your company. Purpose is something that people can relate to and that help people understand what drives you and what makes you tick.
Ray Access can write your bio for you if you find it too difficult. You may be surprised what can come out in a 15-minute interview over the phone that makes it into print. And don’t forget that the writers and editors at Ray Access offer other business services.
Finally, don’t forget to update your bio every once in a while, both to keep your website fresh and to alert your potential clients of your latest achievements!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Oct 12, 2014 | Writing
No One Is Better Qualified Than You to Write It
It’s easy to let a professional writer like Linda or Mark interview you so we can write your bio. It’s a valid way to fill in the “About” page on your website. But if you want to write your own bio, you need to keep a few things in mind.
A professional bio is not a resume. It serves a different purpose. For example, you can use your bio for the following:
- For posting on your LinkedIn profile
- For self-promotion in a brochure
- For speaking engagements
- For networking
- For a book cover or guest blog
- For media outlets at the end of a press release
- For board applications
- And yes, for job hunting
Do It Yourself
While you certainly can hire a professional writer, we’d like to share a few tips so that you can write your bio yourself. Remember that your bio is you on paper. It should present your achievements in the best possible light and help you open doors.
Write your bio in plain language that not only is easy to read, but also sounds like you. If you’re not in academia, for example, don’t make it sound like a droll professor wrote it. If you’re a musician, don’t make it sound like an accountant — although an accountant may want to spiff up his bio with a few musical references.
6 Tips for Tight Bio Writing
- Write in the third person
Your professional bio should sound as if someone else is writing about you, even if you are the author. Introduce yourself right at the beginning with an opening line that spells it out: “Mark Bloom is a man of few words, few spoken words that is, because he’s a professional writer and words are his medium.”
- Use a conversational tone
Even though your bio should sound professional, use a conversational tone. Readers should get the feeling that you’re talking to them. Read your writing out loud to check your tone. Refrain from slang and industry jargon unless your bio will be read only by your peers.
- Rely on a backwards timeline
Don’t rewrite your bio every time one is needed, so start with your current job or position and your most recent achievements. While you want to include historical information, such as your education and previous accomplishments, write in much the same order as you would a resume.
- Get personal
A professional bio should show off your personality. If you have a great sense of humor, for example, add a joke or pun to highlight your bent. If you’re an earth mother, use new age words to describe your characteristics and history. Include information about your hobbies, your place of origin and your family. Either sprinkle these facts throughout the bio or present them in a bullet format at the end.
- Boost your bio with stats and quotes
Give your bio a boost with statistics about the number of sales you closed or the time it took to turn a profit in your last venture. Include quotes from important people in your industry or from former clients. (Ask their permission first.) These are items any professional writer would include; when you write your bio, you are the reporter.
- Prepare a set of bios
A professional bio should be one page — about 400 to 500 words. This version goes on your website, in your professional portfolio and to other interested parties. We recommend creating a mini-bio and a micro-version to use with guest blogs and social media posts. Think of the little bios as your 30-second elevator pitch. Pull the most interesting and concise information from your original bio to create the mini-versions.
Look at yourself objectively when you write your bio. Make it interesting and compelling — a good read. Write a professional bio that you would want to read. Keep it current and polished. Review your bio every year or two just to make sure it’s still relevant.
For more information on writing your bio, refer to 10 Things to Include in Your Bio. If you just can’t get started, contact Ray Access. We’ll make you look like the star that you are with a professional bio that sings success. Finally, don’t forget to update you bio every once in a while, both to keep your website fresh and to alert your potential clients of your latest achievements!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Sep 4, 2014 | Blog Writing
Keep Your Blog Great: Avoid the One-Note Blog
The purpose of a business blog is to attract an audience. A well-written, well-considered blog can educate your customers and potential customers. It can answer in-depth questions. It can explain the ins and outs of your industry. If successful, a business blog can show up on related keyword searches organically, ready to bring new visitors to your website.
This road, while it does work, is fraught with peril. If you turn your blog into a sales pitch, touting your products and services at every turn, announcing new offerings and sales events, or going into detail about your quality, your audience will tune out. Only a small percentage of the visitors to your website are ready to buy right now!
Rule #1: Inform, Don’t Sell
The worst thing a business blog can do — aside from not having a blog at all — is to bore its audience. We see this often, both in blogs and in social media. The subjects tackled, the writing style, the stock photos … everything points to a lack of commitment. If you’re trying to sell your products or services on your blog — as your first priority — you will drive your readers away.
Your blog is your opportunity to explain what your readers don’t already know about your industry. If you are a new car dealer, don’t use your blog to boast about the new models. Instead, use it to describe the new features on those models and why customers should want them. Instead of advertising sales events, use your blog to explain how to get the best deal.
An article on getting the best deal on a car lot is likely to attract a lot more readers than an article announcing your seasonal sale. In addition, if you add value with your blog writing — with educational topics, tips or interesting facts — customers will remember you when they are ready to buy.
Rule #2: Don’t Beat a Dead Horse
If you find you’re writing about the same topic over and over, your audience will soon tire of it. Stop beating that dead horse. Your blog isn’t just about finding different angles to explore about the same topic. Regardless what your business or industry is, you can find thousands of topics to write about.
For example, if you’re an accounting business, stop writing about the advantages of hiring an accountant or providing QuickBook tips. Take a step back. Consider your readers (if you have any remaining). Why would they even be on your site? Write about something else that would interest them, which brings us to…
Rule #3: Diversify
How does your business tie into food? Water? Interpersonal relationships? The environment? Entertainment? These are topics people care about in their daily lives. If you can find an intersection between what you do and what people want to learn more about, you’ve struck gold. You can write about something people will want to read … and share.
Other tips for diversifying your blog:
- Find a topic in the news and write about that
- Consider your own passions and write about what brought you into your business
- Every once in a while, take a broad look at the state of your industry
- Focus on your customers’ wants and needs outside of your business
In fact, do this last one all the time. Put yourself in your readers’ place. Why are they reading this? Why are they here? What do they want? You’ll succeed if you can answer these questions. If you get stuck, we’re in the business of answering questions.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Aug 23, 2014 | Blog Writing
Because You Want Your Blog to Be Read
Undoubtedly, the best blog topics are those that get read. And read a lot. These blog posts:
- Get passed around
- Generate a buzz
- Keep visitors on your site longer
- Get readers to look through your website
- Turn readers into customers
- Are great reads
- Result in high search engine visibility
Finding Readers
So the big question is: “How do you create those kinds of bust-out blog posts week after week?” That’s what we at Ray Access aim to do, and we know that it isn’t always easy. But there is a method to the madness. By following our own advice, we have seen the results. You can too. Try these tips to turn your blog into a must-read for your clients and potential customers:
- Tap into the news of the day. If, for example, you are a doctor who treats mental illness, write about depression in the week following a celebrity death due to the disease. The celebrity’s name will get you noticed in search queries. If you teach dance, focus a blog post on the big dancing shows on television when they go into their final competitions. Financial bloggers, tap into current events about the Federal Reserve or big Wall Street happenings. Be nimble and ready to post shortly after the news happens.
- Create great titles. The title of a blog post is like the front window at Macy’s. If it’s not compelling and inviting, it won’t draw in shoppers. Good titles also help search engines seeking relevant data to post. Great titles aren’t long, but convey what’s in the article clearly. Beware of humorous or ambiguous titles that may be misleading or misunderstood. Be catchy, but be clear.
- Give your readers something to take away. Pay your readers for completing the article. This is one of the reasons that “tips” and “how-to” blog posts are so popular. Readers expect answers and leave a well-written article with those answers, smarter and wiser.
- Review popular events, movies, products within your industry. Find the connection between the entertainment and your products or services. Make the comparison apply to your intended audience.
- Make recommendations for other services and products, as well as for those that you sell. When you make a recommendation, follow it with a solid argument that goes beyond the typical marketing-speak. Quote users and experts to back up your suggestions.
Get seasonal. Readers look for relevant articles about Christmas, summer vacations, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving topics. Find a topic within your area of expertise that relates to the season and add it to your blog when the time is right.
- Shout out to other companies or people. No man is an island, and you don’t work in a vacuum. Mention others who have made significant contributions to your industry or to the business community you’re trying to reach. If a business organization you belong to recently made a significant contribution to a local charity, use your blog to give them accolades of appreciation. (Let them know when you post, and maybe they’ll put a link on their website back to your blog!)
Finally, write for blog readers. Make it engaging and easy to read. Let your readers know right from the start what they can expect if they keep reading. And then give it to them. If you promise tips, give them tips; if you’re writing a “how-to,” make sure it’s complete. And if you come to the end of your idea rope, contact us — we love to brainstorm titles and do it as well as we write the articles.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Aug 1, 2014 | Writing
When You’re Stuck for the Right Words
Everyone goes through periods when the words just won’t come. You sit and stare at the page or the screen, and you can’t imagine what comes next, whether you’re working on a novel, a blog post or a letter to your brother in Raleigh.
Writer’s block. When it hits, it stops all your creative juices. You feel like a second-grader on the day of the spelling bee. You begin to wonder if you bit off more than you could chew by volunteering to write the invitation to your Labor Day party.
There’s Hope, Even for You
We are professional writers and editors here at Ray Access. We can’t afford to get stopped by writer’s block. Literally, we can’t afford it.
So we’ve developed a few simple tricks and tips to jump-start our creative juices when we need them right now. We’d like to share them with you, so you don’t fall victim to this productivity-stopper. Fear not; there is hope for you, not matter what your level of writing or the scope of your writing project.
Step 1: Acknowledge & Recover
Writer’s block happens; it’s not anything you did. Repeat this to yourself: “Writer’s block happens; it’s not my fault.” Accept it. You aren’t suffering writer’s block because you’re a crappy writer or because all your good ideas have dried up. Writer’s block happens to every writer at one time or another.
Once you can accept that, you can begin to recover from the initial shock of helplessness. And that’s what writer’s block feels like: helplessness, the inability to do work or be productive.
Step 2: Shake It Off
When you’re stuck, the best thing to do is to do something to clear your mind. Put aside your pen, stylus or keyboard. Get up from wherever you’re sitting. If you’re suffering from writer’s block, it’s definitely time for a break. Get a cup of coffee or tea. Stretch your muscles, take a walk, meditate, or go for a drive or bike ride. A change of scenery definitely helps recharge your batteries.
Another trick is to remember how good a writer you really are. It’s empowering to review your older work, even if it’s just past letters you wrote. If you wrote that, you can write anything. Trust yourself.
Step 3: Try Something Different
Allow yourself to look at your project from different perspectives or different angles — including from above and below. You might have missed something. When all else fails, put it aside and work on something else, like a timed writing exercise. Here are some tips:
Write for ten minutes about your favorite color, food or person. Here are the only rules:
- Write freehand, pen on paper, for the best results.
- Keep your hand moving.
- Don’t cross out.
- Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar.
- Lose control. The whole idea is to let go.
- Don’t think. Don’t plan. Don’t get logical.
- Go for the jugular. Dive into absurdity and write. Take chances. You will succeed if you are fearless of failure.
Step 4: Look for Good Advice
Erica Jong, author of Fear of Flying and other books, believed that “all writing problems are psychological problems. Blocks usually stem from the fear of being judged. If you imagine the world listening, you’ll never write a line.”
For writer and poet Charles Bukowski, “Writing about a writer’s block is better than not writing at all…”
Author Lili St. Crow summed up the feeling: “You do not sit down and write every day to force the Muse to show up. You get into the habit of writing every day so that when she shows up, you have the maximum chance of catching her, bashing her on the head, and squeezing every last drop out of [her].”
With that thought in mind, make your deal: “OK, Muse, you take care of the quality; I’ll take care of the quantity.” Then it’s just a matter of getting your butt back in the chair to write again. It works for us.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Jul 26, 2014 | Office
Improve Your Posture: Advice for Your Office
Here at Ray Access, we are writers and editors who work long hours at our computers. Don’t get us wrong: we love what we do. But we’ve also learned a few things along the way to help us avoid back injury, unnatural curvature of the spine and other deformities as a result of spending untold hours at a keyboard.
So we present five ways to improve your posture and strengthen your back:
1. Buy a Good Chair
The best thing you can do for your back is to sit in a good quality desk chair, one that supports your lower back properly, has a height adjustment to keep your feet flat on the floor and is padded enough to be comfortable. These chairs aren’t inexpensive, we know, but we heartily endorse the investment. What you save in pain and suffering — and doctor’s bills — will make the chair seem like the bargain it is.
2. Don’t Be a Potato
Couch potatoes don’t move once they settle in. If you want to protect your spine and back muscles, you have to stay active. Shift your position every half hour or so. Lean back for a bit. Lean forward for a spell. It’s all about keeping your blood from pooling in the same spot for hours. Even if you’re sitting, you can still be active.
3. Save Your Neck
A stiff neck is an occupational hazard for computer jockeys like us. But we know how to beat it: neck stretches. Your neck moves in 360 degrees; use them. Pull your chin to your chest and hold it there. Raise your chin to the ceiling and hold it. Try to touch your shoulder with your ear, one side at a time. Do these stretches several times a day.
4. Be Aware of Your Posture
This one seems self-evident, but it’s easy to forget how you’re sitting when you’re in the midst of a project. But you can train yourself to remember. The first thing to do is find the correct posture. Don’t slouch; keep your shoulders back. When seated, your knees should be just above your hips. Your arms should fall to the keyboard without having to reach. Be comfortable. Once you know how it feels to sit right, you’ll realize it when you float out of alignment.
5. Rise to the Occasion
If you know you have a long day at the desk ahead of you, plan to get up and walk around, even if it’s just around the office, every hour. Five minutes will do, while you’re thinking. Two minutes an hour is still better than feeling chained to your computer. That little bit of movement will keep you pain-free for years.
Linda and Mark are both past age 50. Both have been doing this work for (dare we say it?) over two decades. Both of us, however, are still active. We can both garden or swing a golf club in a pinch. You can do it too. Start today, and your back will thank you for the rest of your life.
If you have any of your own posture tips, send them our way.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
