As a brand voice specialist and professional copywriter for solo and small businesses, I write a LOT of copy.

Less these days than ever, as I entrust my coterie of talented Voice Bureau copywriters to produce shining drafts from the Creative Briefs I craft for client projects. But the point here is — I see a lot of copy, a lot of copy comes under my inspection, and when I read copy online, I’m unconsciously scanning for what is working, why it’s working, and how the writer made that happen, through the power of language and other signals on the page.

Most of us, when we read business website copy — say, the About page for a health coach we just discovered whose content we can’t get enough of, or a jewelry designer with a fabulous and fanciful online boutique of indie goods — we’re scanning for a connection. Do I like this person’s voice? Vibe? Personality? Persona? Worldview? With-it-ness?

What we’re looking for in an About page depends on us — who WE are, what WE want, how WE like to feel when we’re wanting to trust a brand, to think it’s great stuff, to recommend it to others.

Writing — or re-writing — your authentic About page starts with knowing who YOU are in relationship to your business and your Right People. How much intimacy do you want with the subscribers to your membership site? How transparent does it feel good to be with the people who buy your ceramics? How much personal info do you feel like sharing with your potential accounting and tax prep clients?

Empathy in marketing is about having the capacity to delay (or forgo) ego gratification in order to stand in the shoes of another, surveying YOUR offerings and brand from THEIR point of view.

But no business brand with a personal feel can overlook the importance of understanding how YOU want to show up in the online conversation. After all, your brand starts and ends with you. Not in a self-focused, self-centered way, but in a ‘there is room for me, too’ way — because you’re the one at the helm. You’re a whole person and you get to have a whole life and a whole experience in business. 

This is the perspective I’m coming from in my new 4-week course, Write Your Authentic About Page.

Many Voice Bureau readers are aspiring or new-ish business owners without the budgets for full-scale web copy. Or they’re people who just really enjoy DIY’ing most parts of their business, and the copy is one of those parts. A DIY copywriting course is a natural next move for our Classroom, and the About page is the perfect place to start.

I recently announced that we’re in development for Voice Bureau 2.0, which will feature a color palette and mood shift and a clearer user experience in our navigation and  throughout our site. To accompany the visual and UX retooling, I’ll be rewriting EVERY main page of our site.

What better timing, then, to share my own About page-rewriting process with participants of this course?

Inside the course, I’ll be sharing the philosophy of an authentic About page for solo and small business owners, four flexible About page templates you can adapt for your own business goals and brand objectives, and a passel of powerful copywriting techniques you’ll “get” instantly.

Along the way, I’ll share snippets of my own new About page-in-progress. As a teacher who is always looking to improve, I know the power of modeling and self-disclosure to participants’ learning.

And did I mention the three screencasts? I’ll be touring participants through successful About pages from different types of businesses, pointing out what works well and, more importantly, why it works. Participants will have the opportunity to have their own published or in-progress About pages critiqued and discussed on screencasts that’ll be shared with all course buyers.

Click here for more details on Write Your Authentic About page.

Course registration is now OPEN and closes Monday, February 3rd, 2014, at midnight PST.

In the comments, I’d love to hear:

What’s the biggest question you have about writing or rewriting your About page?