How to Write a Good Biography

In this post, I am going to show you some tips on how to craft your biography; making your personal biography acceptable to your target audience or potential employers.
For credibility in the modern world, one has to show reasons why people should employ him or her to work. And to do that you have to provide a vivid introduction about yourself, lifestyle, life experiences, educational background, professional background and so on.

What is a personal biography?

This is a short introduction that provides a summarized version of your professional accomplishments, credentials, education and other relevant information that describe who you are.
In order words, a personal biography or a bio is a concise account of who you are, your credentials and notable life accomplishments. Having said that, below are 10 step by step guidelines on how to write a good biography.

10 Ways to Write a Good Biography

1. Introduce yourself first

The first sentence in your personal biography writing should include your name and some others like education, academic certification or career achievements.
Then come your passions, personal values, attributes, work skills, professional experience and general lifestyles; after your strong introductory sentence.

2. Keep it short

Having a word limit can help you streamline your content. Personal biographies on your resume or job search sites should be a single paragraph or a few short paragraphs; ranging between 300 – 500 words only. While on a professional job or portfolio website, your write-up could be between 1500 – 2000 words. Keep details short but include as many as possible.
Main items your biography should include are your life purpose; and reason why you are writing your bio. Whether you want to obtain a job interview, showcasing accomplishments or awards; achieving professional goals or reaching a particular audience.
Again, you may decide the aspects of your personal and educational background or qualifications that brought you to the current stage in your life. These are some of the questions you should always showcase with your bio.

3. Use third person point of view

In third person point of view, the narrator exists outside of the story and addresses the characters by name or as “he/she/they” and “him/her/them.”
Meaning, you should write your bio in such a way to portray the character as someone else. While some first-person biographies can be effective, writing in the third person allows you to include your full name; but avoid overusing your name. This should come naturally.

4. Write strategically

When writing your personal bio, differentiate yourself from others by writing a compelling story that others can read to get to know more about you; making reference to real life experiences.
Some readers may have had similar experiences like yours, that way they can connect to your writing easily. As much as you want to mention your immense achievements, avoid creating an extensive list. Consider asking yourself the following questions:
• Who is my target audience?
• What do I want them to learn from my biography?
• What life events can I use to illustrate my points?

5. Include your contact information

Your contact info will make you open and approachable to readers who may need to contact you. Some of the customer touch points to provide includes:
• Your email address.
• A link to your contact page.
• Links to your official social media handles.
Note: Your contact info should be at the end of your biography and should be easily visible.

6. Edit your copy thoroughly

Be sure to proofread your personal bio for grammatical and spelling errors before publishing it online. Read through your piece aloud to fish out grammatical errors, use online editing software like Grammarly to review and grade your work in terms of readability.
Ask family members, friends and co-workers to help provide honest feedbacks and corrections where necessary. By doing these, your creative work is now credible enough for publication.

7. Provide a link to your portfolio website

If you are using your personal bio for an online networking profile or on your professional website, consider linking your bio to any of your accomplishments available online. Some ways this can be easily done are;
• The use of Anchor words: theses anchor words are key words that serve as a link to any of your work online.
• Provide your contact info, that is, include the website address of your portfolio or other reference works, so that readers can see proof of how authentic and credible you are through your bio.

8. Use humour where necessary

While you should keep your tone professional throughout your bio, you must also consider ending your writings with a story and fun humour so as to personalize your bio and leave your audience with a good impression.
Humour is the quality of being amusing or comic, especially your speech or write ups.

9. Utilize Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Use search engines optimisation to showcase and rank your personal biography on the internet when people are searching for information about you.
Search engines prefer lengthier pieces with original content, so keep your longer bios word counts to 1,500 to 2,000 words for perfect search optimization.
For shorter bios, be sure to use third person for stronger SEO copywriting. You can use SEO analysers that check your personal profiles across different channels for strong brand awareness and online visibility.

10. Enhance your online presence

To improve your personal branding, you need to optimize your online presence so as to connect with the rest of the world with your bios.
Your posts and photos should be professional. Make corrections on your personal data online and check to see that your skills are consistent across all channels.

Wrapping up: On How to Write a Good Biography

From the above discussion, it is clear to take some time to establish the main purpose of your auto biography. Thus, you need to know the main purpose of writing the biography.
Be concise; only including the most important and relevant information for readers; including information that will draw the attention of readers to know more about you and contact you.
Writing in the third person view and using personal tone or voice will also make your copy more readable and professional. By doing all these, you have finalized your biography. It is now ready for publication.
Good luck!

By: Adewuyi Victor