Crafting Your Short Bio: Show off Your Expertise

While short bios are supposed to paint in words a picture of the entire person you are reading about — what the person does for work and fun — there might be a time when you will need to concentrate specifically on specific aspects of their trade or expertise.

For example, let’s say that you are a writer that provides advice on a dating site. People will want to know why you qualify as an expert. Or maybe you are a dog walker, so you’ve decided to sign on with one of those online gig sites and they require a short bio. 

These gig sites might not say write a branding statement per se, but essentially you want to brand yourself in a brief way why you are the best candidate to take care of Fifi, a 150 pound stubborn Rottweiler!

When writing your short bio, don’t write a resume. For review, our number #1 rule is: A BIO IS NOT A RESUME.

For your short bio, you still need personality-injected words, because while you are giving information on your expertise, you are also showing the reader who you are as a person. 

The reader of your short bio has to be able to visualize who you are by the words used or how you choose to say what you say. 

For example, let’s go back to Fifi, the 150 pound stubborn Rottie. 

Let us note, when a dog is stubborn, usually they won’t move or get up to move. This could create an issue if the dog is a huge Rottweiler. So, within your short bio, you could incorporate some of the following messaging about your expertise:

• Explain the time when you had to pick up a large or heavy dog because it wouldn’t move. 
• Or when confronted with this actual experience, you were able to entice the dog with your secret weapon of treats.

They are both good answers, but will attract different people depending on the situation. If you have a dog that has hind leg issues, you would probably appreciate the first answer, because it indicates strength.

The second answer is emphasizing the actual ability (possibly as a trainer) to be able to entice the dog. As long as your short bio is informative about who you are as a person as well as your expertise, your readers will be informed and engaged about who you are.

Get some more tips on how to write a short bio in our instructional video!

Too busy working as an expert in your field to write your short bio?  Let us write it for you! Learn more about our short bio writing services or call us at 818.488.1543.