What should I put in my website "About Me"? What works best?

-A real personal intro (family, past history, etc.)
-A business intro not personal (education, qualifactions, etc.)
-Or a mix of both, what percentage of each.

Brad

I just typed congrats to you and that I will be taking the test over the next year in Ohio myself but my suggestion is pretty simple.

Put yourself into the shoes of a person needing/wanting to buy or sell a home. You only want to read what you are interested in. More than likely the person is not going to care about your aunt in Iowa or whatever. Tell them what they need/want to know and why you are the one to make their dreams come true and/or problems go away.

No fluff. Do not put stuff in just to fill space or just to make it look more informational or busy. It maybe entertaining that you have 2 dogs and they do tricks, but it is not helping me sell or purchase my house. Always look at it from the viewer's point of view. Hopefully this helps.

I tend to agree, however I don't think you need to shy away from personal stuff completely.

How do you know the viewer isn't interested in the personal stuff?

I would put the no-frills "professional" info right at the top of the page, and also a "wrap up" at the bottom...

In between, I would put a little personal info in there. Believe it or not, people do care if you seem like a nice person or if you have an actual life.

I just placed a half-million dollar offer for a buyer who chose me because she liked my website - and she said that I "seemed nice."

How could I "seem nice" if I wasn't a little personal?

You can also write a blog and have that linked on your website - and you can let your personality shine even more in your blog (being careful to keep your blog on topic).

Here's the best tip I ever heard: just be you. don't brag about how wonderful you are - that is so "yesterday." Let the buyer decide for themselves if you're truly wonderful or not. lol

I think the personal stuff is critical. EVERY real estate agent on the planet can Find Your Dream Home, Sell Your Home for Top Dollar and Take Care of Your Referrals. Blah blah blah. When people read About You, they want to know About You. They didn't click that button to read a bunch of self-serving nonsense. They want to find out if they think they might like you. This IS a relationship business.

Here's a blog I wrote on the topic , which includes links to some great profiles.

This is a relationship business, it is also a competitive one. You will build the relationship after you get them to contact you. I feel if you have too much personal stuff without having enough focused content on why you are the person to help them, they will just click to the next site that answers the questions they have.

Just my opinion from my point of view. Obviously Mike, Perky and Jennifer are way more experienced than me.

I have many clients who call me already knows they want to work with me because of my blogs and my writings. I do feel that personal stuff is important in MY business.

I do believe it's a personal choice. The way I run mine may be different from another agent.

There are also many people who only wants a professional business relationships. Dont ask about me, my family or where I like to dine. There are many agents who do business that way.

There is no one size fits all.

We all have a right to our own opinion. and for what it's worth, I got my newest listing not because I gave the client warm fuzzies (the client was a law firm representing an estate) but because they pulled up information on the development that the deceased home is in - my stuff was at the top and they liked what they read.

Had the pulled up my latest blog about Tapioca pudding...hmm. But that's why the silly blog is a Members Only post on AR and won't get googled.

One of the most important things is to connect with people, find a commonality. When I sold boats at boat shows, the owner used to tell us to find something we have in common with the buyer in the first 5 minutes, even if it's just you both have children the same age. I find that my personal information in my bio is something people seem to find interesting, they always mention something from my bio. I have it in my expired leave behind, many times people call and say "oh you used to own that business?!" or "I rescue those dogs, too!" or "I used to live in..", I think personal information is crucial. If people connect with you, they want to do business with you.