– Dave

– James McBob, President of JMB Corporation.

=)

Personally, most people like thing simple and straight to the point.

Further, writing about yourself being a guru has the same impact as bragging about yourself in person, in my opinion any way.

This post is a nice realistic read.

I believe on its claims – to some extent. Marketing and humility don’t often hold hands, yet for a successful blogger, it is a balance that is desirable. Essential, I could almost say.

Take my About page for example (link). I loosely followed Skellie’s formula for an effective about page (link), and was quite happy with the results. Has it brought more traffic? Increased credibility? More subscribers?

It is hard to tell. It is, after all, a bit early on the process.

Yet her advise resonated far more than that of Daniel in his post.

My advice? Follow your intuition. That place that finely balances self-promotion with humility will be different for every one of us. Find your voice, and don’t hesitate to use it.

Oh, and when people tell you to stop bragging, you may want to listen!

Something that I plan to experiment on with my About Us page is taking people on a video tour of my website/blog – showing them the various sections, etc.

“Great people do not speak for themselves. It is their deeds which speaks for them. We, the normal people, try to shout for ourselves. That’s the difference between great people and normal people.”

Wow that’s profound! Is it “off the cuff?”

Some of the advice is quite good, but other times I think Mr. Clark is just typing to fill space. Perhaps it has been better in the past.

Take for example your post here.

Does your content prove itself to be true in of itself?
Does it challenge your readers and visitors to think differently?

It does not have the details nor the length (which is actually a good thing for writing) to prove in itself that the claims are correct.

You use 2 examples and thats it to prove your point. You don’t go into why its bad to brag nor give an example of an average blogger who doesn’t make more than a dime off his or her blog but still has great authority solely based off content and word of mouth.

Your post just doesn’t sell me by itself.. but I want to believe you. So what do I (your audience in general) do?

Look at your About page to understand who you are…

And actually what you are suggesting doing about getting others to brag about you is true. I even listed it as the second important thing (behind content) for validation.

The problem is that you discourage a good about page that highlights your achievements and strengths.

This is sadly misleading advice.

Your post should tell us too not brag on the about page because it looks bad on yourself, but make sure you let people know why you are an authority on the subject.

We need to remember that others giving us validation and providing our own validation are not exclusive. Authority works best when they are both done in honest and tasteful ways.

It’s a whole another ball game if you don’t know squat about your field.

Their great work and knowledge don’t need “guru” on about page. People talk that about them!