Howdy.

Recommendation:
If you are unfamiliar with networking for business, a great example of "how to do it"
is the Ryze network. I have been a member there since 2003 and networked for
several years, then stopped for the past couple of years. For no better reason than
I was Ill, going through treatment and all the hoopala that goes along with that.
'Nough said. FYI here is Ryze:
http://www.ryze.com

Explanation:
I just re-upped my membership with the same old information and need some help.
I want a rear end kicking headline, some jazzy text and I cannot write about ME.
I have a devil of time with that. I am sure I have posted that here before but need
some real help with this. This past week I started a new group (network) on ryze and
since that means gobs of exposure. I want my home page there to kick uh, rear end.


References:

My ryze home page is here:
http://www.ryze.com/go/VerbatimEB
Boring.

The new network page is here:
http://abhp-network.ryze.com/
This is OK - no changes necessary

Ryze pages I like:

http://www.ryze.com/go/farmgirl2005
This ladies page is eloquent, elegant, high class and I just love it.

http://www.ryze.com/go/SortThingsOut
A little bit of everything. Personal, business and advise.

http://www.ryze.com/go/lwheelr
We see eye to eye - her page is more professional than the rest.

Compare:
Look at my page - look at the example pages and HELP ME!

Drowning here, glub, glub, glub.
All suggestions will be taken to heart and considered in the spirit they are given.

BLessings,

Verb

Hi!

While I can't really write about yourself (because I don't know
that much about you yet), I can try to help you to structure
that page into a more attractive profile.

An online profile or "about me" page needs to give your visitors
the following information:

* Who you are.
* What's your expertise, and most importantly...
* What you can do for THEM (benefits, benefits, benefits)

... and it preferably needs to give that information as a short
but compelling story.

Keep in mind that people are selfish and want to know what's in it
for THEM. So that's precisely what your profile should do: Tell a
short story that is compelling, concise and relevant to them.

This is the same structure I followed to create the "About" page
for this website (click here to read it). And you can see more
examples of about pages using this structure here and here.

So let's get you started on the easy track... let's make some lists:
* What are the top 5 things that I should know about you?
* What are the top 5 things I should know about your work?
* Tell me 5 ways how your work would benefit me?


All the best!
Miguel Alvarez
Copywriting.com

P.S.-
Here's a headline hook that you can start spinning around:
"Are you friends with a copywriter yet?"

Good Morning Miguel.

Being a list maker from way back this will not be a task that is
unfamiliar. It is the part describing "who I am" that has been
keeping my efforts off track with this project. Reading your
words of direction will put my little train back where it needs to be.

I will get started and post here so your direction can help others
when they hit a brick wall the way I have with this project. It really
did not occur to me to use the same skills I use daily for others and
apply them where they could do me the most good. DUH.

Will try to keep the "chicken scratchin' " part to a minimum. Thank
you for the links to the good examples. I have looked at the about
page here (it's perfect) and will use all the pages you posted as criteria
to get a new start and be serious about it this time.

Blessings.

Verb

Thanks Miguel, you got the thinking "right" cap plopped where
it belongs. A few headlines off the top of that hat are:

Copywriting Friends.
Best friends or worst enemies?

Get A New Friend.
Get A Good Friend.
Get A Copywriting Friend.

A copywriting friend puts success in your back pocket.
Safe + Close at hand + Always available = Secure Success.

Have a copywriter friend and success is close at hand.

Collect a copywriter friend and earn $$ doing it.

A copywriter friend is as good as gold.

Copywriters do it with words.

I know it is my choice but your opinions count for the lesson
value. Rip them up if you need to, there are always more
at hand.

Anyone else care to comment or add to the headline list?
I need all the help I can get with this.

Verb

The page is re-worked. I don't have a clue if it is better
than it was, but certainly think so uh, hope so.
Miguel, since you are the only person interested in helping
with this endeavor... here is the end result.

http://www.ryze.com/go/VerbatimEB

Let's start again, more suggesions?

Thanks a million.

Blessings.

Verb

Hi.

Your page looks a million times better than the first version.
The layout is great and the copy improved a LOT.

The only thing I don't understand is why you created it all in
a single image file. That prevents anyone from finding you
in a search using keywords.

I guess that my only suggestion now is to keep that page up
for at least a week and measure the results.

All the best!
Miguel Alvarez
Copywriting.com

Hi Miguel.

If you look at the top of the page, ryze has a place for keywords seperate from
the body of the page - that is how the page is found within the network. There
is also a place at the top to link to your blog & other personal and business web sites.
The outgoing links at the bottom of the page are to various web sites of mine and
web sites of interest.

I know I did not follow all the rules for the copy. I can tweak as time goes on. I
will measure the results but the page itself does not appear in search results
according the the page content, except for links. Thus the links across the bottom
of the page. I could be wrong on that but since I only use the page to network
at ryze I don't see the harm using the images instead of the code.

Besides which, I can change to code if this doesn't work out like I think it will.
Ryze is all about networking within the community. Since I started posting in
networks there about a month ago I have gained four new clients. Not a bad
percentage at one a week for posting comments in a few networks. You do have
to network there for page exposure.

Thanks so much for your help - having posted a request for help in the forum
here made me get my rear in gear, at least a little.

Verb

Hi Miguel,

It looks like it is just you and I in here, eh?

After thinking about what you said about the images I thought
I would explain. My children do not want their faces or their
children's faces on the public internet. So, to make it harder
for someone to right click, I glued it all together with crazy glue
and it is stuck for life.

You and I know that anyone who wants anything can get it in
several ways, but they don't . At any rate I did what I could
to aleviate their fears so I could use some of those images.

After thinking about what you said, once again, I know what you
meant. With that in mind I updated the links at the bottom of
the page to include text links. At some point google will chew
those up, swallow them, and upon digestion there will be seo
advantages to those links once again. It finally pierced my hard
skull that I had cut of my nose to spite my face. What was I
thinking? Heaven only knows...

Thank you for the gentle "nudge." You're a peach, dude.

http://www.ryze.com/go/VerbatimEB

Blessings.

Verb

I hope I'm not intruding. This thread piqued my interest. And I thought about pages were the most boring part of any site. So there's an art to it huh? I copied the tips so I could have it handy for MY about pages.

Hiya 10cents.

About pages are hard little bits of rock to crack. A good one tells a
lot more than just about what your business offers. It puts out an image
of who you are. I never seem to have any problems with about pages,
except for my own. It is so darn hard to write about your own personal
and business interests.

The ryze page I just recently updated has now been put up for review by
the members of The Virtual Handshake network at ryze and I am keeping
my fingers crossed that it does not get blasted and hammered as too much
of well, anything, you know? But, of course, nothing is ever perfect for
everyone so I am sure there will be some comments that will be uh, not
so much to my liking, but hey, I did what I thought was interesting, at least
for me.

If you are interested in the comments as they come on, here is the link:

http://www.ryze.com/posttopic.php?topicid=...&confid=586

There is only one comment so far and I kinda know that guy. I was
expecting a blast from him but he was kind and sweet. A real surprise
on that one.

I'll tell you what, for a social and business networking place, ryze is still
a good bet in my book although they have lost some popularity in recent
years. A page there is free (up to a point) and becoming a gold member
is not too expensive so I have hung in there. I have a lot of clients from
networking at ryze so it has really paid off to be a member. I hope this
does not sound like an ad. lol.

It would be a good place to hang one of your hats. Make a free home page,
peruse some networks and get to know a few folks. Google likes ryze so
links to and from there do get picked up.

Blessings.

Verb