In this article, I’ll tell you why this page is so important, 3 very common mistakes yoga teachers make in creating it, and give you some tips on how to write a Bio that engages your demographic and converts as many readers as possible to paying clients who book a session with you! When you’re ready, you might also want to check out my Bio Blueprint for Yoga Teachers, Massage Therapists and Dance Facilitators.. It will give you a sample script you can use to inspire yourself!

YOUR BIO IS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION

Writing your bio is an amazing opportunity to both get over your discomfort with presenting yourself and your gifts to the world, and to figure out how to do this in a way that creates the most effective and authentic impression you can.

Think about it: your website is like a virtual reality introduction service. Especially if you don’t have a website yet, or even think that maybe you don’t need one —consider the reality of how many people you can meet in a week in the real world, how much time and energy you have to continuously put yourself out there, and how many people you meet who are actually interested in paying for what you have to offer.

Contrast this with the reach that a website can give you over time, as you get your business cards out into the world, as friends and family refer their friends, as private yoga students tell others about you and email a link to your website.

Basically your website is a highly effective and convenient way to communicate with way more people, way more efficiently, AND what’s more with specific people, who are specifically interested in your services.

Identifying your demographic is not just some abstract marketing concept —it drives how you present yourself.

From the type of photos you choose, to the colors, font, and general look of your website, to the text you write, everything should be done with your demographic in mind.

(Still not sure what your demographic is? That just means you haven’t dug deep enough yet! Grab the eBook and do the exercises. No excuses!)

Of the three webpages I recommend creating (Home, Contact and About/Bio), your Bio page is the most important because it gives your website visitor an opportunity to form a personal impression of who you are, what you offer and why they should book a first session with you.

You have one shot (some researchers say you have at most 9 seconds! Daunting…) and if you don’t engage them effectively, your prospective private client just moves on to someone else’s yoga website, or maybe to cat videos or gossip websites.

You really should craft this page very intentionally.

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3 MISTAKES WE ALL MAKE

1) Writing for Our Peers

I did this for way more years than I would like to admit, and the truth is it is completely ineffective. When I stopped making this mistake I went from averaging 2 or 3 people per month joining my email list to over 400 in the following month! Adding my free 10 day meditation course had something to do with this as well, but this was part of an overall strategy shift that included radically revising the tone and intention of my BIO.

This new way of engaging also took my private bodywork business from booking one or two months in advance, to consistently booking 5 to 6 months in the future.

So what was the shift, specifically?

I stopped writing to impress my peers!

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t know I was doing this —but unconsciously I thought that to be taken seriously I should use a lot of language and references that other professionals would find impressive. When we do this it is usually an attempt to overcompensate, because we are afraid of seeming lightweight, inexperienced, or lacking in training.

Chris Moonglow is a very, very experienced teacher, he likes long walks on the beach contemplating Book 3 of Patanjali, and has studied in mind-blowing depth with the most impressive famous yoga teachers (like Shakti Hooha, Martha Mostest and Paul Flexibulus) ever to dominate social media with sexy selfies. In addition, Chris will share with you secrets from the great beyond learned while locked in a closet on intensive silent retreats demonstrating his ardent commitment to self-transcendence. His training has taken him to series 7 of the very important and chakra cleansing yogi shmogi method.  Book a session now and prepare to be impressed!

But here’s the revelation: your fellow yoga teachers are not your prospective clients.

It doesn’t matter what THEY think about your Bio! Your peers don’t see you as a teacher and they are not who you are trying to reach.

Mentioning every fancy-pants teacher with whom you’ve ever taken a workshop, listing the specific technical methods you are trained in, using a lot of flowery and esoteric language hardly ever heard outside of yoga teacher training sharing circles, referencing lineage and philosophy details that you think make you seem super legit —all of this puts your prospective client to sleep! And they are just a click away from a really hilarious cat video on youtube.

Why?

Because they have no idea what you are talking about…. They aren’t yoga teachers, they most likely aren’t even in the yoga community yet, and if they are it is not in an immersive way. Your job is to talk to THEM. Your task is to meet them where they are at and connect with their needs, challenges and aspirations. (Are you having an aha moment about why identifying your demographic is crucial?)

 

2) The Third-Person Shield

Most of us sit down to write a Bio and act like we are writing a formal CV or resume for a prospective employer. So, already the tone becomes impersonal. Already the story-telling component disappears. Already the possibility of forming a warm, emotive, evocative impression becomes almost non-existent.

Not only are we listing our workshop, teacher training and lineage details as if they all add up to a picture of a real grown up take-me-seriously yoga swami, but we tend to do it using what I call the “third-person shield.”

When we think of writing CV’s or resumes, there is this attempt to remove personality and just list our training and experience in an objective way. This is the exact opposite of your Bio or About page. It is not for prospective employers concerned about your qualifications, it is for prospective students —and they want to feel a connection.

So go first-person. Don’t hide behind generic sounding third-person language and lists of things your prospective private clients know nothing about. Connect!

Hi, I’m Chris Moonglow and I love sharing yoga with (insert demographic description here.) When I started practicing yoga I had such-and-such challenges, I thought, this can’t be for me — I am too inflexible/stressed/traumatized/rational/unfit/… But here’s what I found: insert experiential insight that you genuinely feel your demographic will benefit from via your sessions. My training in A and B and experience doing C have given me xyz tools to support my demographic in achieving something I know matters to them. It is so satisfying and meaningful to me to have students say “…..” So if you are ready to take the plunge, please click here and send me a message so we can book your first free session!

 

3) Leaving Out Your Story

As you can tell from the example above, considering your demographic, writing in the first person, using language that is not part of some in-group cult-speak, and letting go of trying to impress your peers is important, but so is this last piece: tell your story.

Human beings connect emotionally with stories. I am not saying you should include every significant life event or start with your birth, but share something that specifically relates to why you teach yoga, what you have to offer to your demographic, and that gives them a way to relate to you and feel an emotional resonance.

When you leave out your story so as to seem professional, you lose emotional impact, and it is the emotional impression you create that is infinitely more likely to convert the person reading your Bio to a paying client than your formal sounding third person list of credentials and idealistic metaphysical beliefs.

Craft a short authentic story that creates a relatable impression and speaks directly to your demographic and the people you most want to work with will stick around.

Will other readers be turned off, unimpressed, and think you aren’t qualified or spiritual enough based on their criteria?

Sure —but who cares!? They are not your demographic, so don’t waste your time and energy catering to what you think they want to read.

Yogis, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts and feelings about this subject —please comment below and let’s get the conversation started. I also would love to feature new Bio/About page text from any of you who want to submit it after applying these ideas!

• Next: You might also want to check out my Bio Blueprint for Yoga Teachers, Massage Therapists and Dance Facilitators.. It will give you a sample script you can use to inspire yourself!

** Are You READY to build your 1-on-1 private business providing your services as a yoga teacher or massage therapist?!

My 3-week online video course Keys To Freedom is NOW OPEN for Registration and runs February 20 to March 13, 2017!