What is a "bio" anyway?

What is a "bio" anyway?

What is a "bio" anyway?

Every day, my inbox contains at least one bio writing request. However, after exploring just a few preliminary questions, I often find that there is a rather significant discrepancy in our definitions of the word "bio". in fact, I've learned from experience that the word "bio" is often loosely used to describe many different assignments.

For instance, I recently received a request from a successful Life Coach who was building her first website. She indicated that her web designer was waiting for her bio so he could post it onto her website. Upon further exploration, I learned that she wanted it to be a welcoming intoduction of her services, and that it should include links to the other pages on her site. She also said it should describe her services in detail and instruct readers on how to contact her. Hmm, I thought. This is not a bio. What she was describing was a website welcome page, It's a very different beast with a very different objective.

I also had a client who needed a Personal Statement to include with his graduate school application, and he kept refering to it as a "bio", even though the instruction from the school were very clear and required him to answer three specific questions, all of which were intended to reveal his reason for choosing that establishment. This is not at all a bio.

Traditionally, a bio has been essentially a summarized version of one's accomplishments, with a few trivial facts of a personal nature for added flavor. That's fine, except that it sounds an awful lot like a resume delivered in paragraph form.

More modern interpretations of a bio include more character development and focus more on personal traits rather than simply listing accomplisments.

Either way, a bio is about you. It's primary objective is to tell readers who you are give them a sense of what you're like. So whatever the word "bio" really means to you... go with it. As long as you know your bio writer understands what you want.

For more detailed information on bio writing, click here.

POST COMMENT

Is Your Company Prepared to Get a Bigger Slice of The DoD Pie In 2011? Believe it or not in Bible Vs Quran (4) the Fig Tree refused to be the king (B) Facelifts: Turning Back Your Age How To Detox Without Starving? Lower Your Property Tax Widower finds solace in dine.com! Procedures of Oxygen Saturation Testing The Answer You've Been Looking For Trouble finding a place to chow down? Synthetic Turf: A Substitute To Natural Grass Skip James Deep Dark Delta Blues Man 9 Good Reasons Why You Should Quit Feeling Hurt Watch UFC 125 Free Live - We've Got a Link!