Did you know that adding a hero statement to your portfolio website can help to retain first-time visitors AND improve your site’s SEO?! If you haven't heard of the term before, a hero statement is a short, direct statement about who you are and what you do. It should be simple enough for anyone to understand, and also convey what you do in less than 3 sentences. Because it contains all the information a person needs in order to know if you and your work are right for them, it is a simple way to retain visitors who are discovering you, and your work, for the first time.

A hero statement should be clear, concise and compelling. The primary goal of a hero statement is to inform and inspire visitors. An effective one can help visitors understand who you are as an artist, what makes your work unique, and why they should care (how it relates to their needs and interests!). Hero statements are especially helpful for artists who have multiple bodies of work to showcase, or who are active across a number of fields, because this type of information isn’t always clear upon arrival.

A hero statement can be placed near the top of your home page or your about page (the two most visited pages on your site), and should be among the first thing visitors see when they land on your website. Your site will presumably have one or more images on those pages, which helps communicate quickly that you are an artist, but using images in connection with a clear and powerful hero statement gives your visitors a much more nuanced picture of who you are in a matter of seconds, and may motivate them to stick around and learn more about you.

Structure of a Hero Statement

• Keep it short - There are no hard and fast rules, but ideally, keep your statement between two and three sentences long.

• Write your hero statement in the present tense. You are an artist, so declare it clearly and unequivocally.

• Write your statement in the first or third person, based on your communication style, or your target audience’s communication style. For example, it can include personal pronouns - "I," "we," "you" or other words that refer back to the artist (e.g., "my art"), which helps make the statement feel more personal and authentic. You’ll notice that the examples I provided are mostly written in the third person. Follow your own instincts on this one.

• Use an active voice - this type of construction makes statements more engaging because it puts readers in the driver seat rather than passively listening to someone else speak.

• Avoid using jargon, and use words that are commonly searched online instead.

• Feel free to make it personal by incorporating mention of what inspires you (this may be something you share with your dream customer, so can you see why that might be important to online searches?). Or, you could mention what drives you forward professionally. And, if appropriate, mention any awards or recognition that relates to your work. So often details like these will help establish an immediate connection with your site visitors, and pique their interest enough to motivate them to stay and explore your site.

I’ve included ten examples of artist hero statements below to illustrate the possibilities, and to inspire you to write your own.

Use Your Hero Statement to Boost Your Site’s SEO. (Here’s what to do!)

• Your hero statement will, by default, include relevant keywords related to your title as an artist, the type of art you create, the industry or niche you serve, and so on. Think carefully about your word choices (what will your dream customer type in the search bar?), and avoid using creative or contrived phrasing. Because your statement has to be concise, try a couple of Google searches and scroll down to the bottom of the page, to find ‘related searches’ to discover alternate words and phrases.

• In terms of design, your hero statement can include a headline and a subhead (on your website, these sentences should be formatted as Headline 1 or H1, and Headline 2, or H2. Using that formatting helps search engines understand what’s on your site, so your site will be more likely to turn up in future searches for certain keywords or phrases.

• Include your most important keywords in the headline, and use your sub-headline to expand on the message or get specific about who you serve, using keywords related to your market niche, offers or unique value proposition.

So, Do I Really Need One?

The answer is, no, it’s not a requirement, but I highly recommend it. If you consider that over 50% of site visitors leave within the first 15 seconds of landing on a website, taking this extra step to help first-time visitors figure out that they’ve landed in the right place (based on their online search), is a ‘no brainer.’ Also, because artists operate in a highly competitive and saturated market, including a hero statement on your site really makes sense — if you’ve taken the time to consider what you want to communicate and what your audience is already looking for. A hero statement is your name card and if you give it the opportunity to shine, then you’ll see how beneficial it is for your website.

Bonus tip: Use your hero statement, or parts of it, to write your site description. A two-for-one benefit!

If you would like help writing your website copy, including an amazing hero statement, please get in touch!