Often overlooked, your About page is crucial to the success of your website, and ultimately your business.
Imagine going out on a first date and telling the person you're with nothing about you. You don't tell them anything about your past, what you like or dislike, your goals and dreams; nothing at all. Chances are that date isn't going very well, and your chances of getting a second date are slim to none.
While this example is a bit far-fetched, it perfectly illustrates the importance of having an About page on your website. An About page allows your potential customers to get to know your business much better and form a connection that will hopefully lead to more conversions. By telling your customers who you are, along with your values and mission, you are able to build credibility, trust and help customers to identify with the people behind the business. Ultimately, by knowing this information, customers will be swayed into choosing your business over those just like yours.
With all this being said, the question then becomes "how do I write an About page" and subsequently "what information should I include in this section of my website?" If you're struggling to get started, here are some tips for writing a dynamic About page that helps win over your customers
1. Write in a Personal Tone Using Language Everyone Understands
If you want people to connect with you and your business, you've got to show some personality and avoid boring them with complex jargon. All too often, you'll read an About page on a website that resembles a speaker's bio from a dull conference. All you get are facts and/or accomplishments, and the only thing that will come from reading this, is your audience knows you've worked hard in the past. Great About pages are warm, energetic, interesting, and even funny at times. The language is not full of technical terminology or hyperbole, rather it's simple (yet professional) and lets your audience know you are a person too.
2. Start with Your Mission Statement
Starting your About page with a mission statement that resonates with your audience is a great launching point for building trust with your customers. More than ever customers want to believe in the companies they buy from, and a mission statement is that clearly outlines what your business does and why it does it, is a excellent way to form a personal connection. Try to keep your mission statements concise (1-2 sentences) with the goal of leaving a lasting impression in the reader's mind. Here are some great mission statements to draw inspiration from:
LinkedIn: To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.
Philips: Improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation.
PayPal: To build the Web’s most convenient, secure, cost-effective payment solution.
Whole Foods: Our deepest purpose as an organization is helping support the health, well-being, and healing of both people — customers, Team Members, and business organizations in general — and the planet
Starbucks: Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.
Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
3. Tell Your Business Story (and be Honest)
Letting your customers know how your business got started is a great way to connect with them and also to set yourself apart from your competitors. Through storytelling you can let your audience know where you're coming from, why you do what you do, what your values are, and what your ambitions for the future are.
For example, if your business got its start, from your desire to create a more sustainable and environmentally friendly product than what's already out there, those who share similar passions may resonate with your story, and hopefully want to buy from you. Even if your path to running your own business has been bumpy you can express this in your story. Those ups-and-downs are relatable to almost everyone, and helps to show the personal side of your business.
4. Focus on Your Customer
Huh....this doesn't seem right. Isn't an About page supposed to be about me? The answer to that is of course "Yes"...and 'No." When explaining what it is you do or offer to your customers, we tend to focus more on the 'we' than the 'you' in our descriptions, which fundamentally goes against basic principles of sales. In almost all cases, people don't go to your website to learn about you, they go to your website to fulfil their own needs or to find a solution to a problem. To better illustrate, let's take a look at to examples from About us pages:
At ___________ we strive to provide the most eco-friendly cleaning supplies and solutions to our customers. We do this by creating products that are locally-sourced, chemical-free and biodegradable. We have spent years of research to ensure that our products can be confidently used by our customers in their homes everyday.
At ________ we understand that you are concerned with using cleaning products that are not eco-friendly and potentially dangerous for your family. That's why we have spent years of research developing products and solutions that you can confidently use everyday in your homes. You can always depend on our products to be locally sourced, chemical-free and biodegradable.
As you can see the second example clearly places the customer in the forefront of their description, which not only helps a customer to see what the business can do them, but also helps to form a personal connection, as the description is speaking directly to them.
5. Include Photos of Yourself and Your Team
There's no better way to humanize your business than putting the faces of you and your team on your website. It doesn't matter if you're the most handsome or beautiful person in the world or not. Customers just wants to see the people behind the business. Also, unless you or someone you know is handy with a camera, it's probably best to hire a pro to take your pictures.
6. Let Your Customers Do the Talking
The bottom of your About page is an excellent place to include your customers reviews or testimonies. Before buying anything these days, many people need to see what other people think about a business first. They do this buy reading reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp and so on. Instead of having to go looking for this validation, why not give it to your customers directly on your About page.
7. Hire Professionals to Do It for You
Even after you've read this blog you still might not feel comfortable creating an About page; and that's fine. Many business owners are so talented in so many different areas, but sometimes writing isn't one of them. Luckily, there are professionals out there that are more than willing to design a great About page for you. Moreover, these professionals are usually up-to-date with recent website trends that can make your About page really stick out in a sea of other About pages.
While all of the info is helpful in creating a great About page on your website, its also really helpful to see other's as well. Below are some really great about pages, and I encourage you to seek out some more after reading this to help you craft a page that works best for you.
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