Every successful company understands the importance of having a well-optimised website. Yet, many businesses overlook one important part of their website: their about us page.
As we know, first impressions matter, especially in business. How your customers feel from the get-go can determine the future of your relationship. Most importantly, whether or not they’re willing to do business with you.
Your About page is the ideal place to make a great first impression on your customers.
In its simplest form, an about page explains who you are, what you do, and what customers can expect from your brand.
When your About page is written well, it can have many fantastic benefits for your business.
It can show off your personality and help you stand out from the competition. It also answers several important questions for customers, including:
- Is your business public or family-owned?
- Is it a big company or a small one?
- What are the core values of your business?
- What is the history of your company?
- Who is the owner/founder?
- What makes your company unique?
There’s no doubt an about page can definitely play its part in helping your business succeed.
But how do you create a great one?
Below, you’ll find our top 6 tips and best practices for writing a killer about page.
Let’s begin!
1. Consider your audience
When creating your About page, it’s important to envision who’s reading it.
For example, are you talking to mothers with young kids? Or a senior citizen with bad hips?
Your page should speak the language of your target audience and address their specific wants and needs. It should tap into their emotions and motivate them to take action.
If your product or service is aimed at teenagers, writing your about page using stuffy, formal language won’t make sense. Most teenagers aren’t going to want to read that.
Instead, you need to find a way to tell your story in a way that is interesting and entertaining to the people reading it.
Writing will always have a better impact if it targets a specific audience than the general population.
2. Include employee bios
Another key to creating a great about page is to include employee bios.
A ‘meet the team’ section on the page is a chance to connect with your audience and give potential clients confidence in your business.
Online businesses have one major disadvantage compared to brick-and-mortar stores. They can’t meet their customers face to face.
When customers can’t see who they’re doing business with, they question whether they can trust you. They might ask themselves: ‘Will the product match the pictures?’ or ‘Will it arrive at all?’
Although removing all traces of doubt is hard, a meet the team page can help show customers that your business is real and has real people working behind the scenes.
So take the opportunity to showcase your team by letting your employees tell customers about the projects they’ve worked on and their successes.
The best employee bios also include information about employees’ personal lives, such as hobbies, interests, family, and pets.
3. Create a mission statement
Every brand should have its own unique mission.
Your brand’s mission statement is a sentence or short paragraph explaining the reason for its existence.
In other words, it’s a concise explanation of your company’s culture, values, and ethics.
The goal of your mission statement is to create a lasting impression of your brand in the minds of your consumers, encouraging them to choose you over your competitors.
Examples of companies with effective mission statements:
Tesla
“To accelerate the world’s transition to renewable energy.”
Tesla’s mission is short and sweet but effectively conveys the message of the brand’s commitment to the environment and changing the world of driving.
Starbucks
“To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”
Again, Starbucks’ statement is straight to the point but still captures what the company does, who they do it for, and why they do it.
You’ll also notice how this statement shows Starbucks’ mission is more than just making good coffee. It’s about creating a culture of warmth and inclusivity. One where everyone feels welcomed and at home.
Sharing your own mission is a chance to evoke positive emotions in your audience.
4. Use engaging visuals
Along with using language that appeals to your audience, your about page should be nice to look at. Aesthetically pleasing web pages engage visitors and encourage them to keep scrolling.
Remember that no matter how great your content is, it will be lost on readers if it’s not laid out clearly and in a way that is easy to follow. When you use a complicated design and too much text, readers will struggle to understand your story, and your hard work will be lost.
The human brain can process images 60,000 times faster than words – so it’s a good idea to add some to your About page.
That way, even if someone doesn’t read the entire page, the images you choose can help users understand your brand better.
Ways to improve your About page visuals:
- Be creative and use original graphics
- Choose a suitable colour scheme
- Include images and videos
- Create animations
- Use readable fonts for accessibility
5. Map out your company history
One of the best ways to help your audience get to know you is to tell them about your past.
From its foundation to the current state of the organisation, your company history should include key events and milestones.
When you map out your company history, not only does it help customers feel more connected to your brand, but it also gives you a chance to talk about your achievements organically.
Your company history may include the following:
- Why was your company formed?
- An overview of the founders
- Values the company was founded on
- Key events in the company’s existence.
- Other notable company events
6. Update your about page regularly
Once you’ve created an about page you’re proud of, it’s time to share it with the world. But remember to keep it updated.
A well-written about page can build customer trust, but it has the opposite effect when it becomes outdated.
To avoid losing customer trust with a neglected about page, we recommend updating it every six months or so.
When updating your About page, you can also try out different things to see if anything works better. You could put a video on your page or maybe add a contact form.
Through regular testing, you’ll be able to find out what works best for your brand.
Create a compelling about page for your company!
We hope this blog has helped you understand the importance of giving your website’s about page some TLC.
If you’d like more help crafting compelling copy for your website, we have everything you need.
With our Copywriting Accelerator Pack, you can access the website templates we’ve used to write over 400 successful websites.
