About Pages often are a waste of space, the biggest problem is they aren't about the customer.
Your goal is to write an engaging About Page that creates a connection with the reader and begins the relationship building process. Done correctly, your About Page is the first step towards brand loyalty. It showcases you as the expert who can take care of your customer’s needs.
Your About Page is an opportunity to present yourself as the person/organization who is passionate and dedicated to improving the customer’s life in some way. That’s why they’re searching for your product/service to begin with, they’re looking for someone to meet their needs or solve their problem. Whether their need is a new watch, a toy for their daughter, or their problem is that paying too much for homeowner’s insurance. Your About Page helps convert them to customers by building connections.
I know you must be thinking “I thought I was supposed to tell them about me and why we’re the best?”. Well, you still are, sort of. This article discusses the things you need to write a great About Page and how you can talk about yourself while staying focused on the reader.
What To Include On An About Page (and How)
Today’s market requires that businesses offer transparency because consumers are demanding transparency. With the rapid advances in technology and the exponential amount of business being done online customers aren’t just kicking the tires, they’re looking under the hood. Rev your engine and show them what’s under your hood - On your About Page.
Your Story
Telling the story of how the company came to be is a great time for building a bond with your prospective customers. Talk about what inspired you to choose your path or why you are so passionate about your product. Tell your story.
For example, say your selling nutritious shakes because you were overweight and your health was declining rapidly and these shakes are how you got your life back.
People want to know why you’re doing what you do and how much you believe in your business.
Tell them something personal, it’s ok to be a little vulnerable. Talk about your modest start and the challenges you overcame to get to where you are now. Everybody loves a feel-good story. You make it about them by explaining how overcoming those challenges enables you to serve them better.
Give this scenario some thought. You could say something like this:
I have an MBA from the University of Florida and twenty years of experience in marketing. I won the humble award two years in a row. I run a program for young entrepreneurs in the area. (About you)
Or...
To be able to give our clients the best service possible, I felt it was important to combine my professional experience with the knowledge gained from an MBA in marketing. Go Gators! I am honored that our community appreciates our efforts and that our peers acknowledged us by awarding our team the humble award in 2018/19. We love being engaged with and developing the young entrepreneurs that will soon lead our community. (About them)
Which person do you like more? Which person would you rather give your money to?
What Makes Your Different
We hear it all the time. What’s your unique selling proposition (USP)?
Why should someone choose you over the next business? Notice the recurring theme? You still have to talk about yourself but in a way that’s showing the reader how you will support and take care of them. Do you offer something no competitor has? Explain it!
Let's take a look at how a business selling watches could do it:
Watch seller A: We sell fine watches with a 100% money back guarantee. They are very stylish and attractive.
Watch provider B: Be confident arriving on time knowing that your handcrafted timepiece is guaranteed to turn heads, be prepared to tell everyone where you got it. Our guarantee goes beyond turning heads, we’ll happily repair even the tiniest of blemishes for life.
Watch provider B sounds more compelling, what’s unique is the depths of your guarantee and how you made them feel while reading. The use of words like confident, knowing, and happily become imprinted on the reader and they associate your product to those qualities.
You are providing a personal story to build trust with your potential customers and ultimately you are going to ask for their personal information and most likely money too. Too often people leave personal information about themselves off their website, well that’s not fair. Make sure you have your address and contact information easily identifiable. Yes, it will be on your Contact Us page but put it on your About Page too.
Formatting, Media, and SEO
There’s debate over whether or not people scroll to continue reading. “Above the fold” refers to the text that shows up on your page automatically while “below the fold” is everything the reader has to get to manually by scrolling down. Whichever theory you buy into one thing is for sure, figure out what your best stuff is and lead with it. Chances are if you grab their attention with something interesting they’ll continue to read.
Grab Attention Through Headlines
While you’re telling your story it’s ok, even recommended, to make good use lists and bullets. You may have associations or memberships you’ll want to list or better yet some of your founding philosophies.
Keep It Conversational
Much like the blog articles we have here at Wavoto, you’ll want to keep the tone of your About Page conversational. When writing, think about how you would be talking to someone you just met and were telling them about how your business could help them. Write like you would talk, you’d be passionate and excited, maybe even talking with your hands. I find it best to read it out loud to someone and get their feedback, then I have them read it to me and edit accordingly.
Have fun with your page, mix it up. Add photos to help tell your story. Use photos that are real, shy away from using stock photos, especially on your About Page.. You're better off having no photos than using some from another’s story.
Videos are great as well. You can show some behind the scenes footage of your operation, how your family is involved, or maybe some video testimonials from your best clients. Staying with the conversational tone be careful not to use overproduced videos. You’re better off with the raw, organic, in the moment stuff.
It’s cool to add an opt-in form on your About Page, just be subtle about it. Don’t use salesy language or sound pushy. In fact, adding an opt-in form can
increase your conversion rate by 158%.
SEO and Keywords
Optimization on every page of your website is critical. Often overlooked is the About Page when in reality it may be the first or second most viewed page on your whole site. Think about all the websites you’ve visited, if you're like me the first place you look is under the hood, the About Page.
Research keywords that fit your business the best if you haven’t already.
Google Adwords Keyword Planner is a great tool for this. Think about putting a keyword(s) in your headline and throughout the body of your text. Try subtly using phrases that relate to your product or services as you tell your story.
Using the right amount of keywords is important. You want to use enough to make traction, don’t use words that are hard to write about, and don’t use a keyword just to use a keyword. The almighty algorithms can tell and you don’t want to make the search gods angry. The exact number will be up to you and how long your finished page is.
Enough About Us
Your new engaging About Page is the perfect landing spot for your prospective clients/customers to get to know you on a personal level. Take full advantage of the opportunity to pop the hood on you and your business and let readers take a look inside. Have fun, be you, educate, and entertain your new friends.
And the first step to this process is really understanding who your visitor is.We've made the process of determining your audience easy, with our free Discover your Avatar worksheet -
click here to download today!